Key Takeaways and Decisions
- R&D will test different gear types during daytime fishing.
- New gear will include:
- One 9ft and one 12ft leader
- Hook size #22-26
- Bait: fish
- Palu: squid/fish
- Sampling areas will be 80-150 fathoms, hard bottom, high slope grids.
- The ability to test larger grid sizes will be investigated.
- The survey is operational as of August 1.
- Today’s goal: Research and development with a portion of the 465 total survey grids to evaluate potential issues and questions.
Discussion Highlights
- There are 10 years of survey data, providing a good time series for assessment.
- This year, there are 465 grids, allowing for 5-10% to be dedicated to R&D.
- The overriding goal is an accurate and precise representation of the fish assemblage across the main 8 Hawaiian Islands, both spatially and temporally.
- Wholesale changes are not desired, but comparisons between R&D and control grids can be made.
- Discussion focused on terminal gear vs. night fishing, with terminal gear being potentially more widely implementable.
- Concern was raised about cherry-picking R&D grids, as only 5-15% (later stated as ~20%) of grids have bottomfish.
- R&D grids will be based on planned changes, using strata with a higher likelihood of catch.
- Fishermen’s influence on grid location for night fishing was discussed.
- Concerns about randomization and zeroes preventing testing were noted.
- Focusing on areas of higher catch for comparisons depends on what is being tested.
- It’s possible to focus on one area and then expand spatially.
- Terminal gear is likely easier to implement than night fishing due to comfort levels.
- Daytime depths are typically 105-145 fathoms, nighttime 50-85 fathoms.
- It’s possible to test new gear alongside current gear, with the R&D subset using one traditional line and one with a longer leader.
- This dual-line approach seems most accurate.
- Fishermen can adjust depth based on where fish are found.
- Standardization of equipment across boats is important, despite potential issues with depth recorder quality.
- Expected effects of new gear include more fish and/or bigger fish, aiming for a more representative catch.
- Interest is in relative change rather than specific catch percentages.
- The effect of quadrupling grid size was considered, but the focus is on rig type vs. searching a larger area.
- Previous work indicated fish were usually caught within 30 minutes in a grid.
- The discussion moved towards specific gear details rather than fishing locations initially.
- Concerns about publication of rig details were mentioned, but standardized versions are already in use.
- Standardizing searching time within grids was also discussed.
- Leader lengths were discussed (9ft and 15ft, or 9ft and 12ft), with the consensus being 9ft and 15ft for inclusivity.
- Hook size #22-26 was agreed upon.
- Daytime fishing, gear efficiency testing, and hard slope areas (80-150 fathoms) were decided upon.
- Variability in depth within hard slope grids is expected.
- The gear change is expected to affect opakapaka and onaga, but not ehu.
- Other species like kalekale and ehu might be different at night.
- Strata with more opakapaka will be targeted.
- One line will remain the same, the other will have “maki dog” with two leaders and meat bait on the longer leader.
- Logsheets already have columns for squid/fish bait.
- The possibility of asking fishermen on other islands about bait was suggested.
Afternoon Session - Bait Discussion
- Opakapaka would use ika, Onaga would use opelu.
- Fish bait is more critical for onaga.
- Opelu (all fish) would work for daytime opakapaka fishing.
- Hook size: #22-26.
- Reluctance to expand grids; a compromise is to divert to an alternative grid in the same stratum if the primary one is subpar.
- TRDs are not necessary in R&D lines to avoid tangling.
- All samplers need to be on the same page for Hawaii-wide implementation.
- Most fishermen are likely already using these methods and would be happy with the changes.
- Looking into the number of grids to allocate for R&D.
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