Volume 77
Overcoming common challenges in fishery-independent surveys in the U.S. Caribbean
Authors
Laura Jay W. Grove, Dione W. Swanson, Jeremiah Blondeau, Tyler B. Smith, Jerald S. Ault, and Steven G. Smith Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2024
Event: Proceedings of the Seventy-Seventh Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Gosier
Country: Guadeloupe, French West Indies
Abstract
In the U.S. Caribbean, long-term declines in reef fish populations have been attributed to overexploitation. As a result of these declines, fisheries managers have been tasked with using the few regional fisheries-dependent and fisheries-independent datasets available to provide recommendations and set sustainable fishing regulations. To further complicate matters, the few available datasets to inform management decisions have been spatially restricted, temporally limited, and/or use different gears limiting comparability among surveys. To address these issues, it was recommended that large-scale survey(s) be created and/or modified to meet the SouthEast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) stock assessment needs in the U.S. Caribbean (Cass-Calay et al. 2015).