In iantaylor-NOAA/Lingcod_2021: Estimate the Status of Lingcod off the US West Coast in 2021

Foreign fisheries

Alaskan fisheries for r spp may not be foreign, but given that they are managed external to the \gls{pfmc}, we summarize them here along with information regarding Canadian and Mexican fisheries for r spp.

r Spp fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska are managed in state waters by the State of Alaska Board of Fisheries and in federal waters by the \gls{npfmc}, though no formal stock assessment exists for r spp in Alaskan waters. Commercial fisheries are restricted by catch and bycatch quotas. The sport fishery is restricted by daily bag and possession limits. r Spp are a non-target species in the subsistence fishery.

r Spp in western Canada are managed under the \gls{bcigfp} by \gls{dfo} for take by First Nations, the commercial sector, and the recreational sector. Beginning in 1997, the \gls{bcigfp} implemented an individual vessel quota program that now incorporates all commercially-caught trawl and hook-and-line groundfish. Stocks in distinct management areas are regularly assessed, with the most recent assessment of r spp in outer British Columbia waters occurring in 2011 [@lingcodbcstockassessment2011] and in the Strait of Georgia in 2014 [@lingcodbcstockassessment2016].

The 2011 outer British Columbia assessment [@lingcodbcstockassessment2011] implemented a Bayesian surplus production model to assess the status of r spp in four assessment areas. Overall the stock appears to have remained stable between 1927-1970, declined until 1980, increased until 1990, and has continued to decline since then. However, at no time has the stock been estimated to have been below target reference points.

The assessment of the resource as of 2014 [@lingcodbcstockassessment2016] implemented a two-sex Bayesian statistical catch-at-age model. The stock was estimated to have declined between 1927 and the late 1980s. This was followed by a slow increase between 1990 and 2014. Spawning biomass in 2014 was estimated to be greater than the spawning biomass at the start of the current management regime during 2006 but likely still in a precautionary management zone.

r Spp are known to inhabit waters off the coast of Baja California, including Ensenada and Bahia de Todo Santos, as far south as Punta San Carlos, Baja California (https://mexican-fish.com/lingcod/). There are some specimens held at Scripps Institute of Oceanography that document its distribution along Baja California [@rosales-casian2003] to Bahia San Quintin [@aristapalacios2018] and the Cedros archipelago [@ramirez-valdez2015]. But, the National Fisheries Registry that lists fisheries within Mexican waters does not list r spp. Multiple researchers reported that r spp is fished off Baja California using harpoons (pers. comm., H.N. Morzaria Luna, \gls{nwfsc}) but not being recorded at the species level and instead perhaps under a general finfish permit. Though, it is listed as bycatch of the rockfish (rocotes; scorpinidae) fishery in the National Fisheries Charter, which contains the management framework for species that are commercially fished. There are no known stock assessments for r spp off the coast of Mexico.

Southern California recreational fishers have reported fishing in Mexican waters and landing fish in U.S. ports. The Declaration For Entry Into California of Game, Fish, Birds Or Animals represents a potential future source of information for documenting catches that occur off the coast of Mexico but are landed in California. Anglers are required to fill out the report prior to entering U.S. waters but it is not clear if this information is currently included in RecFIN.

iantaylor-NOAA/Lingcod_2021 documentation built on Oct. 30, 2024, 6:42 p.m.