The Marine life fishery in Florida, 1990-98

Marine Fisheries Review, Wntr, 2003 by Sherry L. Larkin, Charles M. Adams

From 1990 to 1998, landings of fish per trip for a given species averaged 9.3 but were reported to be as much as 7,800 while landings of invertebrates per trip for a given species averaged 158 but were reported to be as much as 92,500 (FMRI(14)). This extreme variation reflects the ability of collectors to harvest thousands of small "critters" in a very short period of time. Because the data do not allow for the evaluation of all species landed on each trip, these trip-level data may be conservative estimates of the activity of collectors that harvest multiple species during a given trip.

Aside from the aggregate averages, it is helpful to examine the data for the individual species. To that end, information on annual average landings and value (i.e. total harvest revenue) are calculated at the trip level for each of the top 10 fish and invertebrate species groups (Tables 9-12).

With the exception of seahorses, landings for fish species within the top 10 groups averaged between 4 and 18 fish per trip (seahorse landings averaged 162 per trip) (Table 9). Jawfish is perhaps the only species group whose landings per trip have increased over time; the average catch rate per trip increased from nearly 11 fish per trip in 1990 to over 27 per trip in 1998. In general, landings of each species varied annually.

Landings per trip (i.e. catch rate) for the top invertebrate species are summarized in Table 10. In general, catch rates for invertebrates greatly exceed those for fish. Only 4 of the top 10 invertebrate species were characterized by landings of equal to or less than 30 specimens per trip. Landings of sand dollars averaged 7,014 per trip, which is significantly higher than that for the next highest group, snails, with 248 per trip. Note that live rock and live sand are both measured in pounds and thus cannot be compared to other invertebrate species. However, trends in average catch rates are comparable. Most of the top invertebrates experienced increases in catch rates between 1990 and 1998. In particular, landings of live rock, snails, anemones, and crabs all increased.

The average annual revenue received per trip by fish species group is shown in Table 11. Recall that since collectors can harvest multiple species during a given trip, these revenues may not equal the total trip revenue. Average revenues for the top fish species ranged from about $13 to $151 for butterflyfish and seahorses, respectively. With the exception of seahorses, the next highest revenue generator per trip was angelfish, which accounted for about $64 per trip. When comparing the average landings in the first few years vs. the last, it appears that revenues per trip for hogfish, jawfish, and surgeonfish have increased while those for damselfish, butterflyfish, and drum have declined slightly.

The average revenue per trip for invertebrates exceeded that for fish (Table 12). Among the top 10 invertebrate species, trip revenues averaged from about $17 for starfish to over $800 for sand dollars. It may be that effort directed at invertebrates is more specialized and thus fewer different species are landed per trip. During the 1990-98 period, revenues per trip increased for nearly all species, especially live rock. However, note that live rock landings are no longer unrestricted since all production must come from permitted culture lease sites.