Photo: Tom Loyrer Parrotfish size and trip limit considerations for U.S. Caribbean waters Southeast Regional Office St. Petersburg, Florida Stoplight parrotfish, initial phase

U.S. Caribbean Parrotfish Regulations Caribbean Fishery Management Council (EEZ) Prohibition of Gill and Trammel Nets November 2005 Prohibition of Blue, Midnight, and January 2012 Rainbow parrotfish (Amendment 5) USVI State Waters Prohibition of Gill and Trammel Nets July 2006

Average of Recent Landings ACLs Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act of 2007 requires Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) Commercial parrotfish landings and ACLs: Average of Recent Landings ACLs Years: 2006 to 2008 Puerto Rico 31,266 52,737 St. Thomas 41,342 42,500 St. Croix 402,744* 240,000 *Based on this average, St. Croix parrotfish landings need to be reduced by 40% to equal ACL level.

Annual Commercial Landings by Island vs. ACL

Commercial Parrotfish Landings by Gear Type Data: Commercial Catch Records for all 3 islands.

Parrotfish Regulatory Objectives Maintain parrotfish landings at or below ACL levels Maintain reproductive viability of each species/stock Other considerations Focus harvest on “plate-size” parrotfish - personal “plate-size” does not equal restaurant “plate-size” Will size limits apply to recreational and commercial fisheries, or just commercial?

Data Sources and Analyses Size Limit Data: Trip Interview Program Minimum Size, Maximum Size, and Slot Limits for the sizes of 8 to 15 inches Trip Limit Data: Commercial Catch Records Evaluated trip limits from 10 to 500 pounds

Percentage of TIP records by parrotfish species for each island Numbers in parenthesize are sample size Princess Queen Redband Redfin Redtail Stoplight Striped St. Croix 1.4 (87) 0.2 (13) 7.9 (463) 5.6 (329) 49.4 (2,907) 35.5 (2,090) 0.0 (0) St. Thomas 0.7 (7) 0.2 (2) 0.8 (8) 3.6 (38) 45.8 (485) 48.9 (518) 0.1 (1) Puerto Rico 4.8 (116) 4.8 (115) 0.4 (9) 1.7 (42) 38.1 (923) 50.2 (1,213) All Three Islands 2.2(210) 1.4 (130) 5.1 (480) 4.4 (409) 46.1 (4,315) 40.8 (3,821) 0.01 (1) Data: Trip Interview Program Parrotfish landings reported to TIP fell off in PR during 2009 and 2010 Years of Data St. Croix 2008-2010 St. Thomas 2008-2010 Puerto Rico 2006-2008 Note: Harvest prohibited Midnight parrotfish Rainbow parrotfish Blue parrotfish

Analysis Example Impose Minimum Size Limit of 11 inches Removes 19% of landings i.e. Reduction = 19%

Weighted Percent Reductions To account for gear selectivity the reductions were calculated in terms of parrotfish weight (lbs) with respect to gear. Then the reductions were weighted by the percentage of landings for each gear type.

Size Limit Percent Reductions for St. Croix Data: St. Croix TIP data for years 2008 to 2010 Size Limit Minimum size Maximum Size (inches FL) % No Limit 8 0.7 99.3 9 7.0 93.0 10 19.4 80.6 11 42.7 57.3 12 74.2 25.8 13 92.4 7.6 14 97.4 2.6 15 99.0 1.0

Size Limit Percent Reductions for St. Thomas Data: St. Thomas TIP data for years 2008 to 2010 Size Limit Minimum size Maximum Size (inches FL) % No Limit   8 0.1 99.9 9 1.6 98.4 10 12.8 87.2 11 44.7 55.3 12 79.0 21.0 13 95.2 4.8 14 98.3 1.7 15 99.2 0.8

Size Limit Percent Reductions for Puerto Rico Data: Puerto Rico TIP data for years 2006 to 2008 Size Limit Minimum size Maximum Size (inches FL) % No Limit   8 0.6 99.4 9 3.0 97.0 10 13.3 86.7 11 30.7 69.3 12 59.0 41.0 13 86.4 13.6 14 96.2 3.8 15 98.7 1.3

Percent reduction for slot limits for St. Croix Data: St. Croix TIP data for years 2008 to 2010

Percent reduction for slot limits for St. Thomas Data: St. Thomas TIP data for years 2008 to 2010

Percent reduction for slot limits for Puerto Rico Data: St. Thomas TIP data for years 2006 to 2008

Trip Limit Results for St. Croix Data: landings data for 2007 and 2008 Potential percent reductions are highlighted Trip Limit Landings (lbs) Percent   Reduction No Limit 774,888 10 683,700 88.2 20 604,992 78.1 30 539,216 69.6 40 482,008 62.2 50 432,091 55.8 60 389,124 50.2 70 352,723 45.5 80 321,209 41.5 90 293,796 37.9 100 269,509 34.8 150 194,548 25.1 200 140,732 18.2 300 59,437 7.7 400 16,866 2.2 500 5,533 0.7 Toller (2007) determined a cut-off threshold of 162.5 pounds to separate net-scuba from scuba-only landings for St. Croix.

Trip Limit Results for St. Thomas Data: landings data for 2007 and 2008 Trip Limit Landings (lbs) Percent   Reduction No Limit 79,788 10 50,073 62.8 20 33,291 41.8 30 22,794 28.5 40 15,345 19.2 50 9,726 12.2 60 5,564 7.0 70 3,128 3.9 80 1,871 2.3 90 1,247 1.6 100 935 1.2 150 156 0.2 200 0.0 300 400 500

Trip Limit Results for Puerto Rico Data: landings data for 2008 and 2009 Trip Limit Landings (lbs) Percent lbs  Reduction No Limit 56,487 10 29,309 54.6 20 18,104 35.2 30 12,899 25.6 40 9,515 19.2 50 7,112 14.6 60 5,373 11.2 70 4,092 8.6 80 3,146 6.7 90 2,469 5.3 100 1,961 4.3 150 716 1.8 200 385 1.0 300 400 500

Combination of slot limits and trip limits

Caveats Assuming previous year’s landings are a reasonable predictor of future landings trends Trip limit reductions do not account for shifts in fishing effort or other behavior changes.

Regulation Impacts Minimum size limit: potentially allows fish to spawn before being harvested, but allows harvest of larger more fecund fish. Maximum Size Limit: protects larger more fecund fish, but allows harvest of smaller and possibly immature fish. Slot Limit: potentially protects immature, small mature, and large fecund fish Trip limit: Can deter harvest with illegal gear if set to a sufficiently low limit

Parrotfish are protogynous hermaphrodites (female to male) 2 S.D. 75th Female Male median 25th Boxplot: Horizontal line is the median, bottom and top of the box shows the 25th and 75th percentiles (also called first and third quartiles, essentially the location of 50% of the data). The whiskers represent 2 standard deviations of the data. Points beyond the whiskers are outliers. Redtail parrotfish: nearest available data is Puerto Rico (Figuerola et al. 1998). This paper only gave length of first maturity (9 inches FL) and did not give the sex. Stoplight parrotfish: nearest available was Turks and Caicos from Koltes 1993. Redfin parrotfish and redband parrotfish information came from the Virgin Islands (Randall 1963). This does not make sense because the males reach maturity at a smaller size then the females. I don’t have a copy of the reference. No maturity information available for Princess, Queen, and Redband parrotfish. Data: Trip Interview Program Years of Data St. Croix 2008-2010 St. Thomas 2008-2010 Puerto Rico 2006-2008 Parrotfish are protogynous hermaphrodites (female to male)

Parrotfish Considerations Photo: Adona9 Parrotfish Considerations Photo: Damian Krzeminski Omnivorous grazers remove algae which enhances settlement and survival of coral recruits (Brock 1979; Mumby 2006; Burkepile and Hay 2010). Ecological role of parrotfish has become more relevant in the past 30 years due to Caribbean-wide decline of longspine urchin (Mumby 2006). Parrotfish are generally (but not always) protogynous hermaphrodites (female to male)

Questions? Stoplight parrotfish, terminal phase Photo: www.itsallaboutfish.co.uk Stoplight parrotfish, terminal phase

Parrotfish Landings by Island Data: Commercial Catch Records

FROM: Toller 2007

Escape Vents for Fish and Lobster Traps Option 1: No Action Option 2: One vent Option 3: Two vents, same dimensions for each Option 4: Two vents, different dimensions for each

Require one escape vent to be located in each fish trap with a: Rectangular shape with minimum gap dimensions of: 1” x 6” 1” x 5” 1” x 4” 1” x 3” 2” x 4” Diamond shape with minimum gap dimensions at the widest points of: 4.0” x 2.0” 4.0” x 2.5” 4.5” x 2.0” 4.5” x 2.5” 5.0” x 2.0” 5.0” x 2.5” Circular shape with a minimum gap diameter of: 2.5” 3” 3.5” 4” 4.5” 5”

Require two escape vents to be located in each fish trap with a: Rectangular shape with minimum gap dimensions for each vent of: 1” x 6” 1” x 5” 1” x 4” 1” x 3” 2” x 4” Diamond shape with minimum gap dimensions at the widest points for each vent of: 4.0” x 2.0” 4.0” x 2.5” 4.5” x 2.0” 4.5” x 2.5” 5.0” x 2.0” 5.0” x 2.5” Circular shape with a minimum gap diameter for each vent of: 2.5” 3” 3.5” 4” 4.5” 5”