TY - JOUR
T1 - Local management of a "Highly migratory species"
T2 - The effects of long-line closures and recreational catch-and-release for Baja California striped marlin fisheries
AU - Jensen, Olaf P.
AU - Ortega-Garcia, Sofia
AU - Martell, Steven J.D.
AU - Ahrens, Robert N.M.
AU - Domeier, Michael L.
AU - Walters, Carl J.
AU - Kitchell, James F.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Russ Nelson, Guillermo Alvarez, and Ellen Peel for assistance in gathering information about the recreational striped marlin fishery and for access to The Billfish Foundation’s tag database. We appreciate the help of Keith Bigelow, Chris Boggs, Pierre Kleiber, Gerard DiNardo, and Michael Hinton in obtaining and interpreting longline catch and effort data, and Rand Rasmussen in obtaining data from the International Billfish Angler Survey. Michael Hinton and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this ms. We also thank Eric Prince for providing access to the NMFS tag database. This project was funded by a National Science Foundation Grant OCE 9731531 to JFK.
PY - 2010/7
Y1 - 2010/7
N2 - Management of highly migratory fish species is generally assumed to require complicated international agreements. The effects of spatial closures for such species are thought to be diluted by their extensive movements. We tested these assumptions using a case study of striped marlin (Kajikia audax) fisheries off of Baja California, Mexico. Beginning in 1977, Mexico instituted a series of long-line fishery closures and closed areas to reduce commercial fishing mortality rates on billfishes. Using data from the Japanese long-line fishery and the recreational billfish fishery in a stock reduction analysis (SRA) model, we show that temporary closures of Mexico's EEZ to long-lining from 1977-1980 and 1984-1985 had a rapid effect on local abundance of striped marlin. Regional striped marlin abundance likely increased by 12-22% following the 4-year closure and 6-12% following the 2-year closure. Increases near Baja California may have been larger. Recreational catch-and-release appears to have a more modest effect because catches in the recreational fishery are substantially smaller than historic long-line catches. A 100% release rate over the 10-year period for which recreational catch data were available would likely have increased regional abundance by 2.8-7.5% relative to no recreational release. There is also evidence for a small effect of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on recruitment or net immigration, with stronger recruitment or net immigration during the cooler La Niña phase.
AB - Management of highly migratory fish species is generally assumed to require complicated international agreements. The effects of spatial closures for such species are thought to be diluted by their extensive movements. We tested these assumptions using a case study of striped marlin (Kajikia audax) fisheries off of Baja California, Mexico. Beginning in 1977, Mexico instituted a series of long-line fishery closures and closed areas to reduce commercial fishing mortality rates on billfishes. Using data from the Japanese long-line fishery and the recreational billfish fishery in a stock reduction analysis (SRA) model, we show that temporary closures of Mexico's EEZ to long-lining from 1977-1980 and 1984-1985 had a rapid effect on local abundance of striped marlin. Regional striped marlin abundance likely increased by 12-22% following the 4-year closure and 6-12% following the 2-year closure. Increases near Baja California may have been larger. Recreational catch-and-release appears to have a more modest effect because catches in the recreational fishery are substantially smaller than historic long-line catches. A 100% release rate over the 10-year period for which recreational catch data were available would likely have increased regional abundance by 2.8-7.5% relative to no recreational release. There is also evidence for a small effect of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on recruitment or net immigration, with stronger recruitment or net immigration during the cooler La Niña phase.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957104742&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pocean.2010.04.020
DO - 10.1016/j.pocean.2010.04.020
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0079-6611
VL - 86
SP - 176
EP - 186
JO - Progress in Oceanography
JF - Progress in Oceanography
IS - 1-2
ER -