1. Fishing the RCAs: Healthy Target Stocks Can be Fished While
Minimizing Catch of Rebuilding Species
Steve Rienecke1*, Rick Starr2,3, Mary Gleason1, John Field4, Huff McGonigal5, Corina Marks2, and Donna Kline2
Author Affiliations: 1. The Nature Conservancy, 2. Moss Landing Marine Labs, 3. California Sea Grant,
4. NOAA Fisheries/Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 5. Fathom Consulting
*Presenter contact information: srienecke@tnc.org; phone (805) 771-9234
Project Goals and Objectives
1. Compile existing data about the distribution of rebuilding species from
NMFS trawl surveys, underwater visual surveys, and historical catches.
2. Use existing fisheries dependent and independent data and local
knowledge to develop predictive maps on the distribution of rebuilding
stocks.
3. Ground-truth these predictive maps through fishing (via an Exempted
Fishing Permit or EFP) and visual surveys in a subset of locations inside the
Rockfish Conservation Areas
4. Characterize abundance, length, and habitat associations of rebuilding
species at these locations, and collect biological samples for growth and
maturity studies.
Methods
Results
Study area showing the 28 study blocks selected for fishing and
visual surveys.
Hydraulic snapper reel gear setup shown with
hooks(top picture), and bringing up fish (bottom).
Fish Landings for the Project (8,827 lbs.)
• Target species made up 91% of landings.
- Top species: Vermilion (60.1%), Yellowtail (11.8%),
Chilipepper (10.8%), and Widow rockfishes (4.1%).
• Rebuilding species made up 9.1% of landings (7.9% was Bocaccio).
• 1% of the total catch (25 fish at 95 lbs.) was discarded.
- Most fell off hooks, 1 fish predated, and a few undersized Lingcod.
Target to Rebuilding Species Catch Ratios
• 10.1 lbs. target species catch per 1 lb. rebuilding species catch.
• Varied by year (better in 2014) and sub-region (better in North).
Fishing Sets with Rebuilding Species Catch
• Rebuilding species caught in < 1/3 of fishing sets where fish were
caught (27%, or 80 of 294 sets)
- Bocaccio most common rebuilding spp. caught (68 sets)
- Few sets w/ other rebuilding spp. (5.8% or 17 sets)
- Yelloweye Rockfish caught in 3 sets, and Cowcod in 2
Catch Size for Top 5 Species Caught
• Majority of fish caught were above the size at 50% maturity for the
top target species and Bocaccio.
• Smaller individuals were seen in visual surveys than were caught
during fishing for species seen in both.
1 vessel
1,907 lbs. landed
1,110 fish caught
1 vessel
275 lbs. landed
296 fish caught
2 vessels
6,650 lbs. landed
1,414 fish caught
Chilipepper, Yellowtail RF,
Widow RF, other RF
Yellowtail RF, Chilipepper,
Bocaccio, Widow RF
Vermilion RF (5,230 lbs.),
Bocaccio, Yellowtail RF,
Chilipepper
Summary Info Top Species
Conclusions
• Fishermen could target healthy stocks effectively with moderate to low
catch of rebuilding species using this modified gear type with a long leader.
• Catch rates of target species positively correlated with visual survey
abundance, while rebuilding species did not have significant correlations,
indicating the gear was effective at selecting for the target species.
• Visual surveys confirmed the presence of rebuilding species at many sites
where none were caught during fishing.
• Few highly constraining species caught: 2 Cowcod (23 lbs.) and 4 Yelloweye
Rockfish (23 lbs.).
• It will be increasingly important to target healthy and rebuilt populations
while minimizing catches for the remaining overfished species.
Species indicated with an * are rebuilding species
Acknowledgements: Fishing crews of the F/V Dorado (Capt. Roger Cullen, Matt Breneman, and Greg Cullen), F/V Sea Hawk (Capt. Mike Ricketts, and Joe Davi), F/V Princess (Capt. Brad Leage, Freddy Gleason, Cain Davis, and Matt Oliver), and F/V Huli Cat (Capt. Tom Mattusch, Jim Anderson, Mike
Cabanas, Braden Baxter, Mike Velasquez, and Guy Anthony). Video lander crew of the F/V Donna Kathleen (Capt. Tim Maricich, Tyler Maricich, and Donna Maricich). Onboard researchers for fishing surveys (Jahnava Duryea, Morgan Ivens-Duran, and Paul Clerkin) and at-sea AOI Fisheries observers (Katie
Schmidt and Bryon Downey). Onboard researchers for video lander cruises from MLML (Christian Denney, and Anne Tagini), and NOAA Fisheries (Amber Payne, and Becky Miller). The California Groundfish Collective provided rebuilding species quota to support the research. PFMC and NMFS permitting
staff approved and permitted this EFP, and Council Advisory Bodies (SSC, GAP) and many local fishermen provided input to help improve the study design of this project. Dwayne Oberhoff and Kate Kauer managed vessel accounts and quota for the project.
Target Species
Wt. (lbs.)
Rebuilding
Species Wt. (lbs.)
Target:Rebuilding
Ratio
By Year
2013 3,564 438 8.1
2014 4,468 357 12.5
By Sub-region
North 1,818 89 20.4
Central 235 39 6.0
South 5,978 672 8.9
Project Totals 8,031 795 10.1
Fishing Set Type North Central South Total
Rebuilding Species
Present
18 8 54 80
No Rebuilding 70 38 106 214
Species
No Fish 53 154 240 447
Total 141 200 400 741
# of Fishing Sets
Site Selection Based On:
• Local fishermen knowledge of high risk areas for rebuilding
species.
• Predictive groundfish models (maps) from annual NMFS trawl
surveys.
• Other info from prior visual surveys and substrate maps compiled
by the California Seafloor Mapping Project.
(http://seafloor.otterlabs.org/csmp//csmp.html)
We then broke the study area into 3 sub-regions (North, Central,
and South) and 28 study blocks were selected. Blocks were located in
both the trawl (100-150 fm) and non-trawl (30-100 fm) RCA.
Directed Fishing Surveys Onboard Commercial Vessels
Snapper reel (vertical gear) w/ 15 or 30 hk sets, 15-20 min soak times.
- Hooks placed 25 ft. above weight at the bottom.
- Morphometric and catch data collected onboard.
- Rebuilding species retained by NMFS.
- Target species sold by fishing vessels.
Fishing done during September and October of 2013 and 2014.
- Distributed across 2 depth ranges: <100 fm and ≥100 fm.
- Min of 5 sets in each study block per year.
- Tested areas w/ 15 hook sets, and if catch mostly healthy target
stocks then fishermen could use 30 hook sets.
Study Area
Species Composition of Landings