SCRS/2005/064 Col. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 59(1): 315-322 (2006)
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SCRS/2005/064 Col. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 59(1): 315-322 (2006) STANDARDIZED CATCH RATES FOR WHITE MARLIN (TETRAPTURUS ALBIDUS) FROM THE VENEZUELAN ARTISANAL PELAGIC LONGLINE FISHERY OFF THE CARIBBEAN SEA AND ADJACENT AREAS: PERIOD 1992-2003 Freddy Arocha1, Asdrubal Larez2, Jesus Marcano2, Alexander Barrios1, Xiomara Gutierrez3, Denise Debrot4 and Mauricio Ortiz5 SUMMARY Indices of abundance of white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) from the Venezuelan Artisanal Pelagic Longline fishery are presented for the period 1992-2003. The index of kilograms per number of hooks (thousand) per day was estimated from dressed weight of white marlins caught and reported in the survey data forms from the regional fisheries agency (INIA-Sucre-Nueva Esparta and INAPESCA) and the ICCAT sponsored Venezuelan Enhanced Billfish Research Program recorded by scientific port samplers in Margarita Island, and El Morro de Puerto Santo (Sucre) since 1992. The standardization analysis procedure included the following variables; year, month, area, and number of fishers. The standardized index was estimated using Generalized Linear Model under a delta lognormal model approach. RÉSUMÉ Ce document présente les indices d’abondance du makaire blanc (Tetrapturus albidus) de la pêcherie palangrière pélagique artisanale du Venezuela pour la période 1992-2003. L’indice de kilogrammes par nombre d’hameçons (mille) par jour a été estimé à partir du poids manipulé des makaires blancs capturés et déclarés dans les formulaires des enquêtes sur les données réalisées par l’Agence régionale des pêches (INIA-Sucre- Nueva Esparta et INAPESCA) et le Programme de recherche intensive sur les istiophoridés du Venezuela, sous les auspices de l’ICCAT. Ces données sont enregistrées depuis 1992 par des échantillonneurs scientifiques aux ports à Margarita Island et à El Morro de Puerto Santo (Sucre). La procédure d’analyse de standardisation incluait les variables suivantes : année, mois, zone et nombre de pêcheurs. L’indice standardisé a été estimé en utilisant le Modèle linéaire généralisé (GLM) dans le cadre d’une approche de modèle delta lognormal. RESUMEN Se presentan índices de abundancia de aguja blanca (Tetrapturus albidus) de la pesquería de palangre pelágico artesanal de Venezuela para el periodo 1992-2003. Los índices de kilogramos por número de anzuelos (mil) por día se estimaron basándose en los datos de peso canal de la aguja blanca capturada y comunicada en los formularios de encuesta de datos de la agencia regional de pesquerías (INIA-Sucre-Nueva Esparta e INAPESCA) y en los datos registrados en el Programa de Investigación Intensiva sobre Marlines de Venezuela, auspiciado por ICCAT, recogidos por muestreadores científicos en puerto en la isla de Margarita y el Morro de Puerto Santos (Sucre) desde 1992. El procedimiento de análisis de estandarización incluía las siguientes variables: año, mes, zona y número de pescadores. El índice estandarizado se estimó utilizando un modelo lineal generalizado con un enfoque de modelo delta lognormal. KEYWORDS White marlin, Catch rates, Artisanal longline fishery, Venezuela 1 Instituto Oceanográfico de Venezuela, Universidad de Oriente, Apartado de Correos No. 204, Cumaná 6101 Venezuela. e-mail: [email protected] 2 INIA Sucre y Nueva Esparta, Cumaná 6101 Venezuela. 3 INAPESCA – Sucre, Cumaná 6101 Venezuela. 4 Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas Venezuela. 5 U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, Florida 33149 U.S.A. 315 1. Introduction The Venezuelan artisanal longline fleet based in Margarita Island traditionally targeted snapper and grouper, but the increase in the number of vessels and the decline in catches during the 1980 prompted the fleet to change target species (e.g., billfish and dolphinfish) that were becoming more valuable for the local market (Mendoza and Larez, 1996; Marcano, 1999). According to fisheries inspectors in Margarita Island, the change towards targeting medium and large pelagic species started to occur at the mid 1980 when vessels started to concentrate around billfish hot spots off La Guaira area and north of La Tortuga Island. Once the no-take zone off La Guaira was created (Arocha et al., 2005, this issue), vessels concentrated their effort east of the no-take zone, around the Venezuelan oceanic islands, off the east of Trinidad, and the Venezuelan Atlantic coast. Recognizing the effect of the fishery on billfish mortality, in 1992 the ICCAT sponsored Venezuelan Enhanced Billfish Research Program in conjunction with the regional official fisheries agency (INIA-Sucre-Nueva Esparta and INAPESCA- Sucre/Nueva Esparta) started to monitor activities of the artisanal longline fleet based in Margarita Island by establishing a port sampling program in the city of Juangriego. Since the fleet also lands fish in other communities in Margarita Island, Cumaná, and El Morro de Puerto Santo (north of Sucre state), surveys and port sampling activities are also conducted there. The utility of indices of abundance based on catch and effort data can be improved by standardizing them to remove the impact of factors such as changes over time in the efficiency of the fleet. Thus, standardized catch rates from commercial fishing fleets has become the norm for relative indices of abundance in ICCAT’s stock assessment meetings. Generalized Linear Modeling (GLM) techniques have become a routine in the estimation of standardized catch rates using data from commercial fishing fleets (Maunder & Punt, 2004). In an effort to contribute with better abundance indices from the Venezuelan artisanal longline fishery that target billfish, catch rates for white marlin were standardized using GLM techniques for the time series available. 2. Methods The information used in this study came from the database of the regional official fisheries agency (INIA-Sucre- Nueva Esparta and INAPESCA-Sucre/Nueva Esparta) for the period of 1992-2003, which consists of data collected from on site surveys directed to captains and crews during landing activities and from port sampling at the fishing communities of Margarita Island, and El Morro de Puerto Santo located north of Sucre state. The study area comprises the range of the artisanal longline fleet fishing grounds that is concentrated off the central and eastern coast of Venezuela and off the Venezuelan Atlantic coast (Figure 1A). The port surveys where conducted on a weekly basis, logbooks where also collected during the surveys. It is estimated that the data collected during the surveys and logbooks account 18% total number of trips occurring on the surveyed ports during the period of 1992-1998, thereafter to date, it is estimated that the information can account for only 10% of the trips. Fishing operations for this fleet are the as those presented by Marcano et al. (1994). An exploratory analysis of the relationship between catch rates for white marlin with continuous variables was performed to identify significant effects that account for variability of catch rates using General Additive Models (GAMs). Nonlinear effects were fitted with a locally weighted polynomial scatter plot smoother or loess smother using the S-Plus software package (Venables and Ripley, 1999). The GAM analyses were restricted to positive trips for white marlin. GAMs derived effect for each factor were plotted and their relative magnitude of effect was judged by the relative y-axis ranges of the loess function (the greater the y-axis range, the larger the deviance explained by the factor considered) (Bigelow et al., 1999). Significant effects were then converted from continuous variables into categorized factors so they could be incorporated into a delta lognormal model analysis. Levels within factors were chosen based on the loess-derived plots. For the Venezuelan artisanal longline data, relative indices of abundance for white marlin were estimated by Generalized Linear Modeling approach assuming a delta lognormal model distribution using the same protocol as it appeared in Ortiz and Arocha (2004). The delta model estimates separately the proportion of positive to total number of trips assuming a binomial error distribution, and the mean catch rate of positive for a given marlin species by assuming a lognormal error distribution. The standardized index is the product of these model- estimated components. The logit function was used as link between the linear factor component and the binomial error. For trips that caught at least one white marlin (positive observations), estimated CPUE rates were assumed to follow a lognormal error distribution (lnCPUE) of a linear function of fixed factors and random effect interactions, particularly when the year effect was within the interaction. 316 A step-wise regression procedure was used to determine the set of systematic factors and interactions that significantly explained the observed variability. The difference of deviance between two consecutive models follows a χ2 (Chi-square) distribution; this statistic was used to test for the significance of an additional factor in the model. The number of additional parameters associated with the added factor minus one corresponds to the number of degrees of freedom in the χ2 test (McCullagh and Nelder, 1989). Deviance analysis tables are presented for the data series, including the deviance for the proportion of positive observations (i.e., positive trips/total trips), and the deviance for the positive catch rates. Final selection of explanatory