Caribbean, managed under the Puerto Rico Fishery Management Plan, the St. Commercial data reporting requirements.Year-round and/or seasonal area closures for commercial and recreational sectors to protect spawning groupers.Minimum size limits protect immature black grouper.To reduce bycatch, there are restrictions on the type of gear fishermen may use and where they can fish.The IFQ program ( catch shares) allocates the commercial catch limit among shareholders with measures to prevent fishermen from harvesting more than their individual allocation.The annual catch limit is allocated between the commercial (76 percent) and recreational (24 percent) fisheries.Black grouper is part of the Other Shallow-Water Grouper catch share category in the IFQ program.Commercial vessels must have a reef fish permit and individual fishing quota (IFQ) allocation to harvest black grouper.In the Gulf of Mexico, managed under the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan:.The Oculina Experimental Closed Area is closed to fishing for and possession of all snappers and groupers to protect deepwater coral habitat and the reef fish it supports. There are eight deep-water marine protected areas and several spawning special management zones to protect habitats.Gear restrictions are used to reduce bycatch and protect habitat.The commercial and recreational fishing seasons are closed from January through April to protect black grouper during their peak spawning period.Both the commercial and recreational fisheries have size limits to reduce harvest of immature black grouper.These fisheries are closed when their annual catch limit is projected to be met. Annual catch limits are used for black grouper in the commercial and recreational fisheries.Managers limit the number of available permits to control the number of fishermen harvesting black grouper. Commercial fishermen must have a permit to fish, land, or sell black grouper.In the South Atlantic, managed under the Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan:.NOAA Fisheries and the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils manage the black grouper fishery:.Sharks prey upon large black grouper, while other grouper and moray eels prey upon smaller ones.

Black grouper take advantage of other species’ reproductive aggregations for feeding.They also have teeth plates inside their throat that prevent prey from escaping after being swallowed.They do not have teeth, and instead use their mouth and gills to suck up their prey.Black grouper have large, powerful jaws that they use to ambush their prey.Young black grouper feed on crustaceans, mostly shrimp.Eggs are fertilized externally, and float with the currents.Black grouper are solitary fish until spawning season, May through August, where they aggregate and spawn in huge numbers.The overall sex ratio is generally one male for every four females.They begin life as a female and some change into males as they grow – usually between two and four feet in length or 11 and 14 years old.Black grouper grow up to five feet long and can weigh up to 180 pounds.This complex is not subject to overfishing based on 2021 catch data. John Grouper 4 Complex and is not assessed so the overfished status is unknown. In the Caribbean, black grouper is part of the St.Croix Grouper 5 Complex and is not assessed so the overfished status is unknown. This complex is not subject to overfishing based on 2019 catch data. In the Caribbean, black grouper is part of the Puerto Rico Grouper 4 Complex and is not assessed so the overfished status is unknown.Summary stock assessment information can be found on Stock SMART. The Gulf of Mexico/South Atlantic stock is not overfished (2010 stock assessment), and is not subject to overfishing based on 2022 catch data.According to the most recent stock assessments: There are four stocks of black grouper: a Gulf of Mexico/South Atlantic stock, and three Caribbean stocks contained in the Puerto Rico Grouper 4 Complex, the St.

Baby grouper fish