Bycatch Data

The FIN bycatch monitoring program will be a coast-wide program (Texas, through Florida, Puerto Rico and U. S. Virgin Islands) to include all living marine resources in estuarine, inshore and offshore waters. The data elements for the commercial fisheries are listed in Table 11 of the FPDD. Data should be collected from all U. S. fishing vessels leaving from and landing at Gulf and Caribbean ports, including shore-based and fishing operations. The program should be conducted throughout the year and will include commercial, recreational, and the for-hire fisheries.

The bycatch program will include quantitative and qualitative data collection components. The quantitative component includes an at-sea observer program for selected commercial and for-hire fisheries as well as the existing data o the number of released and discarded finfish species through existing recreational intercept surveys. The qualitative bycatch program will include utilizing existing commercial, recreational and for-hire intercept programs to provide trend information as well as identify fisheries that need more in-depth study.

Release/discard data collected through the qualitative release/discard monitoring program will be use to identify and prioritize fisheries requiring collection of additional bycatch data through quantitative methods.

FIN has begun the collection of bycatch for the head boat fishery in Alabama and Florida. The effort data will be collected via the Telephone For-Hire Survey where the states conduct weekly telephone calls to a 25% random sample of the Alabama and Florida head boat captains to obtain estimates of head boat fishing effort. The catch and bycatch data are collected via at-sea sampling; where the states conduct an at-sea sampling survey of approximately 10%of the trips made by for-hire vessels, using the protocols established by FIN.

To characterize the bycatch for the various commercial, for-hire and recreational fisheries in the Southeast Region.

See: Sampling Procedures

P. O. Box 726

Ocean Springs, MS 39566-0726

Phone 228-875-5912 , Fax 228-875-6604