Estimating Recreational and Commercial Fishing Effort for European LobsterHomarus gammarusby Strip Transect Sampling

Abstract

AbstractRecreational fishing effort for coastal marine species can be significant but is often challenging to estimate. Here we present a case study where a probability‐based strip transect survey is used to estimate effort in the Norwegian fishery for European lobsterHomarus gammarus. This fishery is conducted by both recreational and commercial fishers, but reliable information on total fishing effort and total catch is lacking. In 2008, we conducted a strip transect sampling survey throughout the lobster fishing season in southern Norway to estimate the number of deployed lobster traps over time. Surface buoys marking lobster traps were counted along strip transects placed representatively in the survey area in five different weeks throughout the lobstering season. Calibration studies were conducted to standardize transect width and to estimate and adjust for detection rates of buoys along transect strips. Mean number of lobster traps per square kilometer and associated variance was estimated by a ratio estimator using bootstrapping, with transects as the primary sampling units. Poststratification of the counts by depth (by 10‐m depth intervals) combined with geographical information systems mapping improved the precision of the estimated density of lobster traps and increased the effective sample size of transects by 22–44% per week. Estimated daily effort for the first week was 48.95 (SE = 3.11) traps/km2, decreasing steadily to 5.96 (SE = 0.79) in the eighth (and last) week of the lobster season. Our study shows that lobster traps deployed by recreational fishers outnumber the ones deployed by commercial fishers, contributing to 65% of the total effort (number of traps) in the fishery. We show that strip transects are a suitable way to estimate effort in the Norwegian lobster fishery. We conclude that improved management efforts need to target recreational as well as commercial fishing activities in order to achieve effective management of the red‐listed species.Received August 5, 2010; accepted July 5, 2011