Abstract
South Florida fisheries make up a large part of the tourism industry and are vital to the South Florida economy. Fish communities also play an essential role in the coral reef ecosystems. However, fish communities have been declining in recent years due to fishing pressures which has led to management of national parks and other agencies to put protections in place to recover the declining fish populations, including size limits, bag limits and marine reserve areas. By using Reef Visual Census (RVC) survey data, the status of eight species were analyzed including mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus), yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus), hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus), white grunt (Haemulon plumierii), red grouper (Epinephelus morio), and black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci), and lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles). These species, with the exception of lionfish, have all been subject to intense fishing pressures which makes monitoring their populations all the more important. Data were processed from 1999 to 2023 to yield density, abundance, length frequency, biomass, and occurrence. Results indicated that black and red grouper have an overall decline in both Biscayne and Dry Tortugas National parks. Lionfish have increased in Biscayne National Park since their first recorded sighting in 2009. Mutton Snapper are also showing an increase in the population metrics in both parks, implying that species specific regulations are being well implemented.