A Proposal to Compare South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks Standard Gill and Fyke Nets with the AFS Standards

The North American standard gill net and fyke net configurations differ from those currently used by South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (SDGFP).  Because of the current long-term data sets that SDGFP has developed there has rightfully been reluctance by fisheries managers and biologists to change to the North American standard.  Development of a correction would allow for continued use of historic data sets and should reduce the reluctance to change.  We anticipate beginning a project that compares the North American standard gill and fyke net configurations to SDGFP standards.  The objectives of the project will be to (1) compare catch rates, size structure and species composition of fishes collected in North American standard gill and fyke nets to SDGFP standard gill and fyke nets; and (2) develop conversions for commonly collected species that will allow historic gill and fyke net data to be converted to North American standard.  We currently plan to sample 24 lakes in conjunction with SDGFP standard fisheries surveys during June-August of 2013 and 2014.  A stratified sampling design will be used to select net locations for the North American standard nets and SDGFP nets will be set in their established fixed locations.  Gill net effort for the North American standard gill net will be double the current SDGFP effort and fyke net effort will be equal between the two standards.  Paired data will be compared using regression analysis to calculate an adjustment to allow historic SDGFP fisheries data to be comparable to the North American standard.