Informational report: Bycatch reduction devices used in the Pink Shrimp trawl fishery

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has the authority to require one or any combination of Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) types in the trawl fishery within California waters for Pacific ocean shrimp (Pandalus jordani), most commonly referred to as pink shrimp. The purpose of this report is to provide the Commission with the best available information about the BRDs used in the pink shrimp trawl fishery. The mandatory requirement for BRDs occurred in California in 2002, and in Oregon and Washington in 2003, resulting from an effort to minimize bycatch of overfished and quota managed groundfish species. Three types of BRDs currently satisfy the requirement for this device in the California fishery: 1) the Nordmøre grate (rigid-grate excluder); 2) soft-panel excluder; and 3) fisheye excluder; however, the design, specifications, and efficacy differ by BRD type. Although no data has been collected on BRDs directly from the California pink shrimp fishery, extensive research on the efficacy and differences among BRD types has been conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) since the mid-1990s. Rigid-grate excluders are widely considered to be the most effective of the three BRD types at reducing groundfish bycatch. Over 90 percent of the Oregon pink shrimp fleet use rigid-grate excluders. The majority of the current California pink shrimp fleet also uses rigid-grate excluders, according to a telephone survey conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game (Department) in 2007-2008 of pink shrimp fishermen who have been active in the California fishery in recent years. Hinged rigid-grate excluders have been developed in recent years to reduce the bending of the BRD on vessels that employ net reels to stow and deploy their trawl nets, and they have been used successfully on both single- and double-rig vessels in Oregon. Soft-panel excluders have been demonstrated to be effective at reducing groundfish bycatch, although excessive shrimp loss and other problems have also been associated with this design. Fisheye excluders have been used in the California fishery in the past, but they were disapproved in Oregon and Washington in 2003 because they were found to be less effective at reducing groundfish bycatch than other designs. The reputation of the United States west coast pink shrimp fishery as one of the cleanest shrimp fisheries in the world is largely attributed to the effectiveness of BRDs at reducing groundfish bycatch. Nevertheless, BRD research and development is still a relatively new field and additional modifications and methods may further reduce bycatch rates in the pink shrimp fishery.(PDF contains 12 pages.)

The economic importance of marine angler expenditures in the United States.

In 1998, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) began a series of marine angler expenditure surveys in the coastal regions of the United States (U.S.) to evaluate marine recreational fishing expenditures and the financial impacts of these expenditures in each region and the U.S. as a whole. In this report, we use the previously estimated expenditure estimates to assess the total financial impact of anglers’ saltwater expenditures. Estimates are provided for sales, income, employment, and tax impacts for each coastal state in the U.S. Aggregate estimates are also provided for the entire U.S., excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and Texas. Direct, indirect, and induced effects associated with resident and non-resident angler expenditures were estimated using a regional input-output modeling system called IMPLAN Pro. Nationwide, recreational saltwater fishing generated over $30.5 billion in sales in 2000, nearly $12.0 billion in income, and supported nearly 350,000 jobs. Approximately 89 cents of every dollar spent by saltwater anglers was estimated to remain within the U.S. economy. At the state level, many of the goods anglers purchased were imports, and, as such, as little as 44 cents of every dollar stayed in Rhode Island and as much as 80 cents of every dollar stayed in Georgia. In the Northeast, the highest impacts were generated in New Jersey, even though recreational fishing expenditures in Massachusetts and Maryland were considerably higher. In the Southeast, the highest impacts were generated in Florida, and on the Pacific Coast, the highest impacts were generated in California. Expenditures on boat maintenance/expenses generated more impacts than any other expenditure category in the U.S. Expenditures on rods and reels was the single most important expense category in terms of generating impacts in most of the Northeast states. Expenditures on boat expenses generated the highest in most Southeast states, and expenditures for boat accessories produced the highest impacts in most Pacific Coast states.(PDF file contains 184 pages.)

The effect of intensive line fishing on the virgin biomass of a tropical deepwater snapper, the crimson jobfish (Pristipomoides filamentosus)

An intensive commercial hook-and-line fishing operation targeted the demersal fisheries resources at Saya de Malha Bank in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Fishing was conducted with 12 dories that were equipped with echo sounders and electric fishing reels and supported by a refrigerated mothership. Over a 13-day period in the 55–130 m depth range, a total of 74.3 metric tons (t) of fish were caught, of which the crimson jobfish (Pristipomoides filamentosus) represented 80%. Catch rates decreased with time and could not be attributed to changes in location, climatic conditions, fishing depth, fishing method, or bait type. The initial virgin biomass of P. filamentosus available to a line fishery at the North Western promontory of Saya de Malha Bank was estimated at 72.6 t through application of the Leslie model to daily catch and effort data. Biomass densities of 2364 kg/km2 and 1206 kg/km were obtained by applying the initial biomass estimates to the surface area and to the length of the dropoff that was fished. The potential sustainable yield prior to exploitation was estimated at 567 kg/km2 per year. The quantity of P. filamentosus caught by the mother-ship-dory fishing operation represented 82% of the initial biomass available to a hook-and-line fishery, equivalent to more that three times the estimated maximum sustainable yield. The results of the study are important to fisheries managers because they demonstrate that intensive line fishing operations have the potential to rapidly deplete demersal fisheries resources.