Fishery-Dependent Data Collection Presentation for Our Florida Reefs Community Working Groups Southeast Fisheries Science Center May 2014 James A. Bohnsack,

Fishery-Dependent Data Collection

Presentation for Our Florida Reefs Community Working Groups

Southeast Fisheries Science Center

May 2014

James A. Bohnsack, Ph.D. and Kurtis Gregg, M.S.

Fishery-Dependent (FD) data are obtained from a fishery.

FD data consist of catch, landings, bycatch, and other information about the fish (for example, length and weight, tissue composition, and ear bones or scales for aging) and the fishery, such as fishing effort, fishing gear, and fishing practices.

“What fish were caught on the reef?” “What was kept and what was released?”

Fishery-Independent (FI) data are obtained from research surveys designed to be consistent over time.

FI data give a picture of resource condition, independent of fisheries. Data are not affected by changes in fishing effort, fishing gear, or faulty reporting of catches. F-I data may be collected by using fishing gear or by other techniques such as video, visual, and acoustic methods to quantify information about fish.

“What fish are on the reef?” “How many?” What size?”

Important Distinction:

Fishery-Dependent Data Types

• Catch• Landings – fish brought ashore• Releases at sea (live)• Discards and fish consumed at sea (dead fish, bait)

• Catch-effort – detailed information about the fishing activity• Catch quantity and distribution (time and space)• Effort quantity and distribution• Catch rate analyses

• Biological information• Size, age, sex, reproductive status, species composition

and other biological information on reproductive biology, stock structure, ecological relationships.

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | NOAA Fisheries | Page 3

Types of Data Collected by NOAA

• Fisheries related (FD and FI)• Protected resources

(Endangered species–marine mammals sea turtles, etc.)

• Ecosystem Condition (oceanography, habitat, other living marine resources)

Several state and federal programs collect fishery-dependent data from both the commercial and recreational fishing sectors to inform fisheries and ecosystem management decisions

Fishery-Dependent Data ProblemsProblems with Fishery-Dependent data include: • misreporting of catch, effort, and fishing activity

• changes in the fishery over time, such as changes in regulations, markets, prices, and fishing gear.

Example of how this happens: An expansion of a fishery to new areas may indicate that catch per unit effort has increased, which is usually a sign that fish abundance is increasing. Improved gear or fishing techniques can produce a similar false conclusion.

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Bay

Inshore Reefs

Offshore Reefs

Length (cm)

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YOY Juveniles Adults

FD data only provides part of the picture: Biscayne Bay gray snapper habitat shifts

Lm Lc1 yo Minimum legal size

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Fishery dependent data

Fishery independent data

SEFSC fishery-dependent commercial and recreational data collection programs

• Accumulated Landings System (ALS) – Commercial landings from dealers

• Southeast Headboat Survey – Recreational for Hire (i.e. by the “head”) – Catch, Effort, Biological

• Fisheries Logbook System – Commercial Landings and Effort

• Trip Interview Program – Commercial Statistics – Biological

• Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) Recreational – Catch, Effort, Biological

Fishery-Dependent ResultsAverage Annual Landings by Species


Landings of some stocks are predominately recreational and other stocks are predominately commercial

Importance of releases for federally managed species in Southeastern U.S.

South Atlantic recreational landings and releases (numbers)


Gulf of Mexico FMCGSMFC, 5 states

South Atlantic FMCACCSP, NMFS-NERO, 4 states

Caribbean FMCGSMFC, 2 territories

Highly Migratory Species (HMS)ICCAT18 states, 2 territories

3 councils, 2 regional commissions8 states, 2 territoriesNMFS-SERO, NERO, NEFSC, S&T

NOAA-NMFS SEFSC Customers, Partners and Stocks

Management Trends•Fishery-dependent data are less available due to fishery management actions such as:

• Closed seasons• Minimum and Maximum size limits• Smaller bag limits • Gear restrictions

• Closed areas •Need more fishery-independent data for ecosystem-based assessments•Use of spatial management measures has increased

Fishery-Dependent Catch and Effort Sampling

Sources:Commercial

• self-reported vessel logs – most fisheries• Automated

• Shrimp effort system (location and gear activity) • Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS, location only, GOM reef fish, pelagic longline

Recreational• Marine Recreational Information Program– dockside interviews, phone• Southeast Regional Headboat Survey– self-reported vessel logs, trip validation• Recreational Billfish Survey– self-reported tournament logs

Partners and ProgramsCommercial: SEFSC, US Coast Guard, Living Marine Resources, NMFS-

Office of Law EnforcementRecreational: SEFSC, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission


Fishery-Dependent Recreational Catch Programs

• Logbook programs• Southeast Region Headboat Survey

• Geographical range: NC-TX• Self-reported catch• Validated effort (trips)

• Recreational Billfish Survey (tournaments)• U.S. permitted tournaments • Self-reported catch and effort• Census attempted

• Large Pelagic Survey (LPS)• Telephone reporting via Atlantic Highly Migratory

Species, Recreational Reporting Line (RRL)U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | NOAA Fisheries | Page 13

Recreational Catch Surveys • Strengths

• Statistical surveys of recreational catch and effort (e.g. MRIP and LPS) reduce bias in the dataset• Headboat surveys are good at monitoring fishing effort • Concerns• Little or no observer verification of reported information• Size and age of catch are needed but not collected• Released fish are primarily self-reported• Southeast Region Headboat Survey (SRHS)

• Self-reported landings• Highly Migratory Species phone survey

• Low participation rates• Self-reported catch information


Recreational Catch Survey Issues (landings and releases)

• Nearly all catch and effort data are self-reported- Little or no observer verification of catch and effort information

• Surveys are very difficult and expensive to monitor recreational fisheries

• Surveys are intended to cover large areas that may not be similar (for example, there are five regions in Florida- NE, SE, Florida Keys, SW, NW)


Released Catch Survey Data

Sources: Self-reported

Commercial – most fisheriesRecreational – MRIP, LPS, SRHS

Scientific observers• NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC):

• GOM: shrimp, reef fish, bottom longline, gillnet, pelagic longline• Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation: South Atlantic vertical

line survey (commercial bandit and rod and reel fisheries)• MRIP(NOAA): for-hire • Florida (FWC): for-hire


Released Commercial CatchComparison of self-reported vs observed data


Observer data provides a picture of numbers released compared to self-reported estimates

The Florida Marine Fisheries Trip Ticket Program

• Commercial fisheries landings and fishing effort data have been collected by the state of Florida since November 1984.

• Florida law (Chapter 379.362(6), and Administrative Code 68E-5.002) requires that all sales of seafood products from the waters of Florida must be reported on a Marine Fisheries Trip Ticket at the time of sale.

• Trip tickets include information about the harvester, the dealer purchasing the product, the date of the transaction, the county in which the species was landed, time fished, and pounds of each species landed for each trip. Completed tickets are mailed to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Questions?

Documents

Fishery-Dependent Data Collection Presentation for Our Florida Reefs Community Working Groups Southeast Fisheries Science Center May 2014 James A. Bohnsack,