Publication Date:
2011-11-24
Description:
Faunce, C. H., and Barbeaux, S. J. 2011. The frequency and quantity of Alaskan groundfish catcher-vessel landings made with and without an observer. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1757–1763. The North Pacific Groundfish Observer Programme (NPGOP) is one of the largest on-board fishery-monitoring programmes in the world, and the data are used extensively for both in- and post-season management of fisheries. Within certain limits, Alaskan fishers determine when and where to carry observers. There may be an incentive to fish differently during observed trips because (i) observed trips carry higher costs than unobserved trips, and (ii) bycatch quanta for quota deduction are estimated by applying bycatch rates from observed trips to retained catches on unobserved trips. Such differences may be manifest through the skewed deployment of observers among fisheries, i.e. a deployment effect, and through unrepresentative activities by fishers when an observer is on board, i.e. an observer effect. Despite long-standing concerns expressed over the NPGOP's 40-year history, evidence of deployment and observer effects have been based largely on anecdotal information. In 2008, database changes allowed a comparison of industry landing reports for trips with and without an observer. A deployment effect was evidenced by significant deviations from the expected landing ratios between observed and unobserved trips, and linear mixed-effect models revealed differences in the landed weight and evidence for an observer effect within two of five fisheries examined.
Print ISSN:
1054-3139
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9289
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
,
Physics
