Fisheries monitoring: Perspectives from the United States

Abstract

Fisheries monitoring in the United States exists in many forms and serves many functions due to geographically varying objectives, practices, technology, institutional structures, and funding. In the U.S and abroad, diverse catch methods commonly exist for the same stock, thus monitoring and reporting strategies need to be tailored to unique operational needs. Common management challenges include funding limitation, survey design, coverage, and implementation. We describe three innovative examples of fisheries monitoring in the United States. These stories of success and failure can inform the design and implementation of new monitoring pilots and aid crafting both regional and national policies. We explore the innovative vessel monitoring and electronic logbook practices across multiple sectors for Gulf of Mexico red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus). Then, we examine a unique monitoring program that produces critical, near real-time genetic and population surveys for sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Our final case study describes the many fishery-dependent and -independent data streams for American lobster (Homarus americanus) in New England. Across all monitoring cases exists an explicit focus on the most critical aspects of organism life history. We find strong cross-institutional working relationships and adept agency coordination are imperatives in instances of stocks occupying multiple state or federal boundaries. Our results suggest the most effective approaches address the unique data needs of a fishery, and for this, thorough understanding of both biological and socioeconomic aspects of the fishery is a prerequisite. Ultimately, the monitoring program should jointly incentivize compliance while promoting continued and evolving interaction between resources users, scientists, and management.