Small-vessel Survey and Auction Sampling to Estimate Growth and Maturity of Eteline Snappers

Small-vessel Survey and Auction Sampling to Estimate Growth and Maturity of Eteline Snappers and Improve Data-Limited Stock Assessments.
This biosampling project allows for the expansion of the underfunded field-sampling program at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) in the Main Hawaiian Islands and allows the PIFSC Life History Program (LHP) to more fully develop existing cooperative research connections with regional fishers and wholesale buyers. Under this grant, PIFSC has conducted small boat sampling operations around Oahu to target juvenile eteline snappers, Pacific Islands Fisheries Group fishermen were asked to collect specific sizes of whole fish and bring to LHP staff for processing, and a buyer at the United Fishing Agency (UFA) fish auction was contracted to target large fish and intermediate lengths to fully supplement the field and fisher collections. Bottomfish biosampling data is queried often to identify size and temporal gaps for each species and sample requests are updated accordingly.