Report of the First Meeting on CFMC/WECAFC/OSPESCA/CRFM Working Group on Spawning Aggregations: Miami, United States of America 29-31 Oct 2013 (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Reports)

The first meeting of the CFMC/WECAFC/OSPESCA/CRFM Working Group on Spawning Aggregations brought together experts working on spawning aggregations of fish from all over the Western Central Atlantic region. The Working Group noted with concern the ongoing declines in stocks of many aggregating species and particularly groupers and snappers in the Wider Caribbean Region, the reduced numbers of aggregations and the relatively smaller size of remaining aggregations. The Working Group also verified that the status of Nassau grouper, Goliath grouper and several other species stocks in the Wider Caribbean region should be considered "overexploited", and that some stocks can even be regarded as "depleted". The meeting issued a "Declaration of Miami", which included a recommendation to the fifteenth session of WECAFC on the establishment of a regional closed season for Nassau Grouper fisheries in the WECAFC area to protect spawning aggregations of this species.