Standardized Catch Rates for White Marlin (Tretapturus albidus) and Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans) from the Pelagic Longline Fishery in the Northwest Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico

摘要

Indices of abundance of white and blue marlin from the United States pelagic longline fishery in the Atlantic are presented for the period 1986-2000/2001. The index of weight (kg) per number of hooks (thousand) was estimated from numbers of marlins caught and reported in the logbooks submitted by commercial fisherman, and from mean annual weight estimated by scientific observers aboard longline (Pelagic Observer Program) vessels since 1992. The standardization analysis procedure included the following variables; year, area, season, gear characteristics (light sticks, main line length, hook density, etc) and fishing characteristics (bait type, operations procedure, and target species). The standardized index was estimated using Generalized Linear Mixed Models under a delta lognormal model approach.