Questionnaire Report for Snowy grouper
(MERA version 4.1.6)
Brett van Poorten (brett.vanpoorten@gmail.com)
2019-06-28
1 About this document
This is a prototype of an automatic report that documents how the user specified the operating model and their various justifications.
2 Introduction
Describe the history and current status of the fishery, including fleets, sectors, vessel types and practices/gear by vessel type, landing ports, economics/markets, whether targeted/bycatch, other stocks caught in the fishery. Snowy Grouper landings data appeared to be incomplete prior to 1986. Prior to 1990, 600,000 - 12,000,000 pounds whole weight of unclassified grouper were landed each year. Species-specific reporting improved beginning in 1990 when less than 300,000 pounds of unclassified grouper were landed. (SEDAR 46) The Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan was implemented in November 1984. The regulations, designed to rebuild declining reef fish stocks, included: (1) prohibitions on the use of fish traps, roller trawls, and powerhead-equipped spear guns within an inshore stressed area; and, (2) data reporting requirements. There was a 5 grouper recreational aggregate limit from 1990-2009; after 2009, aggregate limits were dropped to 4. Unsure what commercial catch limits were prior to 2005. In 2005 (March-August), there was a 10,000 lb gw TAC (Emergency rule); September-December 31 2005 was 7,500 lb gw TAC (Temporary rule); 2006-2009 there was a 6,000 lb gw TAC (Regulatory amendment); thereafter they were managed using IFQ
Describe the stock’s ecosystem functions, dependencies, and habitat types. Snowy grouper adults live at depths from 30-525m, but typically between 100-200m. Adults spawn on hard structures, particularly at the shelf edge (Sedberry et al. 2006); juveniles live inshore in shallow areas (Heemstra and Randall 1993). Adults typically consume gastropods, cephalopods, and brachyuran crustaceans (Heemstra and Randall 1993)
Provide all relevant reference materials, such as assessments, research, and other analysis. Bertoncini, A.A., Ferreira, B. & Aguilar-Perera, A. 2018. Hyporthodus niveatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T7861A46909546. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T7861A46909546.en. Heemstra, P.C. and Randall, J.E. 1993. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 16. Groupers of the world (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. FAO, Rome. Sedberry, G.R., Pashuk, O. Wyanski, D.M., Stephen, J.A. and P. Weinbach. 2006. Spawning Locations for Atlantic Reef Fishes off the Southeastern U.S. 57th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute 57: 463-514. Report of the Gulf of Mexico SSC Review of the SEDAR 49 Data-Limited Species Assessment. 2016. Gulf of Mexico Data - limited Species: Red Drum, Lane Snapper, Wenchman, Yellowmouth Grouper, Speckled Hind, Snowy Grouper, Almaco Jack, Lesser Amberjack
3 Fishery Characteristics
3.1 Longevity
| Answered |
|---|
| Very short-lived (5 < maximum age < 7) |
| Short-lived (7 < maximum age < 10) |
| Moderate life span (10 < maximum age < 20) |
| Moderately long-lived (20 < maximum age < 40) |
| Long-lived (40 < maximum age < 80) |
| Very long-lived (80 < maximum age < 160) |
| Justification |
|---|
| “A maximum age of 35 (SEDAR 2013) was chosen even though Kowal (2010) reported a maximum age of 44 y. Kowal (2010) only reported two fish older than 35 y.” (SEDAR 49) |
3.2 Stock depletion
| Answered |
|---|
| Crashed (D < 0.05) |
| Very depleted (0.05 < D < 0.1) |
| Depleted (0.1 < D < 0.15) |
| Moderately depleted (0.15 < D < 0.3) |
| Healthy (0.3 < D < 0.5) |
| Underexploited (0.5 < D) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Catch has increased in the 90s-2000s, but no information on spawning stock biomass. |
3.3 Resilence
| Answered |
|---|
| Not resilient (steepness < 0.3) |
| Low resilience (0.3 < steepness < 0.5) |
| Moderate resilence (0.5 < steepness < 0.7) |
| Resilient (0.7 < steepness < 0.9) |
| Very Resilient (0.9 < steepness) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Steepness has not been estimated. In the South Atlantic, the stock assessment (SEDAR 2013) fixed steepness at 0.84 based on meta-analysis because it could not be estimated. Previous assessment of that stock fixed steepness at 0.7. |
3.4 Historical effort pattern
| Answered |
|---|
| Stable |
| Two-phase |
| Boom-bust |
| Gradual increases |
| Stable, recent increases |
| Stable, recent declines |
| Justification |
|---|
| Longline effort (longline trips reported in logbooks) is considered a relatively reliable index of overall effort. Effort increased (shown in Snowy grouper catch.xlsx) in the early 90s, stabilized and dropped sharply in the mid 2000s (it has recently been recovering). |
3.5 Inter-annual variability in historical effort
| Answered |
|---|
| Not variable (less than 20% inter-annual change (IAC)) |
| Variable (maximum IAC between 20% to 50%) |
| Highly variable (maximum IAC between 50% and 100%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Effort shown in Snowy grouper catch.xlsx. Interannual variance is moderate. |
3.6 Historical fishing efficiency changes
| Answered |
|---|
| Declining by 2-3% pa (halves every 25-35 years) |
| Declining by 1-2% pa (halves every 35-70 years) |
| Stable -1% to 1% pa (may halve/double every 70 years) |
| Increasing by 1-2% pa (doubles every 35-70 years) |
| Increasing by 2-3% pa (doubles every 25-35 years) |
| Justification |
|---|
| There is no information on how fishing efficiency has changed over time. |
3.7 Future fishing efficiency changes
| Answered |
|---|
| Declining by 2-3% pa (halves every 25-35 years) |
| Declining by 1-2% pa (halves every 35-70 years) |
| Stable -1% to 1% pa (may halve/double every 70 years) |
| Increasing by 1-2% pa (doubles every 35-70 years) |
| Increasing by 2-3% pa (doubles every 25-35 years) |
| Justification |
|---|
| There is no indication that fishing effort should change in the future. |
3.8 Length at maturity
| Answered |
|---|
| Very small (0.4 < LM < 0.5) |
| Small (0.5 < LM < 0.6) |
| Moderate (0.6 < LM < 0.7) |
| Moderate to large (0.7 < LM < 0.8) |
| Large (0.8 < LM < 0.9) |
| Justification |
|---|
| SEDAR 49 assumed L50 of 600mm, relative to L-infinity of 1065mm. This L50 was termed a ‘best guess’. |
3.9 Selectivity of small fish
| Answered |
|---|
| Very small (0.1 < S < 0.2) |
| Small (0.2 < S < 0.4) |
| Half asymptotic length (0.4 < S < 0.6) |
| Large (0.6 < S < 0.8) |
| Very large (0.8 < S < 0.9) |
| Justification |
|---|
| SEDAR 49 assessed full selectivity starting at 42 cm and increasing to full selectivity by 58 cm. |
3.10 Selectivity of large fish
| Answered |
|---|
| Asymptotic selectivity (SL = 1) |
| Declining selectivity with length (0.75 < SL < 1) |
| Dome-shaped selectivity (0.25 < SL < 0.75) |
| Strong dome-shaped selectivity (SL < 0.25) |
| Justification |
|---|
| SEDAR 49 assessed selectivity as asymptotic. |
3.11 Discard rate
| Answered |
|---|
| Low (DR < 1%) |
| Low - moderate (1% < DR < 10%) |
| Moderate (10% < DR < 30%) |
| Moderate - high (30% < DR < 50%) |
| High (50% < DR < 70%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Snowy grouper are rarely caught in shrimp fisheries; bycatch in longline and vertical line fisheries is typically <1% (based on Table 3.8.14 in SEDAR 49 and Snowy Grouper catch.xlsx, which itself is redrawn from Table 3.8.6 in SEDAR 49). |
3.12 Post-release mortality rate
| Answered |
|---|
| Low (PRM < 5%) |
| Low - moderate (5% < PRM < 25%) |
| Moderate (25% < PRM < 50%) |
| Moderate - high (50% < PRM < 75%) |
| High (75% < PRM < 95%) |
| Almost all die (95% < PRM < 100%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Not measured, but assumed to be at or near 100% (SEDAR 49). See also Stephen and Harris 2010, which estimate release mortality at 100% based on n=1. |
3.13 Recruitment variability
| Answered |
|---|
| Very low (less than 10% inter-annual changes (IAC)) |
| Low (max IAC of between 20% and 60%) |
| Moderate (max IAC of between 60% and 120%) |
| High (max IAC of between 120% and 180%) |
| Very high (max IAC greater than 180%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Not estimated; fixed at 0.55 in SEDAR 49 based on SEDAR 2013 and Adams et al. 2016. |
3.14 Size of an existing MPA
| Answered |
|---|
| None |
| Small (A < 5%) |
| Small-moderate (5% < A < 10%) |
| Moderate (10% < A < 20%) |
| Large (20% < A < 30%) |
| Very large (30% < A < 40%) |
| Huge (40% < A < 50%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Several areas are closed, either seasonally or permanently (see Section 2.5, SEDAR 49), but I’m not sure the spatial extent of these areas. |
3.15 Spatial mixing (movement) in/out of existing MPA
| Answered |
|---|
| Very low (P < 1%) |
| Low (1% < P < 5%) |
| Moderate (5% < P < 10%) |
| High (10% < P < 20%) |
| Fully mixed |
| Justification |
|---|
| This is a reef fish, and therefore mixing among areas is likely low. Other grouper species have low mixing rates and small home range sizes (Sullivan, K. M., and R. Sluka. “The ecology of shallow-water groupers (Pisces: Serranidae) in the upper Florida Keys, USA.” Biology, fisheries and culture of tropical groupers and snappers. ICLARM Conf Proc. Vol. 48. 1996.) |
3.16 Size of a future potential MPA
| Answered |
|---|
| None |
| Small (A < 5%) |
| Small-moderate (5% < A < 10%) |
| Moderate (10% < A < 20%) |
| Large (20% < A < 30%) |
| Very large (30% < A < 40%) |
| Huge (40% < A < 50%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No changes to spatial closures found. |
3.17 Spatial mixing (movement) in/out of future potential MPA
| Answered |
|---|
| Very low (P < 1%) |
| Low (1% < P < 5%) |
| Moderate (5% < P < 10%) |
| High (10% < P < 20%) |
| Fully mixed |
| Justification |
|---|
| No justification was provided |
3.18 Initial stock depletion
| Answered |
|---|
| Very low (0.1 < D1 < 0.15) |
| Low (0.15 < D1 < 0.3) |
| Moderate (0.3 < D < 0.5) |
| High (0.5 < D1) |
| Asymptotic unfished levels (D1 = 1) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No estimates of depletion available. |
4 Management Characteristics
4.1 Types of fishery management that are possible
| Answered |
|---|
| TAC (Total Allowable Catch): a catch limit |
| TAE (Total Allowable Effort): an effort limit |
| Size limit |
| Time-area closures (a marine reserve) |
| Justification |
|---|
|
1. Describe what, if any, current management measures are used to constrain catch/effort. Commercial TAC is in the form of IFQ; Recreational TAC is implemented as a 4 fish daily individual aggregate grouper limit. Although fisheries closures have been called in the past, none are currently in place Several spatial closures are implemented, either for specific gear types or for all fisheries, depending on the areas. These may be either permanent, or time-area closures No size limits in place 2. Describe historical management measures, if any. “The Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan was implemented in November 1984. The regulations, designed to rebuild declining reef fish stocks, included: (1) prohibitions on the use of fish traps, roller trawls, and powerhead-equipped spear guns within an inshore stressed area; and, (2) data reporting requirements.” (SEDAR 49) Trip have declined from over 10,000 lbs in 2005 to 6,000 lbs in 2009. 3. Describe main strengths and weaknesses of current monitoring and enforcement capacity. There are several fishery-independent monitoring programs which are generally well coordinated. These include the SEAMAP summer groundfish survey, the MSLABS small pelagics survey, the SEAMAP reef fish video survey, and the DISL bottom longline survey. Each of these are relatively standardized and collaborative across agencies. There are also several fishery-dependent surveys. Headboat survey - mandatory logbook reporting which is subsampled. 100% compliance is rare Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) was started in 1981. It collects information on catch and effort by 2-month ‘waves’ for all states except Texas for most fishing modes (except deadbeats, which are captured above) and all areas (inshore, state waters and US EEZ). Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) was developed to account for biases in MRFSS. It does not account for the full time-series (it started in 2012), so comparisons with MRFSS are necessary to standardize. 4. Describe and reference any legal/policy requirements for management, monitoring and enforcement. |
4.2 TAC offset: consistent overages/underages
| Answered |
|---|
| Large underages (40% - 70% of recommended) |
| Underages (70% - 90% of recommended) |
| Slight underages (90% - 100% of recommended) |
| Taken exactly (95% - 105% of recommended) |
| Slight overages (100% - 110% of recommended) |
| Overages (110% - 150% of recommended) |
| Large overages (150% - 200% of recommended) |
| Justification |
|---|
|
“From 2004 to 2009, landings for the deep water grouper complex exceeded the annual catch target by 5% to 22% (NMFS 2017c). However, harvester compliance has been excellent since implementation of the deep water grouper IFQ program in 2010. From 2010 to 2016, landings have ranged from 59.4% to 97.4% of the specified catch target, with all but one year remaining below 90% of the target (NMFS 2017c).” (https://www.fishsource.org/fishery_page/4602) Quota are now generally undercaught, but the rate varies by fishery. See Table 7.1.1 in Grouper Tilefish IFQ Review 2018.pdf |
4.3 TAC implementation variability
| Answered |
|---|
| Constant (V < 1%) |
| Not variable (1% < V < 5%) |
| Low variability (5% < V < 10%) |
| Variable (10% < V < 20%) |
| Highly variable (20% < V < 40%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| IFQ has been in place since 2010. Total quota varies by approximately 20% (based on numbers in Table 7.1.1 - Grouper and Tilefish IFQ Review 2018.pdf |
4.4 TAE offset: consistent overages/underages
| Answered |
|---|
| Large underages (40% - 70% of recommended) |
| Underages (70% - 90% of recommended) |
| Slight underages (90% - 100% of recommended) |
| Taken exactly (95% - 105% of recommended) |
| Slight overages (100% - 110% of recommended) |
| Overages (110% - 150% of recommended) |
| Large overages (150% - 200% of recommended) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No TAE |
4.5 TAE implementation variability
| Answered |
|---|
| Constant (V < 1%) |
| Not variable (1% < V < 5%) |
| Low variability (5% < V < 10%) |
| Variable (10% < V < 20%) |
| Highly variable (20% < V < 40%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No TAE |
4.6 Size limit offset: consistent overages/underages
| Answered |
|---|
| Much smaller (40% - 70% of recommended) |
| Smaller (70% - 90% of recommended) |
| Slightly smaller (90% - 100% of recommended) |
| Taken exactly (95% - 105% of recommended) |
| Slightly larger (100% - 110% of recommended) |
| Larger (110% - 150% of recommended) |
| Much larger (150% - 200% of recommended) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No size limits |
4.7 Size limit implementation variability
| Answered |
|---|
| Constant (V < 1%) |
| Not variable (1% < V < 5%) |
| Low variability (5% < V < 10%) |
| Variable (10% < V < 20%) |
| Highly variable (20% < V < 40%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No size limits |
5 Data Characteristics
5.1 Available data types
| Answered |
|---|
| Historical annual catches (from unfished) |
| Recent annual catches (at least 5 recent years) |
| Historical relative abundance index (from unfished) |
| Recent relative abundance index (at least 5 recent years) |
| Fishing effort |
| Size composition (length samples) |
| Age composition (age samples) |
| Growth (growth parameters) |
| Absolute biomass survey |
| Justification |
|---|
|
1. Provide the time series (specify years, if possible) that exist for catch, effort, and CPUE/abundance indices. Commercial landings data is reasonably complete after 1990, when less than 300,000 lb are classified as ‘unclassified grouper’. These landings consist of data across multiple commercial fisheries; although some data are classified, the aggregate totals are included Commercial bycatch are considered negligible as they are rarely captured in shrimp fisheries Recreational landings data are available since 1982, both in numbers and lbs (Tables 4.8.2 and 4.8.3 in SEDAR 49, respectively). They are summarized in Figure 5.5.5. Recreational discards data are available since 1990 Fishing effort is indexed from the commercial longline trips reported in logbooks - this data is available since 1993. Size composition data are available since 1990 based on the commercial longline data Age composition are available based from 1984 to 2004 (or later) from the handline and longline fisheries. Annual samples range from 0-87 and 19-328, respectively, and therefore, age composition data are not used in SEDAR 49. Growth parameters SEDAR 49 recommends: Linfinity of 1064mm +/- 65 based on SEDAR 2013 and Kowal 2010; K of 0.094 +/- 0.021; t0 of -2.88 +/- 0.95 2. Describe how these data collected (e.g., log books, dealer reporting, observers). Commercial fisheries data are collected from log books. Size distribution is collected from port sampling. Recreational fisheries data are available from MRFSS and MRIP surveys, Southeast Regional Headboat Survey, Louisiana Creel Survey and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 3. Describe what types of sampling programs and methodologies exist for data collection, including the time-series of available sampling data and quality. Unknown 4. Describe all sources of uncertainty in the status, biology, life history and data sources of the fishery. Include links to documentation, reports. Most data come from Kowal 2010 and all are reported in SEDAR 49. |
5.2 Catch reporting bias
| Answered |
|---|
| Strong under-reporting (30% - 50%) |
| Under-reporting (10% - 30%) |
| Slight under-reporting (less than 10%) |
| Reported accurately (+/- 5%) |
| Slight over-reporting (less than 10%) |
| Justification |
|---|
| Reporting is mandatory through the IFQ program. No information is available on reporting compliance (MBA SeafoodWatch Grouper Report.pdf). Compliance of headboat captains is thought to be low. |
5.3 Hyperstability in indices
| Answered |
|---|
| Strong hyperdepletion (2 < Beta < 3) |
| Hyperdepletion (1.25 < Beta < 2) |
| Proportional (0.8 < Beta < 1.25) |
| Hyperstability (0.5 < Beta < 0.8) |
| Strong hyperstability (0.33 < Beta < 0.5) |
| Justification |
|---|
| No information is available. There is no fishery-independent survey used, though some poor datasets exist. The existing index (logbook) has the potential for a non-linear relationship with abundance and it is recommended to explore this. |
5.4 Available data types
| Answered |
|---|
| Perfect |
| Good (accurate and precise) |
| Data moderate (some what inaccurate and imprecise) |
| Data poor (inaccurate and imprecise) |
| Justification |
|---|
|
Overall, there is little concern with catch data, which is assessed as having ~12% uncertainty. The abundance index is based on logbooks. It is unknown how accurate this is, though it is backed up with onboard observers, which helps improve estimates in recent years. Length composition are reasonable in numbers, but are from the South Atlantic, which may create some bias. Age composition were too few per year to use. |
6 Version Notes
The package is subject to ongoing testing. If you find a bug or a problem please send a report to t.carruthers@oceans.ubc.ca so that it can be fixed!
shiny-2019-06-28-20:39:41
Open Source, GPL-2 2019