Just curious if y’all know what the MARMAP division of SCDNR is and the importance of the division?
A little. But, it seems like this question is loaded. What is your message?
Job security?
x2 skinnee
question has about 30 angles that can be taken
www.scmarine.org
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Luke 8:22-25
I worked as a grunt on the MARMAP project many years ago. Some minor changes may have taken place, but the following summary is pretty close.
MARMAP collects and processes samples of fish primarily from the snapper/grouper complex. They conduct age/growth analysis, histology of gonads, age determination of when these fish change sexes, relative abundance, etc.
The sample area is offshore waters from Cape Canaveral Florida, to Morehead City, NC, in water depth 60’ to 200+.
MARMAP utilizes fisheries dependent data (when a commercial boat arrives in port, they meet the boat and take small samples from various fish) and fisheries independent data (MARMAP goes out and catches said fish).
The data base goes back 30+ years by now, so it is probably one the longest running (hence it’s importance) studies of snapper/grouper on the east coast.
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Nice beaufort boy! It was not a loaded question, just curious. They have been around for a long time and most people do not even realize they are around or the importance of the division.
so who uses this data?
Just for clarification the DNR has 5 divisions MARine Monitoring an Assessment Program is not one of them but rather a federally funded data collection effort conducted within the Marine Division of the DNR. They have been at it since the 1970"s so data time series is at least 40 years. Early efforts focused on trawls so not very useful for snapper grouper. recent efforts focused on data gaps. If and when the federal funds stop so will the monitoring effort. Data collected are used in stock assessments by NMFS and to formulate management plans by SAFMC.