2015 Discard estimation, precision, and sample size analyses for 14 federally managed species groups in the waters off the northeastern United States.

• Main Authors: Wigley, Susan E., Blaylock, J. Jessica, Rago, Paul J., Tholke, C. Christopher, Shield, G.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center 2015
• Subjects: Bycatches Fisheries > Northeastern States > Management.; Fishery discards > Estimates > Atlantic Coast U.S.; spiny dogfish; Squalus acanthias
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7289/v5dn431k; https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/4930

This report describes the analyses associated with the discard estimation of 14 federally managed fish and invertebrate species groups during the July 2013 through June 2014 time period and the expected coverage needed by at-sea observers for northeastern US fisheries for the April 2015 through March 2016 period using the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology. An estimated 64,795 mt (142,848,902 lb) of federally regulated species were discarded during the July 2013 through June 2014 time period. The predominant species groups discarded are skates (Rajidae) and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). Across all species groups examined, 'No Market' is the reason reported for the majority of discards. Analyses also revealed that observer coverage within a fleet corresponded with the spatial and temporal patterns of fishing activity in terms of kept weight of all species for fleets with observer coverage. The discards reported in this document may not necessarily correspond directly with the discard estimates derived for individual stock assessments because of differences in stratification and data. Hence, the discard estimates are not definitive, but indicative of where discarding is occurring among commercial fleets and for which species groups. The sea days needed to achieve a precision-based performance standard (30% coefficient of variation of the discard estimate) were estimated to be 11,204 sea days for the 14 fish and invertebrate species groups across 56 fleets. The sea day analyses used a standardized protocol to account for the importance of the discarded species relative to the amount of discards by a fleet and total fishing mortality.