Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Fisheries News

Local
Ice fishing event builds bonds between students and teachers

Regional
Sturgeon spearing season closes with 36 trophy fish harvested

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to sample Green Bay for Asian carp

Great Lakes environmental programs slashed in President Obama's proposed budget

National
Sportsmen and conservation groups support drat Clean Water Act guidance

The New York Times covers the Winnebago sturgeon season

International
Scientists propose mobile marine reserves

Sea Shepherds escape Japanese pursuit in New Zealand waters

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Science: Fishing success not dependent on skill level

Catch inequality is a term that describes the phenomenon of a small number of anglers catching a disproportionately large number of fish.  It happens commonly in recreational fisheries but it has never been the subject of a long-term study, and not much is known about how and why it changes over time.  There have been studies that suggest catch inequality is related to catch per unit effort (CPUE).  Generally, there is low catch inequality when CPUE is high and high catch inequality when CPUE is low.  Catch inequality, therefore, reduces the usefulness of using CPUE as an indicator of fishing success and could reduce the effectiveness of management decisions.  Seekell et al. (2011) tested the hypothesis that catch inequality increases as CPUE decreases because of resource scarcity.