Abstract

The Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean basins are surrounded by 41 territories comprising parts or all of 28 independent nations. The fisheries management regimes in place across those jurisdictions are highly variable and are supported by variable data streams, with varying degrees of efficacy in implementation and enforcement, and with varying degrees of coordination within and between those jurisdictions (Singh 2008, Salas et al 2011). Recommended strategies for improving data-poor stock assessments are generally predicated on limited entry and rights-based management, conditions that provide incentives for engagement of the fishing community in collaborative research (CFMC/Fisheries Forum 2011). These conditions do not exist uniformly across the Gulf and Caribbean regions, suggesting that the implementation of these recommended strategies will meet with mixed results. One recommended strategy is to maximize the utility of existing fishing community information or academic information for background on fisheries. Another is to evaluate current management actions such as seasonal closures, spawning aggregation closures, or marine protected areas (MPAs). Other recommended strategies involve collection and augmentation of data from, and leveraging resources between, existing or ongoing fisheries dependent and fisheries independent sampling (e.g., size- and length-based studies representative of specific fisheries; data collection techniques that account for 100% of mortality of the species being assessed; biological data and sample collection from as high a percentage of the catch as possible; improvements to fisher reporting forms to be specific to locations, gear, effort, catch and bycatch species, etc.; and incorporation of fisher sampling using consistent areas and gears into fishery independent data sets). A final category of recommended strategies involves localized development and application of management tools to determine appropriate harvest control and sustainability targets, such as iterative annual catch limits that develop from precautionary levels to science-based levels as better or more data is collected over time, the spawning potential ratio (SPR) approach, decision trees to determine sustainable yields, surplus production models, and Ecological Risk Assessments for the Effects of Fishing (ERAEF) (CFMC/Fisheries Forum, 2011). Applying these strategies requires access to of a range of data and/or management tools, and the present analysis comparatively evaluates the potential to implement recommended strategies for improving data-limited stock assessments by identifying the availabilities of those data and management tools across the various jurisdictions in the Caribbean region.

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