ANNUAL STOCK ASSESSMENT AND FISHERY EVALUATION REPORT: MARIANA ARCHIPELAGO FISHERY ECOSYSTEM PLAN 2017 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 2017 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, Thomas Remington, and Sylvia Spalding, WPRFMC. This document can be cited as follows: WPRFMC, 2018. Annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report for the Mariana Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem Plan 2017. Sabater, M., Ishizaki, A., Remington, T., 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 and Jay Gutierrez. CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife: Michael Tenorio and 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: 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 five-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 Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) reports. The purpose of the reports is twofold: to monitor the performance of the fishery and ecosystem to assess the effectiveness of the FEP in meeting its management objectives; and to 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 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, encompassing shore-based and boat-based creel surveys, commercial receipt books, and boat inventories. Fishery meta-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-year) and long-term (20-year) averages. Time series for catch and effort statistics are also provided alongside annual catch limit determinations. For 2017 catch in CNMI, only the slipper lobster MUS exceeded their overfishing limit (OFL), allowable biological catch (ABC), or annual catch limit (ACL). For 2017 catch in Guam, no MUS were identified that had a recent average catch below OFL, ABC, and ACL. ACLs were not specified by NMFS for the coral reef ecosystem MUS because NMFS has recently acquired new information that require additional environmental analyses to support the Council’s ACL recommendations for these management unit species (50 CFR Part 665). For CNMI, the 2017 catch of slipper lobsters exceeded the ACL. Slipper lobsters had not appeared in the catch record until last year, and now have exceeded the ACL for two consecutive years. This can likely be 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 and Guam, the main fisheries monitored are the bottomfish, crustacean, and coral reef fisheries. The time series depicted for CNMI include the most recent decade, but do not extend far back to make a longer-term trend comparison. Catch with the bottomfishing gear showed a very slight increase in 2017 when considering all species or BMUS only. The bottomfishing CPUE, however, had a significant increase of 250% from the recent 10 year average in 2017. Fishing effort, fishery participation, and fishery bycatch decreased in the last year among a 10 year decline. For the coral reef fisheries, statistics for shore-based and boat- based fisheries are shown separately. The estimated 2017 CPUE measures for both shore- and boat-based reef fisheries in CNMI are generally higher than the 10 year average. The fishery participation (number of gear hours) in both shore- and boat-based coral reef fisheries showed a decrease in participation, but the number of fishing participants in 2017 for the boat-based reef fishery in CNMI had increased significantly for spearfishing and trolling. Coral reef bycatch in CNMI has been decreasing in both fisheries as well. For Guam, the bottomfish fishery in 2017 exhibited a 10% decline in all species catch and an 11% decline for the BMUS catch. No commercial catch trends can be reported due to data v Annual SAFE Report for the Mariana Archipelago FEP Executive Summary confidentiality (i.e. less than 3 vendors that reported). There were general decreases in 2017 CPUE considering both previous 10- and 20-year averages. The total estimated number of fishing trips for bottom fish decreased by over 20% for both short- and long-term averages, though the number of fishers in 2017 showed a very slight increase (1%). While bottomfish bycatch statistics increased in 2017 relative to short-term trends, there is a slight decrease apparent when compared to long-term statistics. The coral reef shore- and boat-based fisheries, in general, showed declines in catch and CPUE in 2017 relative to both short- and long-term trends. Only shore-based gill net and cast net showed increases in 2017 relative to 10- and 20- year measures. The fishing effort estimates in 2017 were generally down except for the boat- based trolling and shore-based cast net. Participation was mixed across fisheries and gear types, though the most notable changes included a large decrease in gear hours for boat-based SCUBA and snorkel spear and a large decrease in participants for boat-based gill netting. Coral reef fishery bycatch was down roughly 20% compared to short- and long-term averages, but was part of a gradual increasing trend over the past 10 years in Guam. An Ecosystem Considerations chapter was 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 Northwestern 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 reef species and 11 bottomfish in Guam. Summarized length derived parameters for coral reef fish and bottomfish in CNMI and Guam include: