A Study of Marine Recreational Fisheries in Connecticut
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STATE OF CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Gina McCarthy Commissioner Bureau of Natural Resources Marine Fisheries Division A STUDY OF MARINE RECREATIONAL FISHERIES IN CONNECTICUT Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration F-54-R-27 Annual Performance Report March 1, 2007 – February 29, 2008 Special Acknowledgement Boat Captain Peter Simpson, who “retired” on May 22, 2008, is featured on this year’s cover to honor his significant contributions to the project over the past 23 years. Pete played an integral role in the acquisition of the R/V John Dempsey, contributing significantly to the layout, equipping, construction inspection and ultimately delivery of the vessel on August 2, 1990 from Pascagoula, MS. He navigated all the USCG inspection and documentation requirements, and ran and maintained the vessel professionally. Given the high profile nature of the vessel, we particularly appreciated the way Pete represented the Department while on the water working with local lobstermen in New York and Connecticut to conduct the LIS Trawl Survey and even the LIS Water Quality Monitoring Program. His knowledge of LIS and trawl survey work were invaluable and his cooperative spirit in working with the science crews on both surveys are what everyone will remember. Similarly, Pete was a welcoming face of the Department for the many visiting researchers and media personnel that have spent time on the Dempsey. In addition to vessel operations Pete help “shoreside” making the state purchasing process work for all Marine Fisheries staff will be sorely missed. The cover photo includes some scenes from Pete’s days on the Dempsey as well as a photo of Pete posing with an unlikely friend at a DEP outreach event not long ago. Thanks to Kurt Gottschall for making maximal use of his insomnia over several nights to put together the photo collage for this year’s cover to honor Pete’s many contributions to DEP activities on LIS over the years. State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources Marine Fisheries Division Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration F-54-R-26 Annual Performance Report Project Title: A Study of Marine Recreational Fisheries in Connecticut Period Covered: March 1, 2007 - February 29, 2008 Job Title Prepared by: Job 1: Marine Angler Survey Roderick E. MacLeod Job 2: Marine Finfish Survey Part 1: Long Island Sound Trawl Survey Kurt F. Gottschall Deborah J. Pacileo Part 2: Estuarine Seine Survey David R. Molnar Job 3: A Study of Nearshore Habitat Inactive Job 4: Studies in Conservation Engineering Inactive Job 5: Cooperative Interagency Resource Monitoring Matthew J. Lyman Job 6: Public Outreach David R. Molnar Approved by: David G. Simpson. Date: July 9, 2008 Acting Director, Marine Fisheries Division Edward C. Parker, Date: July 14, 2008 Chief, Bureau of Natural Resources EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Project: A Study of Marine Recreational Fisheries in Connecticut Federal Aid Project: F54R-27 (Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration) Annual Progress Report: March 1, 2007 – February 29, 2008 Total Project Expenditures (2007/08): $734,667 ($551,000 Federal, $183,667 State) Purpose of the Project The purpose of this project is to collect information needed for management of the marine recreational fishery. This information includes angler participation, effort, catch, and harvest; the relative abundance of finfish and specific population parameters for important selected species, water quality and habitat parameters, and assessment of fishery related issues such as hook and release mortality. The project also includes an outreach component to inform the public, and increase understanding and support for management programs and regulations. The project is comprised of six jobs: 1) Marine Angler Survey, 2) Marine Finfish Survey, 3) Inshore Survey (Inactive), 4) Fishing Gear Studies (Inactive), 5) Cooperative Interagency Resource Monitoring, 6) Public Outreach. Job 3 has been inactive since March 1997. Job 4 has been inactive since 2000. Information on marine angler activity is collected from intercept interviews conducted by DEP staff and through a telephone survey conducted by a National Marine Fisheries Service contractor as part of the coastwide Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey. The relative abundance of 40 species and more detailed population information on selected finfish are obtained from an annual Long Island Sound trawl survey. The relative abundance of young-of-year winter flounder and nearshore finfish species is obtained from fall seine sampling conducted at eight sites. Fishing gear and fishing practices are evaluated by conducting studies of hook and release mortality rates and through sampling catches of commercial fishing vessels taking species of recreational interest. Marine habitat is monitored and evaluated through cooperative interagency monthly sampling of water quality parameters (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen) at 20 to 25 fixed sites throughout the Sound. Public outreach is performed through speaking engagements at schools, with civic organizations and fishing clubs as well as through displays in the Marine Headquarters lobby and fishing shows. Project staff also keep the Fisheries Advisory Council informed on project activities and frequent media contacts provide broad newspaper coverage of project activities and findings. This project is designed to address critical resource issues by monitoring trends in abundance of all common marine finfish, age and growth in selected sportfish and by estimating harvest rates and size composition for a variety of important recreational species. Jobs 1, 2, 3 and 4 are designed to provide the components of stock assessments described above based on the resources and the recreational and commercial fisheries occurring in Long Island Sound. Fishery catch and size composition (Jobs 1, 4) and fishery independent measures of abundance and size composition (Jobs 2, 3) are vital to understanding how regional fishery management plans are likely to affect the local fishery. Each of these Jobs also provide the basis for developing state specific strategies for compliance with fishery management plans where such latitude is pe rmitted. Job 5 provides trends in area, duration and intensity of hypoxia, the most significant water quality problem facing the Sound today. Job 6 provides for public outreach to communicate to anglers, the benefits of this project in particular and of the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration program in general. Page i JOB 1: MARINE ANGLER SURVEY PART 1: MARINE RECREATIONAL FISHERY STATISTICS SURVEY OBJECTIVES (Summary) • To estimate the number of marine anglers, fishing trips, fish caught, and number and weight of fish harvested. KEY FINDINGS: • An estimated 365,941 anglers made 1.7 million trips in 2007. Total estimated trips made in 2007 were above the 1.45 million trip average (1981-2006). • Marine anglers caught an estimated 6.3 million fish, harvesting 1.7 million in 2007. • Five species: bluefish, scup, striped bass, summer flounder and tautog accounted for over 90 of both total catch and harvest estimates. • Winter flounder harvest has declined to fewer than 25,000 fish annually since 2000 and the estimated harvest for 2007 was only 4,164 fish. The long-term average winter flounder harvest was 333,093 fish with peak harvests of over 1 million fish in the early to mid-1980’s. CONCLUSIONS: • Coastwide fishery management plans and strong recent year class production are resulting in increases in several fish populations and good catches of many of the primary recreational species. • The once productive winter flounder resource no longer supports a substantial fishery in Connecticut. Landings (in number) that once ranked second or third behind bluefish and scup now account for less than 1% of fish harvested. RECOMMENDATIONS Continue to obtain catch and harvest information and angler participation rates through the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey in order to monitor the status of the recreational marine fishery. Page ii JOB 1: MARINE ANGLER SURVEY PART 2: VOLUNTEER ANGLER SURVEY OBJECTIVES (Summary) To characterize the size and catch composition of both kept and released fish observed by volunteer anglers. KEY FINDINGS: • A total of 75 anglers participated in the survey and made 1,521 fishing trips in 2006. Volunteers including additional anglers involved in a fishing party made a total of 3,172 fishing trips. With multiple species taken per trip anglers reported 1,393 trips targeting bluefish, 2,157 trips for striped bass, 738 trips for summer flounder, 73 trips for winter flounder, 132 trips for scup and 176 trips for tautog. • Volunteer anglers measured 2,060 individual bluefish measuring > 12 inches in length, 3,613 striped bass, 2,001 summer flounder, 94 winter flounder, 1,327 scup and 469 tautog. Collecting length measurements on released fish provides valuable data not available through MRFSS except for the party/headboat at sea sampling survey. CONCLUSIONS: • Volunteer anglers provide a tremendous amount of data on the size and catch composition of popular recreational species in Connecticut, supplying several stock assessments with scarce length information on released fish. RECOMMENDATIONS: • Maintain the Volunteer Angler Survey as an effective means of characterizing angler behavior and particularly in collecting length data on released fish that are not available from the MRFSS survey. Page iii JOB 2 PART 1: LONG ISLAND SOUND TRAWL SURVEY (LISTS) OBJECTIVES (Summary)