ANNUAL STOCK ASSESSMENT AND FISHERY EVALUATION REPORT: MARIANA ARCHIPELAGO FISHERY ECOSYSTEM PLAN 2016 Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400 Honolulu, HI 96813 PHONE: (808) 522-8220 FAX: (808) 522-8226 www.wpcouncil.org The ANNUAL STOCK ASSESSMENT AND FISHERY EVALUATION REPORT for the MARIANA ARCHIPELAGO FISHERY ECOSYSTEM 2016 was drafted by the Fishery Ecosystem Plan Team. This is a collaborative effort primarily between the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, NMFS-Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center, Pacific Islands Regional Office, Division of Aquatic Resources (HI) Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (AS), Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources (Guam), and Division of Fish and Wildlife (CNMI). This report attempts to summarize annual fishery performance looking at trends in catch, effort and catch rates as well as provide a source document describing various projects and activities being undertaken on a local and federal level. The report also describes several ecosystem considerations including fish biomass estimates, biological indicators, protected species, habitat, climate change and human dimensions. Information like marine spatial planning and best scientific information available for each fishery are described. This report provides a summary of annual catches relative to the Annual Catch Limits established by the Council in collaboration with the local fishery management agencies. Edited By: Marlowe Sabater, Asuka Ishizaki, Rebecca Walker, and Sylvia Spalding, WPRFMC This document can cited as follows: WPRFMC 2017. Annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report for the Mariana Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem Plan 2016. Sabater, M., Ishizaki, A., Walker, R., Spalding, S. (Eds.) Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 USA ii The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council acknowledges the valuable contributions of the following Plan Team members for drafting sections of this report: Guam Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources: Brent Tibbatts, Jay Gutierrez CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife: Michael Tenorio, Trey Dunn NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center: Justin Hospital, Ivor Williams, Joe O’Malley, Brett Taylor, Michael Parke, Phoebe Woodworth-Jefcoats, John Marra, Tom Oliver, Frank Parrish, T. Todd Jones, Kirsten Leong and Minling Pan. NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office: Melanie Brown Pacific Islands Regional Planning Body: Sarah Pautzke The Council also acknowledges the staff of the NMFS PIFSC Western Pacific Fisheries Information Network (WPacFIN) for providing the technical support to generate the data summaries. The Council would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the report: Eileen Shea, Eric Cruz, John Gourley, Dawn Golden, and Catherine Pham iii This page was intentionally left blank. iv Annual SAFE Report for the Mariana Archipelago FEP Executive Summary Executive Summary As part of its 5 year fishery ecosystem plan (FEP) review, the Council identified the annual reports as a priority for improvement. The former annual reports have been revised to meet National Standard regulatory requirements for the Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) reports. The purpose of the report is twofold: monitor the performance of the fishery and ecosystem to assess the effectiveness of the FEP in meeting its management objectives; and maintain the structure of the FEP living document. The reports are comprised of three chapters: fishery performance, ecosystem considerations, and data integration. The Council will iteratively improve the annual SAFE report as resources allow. The fishery performance section of this report first presents a general description of the local commercial fishery within Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam including both the bottomfish and coral reef management unit species (MUS). The fishery data collection system is then explained and time series of meta-data dashboard statistics are provided. The collection system encompasses shore-based and boat-based creel surveys, commercial receipt books, and boat inventories. The fishery statistics for each MUS are organized into a summary dashboard table showcasing the values for the most recent fishing year and a comparison to short-term (10 years) and long-term (20 years) averages. Time series for catch and effort statistics are also provided. For 2015 catch in CNMI, no MUS exceeded overfishing limit (OFL), allowable biological catch (ABC), or annual catch limit (ACL). For 2016 catch in Guam, all MUS were below OFL, ABC, and ACL except for jacks. This was due to the reduction in the ACL from the previous year overage. The estimated catch for jacks in 2016 was about at a similar level as the previous 2 years. For CNMI, the 2016 catch of slipper lobsters exceeded the ACL. This is the first time in recent years that slipper lobsters appeared on the catch records. This was attributed to the implementation of the Territory Science Initiative project that aimed to improve the reporting and compliance to the commercial receipt book data collection program by the Saipan fish vendors. For the CNMI, the main fisheries monitored are the bottomfish, crustacean, and the coral reef fisheries. The time series comparison only covers the recent 10 years. The time series does not extend far back to make a longer term trend comparison. The bottomfish catch showed a slight decline in 2016 for all species caught in the bottomfishing gear and for BMUS. The bottomfishing CPUE showed a significant increase in 2016. Fishing effort, fishery participation, and fishery bycatch have been down last year. For the coral reef fisheries, the report separates the shore-based from the boat-based fisheries. The estimated catches and fishing effort for both fisheries are lower in 2016 compared to the 10 year average. The CPUE for the boat-based trolling and the top shore-based gear are higher in 2016 relative to the 10 year average and showed to be significantly higher for hook and line and spear. The fishery participation in the boat-based coral reef fisheries exhibited no trend and showed a slight 8% decrease in 2016. The shore-based methods also showed a decrease in participation. The coral reef bycatch was also lower last year. For Guam, the bottomfish fishery in 2016 exhibited a 20% decline in all species catch and 11% for the BMUS catch. No commercial catch trends can be reported due to data confidentiality (less than 3 vendors that reported). All the trends are similar when comparing between the short- term and long-term trends. There was an increase in fishery participation (significant) and v Annual SAFE Report for the Mariana Archipelago FEP Executive Summary CPUE. Fishing effort declined in 2016. There were no trends in the total number of bycatch relative to the past 10 years but showed a decline in the past 20 years. The coral reef boat-based and shore-based fisheries, in general, showed a decline in catch and CPUE in 2016 but no apparent short-term trends. The fishing effort estimates in 2016 generally increased except for the boat-based gillnet and shore-based hook-and-gaff. The boat-based trolling, SCUBA spearfishing and shore-based cast net, gill net, and spearfishing showed significant increasing trends over the past 10 years but historically within the values over the 20 year period. Five of the 9 fishing methods monitored showed lower fishery participation and the rest showed an increase. Coral reef fishery bycatch is down slightly last year but was part of a gradual increasing trend over the past 10 years. Ecosystem considerations were added to the annual SAFE report following the Council’s review of its fishery ecosystem plans and revised management objectives. Fishery independent ecosystem survey data, human dimensions, protected species, climate and oceanographic, essential fish habitat, and marine planning information are included in the ecosystem considerations section. Fishery independent ecosystem survey data was acquired through visual surveys conducted in CNMI, Pacific Remote Island Area, American Samoa, Guam, Main Hawaiian Islands, and Northwest Hawaiian Islands. This report illustrates the mean fish biomass for the reef areas within these locations. Additionally, the mean reef fish biomass and mean size of fishes (>10 cm) for CNMI and Guam are presented by sampling year and reef area. Finally, the reef fish population estimates for each study site within CNMI and Guam are provided for hardbottom habitat (0-30 m). For CNMI, life history parameters including maximum age, asymptotic length, growth coefficient, hypothetical age at length zero, natural mortality, age at 50% maturity, age at sex switching, length at which 50% of a fish species are capable of spawning, and length of sex switching are provided for 10 species of reef fish and 11 species of bottomfish. The same nine life history parameters are provided for 12 species of reef fish and 11 species of bottomfish in Guam. Summarized length derived parameters for coral reef fish and bottomfish in CNMI and Guam include: maximum fish length, mean length, sample size, sample size for L-W regression, and length-weight coefficients. Values for 25 coral reef fish species and 10 bottomfish species are presented for CNMI. Values for 22 coral reef fish species and three bottomfish species are presented for Guam. The socioeconomics section outlines the pertinent economic, social, and community information available