NOAA Fisheries and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission Announce Red Snapper Data Improvement Projects

NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission announced six new partnerships and seven projects aimed at improving recreational fishing effort and discard data collection in the Gulf. This effort represents a key investment in enhancing data quality and reducing data uncertainty to support sustainable fisheries management across the region.

The projects will receive $7.5 million from the Commission. They will focus on advancing innovative methods to collect more accurate, timely, and regionally relevant data on recreational fishing activities and released catch, commonly known as discards. These projects will address known data gaps and challenges in current reporting systems. They will contribute directly to better-informed stock assessments, management decisions, and conservation strategies. We selected projects based on scientific merit, feasibility, and their potential to significantly enhance data quality across Gulf states.

Why Red Snapper?

Red snapper-a culturally, commercially, and recreationally valuable species-is a flagship species of the world's largest recreational fishery. The Southeast boasts more saltwater anglers than the rest of the nation, exceeding the populations of Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Delaware combined. There is increased public and agency interest in improving the precision and accuracy of federal and state recreational fishing statistics. Discards and effort characterization are two major sources of uncertainty in estimating recreational catches.

To improve and make red snapper data more easily accessible, the Administration has approved roughly $18.5 million of supplemental funding dedicated to:

• Improving infrastructure
• Establishing the Commission as the clearinghouse for data
• Improving estimation of efforts and discards
• Using advanced video and artificial intelligence to collect data
• Expanding the for-hire, at-sea sampling program in the western Gulf

Funding Recipients and Project Summaries

These projects will begin on January 1, 2026.

The Nature Conservancy-Incorporating Satellite Imagery and Gulf States Recreational Fishery Data to Estimate Private Offshore Recreational Fishing Effort

This project will combine satellite imagery with regional fishery data and angler knowledge to estimate spatial and temporal patterns of recreational fishing effort in the Gulf. It will develop a generalizable methodology that improves the precision of and trust in management decisions by fishery agencies.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and University of South Florida-A Comparative Analysis of For-Hire and Private Recreational Fishing in the Gulf Region: Estimating Reef Fish Discards Using Camera-Based Monitoring

This project aims to collect and analyze data on the discard patterns of the Gulf of America private recreational fleet for economically and ecologically important reef fish species using electronic monitoring systems and complementary catch cards.

Mote Marine Laboratory-Improving Recreational Fishing Effort Estimates With Shore-Based Cameras

This project proposes using shore-based camera technology-coupled with machine learning artificial intelligence-for identifying, counting and estimating size of vessels at spatial resolutions conducive to estimating private boat fishing effort.

University of South Florida-Determining Congruence Between Discard Rates from At-Sea Observer Discards and Dockside Interviews in the Gulf of America For-Hire Recreational Fleet

This project will quantify and reconcile differences in discard rates of key reef fish species as determined by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission For-Hire At-Sea Observer Survey and those estimates calculated using self-reported data from the Access Point Angler Intercept Survey.

Mississippi State University-The disCARD: A Novel, Hybrid Catch Card for Quantifying Reef Fish Discards Across the United States Gulf of America

The goal of the proposed project is to collect information about the numbers, species, and length classes of discarded reef fishes across the Gulf of America using catch cards and electronic reporting from a probability-based sample of anglers.

LGL Ecological Research Associates-Calculating Private Recreational Fishing Effort with Smartphone Mobility Data, Satellite Imagery, and Aerial Surveys

This project will provide estimates of recreational fishing effort from private boats in offshore waters related to managed reef fish species such as red snapper, groupers, jacks, and others. Using a three phase and iterative approach, LGL Ecological Research Associates will develop a model to estimate recreational fishing activity across the Gulf.

University of South Florida and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-Using Mobile Phone Tracking to Quantify Recreational Fishing Effort

This project intends to use cellular app tracking data, in combination with dockside sampling, along Florida's Atlantic coast to generate offshore fishing effort estimates for three inlets in Northeast Florida.