How reliable are the abundance indices derived from commercial catch–effort standardization?

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1169-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yimin Ye ◽  
Darren Dennis

Commercial catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) data are often standardized to construct indices of stock abundance. The value of such standardization lies in the improvement in the proportionality between the derived index and true abundance. Using the Torres Strait rock lobster ( Panulirus ornatus ) fishery in Australia as an example, we first standardized the commercial CPUE data using a generalized linear model (GLM) and then fitted observation error models to the resulting abundance indices and independent abundance data (as estimated by research diver surveys) to examine the proportionality. While the GLM standardization greatly improved proportionality in comparison with the nonstandardized commercial catch rates, it could produce biased results if the model did not explicitly incorporate variables that had caused changes in fishing efficiency. As most catch–effort standardizations do not model the fishing power component simultaneously, this result may serve as a warning to the potential bias in stock abundance indices extracted from GLMs that are underfitted.

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1052-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon de Lestang

Abstract Large-scale migrations are known to occur in numerous species, and in the case of the Western Rock Lobster, Panulirus cygnus, result in juveniles moving from nursery areas into deeper offshore breeding grounds. In 2008 the Western Rock Lobster fishery reduced harvest rates to increase legal and spawning biomass throughout the fishery, which also allowed greater numbers of lobsters to migrate. Increased lobster migration could potentially reduce biomass in some areas, thus adversely impacting commercial catch rates. Over 20 000 tag–recaptured lobsters were analysed to determine the dynamics underlying migration in this species and to assess the impact reduced harvest rates may have had on catches. This study showed that P. cygnus migration was associated with body size and water depth, and that magnetism and oceanic currents appear to be the most likely guideposts used for orientation. Size at migration varied in a constant fashion along the coast, being larger towards the southern end of the fishery and smallest at the offshore Abrolhos Islands. During the migration period, up to 50% of lobsters at their mean size of migration moved from coastal areas out towards deeper waters (>40 m), whereas <15% of those in deeper water at the same size moved significant distances northward. This behaviour appears to be contranatant, counteracting the downstream redistribution of larvae after their 9–11 month larval life. Reduced harvest rates and catches being focussed onto higher valued sedentary lobsters have allowed more lobsters to migrate. However, the numbers moving between management areas are relatively small, with the biological and economic benefits of fishing at a reduced exploitation rate outweighing losses to catches.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Feenstra ◽  
Richard McGarvey ◽  
Adrian Linnane ◽  
André E. Punt ◽  
Nigel Bean

1978 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
GR Morgan

Daily locomotor activity rhythms in individual P. longipes cygnus were shown to be of a non- crepuscular nature with peak activity occurring immediately after the onset of darkness. Mean activity of animals in an intermoult stage increased with increasing temperature between 17 and 25�C but then declined, whilst for animals in a premoult stage there was no significant trend with temperature, activity rates remaining at a low level. Individual variation of response of intermoult animals also increased with temperature and is suggested as a contributing factor to high daily variation in commercial catch rates during months of high water temperature.


2001 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1271 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Gardner ◽  
S. D. Frusher ◽  
R. B. Kennedy ◽  
A. Cawthorn

Puerulus catches on artificial collectors were measured monthly at four sites around Tasmania from 1991 to April 2000, with the aim of predicting future changes in recruitment to the fishery. Support for the potential of catch-rate prediction in Tasmania was provided at the two sites that have overlap of several years between indices of puerulus settlement and indices of the abundance of recruits to the fishery. At Bicheno, on the northeast coast, correlations between annual puerulus index and commercial catch rates were highly significant, with a lag of 5 years (P< 0.01). Similar interannual trends in puerulus index and estimates from a stock-assessment model of the biomass of recruits to the fishery provided additional support for a link with puerulus index. A 5-fold interannual variation in puerulus index detected at Bicheno, with a peak in 1995, was preceded by 3 years of relatively low puerulus catch. The peak in puerulus index appears to lead to an increase in the abundance of sublegal males in research sampling 3 years later. Correlation between annual measures of puerulus index and catch rate also appeared significant at King Island (P= 0.06) although data at this site had less contrast.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1130-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ward ◽  
Ransom A Myers

We introduce a new method that uses generalized linear mixed models to infer the depth distribution of pelagic fishes. It uses existing data from research surveys and observers on commercial vessels to estimate changes in catchability when longline fishing gear is lengthened to access deeper water. We infer the depth distribution of catchability for 37 fish species that are caught on pelagic longlines in the Pacific Ocean. We show how the estimates of catchability can be used to correct abundance indices for variations in longline depth. Our method facilitates the inclusion of data from early surveys in the time series of commercial catch rates used to estimate abundance. It also resolves inconsistencies in the time series caused by a rapid switch to deep longlining in the 1970s. The catchability distribution does not always match depth preferences derived from tracking studies. Therefore, depth preferences from tracking studies should not be used to correct abundance indices without additional information on feeding behavior.


2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Are Salthaug ◽  
Sondre Aanes

A central problem when using commercial catch per unit effort (CPUE) as an index of fish stock abundance is that fishing vessels search for concentrations of fish. For a given stock abundance, CPUE may become high if the vessels succeed in finding patches of fish and low if the vessels distribute their catching operations more randomly. In this work, the relationship between catchability and two measures of the degree of spatial concentration of a trawl fleet (the fleet's spatial extent and the fleet's degree of spatial patchiness) is investigated for four different fish stocks. The catchability of northeast Arctic cod (Gadus morhua) is strongly related to the fleet's degree of spatial concentration, but the relationship is weaker for northeast Arctic haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and no relationships appear for two saithe (Pollachius virens) stocks. Our findings suggest that adjusting CPUE with a measure of the fleet's average degree of concentration relates CPUE more strongly with abundance for migratory stocks.


2006 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Ellis ◽  
You-Gan Wang

Abstract Ellis, N., and Wang, Y-G. 2007. Effects of fish density distribution and effort distribution on catchability – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64, 178–191. The effects of fish density distribution and effort distribution on the overall catchability coefficient are examined. Emphasis is also on how aggregation and effort distribution interact to affect overall catch rate [catch per unit effort (cpue)]. In particular, it is proposed to evaluate three indices, the catchability index, the knowledge parameter, and the aggregation index, to describe the effectiveness of targeting and the effects on overall catchability in the stock area. Analytical expressions are provided so that these indices can easily be calculated. The average of the cpue calculated from small units where fishing is random is a better index for measuring the stock abundance. The overall cpue, the ratio of lumped catch and effort, together with the average cpue, can be used to assess the effectiveness of targeting. The proposed methods are applied to the commercial catch and effort data from the Australian northern prawn fishery. The indices are obtained assuming a power law for the effort distribution as an approximation of targeting during the fishing operation. Targeting increased catchability in some areas by 10%, which may have important implications on management advice.


2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (8) ◽  
pp. 2099-2111
Author(s):  
Fikret Öndes ◽  
Michel J. Kaiser ◽  
Lee G. Murray

Baited trap or pot fisheries are considered to have relatively few wider ecosystem effects on the marine environment, particularly when compared with towed mobile fishing gear. However, this assumption is rarely tested in the field. This study aimed to determine the composition of non-target species that occur in crustacean pots and to assess spatial and temporal differences in catches in the waters around the Isle of Man, Irish Sea. The data were collected using fishery independent surveys and a questionnaire study. Based on fishery independent surveys, a total of five taxonomic groups and 43 species occurred as by-catch. The dominant by-catch species was velvet crab Necora puber. The by-catch per unit effort (BPUE) for all of the non-target species was low particularly in comparison to towed bottom gear fisheries around the Isle of Man. BPUE of species composition varied considerably between different locations around the Isle of Man. The results of both the fishery independent and questionnaire data suggested that the by-catch rates varied with season with peak BPUE occurring in spring which then declined into autumn and winter. By-catch composition did not decrease significantly with an increasing target species catch. Overall, by-catch was low relative to target species catch which may be partially attributable to the use of escape panels in pot fisheries in the Isle of Man.


1988 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 729 ◽  
Author(s):  
AJ Courtney ◽  
MCL Dredge

In the coastal region of central Queensland female red-spot king prawns, P. longistylus, and the western or blue-leg king prawns, P. latisulcatus, had high mean ovary weights and high proportions of advanced ovary development during the winter months of July and August of 1985 and 1986. On the basis of insemination, both species began copulating at the size of 26-27 mm CL, but P. longistylus matured and spawned at a smaller size than P. latisulcatus. Abundance of P. longistylus was generally three to four times greater than that of P. latisulcatus but the latter was subject to greater variation in abundance. Low mean ovary weight and low proportions of females with advanced ovaries were associated with the maximum mean bottom sea-water temperature (28.5�C) for both species. Population fecundity indices indicated that peaks in yolk or egg production (a) displayed a similar pattern for both species, (b) varied in timing from year to year for both species and (c) were strongly influenced by abundance. Generally, sample estimates of abundance and commercial catch rates (CPUE) showed similar trends. Differences between the two may have been due to changes in targeted commercial effort in this multi-species fishery.


1985 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 989-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Winters ◽  
J. P. Wheeler

The relationship between commercial catch-rates and population density upon which many stock assessment models depend assumes that stock area (A) is constant and independent of population abundance. Starting from a theoretical demonstration that the catchability coefficient (q) is inversely proportional to A, we establish the empirical basis of this relationship through comparisons of q and A of various Northwest Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus) stocks and, in more detail, for Fortune Bay herring. For these stocks the relationship was of the form q = cA−b. For Atlantic herring stocks, levels of b were in excess of 0.80. In Fortune Bay herring, reductions in abundance were accompanied by proportional reductions in A, which in turn was inversely correlated with changes in q. School size, measured as catch per set, also declined as population levels declined but the change was not proportional. Published findings indicate that pelagic stocks in particular, and fish stocks in general, exhibit a common response of reductions in A with interactive increases in the q during periods of rapid population decline. We conclude that the conventional assumption of a constant stock area is usually violated due to the systematic interaction between A and population abundance which is reflected in an inverse relationship between stock abundance and q. Calibration of sequential population models should therefore be restricted to research vessel data collected in a standard manner and covering the distributional area of the stock.


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