Speckled Trout Quiz
Lately, whether due to a general lack of knowledge or simply parroting the constant stream of misinformation, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the management of our coastal fisheries, like Speckled Trout for example.
Stakeholders need to have a good understanding of an issue if they hope to make a meaningful difference in the management process. To that end, we thought that a quiz was the perfect way to, both, test folks’ knowledge and educate them about management of North Carolina’s Speckled Trout fishery.
Let us get started!
Question 1
How many Speckled Trout did NC anglers harvest in 2012?
- 500,522
- 1,602,836
- All the above
Answer
- All the above
While it is impossible for anglers to have harvested both 500,522 speckled trout and 1,602,836 speckled trout in the same year, that is exactly what you will find if you dig into the data.
This is due to changes in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) recreational fisheries data collection program. Each time NOAA changes their methods for collecting recreational data, it not only changes the future estimates but also changes past harvest estimates, often dramatically. This data is then used, by the State, in stock assessments meaning each iteration of an assessment will have drastically different estimates of harvest which is used to determine fishing mortality.
Question 2
How many Speckled Trout were released by NC anglers in 2010?
- 1,765,466
- 8,034,670
- All the above
Answer
- All the above
Just like recreational harvest estimates, release estimates have also changed dramatically over time, as both estimates are derived from the same Federal data collection program. While release estimates may not seem as important as harvest, they are. 10% of all Speckled Trout released are assumed to die and those dead discards are added to harvest to estimate total removals, or fishing mortality, and used to determine Stock Status.
Changes of this magnitude can dramatically increase recreational fishing mortality estimates, especially over long time series used in stock assessments.
Question 3
What was the spawning stock biomass in 2008?
- Approx. 800,000 pounds
- Approx. 3,000,000 pounds
- Approx. 4,400,000 pounds
- All the above
Answer
- All the above
Spawning stock biomass (SSB) represents the amount of sexually mature female fish and therefore determines the stock’s potential reproductive capacity. If every stock assessment for Speckled Trout shows a different SSB, how do we know what their true reproductive potential is?
Again, it is absolutely impossible for the spawning stock biomass, in 2008, to be anything but what it actually was, but as you can see, no one knows what it actually was, yet management decisions have been made on these inaccurate estimates.
Question 4
What was the Stock status of Speckled Trout in 2008?
- Overfished and overfishing occurring
- Not overfished nor overfishing occurring
- Not overfished but overfishing was occurring
- All the above
Answer
- All the above
That is right, three stock assessments have been conducted for Speckled Trout, all passed peer review, and all three yielded dramatically different results. Which stock assessment was correct? Were any of them correct?
Question 5
Are further harvest reductions necessary to achieve sustainable harvest in the Speckled Trout fishery?
- Yes
- No
- No one knows for certain
OBVIOUSLY!
- NO one knows for certain
If NOAA cannot produce accurate estimates of recreational harvest or releases, in this predominantly recreational fishery, and the State cannot provide accurate estimates of fishing mortality, spawning stock biomass, or stock status, no one could possibly know what reductions, if any, are necessary!
The truth is the extraordinarily high level of uncertainty has been the only certainty in the management of Speckled Trout and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. Similar discrepancies can be found in the data for virtually any coastal species of fish, where data is collected through the Federal data collection program, and assessments which rely on their MRIP data.
Not surprising when you consider that NOAA is the same agency that makes preseason estimates of the number of hurricanes that will occur, then adjusts those estimates in the middle of hurricane season, and still gets it wrong!
Now that we have asked you a few questions, it is time for you to ask yourself one very important question.
Why is the North Carolina Fisheries Association the only group talking about the uncertainty with data and stock assessments?
Glenn Skinner
Executive Director
