Non-commercial Fishing Estimated Average Annual Catch of Reef Fish, 2004-2013 - Hawaii

Nearshore fisheries in the Main Hawaiian Islands encompass a diverse group of fishers using a wide array of gears and targeting many different species. Communities in Hawaii often rely on these fisheries for economic, social, and cultural services. However, the stress from overfishing can cause ecosystem degradation and long-term economic loss. This layer represents the average annual catch of reef fish by non-commercial fishing methods. Average annual catch at the island scale from 2004-2013 was estimated from Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) combined fisher intercept and phone survey data (McCoy et al., 2018). These island-scale estimates were spatially distributed offshore by combining two different proxies for shoreline accessibility (terrain steepness and presence of roads) while accounting for marine protected areas (MPAs) and de facto MPAs (e.g., military danger zones) where access is restricted. This layer's spatial footprint aligns with the inshore commercial reporting blocks for commercial fish catch reporting to the State of Hawaii Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR). This layer is the sum of the non-commercial boat-based and shore-based Ocean Tipping Points (OTP) rasters for all gear types (line, net, and spear); for specific details, see respective layers.

Final pixels values are in units of kg/ha such that the sum of all pixels for each island is equal to the estimates of average annual catch from McCoy et al. (2018). Units, pixel size, and grid alignment are consistent with all other OTP fishing layers so that they can be compared directly or added together for various uses.