"Commercial landings of red drum along the U.S. Atlantic coast are harvested as part of a mixed species fishery and catch statistics for the red drum have been collected since the 1930's (Pugliese 1989). Commercial landings show no particular temporal trends, averaging about 300,000 pounds. Recreation catch statistics have been collected annually only since 1979 (Mercer 1984). The recreational fishery has expanded from 679,000 pounds of red drum caught (270,000 fish) in 1980 to 1,670,000 pounds of red drum caught (593,000 fish) in 1988, with the highest recorded catch in 1985 (2,102,000 pounds or 1,110,000 fish). Both of these fisheries appear to be supported primarily by catches of sub-adult red drum (ages 0-5)"--Executive summary, paragraph 1.

Public Domain