(Tetrapturus Albidus) Released from Commercial Pelagic Longline Gear in the Western North
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ART & EQUATIONS ARE LINKED 434 Abstract—To estimate postrelease Survival of white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) survival of white marlin (Tetraptu- rus albidus) caught incidentally in released from commercial pelagic longline gear regular commercial pelagic longline fishing operations targeting sword- in the western North Atlantic* fish and tunas, short-duration pop- up satellite archival tags (PSATs) David W. Kerstetter were deployed on captured animals for periods of 5−43 days. Twenty John E. Graves (71.4%) of 28 tags transmitted data Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the preprogrammed time, includ- College of William and Mary ing one tag that separated from the Route 1208 Greate Road fish shortly after release and was Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 omitted from subsequent analyses. Present address (for D. W. Kerstetter): Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies Transmitted data from 17 of 19 Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science tags were consistent with survival University of Miami of those animals for the duration of 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway the tag deployment. Postrelease sur- Miami, Florida 33149 vival estimates ranged from 63.0% E-mail address (for D. W. Kerstetter): [email protected] (assuming all nontransmitting tags were evidence of mortality) to 89.5% (excluding nontransmitting tags from the analysis). These results indi- cate that white marlin can survive the trauma resulting from interac- White marlin (Tetrapturus albidus incidental catch of the international tion with pelagic longline gear, and Poey 1860) is an istiophorid billfish pelagic longline fishery, which targets indicate that current domestic and species widely distributed in tropi- tunas (Thunnus spp.) and swordfish international management measures cal and temperate waters through- (Xiphias gladius). Although white requiring the release of live white marlin from this fishery will reduce out the Atlantic Ocean, including the marlin catches in the pelagic long- fishing mortality on the Atlantic-wide Caribbean Sea. There is substantial line fishery are relatively rare, the stock. international concern regarding the fishery accounts for the majority of population levels of this species. The the total fishing mortality on this standing committee for research and species simply because of the sheer statistics (SCRS) of the International magnitude of pelagic longline effort Commission for the Conservation of exerted throughout the Atlantic (IC- Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) last assessed CAT, 2005). the Atlantic-wide stock of white marlin Both domestic and international in 2002 and in its continuity-case management measures are currently assessment the committee indicated a in effect for white marlin. The U.S. total biomass of approximately 12% of recreational fishery is managed with that necessary to produce maximum a 66ʺ lower jaw-fork length federal sustainable yield. It was also esti- minimum size and a binding ICCAT mated that the current international recommendation that limits the an- fishing mortality level for this species nual U.S. recreational landings to a is equivalent to more than eight times total of 250 blue marlin (Makaira ni- the replacement yield, contributing to gricans) and white marlin combined further decline of the overfished stock (ICCAT, 2000). U.S. commercial fish- (ICCAT, 2005). ermen have been prohibited from Both recreational and commercial landing or possessing white mar- fisheries contribute to the mortality lin since the implementation of the of white marlin. A directed recre- National Marine Fisheries Service ational fishery exists throughout the (NMFS) Fishery Management Plan tropical and temperate Atlantic (with for Atlantic Billfish (NMFS, 1988). considerable effort off the coasts of ICCAT has responded twice to the Brazil and Venezuela), as well as off decreasing biomass of white marlin the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast, and there and blue marlin by adopting binding is a growing trend towards catch- Manuscript submitted 7 March 2005 and-release practices in all directed to the Scientific Editor’s Office. recreational billfish fisheries. In con- * Contribution 2695 from the Virginia Manuscript approved for publication trast to the catches by this directed Institute of Marine Science, College of 6 Ocotber 2005 by the Scientific Editor. recreational effort, white marlin are William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA Fish. 104:434–444 (2006). an infrequent bycatch or a retained 23062. PREFLIGHT GOOD TO GO Kerstetter and Graves: Survival of Tetrapturus albidus after release from longline gear 435 recommendations requiring reductions in commercial lease survival in several larger istiophorid species, in- landings by both pelagic longline and purse seine gears cluding blue marlin in the Atlantic (Graves et al., 2002; (ICCAT, 2000, 2001a). However, these reductions in Kerstetter et al., 2003) and striped marlin in the Pacific landings by themselves may ultimately be insufficient (Domeier et al., 2003). Only recently have PSATs been to rebuild these two marlin stocks. Goodyear (2002a) attached to smaller (<40 kg) istiophorid billfishes. Horo- found that a reduction of 60% would be necessary to dysky and Graves (2005) used PSATs to evaluate the halt the decline of blue marlin, a species which is more postrelease survival of white marlin from recreation- abundant, larger, and presumably more robust to the al (rod-and-reel) fishing gear and demonstrated that trauma associated with commercial capture (Kerstet- smaller billfish (≥16 kg estimated weight) can carry ter et al., 2003). Given that white marlin are smaller PSATs. Their work also suggested high postrelease animals, and that the stock is more depleted than that survival rates in the recreational fishery, especially for of blue marlin, even more drastic measures are likely fish caught on circle hooks. However, pelagic longline necessary to achieve the same management goal for gear presents a different suite of stressors during cap- this species. ture of an animal than does recreational gear. These Because the pelagic longline fishery accounts for the differences, including long “soak times” (the length of majority of white marlin mortality, understanding the time in each deployment of the gear that the longline nature of billfish interactions with this gear is criti- is fishing), may also affect postrelease survival rates. cal to developing effective strategies to reduce fishing In our study, we applied PSAT technology to estimate mortality. Jackson and Farber (1998) reported that the short-term mortality of white marlin released alive 56% of white marlin caught in the Venezuelan longline after capture on pelagic longline gear. fishery between 1987 and 1995 were alive at the time of haulback. Data from the U.S. observer program and mandatory pelagic longline logbook records indicate Materials and methods that 71% of white marlin were released alive from U.S. commercial pelagic longline gear between 1996 and Fishing operations 1998 (Cramer1). ICCAT has long been encouraging the release of live white marlin through both binding and White marlin tagging took place off the east coast of nonbinding resolutions (ICCAT, 1995, 1996). More re- Florida (FL), the southwest edge of Georges Bank (GB), cently, the commission has approved binding recommen- the Yucatan Channel (YC), the Windward Passage (WP), dations that require the release of all live white marlin and the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MA). These locations are all caught by purse seine and pelagic longline vessels (IC- waters traditionally fished by the U.S. pelagic longline CAT, 1997, 2001b). However, those animals released fleet. All tagging operations occurred opportunistically alive must have a reasonable probability of survival for aboard the commercial pelagic longline fishing vessel such management measures to be ultimately effective. FV Carol Ann (54ʹ length-over-all) between June 2002 The assessment of postrelease survival presents spe- and August 2004. This vessel is typical in size and is cial problems for large pelagic fishes, which are rarely equipped for targeting swordfish, mixed swordfish, and capable of being held in captivity (de Sylva et al., 2000). tuna within the U.S. coastal pelagic longline fishery. In general, recovery rates of billfish tagged with con- Hook types and sizes were also typical for the fishery ventional streamer tags by commercial and recreational and included 7/0 and 9/0 offset J-style hooks (ca. 15º fishermen have been quite low (0.4−1.83%: Prince et al., offset; Eagle Claw model no. 9016 or Mustad model no. 2003; Ortiz et al., 2003). Although this observation is 7698), 16/0 non-offset circle hooks (Mustad models no. consistent with high postrelease mortality, low recovery 39660 or no. 39666), and 18/0 non-offset circle hooks rates could also result from tag shedding and from tags (Lindgren-Pitman, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL). Adjusted that fail to transmit data (Bayley and Prince, 1994; seasonally, individual leader lengths were 7.5 fathoms Jones and Prince, 1998). The results of acoustic track- (ca. 13.7 m) in the fall northern fishery targeting tuna ing studies of various billfish species (e.g., striped mar- and 15 fathoms (ca. 27.4 m) in the spring southern fish- lin [Tetrapturus audax]: Brill et al., 1993; blue marlin: ery for swordfish; this adjustment is standard practice Block et al., 1992; and black marlin [Makaira indica]: within the fleet (O’Neill2). Individual leader lengths Pepperell and Davis, 1999) captured on recreational comprised a two-fathom “tail” separated from the rest gear indicate that postrelease survival over periods of of the leader by a 28-g leaded swivel—a configuration a few hours to a few days is relatively high, although commonly used in this fishery to reduce tangles with mortalities have been observed in short-term tracking other leaders or the mainline. Varying the length of the studies. Recently, pop-up satellite archival tag (PSAT) lines (“buoy drops”) connecting the mainline with the technology has proven especially useful to study postre- small buoy floats on the surface also allows the gear to fish at different depths. Many captains will use two buoy drop lengths in the beginning of a trip to ascertain 1 Cramer, J.