Atlantic Greater Amberjack Abundance Indices From Commercial Handline and Recreational Charter, Private, and Headboat Fisheries Through Fishing Year 1997

摘要

Parrack (1993a,b), Cummings and McClellan (1996, 1997) and Cummings (1998) presented catch per unit of effort (CPUE) statistics for the Atlantic greater amberjack, Seriola dumerili, stock. This report updates the CPUE analyses of earlier studies through the 1997 fishing year, incorporates new analysis procedures, and presents a new index of stock abundance developed from tagging data observations. Virtual Population Analysis (VPA) techniques have been used to evaluate the condition of this stock. Information external to the input fishery catch at age data are required for tuning (calibrating) the VPA estimates of stocksize and mortality trends. Standardized CPUE observations or abundance trends (independent and fishery dependent) have been shown effective in the standardization or calibration of VPAs. Therefore, providing updated CPUE trends and implementing improvements in analysis methods is important in the analysis of the Atlantic greater amberjack stock status.