Estimated Discard and Discard Rates in the Coastal Washington Arrowtooth Flounder Fishery In 2001
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Acknowledgements
Special recognition goes to the participants in this program including fishing vessels Carla R, Friendship, Larkin, Miss Leona, Pacific Oryan, Starlight and Windjammer and to Bellingham, Washington processors Bornstein and Sea-K. I would also like to thank WDFW port samplers, at-sea monitors and support staff whose dedication and hard work made this study possible.

Farron Wallace
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Marine Resources Division
December 2002

Executive Summary

Overview
In 2001, WDFW began a 2-year cooperative industry at-sea data collection program in an effort to facilitate directed Arrowtooth flounder fishing and to establish an objective basis for estimation of canary rockfish discard in that fishery. The program was approved by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and administered under an Exempted Fishing Permit. This report provides a review of the 2001 (year 1) observer data and an estimate of discarded catch for the participating vessels. A final report will be produced in 2003 summarizing results of the entire program.

All participating vessels were required to carried observers throughout the study period and retain all rockfish species (Sebastes and Sebastelobus) caught. Shoreside, rockfish catch was sorted into marketable, unmarketable, and forfeited. Unmarketable catch was typically made up of small fish of no value and rockfish landings exceeding monthly cumulative trip limits were forfeited. Rockfish discard estimates in this study are assumed equal to the sum of forfeited and unmarketable, because this catch would have ordinarily been discarded at-sea under normal fishing operations. Observers also monitored fishing strategies and collected data to estimate total catch, discard and bycatch rates of incidental catch of non-rockfish species.

Results
Participating vessels landed approximately 810 mt of arrowtooth flounder that would not have been possible without the EFP fishery. The estimated bycatch rate for canary rockfish in the north coastal Washington arrowtooth fishery is significantly lower than that used to set current regulations for the arrowtooth fishery in 2002. In arrowtooth directed tows, the ratio of canary to arrowtooth was 0.07% compared to an assumed rate of 2.0% to 3.0%. Among the 7 vessels participating in the study, the highest canary discard rate for a single vessel was 1.9%. Two vessels caught no canary. This questions the ability for at least some vessels to avoid canary rockfish in directed arrowtooth tows. This also suggests that predicting bycatch may be highly prone to error.

Although the relative volume of catch was low, the percent discard within rockfish market category was much higher.

Total estimated rockfish catch and discard

	Total Estimated (lbs)		Discard Rate
Species/Market Category	Catch	Discard
Canary	5,226	2,574	49.3%
Darkblotched	4,359	22	0.5%
POP	28,099	4,528	16.1%
Shortspine Thornyhead	14,893	3,838	25.8%
Shelf	21,656	12,193	56.3%
Slope	15,851	5,922	37.4%
Widow	632	-	0.0%
Yellowtail	41,975	10,014	23.9%
Sub-Total	132,691	39,091	29.5%

Data Limitation
Analysis in this study is based on data collected from seven volunteer vessels and does not represent a random sampling of the fleet. Because this study is limited in scope, results should not be widely applied to other fisheries. Furthermore, vessels participating in this study actively attempted to minimize canary bycatch and discard rates may not be representative of other vessels targeting arrowtooth.