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. 2018 Apr 16;13(4):e0195840.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195840. eCollection 2018.

Estimating nearshore coral reef-associated fisheries production from the main Hawaiian Islands

Kaylyn S McCoy  1   2   3 , Ivor D Williams  3 , Alan M Friedlander  2   4 , Hongguang Ma  5 , Lida Teneva  6 , John N Kittinger  6   7   8
Affiliations

Estimating nearshore coral reef-associated fisheries production from the main Hawaiian Islands

Kaylyn S McCoy et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Currently, information on nearshore reef-associated fisheries is frequently disparate or incomplete, creating a challenge for effective management. This study utilized an existing non-commercial fishery dataset from Hawai'i, covering the period 2004-13, to estimate a variety of fundamental fishery parameters, including participation, effort, gear use, and catch per unit effort. We then used those data to reconstruct total catches per island. Non-commercial fisheries in this case comprise recreational, subsistence, and cultural harvest, which may be exchanged, but are not sold. By combining those data with reported commercial catch data, we estimated annual catch of nearshore reef-associated fisheries in the main Hawaiian Islands over the study period to be 1,167,758 ± 43,059 kg year-1 (mean ± standard error). Average annual commercial reef fish catch over the same time period-184,911 kg year-1-was 16% of the total catch, but that proportion varied greatly among islands, ranging from 23% on O'ahu to 5% on Moloka'i. These results emphasize the importance of reef fishing in Hawai'i for reasons beyond commerce, such as food security and cultural practice, and highlight the large differences in fishing practices across the Hawaiian Islands.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Total catch calculations from MRIP surveys.
Information came from telephone effort surveys (outlined in green) or intercept surveys (outlined in orange), and correspond with the variables in Eq 5.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program, award NA15NMF4270332 (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/grant/saltonstall-kennedy-grant-program) to Dr. John N Kittinger. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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