The Shrimp Industry and NOAA Fisheries Collaborate to Better Calculate Bycatch After the Implementation of Teds

The assessment of shark populations in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is conducted through the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process.  In 2007, the small coastal shark complex, blacknose (Carcharhinus acronotus), Atlantic sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae), bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo), and finetooth (Carcarhinus isodon), was assessed by scientists from the NOAA Fisheries Service.  Using the catch data, indices, and life history parameters recommended by the members of the data workshop working groups, they determined blacknose to be an overfished stock with continued overfishing. The largest component of the catches was the yearly estimate of bycatch in the shrimp trawl fishery.  The estimation method used was of concern to the shrimp industry due to what they viewed as questionable assumptions and poor data, and their representatives approached NOAA scientists about collaborating to revise the method to use at the next SEDAR.  The current method had been used in previous SEDARs, but this was the first application to the data-poor shark fishery.  Notable adjustments to the method include accounting for a Turtle Excluder Device (TED) effect and matching index data to the fishing behaviors of the commercial shrimpers.  The consensus reached is evidence of the SEDAR process at work and illustrates a scientifically sound meeting of the minds, between managers, scientists and stakeholders.  The result of the collaboration was a substantial change in methodology, leading to a change in the outputs and subsequent management advice.