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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. Annual Commercial Landings by Island vs. ACL

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

6. 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?

7. 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

8. 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
St. Thomas
Puerto Rico
Note: Harvest prohibited
Midnight parrotfish
Rainbow parrotfish
Blue parrotfish

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

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

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

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

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

17. 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 pounds to separate net-scuba from scuba-only landings for St. Croix.

18. 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

19. 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

20. Combination of slot limits and trip limits

21. 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.

22. 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

23. 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
St. Thomas
Puerto Rico
Parrotfish are protogynous hermaphrodites (female to male)

24. 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)

25. Questions? Stoplight parrotfish, terminal phase
Photo:
Stoplight parrotfish, terminal phase

26. Parrotfish Landings by Island
Data: Commercial Catch Records

28. FROM: Toller 2007

31. 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

32. 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”

33. 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”