Marine - Species - Cobia

Recreational Fishery in SC

Recreational landings for cobia remained relatively stable through the 1980's and 1990's and then increased dramatically in the early 2000's. After 2007, total landings returned to similar levels as the 1981-2002 time period. Most years (except for 2003-2007) were below the ten year average total catch due to the high catches that occurred during 2003-2007.

Commercial landings were cyclical with peaks in catches occurring approximately every ten years from the 1980's to the early 2000's. Commercial landings have decrasted since 2003 with a 10 year average of approximately 4,200 lbs per year. The highest reported commercial landings for cobia occurred back in the early 1980's.

The recreational catch data is provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which conducts phone and angler-intercept surveys to monitor angler activities and catches. For more information see: https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

The commercial fisheries data is provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which compiles commercial information provided by state agencies. For more information, see: https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

Additional Graph Information

Commercial and recreational catches are measured in number of individuals or pounds of fish caught. Changes in catch among years may be the result of changes in abundance, fishing effort, or a combination of the two.

On each graph, the horizontal dotted lines above or below the "10 year average" represent one "standard deviation" unit, which is a measure of how variable the annual data are around the 10-year average. In general, the area between one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the mean includes approximately 68% of all values. Approximately 95% of observations in the data set are found within two standard deviation units of the average and is referred to as the prediction interval.