USM researchers complete five-year collaborative study on red snapper

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Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi recently completed a large-scale collaborative project with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.

The study was conducted on reef fish in Mississippi to gain an understanding of changes to red snapper populations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The five-year project studied fish on artificial reefs in Mississippi’s offshore waters and captured dynamics in the red snapper fishery. Fisheries Research and Development Director Jill Hendon said, “Over the five years we were actually catching red snapper on these vertical long lines and with that catch we would really do a comprehensive analysis of those snappers. So, we would look at age dynamics, we would look at reproductive dynamics, we would look at trophic dynamics, and the water conditions that these animals were found in to really understand what their patterns of life history were and where their preferences for living were.”

This project also included development and management of the MDMR Tails N Scales reporting system.