Catch and Effort
February 2024 Update:
Annual Catch and Effort Summary off San Juan, PR
NonFAD caught mahi – November 2023 Photo: Caribbean Fishing Academy caribbeanfishingacademy.com
In 2018, the Beyond Our Shores Foundation launched an awards program to recognize the dedication of fishermen towards volunteering and participating in our fish aggregating device (FAD) research. Our first round of awards went out in January, 2019, to ten anglers around Puerto Rico who went above and beyond to assist in our research. Those ten anglers were the top participants of 26 vessels that were being monitored around Puerto Rico using vessel tracking systems (VTS) for daily catch and effort reports. The first phase of our VTS research ran from October, 2016, to June, 2019, or just over 2.5 years, before funding for the program expired. Today, we are excited to announce our third round of awards that recently went out to seven anglers for their participation in our VTS research in 2023.
The seven anglers (named below) were the top participants of 14 vessels that are currently being monitored around Puerto Rico. These vessels constitute participants of phase 2 of our VTS research, a phase which began in July 2020, and runs to the present. These awards certainly do not serve as the primary reason for fishermen to volunteer in this research, but they do provide a little added inspiration to go that extra mile for the study. We presented awards to dedicated captains who provided our team with catch and effort reports for nearly every outing they embarked upon. To qualify for an award, anglers must have embarked upon at least 30 outings and provided catch reports for no less than 80% of their outings in the calendar year. This year, seven captains qualified in Puerto Rico,
NONFAD caught blue marlin July 2023 Photo: Double Hook Fishing Charters doublehookfishing.com
and they each received either a custom handcrafted 6′ conventional standup Star Rod, a 6’ AFTCO gaff and AFTCO filet knife, and other apparel and gear. It is our hope that each award presented demonstrates our genuine appreciation to these fishermen for volunteering to compile the most detailed FAD catch and effort data set in the U.S. Caribbean Sea. Data collected and compiled in this component of our FAD research program will provide insight into a host of fisheries science and socioeconomic topics. One objective is to address a fundamental question: Are there differences in FAD catch associated with surface versus subsurface FADs? Additionally, how does the presence and absence of FADs affect outing success in terms of landed fish? Answering these questions represents one of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resource’s agency primary goals of the Puerto Rico FAD System and we feel they are important questions to answer. To address these questions, we pulled all VTS data from 2023. For the catch portion of the analysis, we only selected catch from the northern region of Puerto Rico (Arecibo to north of Fajardo). With nearly the same number of outings per month during 2023 as well as in 2022, there were stark differences in catch during the time period. Read more about those differences below. A special thanks to the captains that participate in our FAD research to allow us to document these trends.
Overview of 2023 Catch and Effort Data
Percent FAD catch from fish landed per month off the north coast of PR in 2023.
Aside from last February, the total landed catch, or in the case of billfish, successful releases, from the vessels we monitor off the north coast of PR oscillated between 57 and 126 fish per month in 2023. However, the percentage of those landed fish caught in association with a fish aggregating device (FAD) varied more by month and declined through the end of the year. While the late year decline can likely be attributed to the loss of FAD B, FAD C, and FAD F, the low percentage of FAD catch success and number of landed fish in June 2023 is unknown. Looking back on our records for catch and effort since June 2022, the trend is more dramatic, with both percent
FAD success of landed fish and total landed fish per month being higher in the summer and fall of 2022 than those seasons in 2023. From June to December 2022, the average number of fish landed per month was 234; for 2023, the average was less than half of that at 106 fish per month, and from June to December, the value dropped to 99. Do these quantitative trends reflect what other captains outside our monitoring program have experienced during this time period in this region? Looking to tournament data from Club Nautico de San Juan and the Cangrejos Yacht club between 2022 and 2023, for all events ran in 2022, more billfish were released and those events were deemed overall more successful than 2023 events.
Percent FAD catch from fish landed per month off the north coast of PR for the past 19 months.
For example, in the 2022 IBT there were 50 billfish releases and 88 strikes; in 2023, the same tournament had only 38 billfish releases (number of strikes is currently unknown). In addition, one angler submitted a comment to our program that stated 2023 was the worst year he has experienced in his life and he has been fishing offshore for 52 years in the region. When catch was high early in the 19-month time-series, two submerged FAD clusters had just been deployed as well as several surface and single submerged FADs. FAD related catch remained high until October 2022 when there was a shift in effort away from FADs possibly due to better fishing success away from the FADs at sargassum and frontal boundaries. Since October 2022, catch among vessels has declined as well as success of landed fish caught in association with the FADs. Currently, several submerged FADs still remain active in the Radares and Hoteles clusters yet those FADs are not producing the stats we were receiving from the boats we monitor during the start of this time-series. Both January and February, 2024, appear similar to what we observed for 2023. Our Q2 update on those numbers will be released in late spring.
August 2023 Update:
Annual Catch and Effort Summary off San Juan, PR
Over six years ago, we approached several captains around Puerto Rico to voluntarily provide catch and effort data for their fishing activity around the island. Since then, 51 captains have participated in this program, and we hope to add several more participants in the coming months. In total, 4,197 reports have been logged with 1,638 documented since June 2022. To analyze these data, three-month comparisons were established to assess fishing catch and effort that approximated the seasons. However, in order to aid in data binning, however, the meteorological beginning of the seasons (i.e., summer and winter solstice, vernal and autumnal equinox) were not used. In addition, due to landed catch being dominated by dolphinfish and yellowfin tuna, those species were used for the seasonal comparisons. As the program expands, additional vessels can be added to the three-month analyses. The following summarizes the five three-month periods analyzed since last June:
Summer 2022 (June-August): Dolphinfish (DOL) and yellowfin tuna (YFT) catch was FAD dominate; Total DOL landed = 94; Total YFT = 142; lowest effort 169 trips. Overall, the catch size bin with the majority of dolphinfish caught was 1-10 lbs, while the majority of yellowfin tuna caught were between 31 and 40 lbs
Fall 2022 (September-November): DOL catch was nonFAD dominate; YFT FAD dominate; DOL landed = 284; YFT = 230; 2nd lowest effort 176 trips. Overall, the majority of dolphinfish caught were between 1 and 10 lbs, while the majority of yellowfin tuna caught were between 21 and 30 lbs (shifting from a majority 31 and 40 lbs in June-August 2022)
Winter 2023 (December-February): DOL catch was FAD dominate; YFT catch very low; DOL landed = 371; YFT = 7; 2nd highest effort 230 trips. Overall, the majority of fish caught near the FADs were between 11 and 20 pounds. However, away from the FADs more small fish were caught (1-10 pounders). YFT were mostly less than 10 pounds and caught away from the FADs.
Spring 2023 (March-May): DOL catch was FAD dominate; YFT nonFAD dominate and higher than winter; Dol landed = 198; YFT = 48; highest effort 349 trips. Overall, the majority of dolphinfish caught were between 1 and 10 lbs, while the majority of yellowfin tuna caught were between 21 and 30 lbs (shifting from a majority 31 and 40 lbs in June-August 2022).
Summer 2023 (June-August): Dolphinfish catch was FAD dominate and lower than 2022 Summer (155 vs. 234) with August 2023 representing 61% of the summer 23′ catch; YFT catch was very low (n=18 with 88% nonFAD); 3rd lowest effort 189 trips.
Captains that participate in this program and provide catch reports for more than 80% of their annual trips will receive either a Star fishing rod, AFTCO gear, and other apparel or products from our group as year-end awards. It is our hope that each award presented demonstrates our genuine appreciation to these fishermen for volunteering to compile the most detailed FAD catch and effort data set in the U.S. Caribbean Sea. These awards are presented annually in January.
50-pound mahi caught away from the FADs. Sept 22′ Photo: thedropfishingcharters.com
February 2023 Update:
2022 Fishermen Awards for Advancing FAD Research
In 2018, the Beyond Our Shores Foundation launched an awards program to recognize the dedication of fishermen towards volunteering and participating in our fish aggregating device (FAD) research. Our first round of awards went out in January 2019, to ten anglers around Puerto Rico that went above and beyond to assist in our research. Those ten anglers were the top participants of 26 vessels that were being monitored around Puerto Rico using vessel tracking systems (VTS) for daily catch and effort reports. The first phase of our VTS research ran from October, 2016, to June, 2019, or just over 2.5 years before funding for the program expired. Today, we are excited to announce our second round of awards recently went out to six anglers for their participation in our VTS research in 2022. The six anglers (named below) were the top participants of 14 vessels that are currently being monitored around Puerto Rico. These vessels constitute participants of phase 2 of our VTS research, a phase which began in July 2020 and runs to the present. Before delving much further into the differences between phase 1 and phase 2 in terms of catch and effort, we recognize that these awards certainly do not serve as the primary reason for fishermen to volunteer in this research, but they do provide a little added inspiration to go that extra mile for the study. We presented awards to dedicated captains who provided our team with catch and effort reports for nearly every outing they embarked upon. To qualify for an award, anglers must have embarked on at least 30 outings and provided catch reports for no less than 80% of their outings in the calendar year. This year, six captains qualified in Puerto Rico,
and they each received either a custom handcrafted 6′ conventional standup Star Rod, a 6’ AFTCO gaff and AFTCO filet knife, and other apparel and gear. It is our hope that each award presented demonstrates our genuine appreciation to these fishermen for volunteering to compile the most detailed FAD catch and effort data set in the U.S. Caribbean Sea. Data collected and compiled in this component of our FAD research program will provide insight into a host of fisheries science and socioeconomic topics. One objective is to address a fundamental question: Are there differences in FAD catch associated with surface versus subsurface FADs? Answering this question represents one of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resource’s agency primary goals of the Puerto Rico FAD System and we feel it an important one to answer. To address this question, we pulled all VTS data from phase 1 and phase 2 of our VTS research. For the catch portion of the analysis, we only selected catch from the northern region of Puerto Rico indicated by the inset square in the image below. With nearly the same number of outings between phases within the northern region as well as many of the same participating vessels, there were stark differences in catch between phase 1 and phase 2 monitoring periods. See the catch and effort image below.
Angler Spotlight: Captain Luis Burgos of
Caribbean Fishing Academy
Over the last five years of monitoring 32 distinct vessels around Puerto Rico, as well as engaging with countless other anglers through tagging or on the water research, several names have risen to the top our list as reliable, engaging, and helpful Captains to our research. One of those individuals is Captain Luis Burgos, owner and operator of Caribbean Fishing Academy based in San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico, and the focus of our angler spotlight during this quarterly FAD eNews issue. In addition to providing us with offshore and nearshore catch reports for nearly 100% of his 635 outings over the last five years, he has also assisted in the field on 18 outings, in where six satellite tags and 11 acoustic tags were deployed on a variety of pelagic fish species including dolphinfish, yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, wahoo, and silky sharks. Since our research began, Captain Burgos and his mate Pepe Serrano have also assisted our team in 22 dives associated with surface and subsurface FADs. Along the way, using data collected with him, we have published two scientific papers as well as three articles in different popular outlets. His involvement in our research has been exceptional and represents one of several captains who we want to showcase in our angler spotlight series. Click on the video below to see the results his involvement has produced. Thanks for your participation, Captain!
October 2022 Update:
The Puerto Rico FAD System began in June 2015 with the first deployments of surface fish aggregating devices (FADs) off San Juan, Puerto Rico, off the northeast coast of the island. Last year, four submerged FADs were deployed off the north coast by the Beyond Our Shores Foundation, followed by 22 surface and submerged FADs led by Legada Azul. Currently, there are 26 FADs in the water from Fajardo to Arecibo. Information on FAD coordinates can be found at prfadsystem.org/map. In January 2016, we began a volunteer catch and effort vessel monitoring program to gather information on FAD use and performance and had recruited, at one point, 29 different vessels across the island to participate. We have been rebuilding participation since Hurricane Maria, which caused several devices to malfunction, vessels to be lost to the storm, and anglers to be displaced. Currently, ten vessels have re-initiated participation in the program, and we are focused on recruiting more given the value of the data
gathered. This past June was the first month in which all FADs had been deployed and multiple vessels were being monitored. Since then, we have acquired catch and effort data from 169 fishing trips with four vessels providing sufficient data for catch and effort analyses. It is important to note that vessel participation in this program has already proved useful in at least one scientific publication on FAD use published in 2018. As more vessels re-initiate participation or volunteer, the amount of information gathered on FAD use and performance will increase and will ultimately allow for more detailed analyses of FAD catch and effort trends, species seasonality and size trends, and economic impacts the FADs have on vessels in areas where they are or are not deployed. For example, below are the first size-frequency plots for the top two species harvested among all vessels from June
Mahi Size frequency: June – August
Dolphinfish size (weight in lbs) frequency differentiated by catch association (FAD, nonFAD ) over a 3-month period (June-August 2022).
Yellowfin Tuna Size Frequency: June – August
Yellowfin tuna size (weight in lbs) frequency differentiated by catch association (FAD, nonFAD ) over a 3-month period (June-August 2022).
through August. While three months of data is not enough to draw any conclusions, the reported observations are evidence that our methods are working. Below, we include a 14-week catch matrix of the top four sought after recreational species in the area among all vessels we are monitoring. Check back soon for more updates.
Past Updates
2019 – In order to begin to quantify the impact of FADs on fisheries in Puerto Rico, 20 boat captains agreed to collaborate and provide high resolution catch and GPS data. The GPS data provide time and location, which along with catch allow us to calculate fishing effort as, catch per unit effort on a spatial scale relative to FAD locations. To date, we have collected two years of catch and effort data from participating captains for nearly every outing they embarked upon. The captains represent major charter, recreational, and commercial anglers from around the island. The first captain that agreed to participate was Captain Luis Lagrandier of Puerto Rico Sportfishing Charters, who routinely takes local and international clients fishing aboard his boat Makaira. When we started tracking Makaira’s catch and effort on October 25, 2016, all of the FADs were in place (See Fig 3A upper panel). Preliminary analysis of Makaira’s activity, show that while there was roughly equal catches at the FAD versus away, there was actually more time spent away from the FAD to get that catch, indicating that catch per unit effort is actually higher at the FAD. As the season progressed, FAD E was lost on November 28, 2016, and FAD F was lost on January 17, 2017, and this influenced Makaira to shift fishing effort toward FAD G, the next closest FAD to its home port, Dorado (See Fig 3A lower panel). With FAD E and F not in place, Makaira altered its fishing pattern, increasing both its average time and distance covered per trip. In addition, Makaira’s fishing grounds increased by approximately 106 square kilometers, which meant the vessel trolled a greater area in search of fish. Makaira’s shift toward FAD G, however, did seem to pay off, having caught 4 times more dorado at FAD G than caught elsewhere. Interestingly, Makaira’s catch away from the FAD included a more diverse array of pelagic species, which may be related to the propensity for some species (e.g., dorado) to show high fidelity with the FADs while others do not. Makaira’s case study is one of several compiled by our team and highlights the value of collaborative research to describe FAD-vessel dynamics. Collectively, data indicate that FAD presence can influence catch, effort, and fishing costs.
One of the key management decisions to install FADs in Puerto Rico was to increase sport fishing opportunities and to shift recreational fishing activity from stressed coastal habitats offshore. In order to investigate whether this goal was being met, in January 2017, we began monitoring the catch and effort of vessels that predominantly fish nearshore. Captain Luis Burgos of the Caribbean Fishing Academy (CFA), a predominantly light-tackle nearshore fishing charter that operates in San Juan Bay is the example described here (Fig. 3B). CFA embarked upon 88 trips, with the majority of the outings taking place throughout coastal habitats in and around San Juan Bay. Proximal to the mouth of San Juan bay are FAD C and D, 5.44 and 4.95 miles offshore, respectively. After analysis of 88 trips, 19 of those (or 21.5%) were taken offshore to fish the. While Offshore, CFA caught dorado, billfish, and tuna; while inshore, CFA caught 17 different species but predominantly tarpon, crevalle jack, snook, and guavancha. Because we do not have CFA’s catch and effort before the FADs were installed, we cannot determine if the FADs influenced CFA to move offshore or whether those trips were more successful. Nonetheless, the data and preliminary analysis do show that offshore catch and effort was highest immediately adjacent to FADs, which suggests they provided Captain Burgos with more fishing options and a more diverse array of sport fishing opportunities to his clients.
