Bycatch characterization in the Pacific halibut fishery: A field test of electronic monitoring technology.

These data arise from a field test of electronic monitoring (EM) of vessels participating in the Pacific halibut fishery off Alaska. A side-by-side comparison was made of the hook-specific catch data reocrded by fishery observers and EM video reviewers.

There are two main components of this data: the data collected by observers and the data recorded by video reviewers (electronic monitoring). The observer data are stored in an oracle database. The hook-specific EM data have been matched to the obsever data (individual hook to individual hook) and are stored in an MS Access Database.

These data were collected during normal fishing operations onboard commercial halibut vessels fishing in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Data collection started in April 2008 and continued through September 2008.

The goal of this project was to test the ability of EM systems to operate in a commercial setting by comparing estimates of bycatch based on data collected by an observer with estimates of bycatch based on data collected using electronic monitoring (EM).

This data was collected to meet two main objectives. The first objective of this reseach were to collect catch and bycatch data collection commercial halibut fishery longline vessels using three data collection methods 1) using EM 2) using standard Alaska Fisheries Science Center Observer Program monitoring and 3) using hook-specific documentation of catch. The second objective was to evaluate the relative efficiency, cost, and bias of each of two bycatch estimation methods (EM, NMFS Observers) relative to a standard (hook-specific catch documentation) to determine their suitability for use in fisheries management.

Cahalan, J. A., B. M. Leaman, G. H. Williams, B. H. Mason, W. A. Karp. 2010. Bycatch characterization in the Pacific halibut fishery: A field test of electronic monitoring technology. North Pacific Research Board Final Report 712, 58pgs. plus Appendices.

FMA Division

Aggredated data may be provided with proper confidentiality doncuments to other researchers

These are confidential data and may not be made available in unaggregated form without proper confidentiality documents on file with FMA Division.

Comparison of species identification of catch between standard observer estimation, complete hook-status observer coverage, and EM coverage showed statistically unbiased and acceptable comparability for almost all species except for some that could not be identified beyond the species grouping levels used in management. Similarly, comparisons of total species-specific numbers of fish estimated using EM-collected and hook-status observer-collected data showed few statistically significant differences.