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31 May 2016 Evaluation of Alternatives to Winter Closure of Black Sea Bass Pot Gear: Projected Impacts on Catch and Risk of Entanglement with North Atlantic Right Whales Eubalaenaglacialis
Nicholas A. Farmer
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Abstract

Time-area closures have been widely used in fisheries management to prevent overfishing and reduce the bycatch of protected species. Due to quota overages and concerns about entanglement of federally protected North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis, the commercial harvest of Black Sea Bass Centropristis striata using pot gear has been prohibited in the southeastern United States in winter since 2009. Following the rebuilding of the Black Sea Bass stock and a change to the start date of the fishing year, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) increased the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) and is considering twelve alternatives to the pot gear closure that would revise the timing and/or spatial extent of the closure. Changes to this closure could affect the annual catch of Black Sea Bass and increase the risk of right whale entanglement in pot gear. Using historical fishing effort, landings, and right whale sightings data, we projected Black Sea Bass landings and the relative risk of right whale entanglement for each closure alternative, expressed in relative risk units (RRU). We predict that the ACL would be caught, resulting in an in-season closure for most of the proposed SAFMC closure alternatives. The relative risk of entanglement, estimated from the spatial and temporal overlap of Black Sea Bass pot gear fishing effort and right whale relative abundance, was lower for some alternatives than for others, and the relative differences between alternatives were consistent among uncertainty scenarios. The SAFMC's preferred alternative is projected to result in a relatively low increase in risk to North Atlantic right whales (3–15 RRU off North Carolina and 1–12 RRU off Florida—South Carolina). This framework demonstrates the use of temporally dynamic spatial overlays in assessing the impacts of time—area closures with multiple objectives.

© Nicholas A. Farmer, Timothy A. Gowan, Jessica R. Powell, and Barbara J. Zoodsma This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
Nicholas A. Farmer "Evaluation of Alternatives to Winter Closure of Black Sea Bass Pot Gear: Projected Impacts on Catch and Risk of Entanglement with North Atlantic Right Whales Eubalaenaglacialis," Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science 8(8), 202-221, (31 May 2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/19425120.2016.1146181
Received: 23 April 2015; Accepted: 15 January 2016; Published: 31 May 2016
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