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Description:
Project Manager:
Jay Grove
Project Years:
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Project Summary:
This project expands fishery-independent surveys to encompass the entire reef tract (0-60m) for the first time will provide accurate and unbiased information on fish size and species composition needed for island-based management. The implementation of such a survey was scored as high priority by the US Caribbean Fishery-Independent Survey Working Group, which was tasked with developing goals to improve stock assessment capabilities in the US Caribbean (Cass-Calay et al. 2015). In addition, a deep reef-wide survey will provide valuable insight into the overall ecological and management importance of the mesophotic reef habitat (e.g., fish population dynamics, as possible refuge for juvenile or larger reproductive fishes, etc.). Limited research has shown that the deeper reefs are biologically important, supporting annual spawning aggregations for recreationally and commercially valuable yellowfin grouper, red hind, and dog snapper (Nemeth et al. 2005, 2006, 2008; Kadison et al. 2006). Similarly, the mesophotic reefs are known to be biologically important for Nassau grouper (Nemeth et al. 2008), a species that is prohibited from capture and recently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; NMFS 2016). Deep-water fishery independent surveys will collect data on these species of high ecological/management importance that cannot be landed in addition to the traditional economically valuable species targeted by fishermen (e.g., groupers, snappers, parrotfishes).
Expected Outcome:
The expected outcomes of this project are to provide the first ecosystem snapshot of the entire coral reef tract that can be used to describe fish population dynamics and related life history on mesophotic reefs in USVI which is presently missing in the peer-reviewed scientific literature (scientific impact) and to collect data requested by NMFS Sustainable Fisheries to complete island-based assessments (managerial impact). Data from the proposed study will be used to 1) Alleviate concerns with previous assessments (SEDAR 2016) that fishery-dependent length data reflect changes in the fishery (e.g., regulations, selectivity, market demands) rather than the stock; 2) Provide data on fishes of economic importance (e.g., groupers and snappers) that are "data-poor" (common in the USVI) and on ESA fishes that cannot be sampled using traditional fishery-dependent methods; 3) Develop a metric to quantify the amount of the reef fish resource located below traditional reef fish monitoring to be used in a working document for Southeast Data Assessment and Review (SEDAR) stock assessments in the USVI; and 4) Compare mean length of fishes in shallow and deep water and conduct length-based assessments using fishery-independent data to infer stock status of reef fishes in the USVI (completed in Hawaii; Nadon 2017).
Project Locations:
Project Category:
Fishing
Project Status:
Funding Ended
Associated Products:
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