Cassandra Pardee and John Wiley

Implementing a Commercial Fisheries Bio-Sampling Program on Oahu and Maui: Hawaii's Bio-Sampling Program

2020

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council; Poseidon Fisheries Research

"Hawai'i's nearshore fishery (commercial and non-commercial catch) is valued between 10 to 16 million dollars. Aside from the estimated dollar value of the fishery, the catch provides more than seven million meals annually. The nearshore fishery is composed of many different coral reef associated species from multiple families. Yet Hawai'i's nearshore fishery, like most coral reef fisheries, is considered data poor with relatively little information known about the growth and maturity of these commonly caught species. Life history information is a critical component for data limited stock assessments. In a recent Hawaiian stock assessment of 27 commonly targeted coral reef species, 11 species had inadequate or no published growth and maturity information. Aside from missing life history information, the commercial catch is also missing catch length data, which is a key component for data-limited stock assessments. The goals of the Bio-Sampling project were to fill the gap of missing life history information for Hawai'i's commonly targeted nearshore species as well as attain size at catch data for multiple commercially targeted species."

coral reef fish, Hawaii, market sampling, life-history, fish age, fish growth, gonadosomatic index, otiliths, von Bertalanffy growth curve

NOS

OCM

FY2020 CRCP Project ID 31188; Project Title: FY17/FY18/FY19 - Fishery Management Council Coral Reef Conservation Cooperative Agreements; Principal Investigator: Liz Fairey; Grant NA17NMF4410251

NA17NMF4410251