SCIENCE SATURDAY! In case you missed it, here's a super interesting talk by Summer Lindelien from our American Fisheries Society Citizen Science Symposium! She explains the TrophyCatch Florida program and how angler data helps Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission document trophy largemouth across the state!
#bassfishing #fisheriesmanagement #FisheriesResearch #citizenscience
Happy Saturday and Happy Thanksgiving weekend to our Canadian folks!
Dropping in your feed today to highlight another awesome talk from the American Fisheries Society 's 154th annual conference! Check out fisheries biologist and angler extraordinaire, Ross Boucek's talk on conservation and management in Floridian seagrass habitats!
https://www.bonefishtarpontrust.org/
#fishing #florida #fisheriesmanagement #conservation
Learn how anglers in South Carolina are aiding South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in fisheries management and conservation!
Check out this talk by Matt Perkinson from our recent American Fisheries Society Angler Engagement Symposium!
#FisheriesResearch #fisheriesscience #Utah #citizenscience
Where do 400,000 fishes go?
Check out this interesting talk from our latest American Fisheries Society Angler Engagement Symposium. Susanna Musick of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science discusses the 30-year evolution of the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waters. #fisheriesmanagement #fisheriesscience #citizenscience #FisheriesResearch #conservation
In case you missed our angler engagement symposium, check out this great talk by Dan Daugherty of Texas Parks and Wildlife on one of the coolest freshwater species out there, Alligator Gar!
He talks about their Guide-Based Tagging Program on the Trinity River and how they protect their recreational fishery!
#fishing #anglerengagement #AFS #fisheriesmanagement #citizenscience
In case you missed it! Check out Jeff Kopaska's talk at the 153rd annual American Fisheries Society 's conference. Learn more about the Iowa Walleye Challenge and the efforts being done to monitor walleye populations!
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
#AFS #citizenscience #walleye #walleyefishing #Iowa #fishing #fisheriesmanagement
Did you miss our American Fisheries Society annual conference live stream?! Don't Worry!!! We will be posting talks twice a week from the AFS conference live stream to our page for you guys!
Please enjoy this talk by Fisheries Biologist Clayton James on parasitic Whirling Disease in Alberta, Canada!
#DepartmentofFisheriesandOceans #whirlingdisease #alberta #citizenscience
Growing Fisheries Research and Management Through Angler Engagement
Anglers play an important role in providing scientists and managers with valuable data about the state of our fisheries. As new forms of electronic reporting come online, providing high resolution data that could barely have been imagined just a few decades ago, anglers are becoming ever more important to fisheries research. This symposium will build off the success of similar symposia in 2021 and 2022, highlighting a diversity of projects that have been successful at engaging anglers, including revisiting presentations from the initial symposium where further work with anglers has taken place. An important outcome of this symposium will be a better understanding of the best practices that are necessary to achieve long-term angler engagement. Consistent with our theme of engaging anglers, we are also proposing to involve anglers in this symposium, both with research presentations and through an online engagement via Facebook Live.
DAY 2 at AFS Grand Rapids!
Watch now!
How Does Catching a Fish Become Part of Modern Fisheries Science?
Welcome to Day 1 Talks (all times Eastern):
1:20 PM — Are citizen science data used in stock assessments? (Abigail Furnish, NOAA Fisheries)
1:40 PM — Toyota ShareLunker Program Partners with Anglers to Enhance Bass Fishing in Texas (Natalie Goldstrohm, Texas Parks and Wildlife)
2:00 PM — A Comparison of Seining and Electroshocking in the Rouge River, MI. (Olivia Williams, University of Michigan)
2:20 PM — Oregon’s Electronic Licensing System citizen provided harvest records: e-Creel part one (Michelle Jones, Oregon DFW)
2:40 PM — Oregon’s Electronic Licensing System Citizen Provided Harvest Records: e-Creel Part Two (Brian Riggers, Oregon DFW)
Break from 3:00 pm to 3:20 pm
3:40 PM — Public engagement and coordination fill knowledge gaps for an emerging invasive species (Mindy Barnett, Illinois DNR)
4:00 PM — The challenge of public participation, an online fishing tournament example (Jeff Kopaska, Iowa DNR)
4:20 PM — Citizen Science Biosurveillance of Blotchy Bass Syndrome: Multiplexing Efforts Expands Reporting (Clayton Raines, USGS)
4:40 PM — Changing Seasonality of Fish Mass Mortality Events in Michigan Lakes (Karen Alofs, University of Michigan)
Lastly from the American Fisheries Society annual meeting we have Fishing for Complements: Updating Creel Methods for a Walleye Recreational Fishery.
The traditional creel method on Lake Nipissing (Ontario, Canada's 7th most intensively fished lake) were summer and roving creels for well over 40 years. More recently, the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry has been testing novel creel methodologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of gaining insight into a predominantly Walleye fishery. Here we present the results of testing a range of probability (roving and access creels, and aerial counts of anglers), and non-probability (questionnaires, enforcement interviews, mail-in postcards, Google Analytics, MyCatch angler app) methodologies. The additional methods offered new insights into the fishery, and most importantly, that the traditional winter roving creel tended to miss an increase in angler catch rates in the evening. We compare the different approaches, and note that some non-probability methods appear to give robust independent estimates of angler behaviour. Finally, we present a statistical framework to bring these sources of data together.
Today from the American Fisheries Society annual meeting we have Laurel Lam from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Angler and industry engagement has been a cornerstone of the Shelf Rockfish Hook & Line Survey since its inception in 2002. Driven by the decline and subsequent closure of several rockfish (Sebastes sp) stocks, a cooperative effort began between members of the southern California commercial passenger fishing vessel (CPFV) industry and scientists from NOAA Fisheries and Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commissions, with the first Hook & Line survey cruise beginning in 2003. Input from anglers and other CPFV industry members played, and continues to play, a critical role in determining the project’s sampling gear, identifying species of interest, establishing sampling sites, and developing hypotheses about fish behavior. While the primary goal of the survey is to provide an annual index of abundance and a time series of biological data for fisheries managers, industry collaboration and engagement remains as important as it ever was, especially in the face of a changing fishery. 18 years later, data from the survey continues to inform stock assessments for federally managed groundfishes and supports long-term population, ecosystem and oceanographic monitoring efforts. The benefits of involving stakeholders in long-term research have been touted time and again; here we wanted to focus on the challenges we face that can jeopardize this working relationship.
Up next in our video series from the American Fisheries Society annual meeting is Giselle Schmitz from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with Citizen Science Applications and Opportunities in Fisheries Stock Assessments.
Citizen science is an area of growing interest in the scientific community and a promising direction, in particular, for improving the science that supports fishery management. Greater incorporation of this information into fish stock assessments is a potential path for improving scientific advice. However, the availability and quality of data remain challenges for many stocks, limiting the ability to uptake citizen science in both the fishery stock assessment process and the resource management decisions that rely on assessment results. Non-traditional data sources such as citizen science offer an opportunity to address gaps in fishery dependent and independent data. This research provides an overview of present data requirements for fisheries stock assessments, contrasts existing stock assessment data use with data available from citizen science efforts, and explores opportunities for greater inclusion and application of citizen science data in the stock assessment process with particular emphasis on supplementing assessment of data-limited stocks.
Could Citizen Science Be Useful for Estimating Fishing Effort and Catch?
That is the question from the first presentation of day two of the American Fisheries Society annual meeting presented by J. Michael Brick. Westat
Our recent paper “A Review of Nonprobability Sampling Methods Using Mobile Apps for Fishing Effort and Catch Surveys” describes some of the difficulties associated with applying citizen science in making quantitative inferences about fishing effort and catch. The main concerns were not associated with the mobile app nor the use of volunteers to collect data. The biggest problems are the lack of a valid statistical design and standardization of the data collection. Here we describe limitations of citizen science and nonprobability samples for making population inferences as well as potential applications for citizen science data.
The final presentation from day one of the American Fisheries Society annual meeting! Collaborative Fisheries Research to Improve Ocean Management from Rachel Brooks of San Jose State University.
The California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP) is a community-based science program involving researchers from six California universities, the captains and crew of 31 sportfishing vessels, more than 1,800 volunteer anglers, and partnerships with conservation and resource management agencies. By combining the expertise and ideas of a diverse group, we have successfully established protocols to evaluate Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the status of nearshore fish stocks, and how climate change is impacting marine resources in California. In 15 years, we have conducted over 700 sampling trips, caught and released more than 190,000 fish from 95 different species, and tagged nearly 65,000 fishes prior to release. CCFRP has generated estimates of relative abundance, length frequencies, biomass, diversity, community composition, and movements of fishes across 12 MPAs and associated reference areas statewide and contributed data to stock assessments of 7 species. Additionally, we conduct extensive education and outreach to the angling community and have designed and deployed socioeconomic surveys to gather diverse information including opinions of recreational fishermen about MPA performance, changes in sentiments towards MPAs following establishment, fisheries management, and attitudes towards conservation.
Up next from the American Fisheries Society annual meeting is "Volunteer Angler Data Reveal Social-Ecological Effects of Reservoir Creation in Florida" from Tyler Steven Coleman.
Management of reservoirs and surrounding landscapes often strives to minimize symptoms of reservoir functional aging. While scientists have evaluated the ecological effects of reservoir creation and impacts of large-scale habitat alterations to existing reservoirs, there is limited research on newly flooded reservoirs with extensive pre-inundation habitat modification. Fellsmere Water Management Area (i.e., Fellsmere Reservoir) is a new, 4,100-hectare farmland reservoir in east-central Florida purchased by the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) as part of the Upper St. Johns River ecosystem restoration project. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) partnered with SJRWMD to invest over $1M to create diverse habitats in the reservoir—from drop-offs, trees, and trenches to islands and winding channels—before filling occurred. Habitat modifications (i.e., treatments) occurred over approximately 1,000 hectares in two sections of Fellsmere Reservoir, whereas other sections were not modified (i.e., natural controls). The reservoir opened to motorboat angling in August 2020 and has since been named “Jurassic Lake” due to its renowned Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides abundance and size structure. We are conducting a detailed investigation of Fellsmere Reservoir to understand human-nature interactions among Largemouth Bass populations, aquatic habitats, and fisheries stakeholders in this unique, nationally recognized fishery. For instance, we are using angler diaries in a volunteer angler data (VAD) program to examine Largemouth Bass catch, effort, size structure, condition, and bait preferences and compare these variables in treatment and control sections of the reservoir. In determining if and how habitat modification has impacted the fishery, we
Up next in our American Fisheries Society annual meeting presentations is Lisa Chong from the University of North Florida with Recreational Angler Preferences for Red Snapper Fisheries Management Options in the Gulf of Mexico.
The conservation of fish populations and the economic value of recreational fisheries are threatened in many popular fisheries in the US. The red snapper fishery, one of the most popular yet contentious fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), is caught in a spiral of shorter seasons, more restrictive size limits, and lowered bag limits despite rebuilding progress. These measures have failed to adjust to anglers’ behavior and provided little incentive to reduce their effort and contain fishing mortality. Therefore to create more effective harvest regulations, fishery managers need a basic knowledge of the extent to which anglers prefer current and proposed red snapper management options. This study investigated the choices anglers make about hypothetical GOM red snapper recreational fishing trips. In 2019, we administered two stated preference choice experiments surveys to recreational anglers. The first experiment investigated how anglers would respond to changes in current management regulations (i.e. bag and size limits and season length). The second experiment explored the potential for using a harvest tag system, which is a rights-based approach commonly used in wildlife and hunting management that assigns a right to specified quantity of red snapper during a specified time. We then used the survey data to fit random utility models, which provides empirical estimates about which trip attributes such as travel distance influence angler satisfaction and decisions. We also used a latent class model to explore preference heterogeneity among respondents. We found that the more conservative harvest restrictions like shorter seasons and smaller bag limits were least preferred as expected. Respondents were heterogeneous in terms of using harvest
