Abstract

In 2004, the Marine Resources Division was made aware of a possible black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) spawning aggregation located between two seasonally protected areas at the eastern end of Bermuda. Legislation was enacted the following year to afford protection to the site by incorporating it into a single, reconfigured seasonally protected ar-ea. However, it was unclear whether the closure period (May – August), which was based on the spawning season of the red hind (Epinephelus guttatus), encompassed the full reproductive period of the black grouper. In order to better under-stand the dynamics of the aggregation, an acoustical tagging program was implemented in 2008. Vemco acoustic transmit-ter tags were surgically implanted in the body cavities of 25 black groupers during the summers of 2008 and 2009. With the uncertainty about the spawning seasonality of black grouper, there was concern that tagged fish would be vulnerable to capture if they continued to aggregate at the site after August 31st, so the immediate area around the aggregation was closed to fishing until the end of November using a provision in the Fisheries Act 1972. Data downloaded from receivers moored in the aggregation area have confirmed that tagged black grouper are present at the site between the full and new moonsr from May through November. Activity levels were high from June through October with moderate activity observed in May and November. These results suggest that black grouper have a more protracted spawning season than that of red hind and validate the site closure.

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