Improving the Collection, Management, and Use of Marine Fisheries Data Book

Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................1
1 INTRODUCTION....................9
Data Collection....................12
Biological Data....................12
Social and Economic Data....................13
Data Management....................14
Data Use....................15
Assessments....................15
Regulations and Management....................17
Content of Report....................19
2 SUMMER FLOUNDER: REVIEW AND INSIGHTS....................20
Introduction....................20
Summer Flounder Assessment Issues....................21
Questions Related to the Biology and Population Dynamics of Summer Flounder....................22
Do the summer flounder found in waters north of Cape Hatteras comprise a unit stock of fish?....................23
What natural mortality rate is appropriate to use in summer flounder assessment models?....................25
Are there differences between the growth and mortality of male and female summer flounder (sexual dimorphism) and, if so, how do the differences affect the assessment?....................29
Questions Related to Summer Flounder Sampling....................30
What are the appropriate survey and commercial catchabilities of summer flounder?....................30
Do problems with determining the age of summer flounder discredit age-based assessments?....................38
Are effort data used appropriately and are the effects of effort changes incorporated properly?....................40
Is the observer program for summer flounder adequate?....................41
Can and should state surveys be standardized?....................43
Is the catch fromrecreational fishing estimated properly?....................44
Can the precision of data be improved?....................46
Questions Related to the Information Content of the Model and Model Assumptions Currently in Use....................51
What information does each model structure require and how do these requirements relate to information in the data?....................51
Possible Improvements to the Summer Flounder Data Sets....................54
Tracking and Management of Data Precision....................57
A Role for Commercial and Recreational Fishermen in Data Collection....................57
New Sources of Recreational Fishery Data....................57
3 GENERAL ISSUES IN THE COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND USE OF FISHERIES DATA....................59
What Are Fisheries Data?....................59
Who Uses Fisheries Data?....................60
Data Needed for Different Management Methods....................62
Current State of the Fishery....................62
Management Goals and System Response....................64
Management Actions....................64
Data Quality Required....................65
Methods of Data Collection....................66
Data from Ceremonial and Subsistence Users....................66
Data from Fishery-Independent Surveys....................66
Ecosystem Data....................79
Environmental Data....................81
Fishery-Dependent Data....................81
Cooperation, Communication, and Review....................102
Data Management....................112
Confidentiality....................112
Institutional Arrangements for Data Management....................112
Fisheries Data Management Systems....................113
Commercial and Cooperative Data Management....................117
Data Quality Control Procedures....................118
Technologies for Data Management....................126
Data Use....................127
Uncertainties of Data in Stock Assessments....................127
Access to Data....................129
Management Information Needed by Councils....................129
Fisheries Data Discovery....................130
Cooperation and Communication....................130
4 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................131
Improving Data Collection....................133
Matching Data Collection Costs to Benefits from Fisheries....................133
Greater Use of Fishery-Dependent Data....................135
Minimizing and Accounting for "Data Fouling"....................136
Fishery-Independent Surveys....................136
Data from Commercial Fisheries....................142
Data from Recreational Fisheries....................147
Auxiliary Information....................150
Cooperation and Communication....................154
Review....................155
Improving Data Management....................156
Defining User Groups and User Needs....................156
Databases and Data Management Systems....................156
Institutional Arrangements....................157
Implementing Standards and Improving Quality Control....................158
Improving Technologies....................158
Review....................159
Improving Data Use....................159
Data in Stock Assessments....................159
Access to Fisheries Data....................160
Confidentiality....................160
Matching Management to Data Available....................161
Cooperation and Communication....................161
Uncertainty in Data, Models, and Model Outputs....................163
Review....................164
Research Needs....................165
REFERENCES....................166
APPENDIXES A Committee Biographies....................177
B Acronyms....................179
C Evaluation of Summer Flounder Surveys....................181
D Review of Summer Flounder Assessments....................197