OREGON SEA GRANT REPORT Reporting period May 2016-2017 Development of a Sustainable Gooseneck Barnacle Fishery; Initial Investigations Julia Bingham1,a, Michael Thomas2,b, and Dr. Alan Shanks2,c Key Words: Pollicipes, Pollicipes polymerus, gooseneck, percebes, barnacle, mariculture, aquaculture, growth, diet, fishery development, stock assessment, sustainable fishery management, stakeholder collaboration 1. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 2. University of Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Charleston, OR 97420 a.
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[email protected] ABSTRACT In Spain, gooseneck barnacles, “percebes,” are an overfished delicacy fetching a high market price ($50/lb). Oregon fishing communities show interest in developing a percebes market utilizing Pollicipes polymerus. We aim to inform resource managers to avoid over harvesting Oregon goosenecks. In summer 2016, we investigated the current status of P. polymerus populations with three primary objectives: A. Describe Oregon gooseneck populations on coastal jetties to inform harvest management. B. Explore possible mariculture development for onshore gooseneck production. C. Establish a collaborative multistakeholder framework for sustainable fishery development. We surveyed eight southern Oregon jetties using transect sampling and photographic documentation of gooseneck populations, which we characterized by size-frequency distribution and density. We observed spatially explicit trends according to tidal height and large variability in populations between jetties. We estimate there to be roughly one billion adult goosenecks populating the surveyed jetties. Only 2% of these are of harvest-size, providing an Oregon percebes stock of up to 235,000 kg. Our surveys suggest that wild populations of P. polymerus are unlikely to sustain long-term commercial harvest should the market significantly expand beyond its current size without implementing adaptive management practices.