Recreational charter fishery attributes and variation in key species catches and discards: Resource management considerations

Abstract

Strategic long-term sampling programmes that deliver recreational catch, effort and species demographic data are required for the effective assessment and management of recreational fisheries and harvested organisms. This study used a spatially and temporally stratified observer programme to examine variation in the rates, quantities and lengths of retained and discarded catches of key species in a recreational charter fishery. Geographic region, but not season, significantly influenced catch rates of key demersal species, being driven by temporally persistent latitudinal clines in environmental conditions influencing species distributions. There was considerable trip-to-trip variation in catch rates that were attributed to localised differences in fishing operations, locations, environmental conditions and client preferences. Broad trends in retained and discarded catch rates were nevertheless, similar across different fishing effort standardisations (per-trip, per-hour, per-client, per-client/fished hour), demonstrating that the coarsest unit of effort could be used in fishery assessments. Discard rates of organisms were variable and driven by a combination of mandated legal lengths, individual client and operator preferences for particular species and sizes of organisms, and not due to attainment of catch quotas or high-grading. This study has identified important fishery attributes that require consideration in assessing charter fisheries and stocks of recreational fish species.