Project Operational Plan Small-Mesh Bottom Trawl Survey of Shrimp and Forage Fishes: Kodiak, Chignik, and South Peninsula Districts
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PROJECT OPERATIONAL PLAN SMALL-MESH BOTTOM TRAWL SURVEY OF SHRIMP AND FORAGE FISHES: KODIAK, CHIGNIK, AND SOUTH PENINSULA DISTRICTS by David R. Jackson Regional Information Report1 No. 4K03-47 Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 211 Mission Road Kodiak, Alaska, 99615 September 2003 1 The Regional Information Report Series was established in 1987 to provide an information access system for all unpublished division reports. These reports frequently serve diverse ad hoc informational purposes or archive basic uninterpreted data. To accommodate timely reporting of recently collected information, reports in this series undergo only limited internal review and may contain preliminary data; this information may be subsequently finalized and published in the formal literature. Consequently, these reports should not be cited without prior approval of the author or the Division of Commercial Fisheries. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Acknowledgements extend to fisheries biologists Leslie Watson, Mike Ruccio, and Carrie Worton for previous versions of the same document. Their work provided the backbone for this project. Also thanks to publications specialist Lucinda Neel for help with report formatting and preparation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................. i LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ ii LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................. 2 OBJECTIVES......................................................................................................................... 3 METHODS............................................................................................................................. 4 Trawl Description and Procedures................................................................................ 4 Catch Sampling............................................................................................................ 4 Adult Pacific Cod and Walleye Pollock Haul Sampling ................................................. 5 Handling the Subsample ............................................................................................... 5 Groundfish and Invertebrate Subsampling......................................................... 6 Shrimp Sampling.............................................................................................. 7 Forage Fish Sampling....................................................................................... 8 Problem Sampling Scenarios........................................................................................ 9 Fish Measurements...................................................................................................... 10 Rock Sole Identification............................................................................................... 10 Pacific Cod Tagging..................................................................................................... 10 QTC ViewTM Seabed Classification............................................................................. 11 THE DATABASE................................................................................................................... 12 Downloading the Polycorder........................................................................................ 12 Entering Catch Data..................................................................................................... 13 Temperature Data Logger............................................................................................ 13 Data Forms ................................................................................................................. 14 SURVEY EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST.................................................................................. 14 Sampling Equipment..................................................................................................... 14 QTC ViewTM Equipment ............................................................................................. 15 LITERATURE CITED............................................................................................................ 16 TABLE ................................................................................................................................... 18 FIGURE.................................................................................................................................. 19 APPENDIX............................................................................................................................ 20 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Shrimp biomass indices from the Westward Region Shrimp Fishery Management Plan, 1982...................................................................................................................... 18 i LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Commercial shrimp fishing sections in the Kodiak, Chignik, and South Peninsula Districts of Westward Area J ....................................................................................... 19 ii LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page A. Station selection methodology and alternative station selection methodology. ........... 21 B.1. Rigging for the 61 foot ADF&G/NMFS small-mesh research trawl......................... 22 B.2. General net schematic of the 61 foot ADF&G/NMFS small-mesh research trawl...................................................................................................................... 23 B.3. Diagram of the wing tips and side panel of an ADF&G/NMFS small-mesh research trawl. ....................................................................................................... 24 B.4. Diagram of the intermediate and codend of an ADF&G/NMFS small-mesh research trawl. ....................................................................................................... 25 B.5. Diagram of the body construction of an ADF&G/NMFS small-mesh research trawl........................................................................................................ 26 C. Skipper trawl record form and shipboard instructions.............................................. 27 D. Shrimp survey region, area, and stratum codes........................................................ 29 E.1. Square mileage table, Kodiak District..................................................................... 33 E.2. Square mileage table, Chignik and South Peninsula Districts.................................... 34 E.3. Square mileage table for irregular survey stations, Kodiak District ........................... 35 F. Haul species composition form and shipboard instructions....................................... 38 G. Shrimp length frequency form and shipboard instructions......................................... 40 H. Length measurement of pandalid shrimp for the small-mesh trawl survey.................. 42 I. Methodology for sexing pandalid shrimp................................................................. 43 J. Shark, skate, roundfish, and flatfish length frequency measurement .......................... 47 K. Data Entry Program and Polycorder Instruction Manual.......................................... 48 L. Pacific Cod Tagging form and shipboard instructions............................................... 70 iii LIST OF APPENDICES (Cont.) Appendix Page M. Species list and NMFS Race Division species codes .............................................. 72 N. Temperature data logger instructions....................................................................... 74 iv ABSTRACT The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) will conduct small-mesh bottom trawl surveys of waters in the Gulf of Alaska around the Kodiak Island archipelago and adjacent to the Alaska Peninsula. Sample stations will be selected from survey grids and strata that have been utilized since the mid 1970s in the ADF&G shrimp research program. The sampling gear is an 18.6 m high opening research trawl with 3.1 cm stretch mesh throughout the mouth, body, and codend. The three bridle net will be towed for a standard distance of 1.85 km at each site. The first objective is assessment of the distribution and abundance of pandalid shrimp populations primarily northern pink shrimp Pandalus borealis, sidestriped shrimp Pandalopis dispar, and humpy shrimp Pandalus goniurus. Population estimates for shrimp will be calculated using an area swept technique and compared with established thresholds to determine the potential for commercial fishery openings. Secondary objectives include determining the species composition of the entire catch in survey hauls, obtaining length frequencies of commercially important shrimp and groundfish, generating relative density estimates for forage fish species and tagging Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus as part of a mark-recapture study. 1 INTRODUCTION Shrimp has been commercially harvested around Kodiak Island since 1958 and along the south side of the Alaska Peninsula since 1968. Total landings averaged more than 50 million pounds per year during the 1960s and 1970s.