Report from Hawaii Bottomfish 

Commercial Fishery Data 

Workshops, 2015-2016

Annie Yau

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Marine Fisheries Service

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-PIFSC-68

https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-PIFSC-68

February 2018

Report from Hawaii Bottomfish 

Commercial Fishery Data 

Workshops, 2015-2016

Annie Yau

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center

National Marine Fisheries Service

1845 Wasp Boulevard

Honolulu, HI 96818

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-PIFSC-68

February 2018

U.S. Department of Commerce

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Secretary

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RDML Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., USN Ret., Acting NOAA Administrator

National Marine Fisheries Service

Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
Recommended citation:

Yau, Annie. 2018. Report from Hawaii bottomfish commercial fishery data workshops, 2015–

2016. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-PIFSC-68, 105 p. 

Copies of this report are available from:

Science Operations Division

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center

National Marine Fisheries Service

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building #176 

Honolulu, Hawaii 96818 

Or online at:

https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/library/

Cover: Photo courtesy of Pacific Islands Fisheries Group.
i 

Table of Contents

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. ii

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iii

A. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... vi

B. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 7

C. SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP OUTCOMES ..................................................................... 11

C.1 Summary of Catch Resolutions .......................................................................................... 11

C.2 Summary of Fish Weight (Size) Resolutions ..................................................................... 11

C.3 Summary of Catch-per-unit-effort Resolutions ................................................................. 12

D. WORKSHOP DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................. 13

D.1. CATCH .......................................................................................................................... 16

D.1.1. Discarded, Released, and Predated Catch .................................................................. 16

D.1.2. Underreporting of Commercial Catch........................................................................ 17

D.1.3. Misidentified Species Catch....................................................................................... 18

D.2. FISH WEIGHT (SIZE) .................................................................................................. 18

D.2.1 Selecting Which of the Two Fish Weight Data Sets to Use ....................................... 19

D.2.2. Initial Filters to Select Representative Weight Data for this Fishery ........................ 25

D.2.3. Selecting Data to Calculate Individual Species’ Representative Weight .................. 28

D.2.4. Selecting Data to Calculate Deep 7 Complex’s Representative Weight ................... 35

D.3. CATCH-PER-UNIT-EFFORT (CPUE) ........................................................................... 37

D.3.1. CPUE Step 1: Selecting Data Records Considered as Bottomfish Records .............. 38

D.3.2. CPUE Step 2: Select Data Records that Comply with a Unit of Effort ..................... 44

D.3.3. CPUE Step 3: Select Data that are Representative of CPUE Trends over Time ....... 54

D.3.4. CPUE Step 4: Account for factors that affect CPUE ................................................. 63

E. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 66

F. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 67

APPENDIX A: Terms of Reference ............................................................................................. 69

APPENDIX B: Acronym Table and Species Table ...................................................................... 73

APPENDIX C: Participant List and Workshop Agendas ............................................................. 75

APPENDIX D.1: R Code to Implement Catch Data Resolutions for Stock Assessments .......... 83

APPENDIX D.2: R Code to Implement Fish Weight Data Resolutions for Stock Assessments 86

APPENDIX D.3: R Code to Implement CPUE Data Resolutions for Stock Assessments .......... 90
ii

List of Tables

Table 1. Illustrative example of some DAR Fisher Reporting System fields, using fake data to 

illustrate data structure and data issues. ............................................................................ 10

Table 2. Area codes by DAR that consist of the main Hawaiian Islands. .................................... 15

Table 3. The percentage of Deep 7 bottomfish records reporting weight according to different 

numbers of fish reported in the DRS data. ........................................................................ 22

Table 4. Minimum and maximum fish weight values for Deep 7 bottomfish considered for data 

quality filtering purposes. DAR values were provided by DAR and not derived from raw 

data. Shaded columns were chosen as data quality filters. PIFSC Biosampling data covers 

2007–2014 and comes from MHI samples only. .............................................................. 27

Table 5. The percentage of Deep 7 bottomfish records reporting weight for various combinations 

of fish numbers in the FRS data. ....................................................................................... 31

Table 6. Percentage of the FRS data set on Deep 7 bottomfish weights by species, by number of 

fish and by number of records. ......................................................................................... 36

Table 7. List of options considered by participants for calculating a weight time series for the 

Deep 7 complex using FRS data; option in gray was chosen. .......................................... 37

Table 8. The breakdown of ‘trip’ duration if a 30-nm threshold is applied to data from 1948 to 

2002, and for the most recent 2016 fishing year with detailed effort information. .......... 50

Table 9. Factors that are known or believed to affect CPUE and are feasible to investigate 

because of data availability, in order of priority by workshop participants. ..................... 64

Table 10. Comprehensive list of all factors known or believed to affect CPUE and corresponding 

general category, in no particular order. Data is not available on all of these factors. ..... 65

Table 11. Table of acronyms and definitions used in this report .................................................. 73

Table 12. List of species in this report by common name, scientific name, type of fishery 

classification, and Hawaii Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR) species code......... 74
iii

List of Figures

Figure 1. Boundary of the main Hawaiian Islands (blue outline), with the Papahānaumokuākea 

National Monument as of August 25, 2016, prior to subsequent expansion in red. ......... 14

Figure 2. (Left) The number and (right) mean average annual weight of Deep 7 bottomfish 

reported in the FRS (black line) from 1948 to 2015 and in the DRS (red line) from 2000 

to 2015, the latter which includes fish from the NWHI. ................................................... 21

Figure 3. Species composition by weight of DRS records reporting weights of (top left) 1-fish, 

and (top right) all fish. (Bottom) The proportion of all DRS records for a given species 

that are reported as 1-fish records. Species are referred to by the first few letters of their

common name or by species code. ................................................................................... 22

Figure 4. (Left) Number of records in DRS data set reporting any Deep 7 bottomfish species for 

various combinations of fish numbers per record. (Right) Average annual weight of Deep 

7 bottomfish as reported in the FRS data set for various combinations of fish numbers per 

record. ............................................................................................................................... 23

Figure 5. Individual species average annual weights as calculated from the DRS data set, for 

various combinations of fish number per record. In the Opakapaka figure, the dashed line 

represents average annual weights from all records and the dotted line from 1948 to 2015 

represents the average weight from all records reporting Opakapaka in the FRS data. ... 24

Figure 6. (Top right) Number of fish in the DRS data by species. (Middle left) Number of 

records reporting 1-fish weights, and (middle right) reporting weights in the DRS data set 

by species and for the Deep 7 complex. (Bottom left) Average annual weight from DRS 

records reporting 1-fish weights, and (bottom right) reporting weights by species and for 

the Deep 7 complex, with the same color key as the middle figures. ............................... 25

Figure 7. Frequency histogram of total weights from Deep 7 bottomfish FRS records in the main 

Hawaiian Islands. .............................................................................................................. 26

Figure 8. Spatial distribution of (left) 1-fish weight records, and (right) all fish weight records 

from FRS data for Deep 7 bottomfish. Pink area codes (100s) indicate the island of 

Hawaii, green area codes (300s) indicate islands of Maui-Nui, blue area codes (400s) 

indicate Oahu, and purple area codes (500s) indicate islands of Kauai and Niihau. ........ 29

Figure 9. Species composition of FRS records reporting weights of (top left) 1-fish, and (top 

right) all fish. (Bottom) The proportion of all FRS records by species that are reported as 

1-fish records. Species are referred to using species codes or the first few letters of their 

common name. .................................................................................................................. 29

Figure 10. (Top) Number of records in FRS data set; (middle) average annual weight; and 

(bottom) average annual weight relative to the mean for various combinations of Deep 7 

bottomfish numbers reported per record in the FRS. ........................................................ 32

Figure 11. Average annual weights by species from the FRS data set, for various combinations of 

fish numbers reported per record. ..................................................................................... 33
iv

Figure 12. (Top left) Number of records reporting 1-fish weights, and (bottom left) 

corresponding average annual weights by species and for the Deep 7 complex from FRS 

data. (Top right) Number of records reporting weights, and (bottom right) corresponding 

average annual weights by species and for the Deep 7 complex from FRS data. ............ 34

Figure 13. Mean average weight of (left) Onaga and (right) Opakapaka over time, with average 

weight over several time periods plotted via horizontal lines........................................... 34

Figure 14. (Left) Mean average weight of Onaga (On), Opakapaka (Pa), and Lehi (Le) and 

various combinations of them including only for Oahu. (Right) Mean average weight of 

the Deep 7 complex. ......................................................................................................... 36

Figure 15. Number of records (left) and proportion of records (right) that report deep-sea 

handline gear, and also report license = 0. ........................................................................ 39

Figure 16. (Left) Number of records that reported deep-sea handline gear, that either caught 

Deep 7 species or did not catch Deep 7 species. (Right) Proportion of records that 

reported deep-sea handling gear that also reported catching Deep 7 species. .................. 40

Figure 17. (Left) The number of records in the MHI that report using deep-sea handline gear, and 

the pounds of Deep 7 bottomfish that would be omitted, as a function of different 

percentage cutoff points for proportion of Deep 7 bottomfish caught in a single-reporting 

day. (Right) The number of records in the MHI that report using deep-sea handline gear 

as a function of different percentage cutoff points for proportion of Uku caught in a 

single-reporting day. ......................................................................................................... 41

Figure 18. Grids defined as Kona and South Point around the island of Hawaii, outlined in 

purple. ............................................................................................................................... 43

Figure 19. The percentage of bottomfish by (left) numbers of fish and (right) weight in pounds 

caught using deep-sea handline from Kona and South Point around the island of Hawaii. 

Each vertical box plot represents a single year, with annual median values as bolded 

horizontal bars in the center of the boxes, and the 25th and 75th percentiles represented 

by the bottom and top edges of the boxes. ........................................................................ 43

Figure 20. (Top left) The number of records reported on a given day of the year, from 1948 to 

September 2002. Red bars indicate last days of the month, blue bars indicate first days of 

the month. (Top right) The proportion of fisher-years (unique combination of license 

number and year) that reported on the first or last day of the month. (Bottom left) The 

months of reporting for 512 fisher-years who report only once a year on the first and/or 

last day of the month. ........................................................................................................ 47

Figure 21. Frequency histograms of distances traveled by a single reporting day (‘trip’) as 

reported from 1948 to 2002, grouped by decade. There are single reporting days that 

traveled greater than 50 nm, but they are not plotted to maintain confidentiality. ........... 50

Figure 22. Nominal CPUE trends for three different effort metrics for the October 2002–presentday time period. These CPUE trends are exploratory and do not incorporate all filters 

agreed upon by workshop participants. ............................................................................ 52

Figure 23. Number of records with information added: last name, vessel name, vessel records. 56
v 

Figure 24. (Top) Number of available days (days for which at least one person reported a 

bottomfish) for each year. (Left) The number of fishers, and (right) the number of records 

for fishers that fished at least (middle) 5% of all available days in a given year, and 

(bottom) 10% of all available days in a given year. ......................................................... 57

Figure 25. (Left) The number of fishers, and (right) the number of records for fishers that fished 

at least 15% of all available days in a given year. ............................................................ 58

Figure 26. The number of unique fishers (tracked by name) that reported for a given number of 

nonconsecutive years. Twenty-eight fishers have fished more than 31 years, but their data 

are not plotted to maintain confidentiality. ....................................................................... 60

Figure 27. (Left) Number of records with an area error flag by year. (Right) The total number of 

records reported annually by the 9 fishers from the left panel. ........................................ 61

Figure 28. (Left) Number of records with a pounds error flag by year. (Right) The total number 

of records reported annually by the 86 fishers from the left panel. .................................. 61

Figure 29. (Left) Number of records reporting in the “LOST” field by year. (Right) The total 

number of records reported annually by the 691 fishers from the left panel. ................... 62

Figure 30. (Left) Number of records reporting in the “RELEASED” field by year. (Right) The 

total number of records reported annually by the 508 fishers from the left panel. ........... 62

Figure 31. (Left) Number of records reporting non-Deep 7 bottomfish by year, 388,290 total by 

8870 fishers. (Right) The total number of records reported annually by the 8807 fishers 

from the left panel. ............................................................................................................ 63
vi

A. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

These workshops only succeeded because of the active engagement, hard work, dedication, time, 

and expertise of all the workshop participants. Special acknowledgement is given to fisher 

stakeholders Nathan Abe, Eddie Ebisui III, Roy Morioka, Layne Nakagawa, Basil Oshiro, Ed 

Watamura, and Leonard Yamada, who remained committed and active participants and who 

always participated on personal time and sometimes at personal expense to travel from different 

islands. Their valuable insights and contributions greatly improved the data resolutions. Many of 

the workshop participants spent countless hours before, during, and after the workshops to 

collate and analyze data and present results to the group. These included in alphabetical order 

Stefanie Dukes, Eric Fletcher, Dios Gonzales, Kimberlee Harding, Donald Kobayashi, Reginald 

Kokubun, Brian Langseth, Kimberly Lowe, Marlowe Sabater, Paul Tao, and Annie Yau with a 

heavier lift completed by Brian Langseth. Special thanks to Reginald Kokubun and NOAA staff 

Kimberlee Harding, who helped answer numerous questions about the history of DAR data 

reporting. Beth Lumsden and Chris Boggs did an excellent job recording detailed notes which 

were helpful in constructing this report. We also thank the many people who contributed with 

logistics to help the workshops succeed, including a special thanks to staff at Pier 38 for hosting 

4 out of 5 workshops, and Council staff for providing space for the 4th workshop. Even if not all 

participants are mentioned by name in this paragraph (full list provided in Appendix C), the 

contribution of each person was vital to the collaborative and fruitful discussions. 
7 

B. INTRODUCTION

The challenges surrounding the robustness and utility for scientific and management purposes of 

the Hawaii Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR) commercial data have been known for 

some time. There are issues with both data quality and data structure that affect its utility for 

management and stock assessments. Reporting requirements and data forms have changed over 

time. 

Scientists in the region have made multiple attempts over decades to refine DAR commercial 

data for stock assessment purposes. Starting at least in 1982, scientists have attempted to conduct 

stock assessments on Deep 7 bottomfish and, in doing so have applied analyses to address data 

quality and structure issues (Ralston & Polovina 1982). Many other attempts to resolve data 

issues have taken place over the iterations of stock assessments since then, and not all are 

described here. More recently, in 2004, the review, synthesis, and analysis of existing data were 

identified as a high priority at a series of stock assessment workshops convened to assess current 

bottomfish and coral reef fish assessment and data collection methods. Since then, various 

meetings continued to be held to discuss, identify, and resolve ongoing data issues, including a 

commercial catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) workshop in 2008 (Moffitt et al., 2011). Overall, DAR 

has made efforts at improvements in data collection and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) has continued 

analyzing and exploring the DAR commercial data through multiple iterations of bottomfish 

stock assessments and related analyses. 

Despite these ongoing efforts, this issue emerged again in December 2014, when NOAA 

contracted the Center for Independent Experts to conduct an independent external peer review of 

the 2014 main Hawaiian Islands Deep 7 bottomfish stock assessment which was completed by 

PIFSC scientists. This independent external review panel had strong reservations regarding the 

quality of the Hawaii DAR commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) data used to calculate 

input catch and CPUE for the stock assessment. The review panel concluded that although the 

methods to standardize CPUE and the assessment model were appropriate, the deficiencies in 

input data quality caused the stock assessment to have serious flaws that compromised its utility 

for management. 

In response to these concerns and others, PIFSC organized a series of workshops bringing 

together participants from the NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), the Western 

Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (the Council), and fisher stakeholders to help 

understand and resolve these data issues conclusively. This was accomplished by identifying, 

and resolving, to the extent possible, issues in the DAR commercial data that affect the quality of 

data on Deep 7 bottomfish for stock assessment purposes. A series of workshops and smallgroup working sessions were held to facilitate completion of these tasks, with accompanying 

intersessional analyses. The ultimate goal was to produce a higher quality commercial data set 

that is deemed acceptable for stock assessment and management use by scientific, management, 

and user group (fisher) stakeholders. 

Participants: 

NOAA PIFSC and PIRO, the Hawaii DAR, the Council, and commercial fishers/stakeholders. 
8 

Scope:

Hawaii DAR data reporting on Deep 7 bottomfish or bottomfishing gear in the main Hawaiian 

Islands (MHI):

• Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) Data, 1948–present

This is the primary data set investigated, data through 2015 were used in 

workshop analyses. 

• Dealer Reporting System (DRS) Data, 2000–present 

This secondary data set was investigated mainly to address issues pertaining to the 

FRS data set, data through 2015 were used in workshop analyses. 

Goals: 

(1) Identify and agree upon issues that affect the quality and consistency of DAR data on 

MHI Deep 7 bottomfish fishing. 

(2) Investigate and agree upon an acceptable resolution to each issue, understanding that 

some issues may not be fully resolvable and/or may not have a significant effect on stock 

assessment results.

(3) Finalize a document describing the issues discussed and the agreed-upon resolution for 

each.

(4) Apply the list of resolutions to a copy of the DAR’s commercial FRS data to create a 

stock assessment-suitable higher quality set of DAR FRS data on MHI Deep 7 bottomfish 

fishing for use by PIFSC in future stock assessments. This higher quality data set will 

constitute the best available scientific information for calculating total catch, weight, and 

CPUE of Deep 7 bottomfish species. 

A total of 5 workshops spanning 15 days were held September 2015–November 2016, at 

conference rooms of NOAA Fisheries Pier 38 and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery 

Management Council office. 

Workshop 1: September 2, 2015 

Workshop 2: November 4–5, 2015 

Workshop 3: April 26–27, 2016 

Workshop 4: August 1–5, 2016 

Workshop 5: November 14–18, 2016 
9 

All participants who participated in at least one workshop agreed upon the Terms of Reference 

(Appendix A). An acronym table and species table are provided in Appendix B. Workshop 

agendas and participant lists for each workshop are provided in Appendix C. This report fulfills 

the third goal of finalizing a document describing the issues discussed and the agreed-upon 

resolution for each, and this document was circulated to all workshop participants with 

comments incorporated. The report provides a comprehensive list of data issues, and captures the 

discussion and agreed-upon resolution to each issue. Generally, first a list of issues and possible 

proposed solutions was finalized at the workshops, and then some workshop participants 

conducted analyses between workshops to inform selection of resolutions when workshops were 

in session. 

Participants have agreed that upon applying these resolutions to the Hawaii DAR commercial 

data, such a data set will constitute the best available commercial data for stock assessment 

purposes. Every attempt was made to seek and consider all currently available information in 

finding resolutions to each issue. While all of the issues in this report are known to exist in the 

DAR commercial data, not all of them have a major effect on stock assessment results and not all 

of them will be resolvable. Given the workload, available staff time, and the time frame within 

which outcomes were needed, participants retained the right to agree not to pursue finding a way 

to resolve some of these issues, especially when resolution was unlikely and/or the issue may 

have little impact on stock assessment results. Participants strived to investigate and agree upon 

an acceptable resolution to each issue, even if that resolution was to acknowledge that nothing 

can or should be done. Each issue listed here will not be revisited for future stock assessments 

unless additional information on this past data becomes available in the future. 

Any resolutions that will continue to change DAR FRS data are documented here, so that if 

necessary, these can be consistently applied in the future. A list of errors in DAR FRS data will 

be provided to DAR. Additionally, this report can prompt discussion with DAR to evaluate 

whether long-term changes in the data collection forms and processes are warranted so that DAR 

can determine when and if such changes can be made at the source. If made, such changes would 

affect future collected data and so do not affect analysis of past data as outlined here. The data 

issues are organized according to three commercial data categories of interest, and then step-bystep from an assessment analysis perspective:

• Catch

• Fish weight (size)

• CPUE

An illustrative example of the DAR Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) data structure 

using fake data is provided in Table 1 to help illustrate data structure and issues. The table does 

not provide a comprehensive list of all reported data fields, and only the most commonly used 

fields for stock assessment purposes are shown here. To emphasize, the data in Table 1 are fake, 

not based on real data, and represent fake entries for license, area, gear, port, and the use species 

name rather than code for illustrative purposes. Each row in the FRS data is a ‘record,’ which is a 

term used throughout this document. 
10

Table 1. Illustrative example of some DAR Fisher Reporting System fields, using fake 

data to illustrate data structure and data issues.

record LICENSE DATE AREA GEAR HOURS SPECIES #CAUGHT LBS PORT

1 649XX 9/15/1984 105 3 0 Onaga 10 31 0

2 649XX 9/15/1984 105 3 0 Gindai 2 17 0

3 649XX 9/15/1984 105 3 0 Hapu 1 200 0

4 649XX 11/2/2015 344 3 8 Opaka 12 35 301

5 649XX 11/2/2015 402 99 8 Mahi 3 6 400

Some of the more commonly reported fields are found in Table 1 including commercial marine 

license number, date, area code, gear code, hours fished, species, number caught, pounds caught, 

and port code. There are illustrations of several data issues in this table, including data quality, 

lack of an identifier for a unique trip, lack of targeting information, and lack of information on 

individual fish sizes. These are just some of the data issues tackled by the participants. 

Data quality is a question for records 1–3, in which a fisher reported 3 species of bottomfish 

caught in one area on one date but reports a 200-lb Hapuupuu, which is about twice its maximum 

known size. It is unclear if this is a data reporting or recording error, but it is unlikely a valid 

entry. Records 4–5 illustrate the challenges of lacking a unique trip identifier or targeting 

information. A fisher reported catching 12 Opakapaka in one area and then 3 Mahimahi in an 

area far away using a different gear on the same day. It is impossible to know whether the fisher 

caught both fish in the same trip, or whether the fisher returned to port in between. The field 

“HOURS” fished was only available after a reporting form change in 2002, but the number of 

hours fished in this instance does not provide enough additional detail to help discern this detail. 

Also it is impossible to know if this fisher was targeting Opakapaka or Mahimahi, or both. Given 

the distance between the grids reported, it is also possible that these fishing records occurred on 

two different days but were reported on the same day. Finally, the records have data on the total 

number caught and the total pounds of that number. Individual fish sizes (weights) are only 

available for records that report 1 fish of 1 species, otherwise only an average fish size is 

available per record.

The primary relevant field for calculating commercial catch is “LBS.” For CPUE, the primary 

relevant field for calculating commercial effort is “HOURS” fished, although a different effort 

metric needs to be applied prior to October 2002 because that field was not reported historically. 

For fish weight (size), the primary relevant fields are “#CAUGHT” and “LBS.” Other fields are 

also used to explore data issues and apply filters. 

In the process of conducting these workshops, the participants addressed several priority research 

topics developed by a 2015 workshop on Bottomfish Research (Table 1 in Yau & Oram, 2016). 

The priorities addressed were: priority 5, to explore further variables in CPUE standardization; 

priority 10, to identify data collection and education needs; and priority 17, investigation of 

commercial fish size data. 
11

C. SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP OUTCOMES

C.1. Summary of Catch Resolutions 

The purpose of catch is to provide the total annual commercial fishery removals/deaths from the 

stock. 

Final method to calculate total commercial catch:

Add up the number of pounds of each Deep 7 species reported as caught, regardless of which 

gear was used to capture them. 

To implement using the DAR FRS data: 

(i) Select all records that are for areas in the main Hawaiian Islands (Figure 1, Table 2). 

(ii) Select all records where the species code indicates a Deep 7 bottomfish (Table 12).

(iii) For each record, take the pounds as the maximum of “POUNDS_KEPT” and 

“POUNDS_SOLD” and sum up this value for all records in a year to calculate annual 

total commercial catch. This mainly applies to records prior to October 2002, after 

which “POUNDS_SOLD” is no longer consistently reported by fishers but by dealers 

instead. Summing up according to step (iii) may also be done for individual species to 

calculate species annual total commercial catches. 

C.2. Summary of Fish Weight (Size) Resolutions 

Fish weight (size) is used to determine changes in fish size indicated by annual average 

commercially caught individual fish weight. 

Final method to calculate annual commercially caught fish weight:

(i) Use the Fisher-Reporting System (FRS) data, not the Dealer-Reporting System (DRS) 

data. 

(ii) Select all records that report a Deep 7 bottomfish species (Table 12).

(iii) Select all records that are for areas in the main Hawaiian Islands (Figure 1, Table 2). 

(iv) Exclude records up to June 30, 1948, because there is not data available for that full 

fiscal year 1948. 

(v) Select only records that reported using bottomfishing gear (gear type = 3, deep sea 

handline). 

(vi) Exclude records reporting either 0 pounds, or 0 numbers of fish. 

(vii) Exclude records where the reported average fish weight is either greater than a speciesspecific maximum or less than a species-specific minimum (Table 4). 

(viii) For an individual species, use all records to calculate annual average fish weights and 

associated error. 

(ix) For a Deep 7 complex-level fish weight time series, use an annual average fish weight

and associated error that combines all Opakapaka and Onaga records. 
12

C.3. Summary of Catch-per-unit-effort Resolutions 

A catch-per-unit-effort that accurately reflects the trends in CPUE over time can be standardized 

and used as a relative abundance index in a stock assessment.

Final method to calculate commercial nominal catch-per-unit-effort:

CPUE Step 1: Selecting data records considered as bottomfish records 

(i) Select all records that are for areas in the main Hawaiian Islands (Figure 1, Table 2). 

(ii) Select only records that reported using bottomfishing gear (gear type = 3, deep sea 

handline). 

(iii) Retain duplicate records. 

(iv) Remove records with license = 0. 

Getting at records that target bottomfish:

(v) For trips prior to October 1, 2002, remove ‘single reporting days’ that report gear type 3, 

catch 0 pounds of Deep 7 bottomfish, and catch any of the following: 

• Any pelagic species (Table 12).

• Uku (species code = 20) 

• Species code = 0 (an invalid code)

(vi) Remove records that occurred on dates between when the Deep 7 bottomfish fishery was 

closed because the catch limit was reached and the end of the fishing season. Closures 

occurred from April 16, 2008 to August 31, 2008; July 6, 2009 to August 31, 2009; April 

20, 2010 to August 31, 2010; and March 12, 2011 to August 31, 2011. 

(vii) Remove ‘single reporting days’ that caught less than 50 lb of Deep 7 AND caught any 

pelagic species (Table 12) from 1948 to 1985 for areas around Kona and South Point (see 

Figure 18, grid area codes 102, 122, 101, 121, 100, 120, 108, 128) since it’s likely they 

were palu ahi fishing rather than Deep 7 bottomfishing. 

CPUE Step 2: Select data records that comply with a unit of effort 

From 1948 to Sep 2002: 

(viii) Use ‘single-reporting day’ as an effort metric from 1948 to Sep 2002, defined as a unique 

combination of license number and date. 

Account for multi-day trips showing up as a single day in this data by applying the following: 

(ix) For ‘single reporting days’ that report one area and two ports, divide into 2 fishing days if 

the two ports are on nearby islands. 

(x) For ‘single reporting days’ that report multiple areas and multiple ports, separate into 

multiple fishing days based on number of ports. 

(xi) For all of the above ‘single reporting days’ that report both area and port, divide into 2 

fishing days if distance from area to port is between 30.1 and 60 nm; divide into 3 fishing 

days if distance from area to port is between 60.1 and 90 nm; and so on. 

(xii) For records prior to October 1, 2002, remove all records from licenses that only ever 

reported on the first and/or last day of the month. 
13

From Oct 2002 to present: 

(xiii) Use hours fished as an effort metric starting from Oct 2002. 

CPUE Step 3: Select data that are representative of CPUE trends over time.

(xiv) Remove records from fishers who used gear 3 but never caught any pounds of Deep 7. 

(xv) Remove single-reporting days that occurred during fishery-independent sampling for 

specific fishers in specific grids. 

CPUE Step 4: Standardize CPUE to account for factors other than changes in abundance. 

This step is part of stock assessment modeling and not data filtering, so was out of scope for the 

workshop. However, the workshop participants came up with a prioritized list standardization 

factors to explore as specified in detail below in Section D.3.4. 

D. WORKSHOP DISCUSSIONS 

What follows are detailed descriptions of the issues, discussions, analyses, and resolutions for the 

three major data categories. Some generic data issues such as missing fields, erroneous/out of 

range values or codes, and duplicate records are addressed under each data category. The 

document by Moffitt et al. (2011) provides an excellent summary of commercial DAR FRS and 

DRS data, descriptions of data fields available, and history of the bottomfish fishery and was 

referred to in detail during workshop analyses. Code that can be used to implement the agreedupon resolutions for all 3 data categories is available in Appendices D.1–D.3. 

For the upcoming benchmark stock assessment scheduled to be delivered in 2018, and thus for 

analyses presented here, records up to June 30, 2015 (state fiscal year 2015) were used. For each 

of the three data categories, the main Hawaiian Islands was defined as presented in Figure 1, 

with corresponding list of DAR area codes in Table 2. The exact area comes from a DAR 

definition as proposed by Reggie Kokubun during the workshop and modified by workshop 

participants to exclude grid areas 16024, 16025, and 16026 because no Deep 7 bottomfish were 

caught in these areas and these areas were not contiguous with the rest of the map. The final 

definition was agreed upon after Reggie Kokubun found that 323 out of a set of 605 area codes 

PIFSC had on file and had planned to use were invalid for bottomfish; some referred to fish 

ponds, and others did not correspond to a physical grid area. The remaining grid areas all 

correctly correspond to a MHI grid area. It was also found that the final definition differed from 

definitions used in previous assessments (219 records would be omitted, and 60 would be added 

if moving from the map in previous assessment to the new map). Given that differences in 

records included were small, and that the current definition aligned with the boundary of the 

NWHI Mau Zone (161°20’ W) as stated in the federal registry (54 FR 29907, September 6, 

1988), the map was adopted. 
14

Figure 1. Boundary of the main Hawaiian Islands (blue outline), with the 

Papahānaumokuākea National Monument as of August 25, 2016, prior to subsequent 

expansion in red. 
15

Table 2. Area codes by DAR that consist of the main Hawaiian Islands.

100 158 194 322 366 448 525 579

101 159 195 323 367 449 526 580

102 160 196 324 368 450 527 581

103 161 197 325 369 451 528 582

104 162 198 326 370 452 541 583

105 163 199 327 371 453 542 584

106 164 240 328 372 454 543 585

107 165 241 331 373 455 544 586

108 166 242 332 400 456 545 587

120 167 243 333 401 457 546 588

121 168 244 340 402 458 547 589

122 169 245 341 403 459 548 590

123 170 246 342 404 460 549 591

124 171 247 343 405 461 550 592

125 172 248 344 406 462 551 593

126 173 249 345 407 463 552 594

127 174 250 346 408 464 555 595

128 175 251 347 409 465 556 596

140 176 252 348 420 466 557 597

141 177 300 349 421 467 558 598

142 178 301 350 422 468 559 599

143 179 302 351 423 469 560 640

144 180 303 352 424 470 561 641

145 181 304 353 425 500 562 642

146 182 305 354 426 501 563 16123 I

147 183 306 355 427 502 564 16123 F

148 184 307 356 428 503 565 16123 C

149 185 308 357 429 504 566

150 186 309 358 440 505 569

151 187 310 359 441 506 570

152 188 311 360 442 508 571

153 189 312 361 443 520 572

154 190 313 362 444 521 573

155 191 314 363 445 522 574

156 192 320 364 446 523 575

157 193 321 365 447 524 578
16

D.1. CATCH

Catch is used to provide the total annual commercial fishery removals/deaths from the stock. 

Issues:

D.1.1. Discarded, Released, and Predated Catch 

Although likely to be a rare occurrence, bottomfish may be discarded, released or predated. For 

any information on such interactions that result in mortality (such as for predated fish), it is best 

to include this information in estimates of annual commercial catch. Some data fields in the 

DAR FRS data starting in October 2002 provide some information about this issue: “LOST” 

(number of fish lost due to predators) and “RELEASE” (number of fish released dead or alive).

It is difficult to always tell when a fish has been predated. The presence of predators is one 

factor; feeling a tug and then slack line could be another indicator. Discards are rare. Fish 

reported as released are likely released as part of scientific tagging studies, and not as part of the 

commercial fishery. It is not clear the extent to which all fishers are reporting these interactions, 

how they choose to report, and how consistent is the reporting. Noting that it can be difficult to 

determine what species of fish was lost or released if it was not seen at the surface, species-level 

reporting of these fields is not required for stock assessment purposes, and Deep 7 bottomfish 

totals are sufficient. Most fishers will know whether they lost or released a Deep 7 bottomfish, 

even if they aren’t sure of the exact species. Fish that are predated are clearly removed from the 

fish stock, but it is unclear whether discarded and released fish die shortly thereafter given the 

potential for barotrauma due to the deep depths from which bottomfish are retrieved. Only fish 

that die need to be included in the calculation of annual commercial catch. 

The information on this issue is limited, starting only in October 2002. Only a few data entries 

provide information in these fields. Additionally, for purposes of calculating catch, these records 

would ideally be provided in terms of weight such as pounds. However, the “LOST” and 

“RELEASE” fields are reported in numbers of fish. This may be in part because it is very 

difficult to guess the weight of fish that are lost or released.

From 2002 to 2015, anywhere from 10 to 20% of records reporting Deep 7 bottomfish catch also 

reported Deep 7 bottomfish “LOST” to predation. This percentage was on average slightly 

higher for Niihau and Oahu (~16%) compared to Big Island and the Maui Nui area. The Big 

Island had on average the lowest percentage of records reporting “LOST”; less than 10% of 

records. 

From 2002 to 2015, anywhere from 1 to 12% of records reporting Deep 7 bottomfish catch also 

reported Deep 7 bottomfish “RELEASED.” On average, the highest percentage came from Maui 

Nui (~7%) and fishers noted this is likely a result of tagging efforts. Niihau (~6%), Oahu (~4%), 

and the Big Island (~3%) had smaller average percentages of Deep 7 bottomfish records 

reporting “RELEASED.” 

The number of Deep 7 bottomfish reported lost or released varies by species and by year. From 

2006 to 2014, on average the annual number recorded as lost is 2.4% of the number caught. 

From 2006 to 2014, on average the annual number released is 1.1% of the number caught.
17

RESOLUTION for Discarded, Released, and Predated Catch: 

DO NOT include the numbers discarded, released or predated (“LOST” and “RELEASE”) in 

calculation of total commercial catch of Deep 7 bottomfish. Compared to the total magnitude of 

commercial catch and estimated unreported catch, the numbers discarded, released, and predated 

are very minor. 

D.1.2. Underreporting of Commercial Catch

Previously, for many years, fishers used dealer tickets to report only sold catch, and not 

necessarily catch given away, bartered, taken home, or otherwise not reported by a dealer. There 

was and continues to be underreporting of commercial catch. Recognizing that a) the DAR FRS 

data do not fully capture non-commercial catch such as subsistence catch, recreational catch, 

depredated catch, and catch used for barter, and b) the currently used stock assessment includes 

unreported catch separate from and in addition to DAR reported catch, workshop participants 

investigated and discussed the degree to which commercial fishers underreport commercial 

catch.

In the more distant past, it was true that fishers often used dealer tickets (sales records) to fill out 

fisher reports. One reason is convenience; another is that dealers come up with exact weight 

measurements whereas fishers are often estimating, although estimating fairly accurately. In 

recent years, fishers have started to consistently report more than just what was sold according to 

dealer ticket. Dealer data for bottomfish begins in 2000, so prior to that there is no direct way to 

compare dealer and fisher reports, and it will be difficult to determine how much underreporting 

occurred prior to 2000. 

According to FRS data from 1948 to September 2002, which includes fields of pounds kept and 

pounds sold, fishers reported on average 3.4% more pounds sold than kept. The pounds kept and 

pounds sold values are reasonably close during this time period when it was known that fishers 

used dealer receipts to fill out pounds sold (and possibly also pounds kept as well). Since 2002, 

this ratio has increased. From 2007 to 2015, fishers report on average 19.8% more fish by weight 

than dealers report as sold. This suggests that in recent years, fishers have been reporting fish 

caught that do not go to registered dealers. This makes sense given that in recent years, managers 

and scientists have emphasized to the fishing community the importance of reporting of all catch, 

which may have contributed to more complete reporting. It’s likely that prior to 2002, the DAR 

fisher-reported commercial data is underreporting commercial bottomfish catch, but there are no 

other data sources to help determine how much underreporting was occurring. 

Workshop participants agreed that commercial fishers underreported bottomfish in the past 

especially prior to 2002, and that fishers caught at least 20% more than they reported, but likely 

more than this. One reason is that the price of fish is higher today than historically, so prior to 

2002, fish were more often given away. 

Starting in the 2011 stock assessment (Brodziak et al., 2011) and continuing in the 2014 stock 

assessment (Brodziak et al., 2014), estimates of unreported commercial and recreational Deep 7 

bottomfish catch were included as summarized by Courtney and Brodziak (2011). These 

estimates were based on a series of studies, each of which attempted to quantify the ratio of 
18

unreported to reported catch at different points in time. The methods for each of these studies 

were checked in detail and underreporting of commercial catch is included in the estimates of 

unreported catch from these studies. Since unreported commercial catch, along with recreational 

catch is already being accounted for in another part of the assessment, workshop participants 

agreed not to try and account for underreporting of commercial catch in another way. 

RESOLUTION for Underreporting of Commercial Catch: 

The group recognized there is no rigorous quantitative way to account for underreported 

commercial catch given the current data structure. Given that the previous 2011 and 2014 stock 

assessments already accounted for underreporting of commercial and recreational catch through 

inclusion of an estimated ratio of unreported to reported catch estimated from several different 

studies, and as long as such an accounting of underreporting of commercial and recreational 

catch continues to be used, then there is no further need to adjust the commercial catch in another 

way to account for underreporting of commercial catch. 

D.1.3. Misidentified Species Catch

There is occasional misidentification of one Deep 7 bottomfish species for another. This does not 

affect calculation of total Deep 7 annual commercial catch but may affect individual species 

annual commercial catch if such numbers are calculated and used in the future. 

There is no way to determine whether a species was misidentified unless the dealer-reported and 

fisher-reported information differs. Even then, species misidentifications will be difficult to 

detect given that fish are not reported individually but grouped (ostensibly by species) by both 

dealers and fishers when reporting. Misidentification should be less of a problem in the last ~15 

years. No participant expressed concern that there could be an appreciable frequency of 

misidentification of the principle target species.

RESOLUTION for Misidentified Species Catch: 

Misidentified species catch is a minor issue and DOES NOT need to be investigated.

D.2. FISH WEIGHT (SIZE) 

Fish weight (size) is used to determine changes in fish size indicated by annual average 

commercially-caught individual fish weight. 

Fish weight data, to characterize fish size, has not been included in a Deep 7 bottomfish stock 

assessment used for management purposes in recent memory. PIFSC scientists spent time 

introducing the concept of using average and individual fish weights to indicate fish size in stock 

assessments, which can be used in addition to catch and CPUE but can also be used alone for 

example for calculation of life history parameters. Fish weights need to represent what is 

happening to the sizes of fish in the stock, in the water. Both the fish weight data trend 

(increasing vs. decreasing sizes) and scale (exact sizes in pounds) are important. Information on 

fish weights over time is used to infer changes in the stock over time including age, mortality, 

and recruitment. Thus, changes in fish weights over time as illustrated by fishery data should 
19

generally reflect changes in the actual weights of fish in the stock, over time. In other words, 

changes in commercial fish weights over time should not be driven largely by targeting, market 

forces, or any other factors (although the influence of these factors can be present, just not 

dominant). Participants were asked to select data on fish weights that is accurate, reliable, and 

representative of fish weights for stock assessment use. 

All participants, especially the fishers, had numerous questions and discussion about how fish 

weights are used in stock assessments and what it means if fish size increases or decreases over 

time. One fisher said the size of individual fish can be driven by many forces and not just 

changes in the stock’s average fish size. Questions were raised about the extent of life history 

knowledge on all Deep 7 species, all relating to maturity and the contribution of a fish to the 

stock based on its size. Most of the life history studies have focused on Opakapaka, with 

Hapuupuu as a secondary focus and Onaga the next priority. However there is some life history 

information available for all Deep 7 species. Participants struggled with what it means to have a 

combined complex-level weight time series, how to come up with a representative fish weight 

time series for a complex, and if it even made sense to calculate a complex-level time series 

given that the majority of participants were uncomfortable with the idea of combining life history 

parameter values.

Participants from all sectors voiced dissatisfaction at the current fisher-reporting system, which 

has fishers estimate the total weight for a species and then report the corresponding number of 

fish. This means only average weights can be calculated and individual fish weights are not 

always available, and many participants had questions about whether average fish weights could 

still be useful metrics for monitoring changes in the stock and fishery. A concern brought up by 

several fishers was whether the signal from a large fish and thus its importance would be 

swamped out in an average. This concern stems from the disproportionately higher contribution 

of such large fish to overall reproduction of the stock. PIFSC scientists spent time explaining 

how weighted averages are calculated, and provided exercises illustrating how a single large fish 

among many could change the resulting average fish weight. 

Fishers report that size targeting occurs and their estimate was that it is successful about 80% of 

the time. 

Issues:

D.2.1. Selecting Which of the Two Fish Weight Data Sets to Use

Both the DAR FRS and DRS data sets include information about total weight and number of fish 

caught, and both data sets were considered. Fisher-reported data on fish weights includes 

recognized biases that affect whether the weight data is representative of weights caught by the 

fishery. Many of these are targeting biases. Fishers are known to target specific sizes depending 

on market demands even if they do catch fish of all sizes throughout the year. Fishers report that 

bottomfish will school according to size so that it’s possible to target size. Fishers generally 

target larger bottomfish. Around the holiday season in winter, fishers target smaller ones to be 

able to give away more pieces. Location and distance to port affects sizes caught as well. Also, 

not all fish caught are reported in the fisher-reported data. If only a few fish are caught, and 

they’re small, it is possible fishers don’t bother reporting. 
20

Advantages of the FRS data set are that data is available from 1948 to present day, and the 

weight data also has species, gear type, and area code information. Disadvantages of the FRS 

data set are that fishers estimate total weight of one species caught and also report total number 

caught. This results in fisher-reported weights being estimates, and that only average weights can 

be calculated rather than individual weights. Information about individual fish, especially ones 

that are largest or smallest, is lost because only average weights can be calculated. 

There are recognized biases for the dealer-reported weights as well. Again, Hawaii state 

regulations require bottomfish caught to be at least 1 lb so fish smaller than this will not show up 

at the dealer to be sold. The United Fishing Agency purchases all fish meeting this state 

requirement. Some other dealers, especially Chinese restaurants, prefer fish < 2 lb in weight as 

these will fit whole on a platter. These dealers will even pay higher prices for fish < 2 lb in 

weight. Open air markets sell fish whole, and won’t buy fish > 5 lb. Gindai is not often sold at 

market, but is generally eaten by the fisher or gifted due to its smaller size and flavor. It’s very 

possible that fish kept for home consumption and fish given away as gifts are not recorded in the 

dealer data. All of these practices result in biases in the DRS weight data because not all fish that 

are caught are actually sold. 

The advantages to the DRS data are that the dealer measures rather than estimates the weights of 

fish. When several fish of the same species are grouped together by the dealer, they are often 

grouped according to size. Size variation within a dealer lot is low compared to variation 

between dealer lots (Ralston et al., 1986), although it is not clear how consistent this is over time 

since a study was only done in 1986. Calculating an average fish weight from dealer-reported 

data on total weight and numbers is thus more reliable than calculating an average fish weight 

from fisher-reported data because of the more accurate weight measurement and the grouping by 

size. The dealer tends to separate the largest fish into individual lots for sale, allowing for 

accurate weight reporting of the largest fish caught. Disadvantages of using the DRS data on 

weights are that the data only starts in 2000 (the United Fishing Agency may have records prior 

to this, but such records are not publicly available), and that the location of fish caught is not 

recorded in the dealer data so you cannot filter out bottomfish caught in the Northwest Hawaiian 

Islands (that fishery continued until 2009). Fish also lose water weight and shrink between the 

time they are caught and the time they are delivered to and measured by the dealer. 

Participants considered both the FRS and DRS data sets for weight, and compared the two in 

terms of number of fish reported and the mean average weight (the weighted average of the 

average weight per record) (Figure 2). Both the number and mean average weight of Deep 7 

bottomfish reported in the DRS data set declines after 2009 because fishing in the Northwest 

Hawaiian Islands is banned thereafter. The participants noted that the inability to select only 

main Hawaiian Islands data from the DRS is a serious disadvantage to that data set. 
21

Figure 2. (Left) The number and (right) mean average annual weight of Deep 7 bottomfish 

reported in the FRS (black line) from 1948 to 2015 and in the DRS (red line) from 2000 to 

2015, the latter which includes fish from the NWHI. 

In the interest of being thorough, workshop participants continued to explore the DRS data set on 

weight. A noted disadvantage of both the DRS and FRS data sets is the grouping of multiple fish 

in a single record, allowing only an average weight to be calculated. Participants found this 

grouping to be unfortunate, since it masks individual signals of fishes at the extreme sizes (large

and small). Small fish could indicate a recruitment pulse and large fish are disproportionately 

more important as egg producers, but neither’s contribution would be fully recognized in an 

analysis if they were grouped with other fish. One suggestion was to investigate whether only 1-

fish records should be used in the assessment, since they represent measured weights of 

individual fish rather than aggregated weight of several fish. Participants quickly discovered 

there are differences in the patterns from 1-fish vs. all fish records. Quite a few records are 1-fish 

records with Hapuupuu and Onaga being sold the majority of the time as 1-fish records (Figure 

3). If only 1-fish records in the DRS data set are analyzed, then most of them are Onaga whereas 

Opakapaka is the dominant species when all records are analyzed (Figure 3). Overall, 47% of 

Deep 7 DRS records report only 1-fish, and 86% of records report between 1 and 5 fish (Table 

3). Notably, the mean average annual weight for Deep 7 bottomfish as reported in the DRS data 

set varies depending on which records (1-fish, 1-2 fish, up to all fish records) are used (Figure 4). 

When only1-fish records are selected, the mean average annual weights are higher. Presumably 

this is an effect of larger fish being sold as individual fish by the dealer. 
22

Figure 3. Species composition by weight of DRS records reporting weights of (top left) 1-

fish, and (top right) all fish. (Bottom) The proportion of all DRS records for a given 

species that are reported as 1-fish records. Species are referred to by the first few letters 

of their common name or by species code. 

Table 3. The percentage of Deep 7 bottomfish records reporting weight according to 

different numbers of fish reported in the DRS data.

Data Subset

Percentage of Records Percentage of Fish Numbers 

Reported 

1 fish 47 13

1–2 fish 62 21

1–3 fish 75 31

1–4 fish 80 36

1–5 fish 86 45

5+ fish 20 64

All fish 100 100
23

Figure 4. (Left) Number of records in DRS data set reporting any Deep 7 bottomfish 

species for various combinations of fish numbers per record. (Right) Average annual 

weight of Deep 7 bottomfish as reported in the FRS data set for various combinations of 

fish numbers per record. 

The same pattern is evident when the Deep 7 are separated into individual species. The average 

weight of fish reported in 1-fish records is higher than the average weight of fish reported in all 

records for each species, as evidenced in plots of the mean annual weights by species (Figure 5). 

Number of records and mean average annual weight trends by species are plotted in Figure 6. 

Participants decided NOT to use data from the Dealer-reporting System for calculating weight 

for stock assessment purposes. They recommended continuing to collect this data, and use it for 

other purposes including but not limited to investigating market trends and drivers and individual 

sizes of fish including details of larger fish caught. DRS data is still useful for comparing to FRS 

data to answer other research questions, such as comparing the average weight that goes to 

market vs. average weight caught. There was a suggestion to compare the 1-fish records in the 

DRS data to the 1–2 fish records in the FRS data, to see where the split from 1-fish to multiple 

fish occurs. The DRS data also includes more 1-fish records that can be used to calculate a size 

distribution (although it may be biased) than the FRS data because of the way dealers separate 

out fish for sale. 

The decision to use FRS and not DRS data for weight calculation was driven by several factors: 

the dealer data cover a shorter more recent time period, much of the dealer information is already 

in the fisher-reported data, fish from the NWHI could not be filtered out, and not all 

commercially caught fish make it to dealers. This decision was unanimous. 

RESOLUTION for selecting whether to use one or both of the two weight data sets available to 

characterize fish size: 

(i) Use the Fisher-reporting System (FRS) data, not the Dealer-reporting System (DRS) 

data. 
24

Figure 5. Individual species average annual weights as calculated from the DRS data set, 

for various combinations of fish number per record. In the Opakapaka figure, the dashed 

line represents average annual weights from all records and the dotted line from 1948 to 

2015 represents the average weight from all records reporting Opakapaka in the FRS 

data.
25

Figure 6. (Top right) Number of fish in the DRS data by species. (Middle left) Number of 

records reporting 1-fish weights, and (middle right) reporting weights in the DRS data set

by species and for the Deep 7 complex. (Bottom left) Average annual weight from DRS 

records reporting 1-fish weights, and (bottom right) reporting weights by species and for 

the Deep 7 complex, with the same color key as the middle figures.

 

D.2.2. Initial Filters to Select Representative Weight Data for this Fishery

Having resolved to use the fisher-reported FRS data set for fish weights, as well as for catch, a 

similar agreement was made to use FRS records for Deep 7 bottomfish species (species in Table 

12) in areas in the main Hawaiian Islands (areas in Figure 1, Table 2) to represent fish sizes. All 

fish weight analyses from this point forward use FRS data. Fishers report the number and total 

weight of fish by species. If more than 1 fish of a single species is reported, average weight can 

be calculated by dividing the total weight by number of fish. This calculation does not capture 

weight variability among fish reported in the same record. The quality and quantity of fisherreported weights of bottomfish caught varies. Data is sparse in some cases, especially for earlier 

years such as 1955–1975, and for certain species, such as Kalekale, Ehu, and Gindai. 
26

A histogram of the total fish weights reported for each record including records with multiple 

fish, indicates that the distribution is skewed toward smaller total weights, but also that there is 

some tendency for reporters to round off weights as evidenced by the small spikes in number of 

total weights at intervals of 5 (Figure 7). No filter was pursued to address this rounded data, 

which seems to approximate the rest of the data distribution fairly well. 

When presented with an annual time series of average weights (weighted by the number of fish 

for each record), it was evident there was a drastic change in these weights from state fiscal year 

1948 to 1949, likely due to the fewer number of fish reported in 1948 because reporting only 

existed for half that year (Figure 2). Based on this, participants agreed to exclude weight records 

from January 1, 1948, (the start of the data set) to June 30, 1948, because the shorter 6-month 

duration of data is not representative. 

Figure 7. Frequency histogram of total weights from Deep 7 bottomfish FRS records in 

the main Hawaiian Islands. 

Participants also discussed the utility of selecting by a specific gear type, since PIFSC scientists 

explained the concept of selectivity and how it is specific to a gear type. For CPUE calculation, 

only records that reported using bottomfishing gear (gear type = 3, deep sea handline) were used

(see also Section C.3, below). A similar filter was suggested for weight data, which would result 

in excluding approximately 5% of the data on Deep 7 bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands. 

One fisher expressed concern that his colleagues’ misreporting of gear would result in their data 

being excluded, but Reggie Kokubun confirmed that for recent years DAR staff have been 

calling fishers when a report is submitted that reports Deep 7 species but reports a gear type that 

is not classified as bottomfishing gear. More often than not, that report is corrected to 

bottomfishing gear. Given that this is the primary gear for this targeted fishery, it constitutes 

95% of the weight data available, and that using only this primary gear would make selectivity 

more straightforward to deal with in the stock assessment, participants decided to only select 

records that reported using bottomfishing gear. 

A proposal was made to exclude records reporting either 0 lb, or 0 numbers of fish since an 

average weight cannot be calculated from these records. Applying such a filter would result in 

excluding 19% of the remaining records on Deep 7 bottomfish in main Hawaiian Islands 

reporting bottomfishing gear. Given that such records are not useable for calculating average 

weight, participants agreed that this filter should be applied. 
27

As a way of quality checking for extreme errors, there was discussion on whether to filter out 

records whose average weight is higher than a maximum and lower than a minimum. Three sets 

of species-specific maximum and minimum values were presented for consideration: values 

designated by the DAR as associated with the FRS, values designated by the DAR as associated 

with the DRS, and values from the PIFSC biosampling program for samples collected from 2007 

to 2014 (Table 4). The PIFSC biosampling values came from sampling by PIFSC scientists, with 

contracted fishers, market samples, UFA measurements, and specimens collected during the 

bottomfish fishery-independent survey and the values were derived only using MHI and not 

NWHI samples. Some fishers asked to check on whether the maximum weight for a Kalekale 

from PIFSC biosampling was accurate, and it was likely accurate since it was listed as identified 

by the UFA with the next largest fish similarly sized. 

Participants had the option to select any minimum and maximum values for each species that 

they wanted to, and were not limited to these three sets of options. Applying such a filter would 

not result in many records being filtered out. As an example, applying a filter to the FRS data 

using the max and min values from the PIFSC biosampling data would result in removal of 879 

out of more than 400,000 records, with 70 records smaller than the minimum and 809 records 

larger than the maximum. Keeping in mind that not all fish that are caught make it to the dealer 

given the 1-lb minimum weight requirement at the Honolulu Fish Auction, smaller fish will 

show up in the FRS data than the DRS data. Participants decided to apply this filter as an error 

check and use the minimum values associated with the DAR FRS data (since they are smaller) 

and use the maximum values associated with the DAR DRS data (since they are larger – with the 

exception of Hapuupuu). The max weight of Hapuupuu from the FRS data was discussed as 

possibly coming from a larger congener species, and so was not used. 

Table 4. Minimum and maximum fish weight values for Deep 7 bottomfish considered for 

data quality filtering purposes. DAR values were provided by DAR and not derived from 

raw data. Shaded columns were chosen as data quality filters. PIFSC Biosampling data 

covers 2007–2014 and comes from MHI samples only. 

SOURCE

DAR: 

Fisher-reported Data

DAR: 

Dealer-reported Data PIFSC Biosampling

Min (lb) Max (lb) Min (lb) Max (lb) Min (lb) Max (lb)

Hapuupuu 0.41 131 0.5 100 0.1 49.4

Kalekale 0.1 5 0.1 6.5 0.11 18.98

Opakapaka 0.4 27 0.9 28.5 0.12 34

Ehu 0.2 10 0.2 22 0.1 17

Onaga 0.5 40 1 50 0.1 49

Lehi 0.5 35 0.5 35 0.75 23

Gindai 0.3 8 0.3 10 0.15 6
28

RESOLUTION for Initial filters to select representative fish size (weight) data for this fishery:

(ii) Select all records that report a Deep 7 bottomfish species (Table 12).

(iii) Select all records that are for areas in the main Hawaiian Islands (Figure 1, Table 

2). 

(iv) Exclude records up to June 30, 1948, as data is unavailable for that full fiscal year 

1948. 

(v) Select only records that reported using bottomfishing gear 

(gear type = 3, deep sea handline). 

(vi) Exclude records reporting either 0 lb, or 0 numbers of fish. 

(vii) Exclude records where the reported average fish weight is either greater than a 

species-specific maximum or less than a species-specific minimum (Table 4). 

D.2.3. Selecting Data to Calculate Individual Species’ Representative Weight

Participants discussed the various ways of calculating a representative weight time series for 

individual species. For age-structured models, individual weights of fish are best used rather than 

averages. But individual weights can also be obtained from entries that report just 1 fish of 1 

species. There were many questions about the status of life history knowledge for all 7 species. 

Complete life history information is available for 2 or 3 of the species, but PIFSC scientists 

continue to work on the remaining species who do have some life history information available 

even if not complete yet. PIFSC scientists asked that the group focus on individual species— 

regardless of whether life history was complete yet—and indicated that they would not conduct a 

single-species stock assessment for an individual species unless it had robust life history 

information available. 

Participants explored the FRS patterns of 1-fish reports, (22% of records reporting weight and 

number) and compared them to patterns from 1–2 fish reports (35% of records), 1–3 fish reports 

(45% of records), 1–4 fish reports (52%), 1–5 fish reports (58%), and all weight reports (100% 

of records) to explore whether they are similar. 

Records reporting only 1-fish show similar ranges to all weight records, but also include an 

increased number of larger fish within that range. These 1-fish records generally are distributed 

across similar island areas as compared to all weight records (Figure 8), but the species 

composition of 1-fish records differs from the species composition of all weight records with a 

greater proportion of Hapuupuu, Lehi, and Gindai (Figure 9). Fishers commented that it made 

sense that Hapuupuu was often reported as a 1-fish record. If only 1-fish records were chosen to 

calculate average weights, then a representative sampling across space and across size ranges 

would occur but there would be proportionally higher Hapuupuu, Lehi, and Gindai in the records 

used. 
29

Figure 8. Spatial distribution of (left) 1-fish weight records, and (right) all fish weight 

records from FRS data for Deep 7 bottomfish. Pink area codes (100s) indicate the island 

of Hawaii, green area codes (300s) indicate islands of Maui-Nui, blue area codes (400s) 

indicate Oahu, and purple area codes (500s) indicate islands of Kauai and Niihau. 

Figure 9. Species composition of FRS records reporting weights of (top left) 1-fish, and 

(top right) all fish. (Bottom) The proportion of all FRS records by species that are 

reported as 1-fish records. Species are referred to using species codes or the first few 

letters of their common name.
30

Participants examined the patterns of average annual weight for the Deep 7 complex and for 

individual species using different subsets of the weight data. Different subsets considered 

included only records reports 1-fish, records reporting 1–2 fish, 1–3 fish, 1–4 fish, 1–5 fish, 2-

fish, 3-fish, 4-fish, 5-fish, 5+ fish, and all records. (Table 5) provides the percentage of weight 

data falling into each of these subset categories. When the values of average annual weight for 

each species were calculated for each of these data subsets, they differ in scale and sometimes in 

pattern (Figure 10). As more records are included (moving from 1-fish records only to multiple 

fish records), the average annual weight decreases while trends overall remain similar. 

Additionally, the variability in average annual weight increases if all records are included vs. if 

only 1-fish records are included. Participants again were dissatisfied with the idea that an 

average weight per record would need to be calculated unless only 1-fish records were used, 

because of concern that presumably the signal of fish at extreme sizes would be swamped out. A 

few fishers in particular were concerned that the signal of large fish would be swamped out yet 

they contribute disproportionately more to the reproductive output of a stock. 

The reliability of the 1-fish records for calculating representative average weight was discussed 

in detail as a potential option for weight data. The 1-fish records were first explored because of 

the idea that the weights of those individual fish are known, and thus 1-fish records could be 

used to calculate size distributions (the opposite being true for all other weight records: averages 

have to be calculated for each record using the number of fish and total weight, and thus only 

average weight and not size distributions can be calculated reliably). Participants discussed 

various reasons why a fisher might report only 1 fish, including: 

• The fisher only caught 1 fish, perhaps because he/she is new to the fishery. 

• The fisher caught some small fish and 1 large fish, and only the large fish makes it to 

market and the smaller ones are eaten/retained/given away. 

• The reported 1 fish is bycatch caught while targeting another species. This was noted 

anecdotally as happening for nighttime Onaga fisheries, that tend to catch large single 

Opakapaka if they catch any Opakapaka at all. Smaller single Opakapaka are caught 

during daytime fishing for Uku and Kalekale. 

• Fishers may be more likely to catch only 1 fish for the less common species such as 

Hapuupuu, Gindai, and Lehi (this is corroborated by the data). 

• Reporting 1 fish is a reporting artifact, especially prior to the 1970s. 

Fishers noted that they generally fill in the number of fish, so ‘1’ is not a default number used. 

Fishers also said they do not generally separate out 1 fish from others of the same species when 

reporting, regardless of sizes or whether the dealer lumped into different lots by size. 

Participants asked whether shifting of the scale of average weight was caused by differences in 

species composition, and in fact Opakapaka, Ehu, and Onaga are the 3 species which primarily 

show this pattern of shifting scale depending on amount of records included (Figure 11). There 

were some theories discussed for why these 3 species exhibit such a pattern, including schooling 

by size, and fishers separately reporting when a larger fish is caught. For Hapuupuu and 

Kalekale, the average weight from 1 fish vs. all fish records does not differ as much. The number 

of records and average annual weights for individual species and the Deep 7 complex combined 

for only 1-fish records and for all records are found in Figure 12. The trends and values of 

average annual weight differ by species, and as previously mentioned the scale of values and 
31

sometimes the pattern differs depending on the data subset used. Participants asked whether the 

average weight for the two major targeted species, Onaga and Opakapaka, change over time; 

results are shown in Figure 13. From 1948 to 1997, Onaga averaged 4.91 lb; from 1961 to 1997, 

averaged 5.13 lb; from 1999 to 2015, averaged 5.21 lb. From 1948 to 1997, Opakapaka averaged

3.77 lb; from 1961 to 1997, averaged 3.87 lb; from 1999 to2015, averaged 3.57 lb Overall, 

annual mean average weight varies but when averaged over a longer time period, the average 

weight does not vary drastically with time period.

Participants discussed the advantages and disadvantages of selecting all fish records, vs. 1-fish 

records, vs.5+ fish records, vs.1–5 fish records. One or two fishers thought that the average 

weight calculated from the 1-fish records were more representative of the average size caught by 

the fishery, but other fishers disagreed and found the value too high. Using 1-fish records only 

uses 22% of the total records in the FRS data set, and the average weight for some species was 

higher for 1-fish records vs. all fish records; many participants found this dissatisfactory. Some 

were dissatisfied with using all fish records because if more than a few fish were caught, then 

presumably the signal from extreme fish sizes (very large or very small) became too diluted; 

these persons argued to use the 1–5 fish records as a compromise, which would also allow a 

majority of the total records to be used. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some participants 

argued to use the 5+ fish records as another compromise because that time series was similar to 

the time series form all fish records, but presumably would be less influenced by fish of extreme 

sizes. Those suggesting the 5+ fish records eventually agreed that using all fish records were 

better than using 5+ fish records, because the former would include the larger fish seen in 1-fish 

records. 

The decision lay between using 1–5 fish records and all fish records to calculate individual 

species annual mean average weight. A vote was held, and just over half of the participants voted 

to use all fish records. However, all but one of the participants noted that they could live with 

using all fish records and that many were torn between the two options. In other words, all but 

one of the participants noted that using all fish records was an acceptable way to calculate 

individual species annual mean average fish weight. Average fish weights and standard deviation 

are weighted by the number of fish per record. 

RESOLUTION for Selecting data to calculate individual species’ representative weight:

(viii) For an individual species, use all records to calculate annual average fish weights 

and associated error. 

Table 5. The percentage of Deep 7 bottomfish records reporting weight for various 

combinations of fish numbers in the FRS data.

Data Subset Percentage of Records Percentage of Fish Numbers Reported

1 fish 22 2.3

1–2 fish 35 5

1–3 fish 45 8

1–4 fish 52 11

1-5 fish 58 14

5+ fish 48 89

All fish 100 100
32

Figure 10. (Top) Number of records in FRS data set; (middle) average annual weight; and 

(bottom) average annual weight relative to the mean for various combinations of Deep 7 

bottomfish numbers reported per record in the FRS.
33

Figure 11. Average annual weights by species from the FRS data set, for various 

combinations of fish numbers reported per record. 
34

Figure 12. (Top left) Number of records reporting 1-fish weights, and (bottom left) 

corresponding average annual weights by species and for the Deep 7 complex from FRS 

data. (Top right) Number of records reporting weights, and (bottom right) corresponding 

average annual weights by species and for the Deep 7 complex from FRS data.

Figure 13. Mean average weight of (left) Onaga and (right) Opakapaka over time, with 

average weight over several time periods plotted via horizontal lines. 
35

D.2.4. Selecting Data to Calculate Deep 7 Complex’s Representative Weight

Participants discussed the challenges of coming up with a single weight metric that is 

representative of fish size and size trends for the entire complex, given the changing species 

composition over time and space and the different life histories of the Deep 7 species. If data 

from multiple species is combined for the complex, it’s unclear how their different life history 

information could be combined. Several participants voiced discomfort with the idea of 

combining life histories. PIFSC scientists also indicated that there was not a clear path forward 

for combining life histories, but noted that some of the species are closer in life history than 

others are. Many of the relevant analyses were already discussed in the previous section on 

selecting weight for individual species in which participants decided to use all data available (all 

fish records) for a given species rather than filtering by number of fish per record; a few 

additional analyses are presented here.

Much of the discussion focused on the targeted species that comprise a majority of the number 

and weight of Deep 7 fish caught: Opakapaka, Onaga, and to a lesser extent Lehi. Opakapaka 

and Onaga, the primary targets, have life histories more similar to each other than some of the 

other Deep 7 species and that also made participants more comfortable in considering combining 

the two species. For example, Hapuupuu is the only grouper and has a very different life history 

than the other 6 snappers, and Gindai has a smaller maximum size than the other snappers. 

Participants considered the mean average weight for Opakapaka and Onaga and how the values 

changed depending on which records to include (Figure 11). They also considered the mean 

average weight for all Deep 7 species combined (Figure 2, replotted in Figure 14 on a different yaxis scale to allow for comparison), and combinations of the mean average weight for 

Opakapaka and Onaga, Opakapaka and Onaga and Lehi, and Opakapaka and Onaga only on 

Oahu (Figure 14). The high variability in weight data in the early years for Lehi may be caused 

by data quality. There was a noted drop in Onaga weight around 2006, which is the year that the 

last set of Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas (BRFAs) went into effect. It was also noted that 

the average weight of Opakapaka as calculated from the all fish records show that the average 

Opakapaka caught in the fishery is larger than the size at reproductive maturity (1.55 lb for 

males, 2.58 lb for females; fishery average size is ~3.5 lb). 

Adding Onaga to the Opakapaka data has very little effect on the overall time series, and adding 

Lehi to those two species has almost no effect on the time series. In fact, any time series that 

includes Opakapaka is similar to the time series that includes any other Deep 7 species or even 

all the Deep 7 species because Opakapaka constitute 50% of all fish in the data by number, and 

33% of all records (Table 6). 
36

Figure 14. (Left) Mean average weight of Onaga (On), Opakapaka (Pa), and Lehi (Le) and 

various combinations of them including only for Oahu. (Right) Mean average weight of 

the Deep 7 complex. 

Table 6. Percentage of the FRS data set on Deep 7 bottomfish weights by species, by 

number of fish and by number of records.

Species

% of Deep 7 Data 

by Number of Fish

% of Deep 7 Data 

by Number of 

Records

Opakapaka 50 33

Onaga 17 18

Ehu 17 19

Kale 11 11

Lehi 2 6

Hapuupuu 2 7

Gindai 2 5

The group focused on a few options brought forward by various participants as listed in Table 7. 

Option 1, to use all fish records for all Deep 7 species, was proposed because some participants 

thought it was the purest definition of the Deep 7 fishery. In other words, to calculate a weight 

representative of fish size in the Deep 7 fishery, all data from all species should be included. 

Option 2, to use all fish records for Opakapaka, was proposed because it is the dominant species 

caught by the fishery in terms of number, and as a result the average weight pattern dominates 

whenever combined with other species. Using only one species to represent the complex makes 

selection of life history parameters straightforward, and life history information for Opakapaka is 

readily available now. Option 3, all fish records for Opakapaka and Onaga combined, follows 

similar logic but combines the two species dominant in terms of number and targeting. Option 4, 

1–5 fish records for Opakapaka and Onaga combined, uses the two dominant species but also 

attempts to prevent the signal from extreme fish sizes (very large or very small) from becoming 

too diluted by controlling the number of fish per record used to calculate average weight. Option 

5, 1–5 fish records for Opakapaka, focuses on the dominant species and also seeks to prevent the 

signal from extreme fish sizes from becoming too diluted.

A first round of voting was held among the 17 participants present, with results shown in Table 

7. Option 5 received 0 votes and was not further discussed, but the remaining 4 options received 
37

almost equal numbers of votes. Discussion on these 4 continued as participants explained their 

rationale for their chosen votes. It was noted that anytime Opakapaka data were included in the 

weight calculation, its signal dominated regardless of which other species were included. Thus, 

all 4 options being considered actually had similar results with the exception of Option 4, which 

used 1–5 fish records and thus had a slightly different trend and magnitude. 

To move forward, a second round of voting was held in which participants were asked to vote for 

an option if it was one they could accept and live with, noting that many of the options had 

similar results. 14 out of 17 participants said they could live with Option 3, using all fish records 

from Opakapaka and Onaga combined. Still several participants seemed torn about the selection, 

so another vote was held to ask how many participants supported either Option 1, 2 or 3 given 

that they had similar results. 13 out of 17 participants said their first choice was Option 1, 2 or 3, 

demonstrating that the majority of participants supported using all fish records rather than 1–5 

fish records. The group agreed to use Option 3, all fish records from Opakapaka and Onaga, for 

calculating weight information representative of fish size for the Deep 7 fishery using FRS data. 

Table 7. List of options considered by participants for calculating a weight time series for 

the Deep 7 complex using FRS data; option in gray was chosen.

Options

Votes in 

Round 1

# of Participants 

who Accept the 

Option

# of Participants 

who Supported 

Option 1, 2 or 3

1. All Deep 7, all fish records 4 7

2. Opakapaka, all fish records 5 10 13 out of 17

3. Opakapaka and Onaga, all fish records 4 14

4. Opakapaka and Onaga, 1–5 fish records 4 8

5. Opakapaka, 1–5 fish records 0

RESOLUTION for Selecting data to calculate Deep 7 complex’s representative weight:

(ix)For a Deep 7 complex-level fish weight time series, use an annual average fish weight

and associated error that combines all Opakapaka and Onaga records. 

D.3. CATCH-PER-UNIT-EFFORT (CPUE) 

A catch-per-unit-effort time series that accurately reflects the trends in CPUE over time can be 

standardized and used as a relative abundance index in a stock assessment. 

Approach: Select effort that represents targeting of Deep 7 bottomfish, and use the corresponding 

catch to that effort metric calculate CPUE. Note that using a subset of records to calculate a 

CPUE does not interfere with using all records for calculating catch or weight information. This 

section is organized by steps required to complete the approach. 

Issues:
38

D.3.1. CPUE Step 1: Selecting Data Records Considered as Bottomfish Records

Workshop participants agreed to continue using the previously-applied filter of selecting only 

records that report using deep-sea handline gear (gear type = 3). Bottomfishers use and report 

only this gear, and any records that do not report this gear type were unlikely to be 

bottomfishing. The prominence of this gear is evident in the data, where approximately 97% out 

of more than 800,000 records that reported catching Deep 7 species reported using this gear type. 

A number of data quality issues were discussed and addressed. 

Duplicated records: Duplicated records exist in the data, defined as records for which there is a 

second record where every field was exactly the same. There were 663 duplicate records by only 

58 unique individual fishers, 3 of which were responsible for more than two-thirds of the 

duplicated records. The duplicate records show up starting in 1997, with the bulk occurring 

between 2000 and 2010 and no duplicates after 2014. Possible reasons why duplicate records 

exist were discussed. It is possible, but unlikely, that a fisher catches a bottomfish in one area, 

moves to a different one, then comes back and catches a bottomfish of the same size in the first 

area. This would result in a duplicate record. Reggie Kokubun advised that the duplicates occur 

during a time when DAR staff would double check with fishers that these records are accurate. If 

accurate, if the fisher did not remember, or if no response was obtained, then the duplicate record 

was retained in the data but there was no note recorded to distinguish which of these 3 scenarios 

was involved. Given that some of these records are accurate and some may not be but there was 

no way to distinguish between the two, workshop participants agreed to retain duplicate records. 

They also noted that there are very few duplicate records compared to overall number of records 

(663 out of more than 800,000). 

Invalid area codes: Upon investigation of the area codes defined as MHI, there are records that 

report invalid area codes including area = 0. Reggie Kokubun found that 323 out of 605 MHI 

area codes are invalid for bottomfish because they refer to fish ponds or do not correspond with a 

physical area, existing on paper only. A total of 1552 records that report deep-sea handline gear 

also reported an invalid area code, which is a small number out of 800,000 records. These are 

likely the result of either reporting error, or data input error, or a combination. Since there is no 

way to determine the correct area code, the participants agreed that any records with invalid area 

codes including area = 0 should be removed and not used for CPUE analysis. To implement this 

decision, only records that include areas on the agreed-upon MHI map (Figure 1, Table 2) will be 

selected. 

Invalid license number = 0: Another data quality issue is that approximately 21,000 records 

report that license number = 0, which is an invalid number. All of these also reported the name 

field as “NA” so there is no information in these records that can connect to an individual fisher. 

Records reporting license = 0 occurred throughout the time series until 1997, after which there 

are no such records. Most of the license = 0 records occurred in the late 1950s, with another 

pulse occurring in the early 1980s. Proportionally, records with license = 0 were most prominent 

in 1953 when 40% of records reported license = 0; and from 1963 to 1968, ~ 20% of records 

reported license = 0. After 1968, records with license numbers = 0 ranged from 0 to 10% of the 

records, and after 1997 no records reported license = 0 (Figure 15). Since including license = 0 

would result in all such records being grouped together as one fisher when the grouped records 
39

could represent any number of fishers, workshop participants agreed to remove any records with 

license = 0. 

Figure 15. Number of records (left) and proportion of records (right) that report deep-sea 

handline gear, and also report license = 0.

Bottomfish targeting: The next topic discussed was how to select records that were targeting 

bottomfish. The DAR FRS data structure do not make it clear which records that caught 

bottomfish should be considered bottomfishing records or if another species was primarily 

caught or targeted. Fishers that set out to catch bottomfish may catch pelagic species while 

trolling to and from bottomfishing sites, and fishers that set out to catch non bottomfish species 

may end up catching and reporting bottomfish species. A selection method needs to be applied to 

the DAR FRS data to select data records considered as bottomfishing records for the purpose of 

calculating CPUE. There was much discussion about the best filters to use, noting that 

bottomfish are caught as nontarget species by some fisheries, and that bottomfishers catch other 

species as well. Workshop participants agreed upon several filters to exclude single-reporting 

days that did not target bottomfish as described in the rest of this section. 

Species composition of catch is one metric that can be used to determine whether a single 

reporting day was targeting bottomfish. From 1948 to 2002, using the previous fisher reporting 

form, fishers did not have the option to record catches of 0 lb or numbers. Deep 7 bottomfish can 

be caught when targeting pelagic species, and when targeting Uku. Fishers who report using 

deep-sea handline gear but then catch mostly non-bottomfish species may be misreporting their 

gear type since there are multiple hand line gear type codes. 

A total of ~113,000 single-reporting days made up of ~194,000 records reported using deep-sea 

handline gear, but did not catch any Deep 7 species. These records comprise between 20 and 

70% of the records in a given year (Figure 16). Of single-reporting days that reported deep-sea 

handline gear starting in 1982 but did not catch Deep 7 species, 21% of the days reported Uku, 

18% of the days reported Yellowfin Tuna, 10% of the days reported Papio/Ulua, and 5% of the 

days reported Kahala. This calculation was completed on data starting in 1982 because unique 

gear codes for palu ahi fishing, and for ika shibi fishing, were introduced in 1981 to describe 

handline gear used primarily for tuna. This provided a sense that many of these single-reporting 

days may not have been targeting Deep 7 species and workshop participants took the approach of 

removing single-reporting days that were likely to not be targeting Deep 7. 
40

This approach involved removal of single-reporting days that reported deep-sea handline gear, 

caught 0 lb of bottomfish, and also either caught pelagic species, or caught Uku, or reported 

species = 0 which is an invalid code. The rationale for excluding based on catch of pelagic 

species was that these are more likely to either be trolling trips targeting pelagics such as 

yellowfin tuna with misreporting of gear type, or they are palu ahi fishing trips off the Big Island 

(but see later in this section for specific filter to address palu ahi fishing). The rationale for 

excluding based on catch of Uku is to remove days that definitely targeted only Uku. The 

rational for excluding based on species = 0 is simply that this is an invalid code. 

Figure 16. (Left) Number of records that reported deep-sea handline gear, that either 

caught Deep 7 species or did not catch Deep 7 species. (Right) Proportion of records that 

reported deep-sea handling gear that also reported catching Deep 7 species.

In previous assessments, one filter used was to exclude single reporting days whose bottomfish 

catch was less than a certain proportion of the total catch from that single reporting day. The 

exact value of this proportional cutoff used in a stock assessment has changed from 90% (Moffitt 

et al., 2006) to 50% (Brodziak et al., 2009) to 17% in the last assessment based on a tradeoff 

analysis (Brodziak et al., 2011). In other words, for CPUE calculation in the most recent stock 

assessment, a single reporting day was excluded if catch on that day was less than 17% 

bottomfish. Changing the cutoff proportion changes the number of records and pounds of Deep 7 

that would be excluded from the CPUE calculation (Figure 17). The exact cutoff proportion does 

not affect the overall trend in CPUE over time, as explored in the 2011 stock assessment 

(Brodziak et al., 2011). 

Workshop participants further explored the data for species composition patterns because they 

generally liked the idea of applying a quantitative analysis. One such analysis was focused on 

Uku, since many fishers target Uku on the same fishing days they target Deep 7 bottomfish using 

the same gear to catch both. For records reporting deep-sea handline gear, ~15,000 records catch 

100% Uku. Close to 600,000 records reporting deep-sea handline gear and catching Deep 7 

bottomfish catch, caught 0 Uku. In fact, records from single reporting days that caught Deep 7 

bottomfish, caught mostly Deep 7 bottomfish (Figure 17). 
41

Figure 17. (Left) The number of records in the MHI that report using deep-sea handline 

gear, and the pounds of Deep 7 bottomfish that would be omitted, as a function of 

different percentage cutoff points for proportion of Deep 7 bottomfish caught in a singlereporting day. (Right) The number of records in the MHI that report using deep-sea 

handline gear as a function of different percentage cutoff points for proportion of Uku 

caught in a single-reporting day.

There was much discussion about what to do with single-reporting days that also caught Uku. 

Uku is an important targeted species that is caught with the same gear as Deep 7 gear, but at 

slightly shallower depths. Many fishers consider the bottomfish fishery to be a 3-snapper fishery 

(Onaga, Opaka, Uku), yet the management structure has defined Deep 7 as a management unit to 

be assessed. Fishers could not agree on any filter to deal with the fact that Uku is also a primary 

target, because they were not comfortable filtering out any single-reporting days that caught Uku 

but also caught Deep 7 species. In an effort to keep records that reported catching Deep 7 

species, workshop participants instead recommended and agreed that the pounds of Uku caught 

on a single-reporting day should be included as a standardization factor in CPUE Step 4. 

Consideration of Uku pounds caught did not come up under original discussion of factors to 

consider under CPUE Step 4, although the topic can fall under “Hook competition (non-Deep 7 

species caught)” which was voted 19th priority (Table 9). Given the amount of discussion about 

the importance of Uku to bottomfish CPUE, PIFSC scientists committed to including pounds of 

Uku as a standardization factor for the next stock assessment in addition to the other factors 

already agreed upon under CPUE Step 4. 

Workshop participants agreed to omit records that occurred on dates when the Deep 7 bottomfish 

fishery was closed because the catch limit was reached. There was easy agreement that records 

reporting deep-sea handline during times of bottomfish fishery closure were very clearly not 

targeting Deep 7 bottomfish species. These closures occurred starting April 16, 2008, July 6, 

2009, April 20, 2010, and March 12, 2011, and lasted until the end of the fishing season (August 

31 of each year). 

The final filter discussed to select trips targeting Deep 7 bottomfish deals with palu ahi fishing 

off the island of Hawaii. Palu ahi fishing consists of a slightly different handline gear setup, and 
42

because of the steep drop-offs that occur around the island of Hawaii, bottomfish are often 

caught during ahi fishing because this fishing occurs at the same depths as bottomfish. Fishers 

stated that most of the non-target bottomfish catch in the main Hawaiian Islands occurs due to 

palu ahi fishing which occurs primarily off Kona and South Point. From 1948 to 1981, palu ahi 

fishing did not have a unique gear code and was reported as gear type = 3 (deep-sea handline), 

but after 1981 gear codes 8 (palu ahi) and 9 (ika shibi) were implemented. After 1981, these 

three different fishing methods and targeting should be distinguishable based on gear code. 

For data prior to 1981 around Kona and South Point, workshop participants investigated species 

composition to determine whether it is possible to distinguish targeted bottomfishing from palu 

ahi fishing trips. After agreeing on DAR area grid codes defining Kona and South Point as DAR 

grids 102, 122, 101, 121, 100, 120, 108, 128 (Figure 18), participants found that anywhere from 

1% to 30% of the bottomfish caught in a single year comes from around Kona and South Point, 

with the average closer to 15%. Participants investigated the number of single-reporting days that 

caught both bottomfish and non-bottomfish (anywhere from ~10 to 800 annually), and the 

number of single-reporting days and records that caught bottomfish to get a sense of how much 

bottomfishing occurs around these grid areas. Given that these grid areas make up only a small 

proportion of the total area around the MHI, Kona and South Point represent a sizeable portion 

of the bottomfish fishery. 

Participants then investigated species composition of single-reporting days around Kona and 

South Point when deep-sea handline was reported. The proportion of bottomfish compared to 

non-bottomfish caught varies from 30 to 85% when quantified in terms of numbers of fish, and 

varies from 10 to 80% when quantified in pounds of fish (Figure 19). Regardless of the units 

used to quantify the proportion, there is a noticeable pattern shift starting around 1985. Prior to 

1985, the proportion of bottomfish caught is lower, and much more variance suggests different 

types of trips were being reported. After 1985, the proportion of bottomfish caught is higher and 

shows less variance, suggesting the type of trip being reported is more consistent in this later 

time period. This timing coincides with the introduction of a new gear code for palu ahi fishing 

in 1981, and likely reflects the fact that it took several years after that for fishers to consistently 

use the new codes when appropriate. 

Based on these analyses, workshop participants agreed to apply a filter that removes any singlereporting day that caught less than 50 lb of Deep 7 bottomfish AND caught any Pelagic 

Management Unit Species (PMUS) from 1948 to 1985. The rationale is that targeted 

bottomfishing trips catch at least 50 lb a day, and any fishing day that results in less than 50 lb

caught and catches pelagic species during this early time period were likely to be palu ahi fishing 

instead. Table 12 includes a list of PMUS.
43

Figure 18. Grids defined as Kona and South Point around the island of Hawaii, outlined in 

purple.

Figure 19. The percentage of bottomfish by (left) numbers of fish and (right) weight in 

pounds caught using deep-sea handline from Kona and South Point around the island of 

Hawaii. Each vertical box plot represents a single year, with annual median values as 

bolded horizontal bars in the center of the boxes, and the 25th and 75th percentiles 

represented by the bottom and top edges of the boxes. 

RESOLUTION for CPUE Step 1, Selecting data records considered as bottomfish records: 

(i) Select all records that are for areas in the main Hawaiian Islands (Figure 1, Table 2). 
44

(ii) Select only records that reported using bottomfishing gear (gear type = 3, deep sea 

handline). 

(iii) Retain duplicate records.

(iv) Remove records with license = 0. 

Getting at records that target bottomfish:

(v) For trips prior to October 1, 2002, remove ‘single reporting days’ that report gear type 

3, catch 0 pounds of Deep 7 bottomfish, and catch any of the following: 

Any pelagic species (Table 12)

Uku (species code = 20) 

Species code = 0 (an invalid code)

(vi) Remove records that occurred on dates between when the Deep 7 bottomfish fishery 

was closed because the catch limit was reached and the end of the fishing season. 

Closures occurred from April 16, 2008, to August 31, 2008; July 6, 2009, to August 31, 

2009; April 20, 2010 to August 31, 2010; and March 12, 2011 to August 31, 2011. 

(vii) Remove ‘single reporting days’ that caught less than 50 lb of Deep 7 AND caught any 

pelagic species (Table 12) from 1948 to 1985 for areas around Kona and South Point 

(see Figure 18, grid area codes 102, 122, 101, 121, 100, 120, 108, 128) since it’s likely 

they were palu ahi fishing rather than Deep 7 bottomfishing. 

D.3.2. CPUE Step 2: Select Data Records that Comply with a Unit of Effort

Effort can be defined in various ways and its definition may even need to be changed over time 

based on data availability. The three major effort metrics discussed were single-reporting day, 

hour, and line-hour. Single-reporting day is available as an effort metric throughout the entire 

time series. Hour and line-hour are only available starting in October of 2002, when a new 

reporting form was introduced that included data fields for hour and number of lines. A few 

alternative effort metrics were also discussed briefly. 

Single-reporting day as an effort metric: 

A single-reporting day is defined as a unique combination of license number and date. 

Previously, the word “trip” was used to refer to this effort metric but that term is not accurate 

given the lack of information on when a fisher departed and returned to port. A single-reporting 

day is presumed to be no longer than a 24-hour period, but may be shorter. This effort metric is 

used in the absence of a unique trip identifier in the DAR FRS data. The catch corresponding to a 

single-reporting day is the combination of catch from all records associated with that unique 

combination of license number and date. 

Workshop participants spent quite a bit of time discussing single-reporting day as an effort 

metric and noted many challenges and dissatisfactions with using this metric. It was recognized 

that the reported fields in the DAR FRS data prior to October 2002 do not have detailed effort 

metrics, and that the duration of a single-reporting day can vary from person to person and trip to 

trip. Ultimately participants agreed that single-reporting day will remain the effort metric to be 

used from 1948 to September of 2002. Workshop participants also heard from Jerry Ault and 

Steve Smith from the University of Miami, who were conducting a separate but complementary 
45

analysis of commercial bottomfish data. They presented several exploratory analyses they used 

to try and correct for multi-day trips in historical data from 1948 to 2002. Workshop participants 

found these analyses informative; while many analyses that Jerry and Steve used had also been 

independently suggested earlier, they also presented some new analyses that workshop 

participants had not thought of before. Ultimately the distance-based method used by Jerry and 

Steve suggested methods was explored as described below. The following issues with selecting 

single-reporting day as effort metric were discussed:

Multi-day trips need to be accounted for. 

There is no way to determine absolutely whether catch reported on a single day came from that 

day or from multiple days of effort. This is the most prominent issue facing selection of an effort 

metric for data prior to 2002. Maui and Oahu historically had fishers who conducted many multiday trips. There was a suggestion to use fisher knowledge to identify names of persons known to 

previously be multi-day fishers, although there is likely a limit to how extensive and how far 

back this knowledge goes. 

In previous assessments, a specific cutoff in terms of fish caught in a single day was used to 

filter out multi-day trips. In recent assessments, that cutoff was 1500 lb of Deep 7 bottomfish 

caught on a single date, determined through interviews with fishers. The logic behind this daily 

cutoff is that this is the maximum amount of fish that a high performing fisher can catch on a 

single date, so reported catches higher than this amount likely occurred over multiple days but 

were not recorded in a way that reflects this. The maximum pounds that can be caught in a single 

day may differ by island, throughout time, and may be affected by market demand and price 

which affects how much catch fishers can and will sell on any given day. 

Workshop participants investigated the implications of applying a 1500-lb Deep 7 cutoff or other 

daily cutoff. From 1948 to 2002, of the data that reported deep-sea handline gear,

215 (0.08%) single-reporting days made up of 1812 (0.3%) records report >1500 lb, 

864 (0.3%) single-reporting days made up of 6809 (1%) records report >1000 lb, and 

4672 (1.8%) single-reporting days made up of 33172 (5%) records report >500 lb. 

The records are a higher percentage of total than are the reporting-days, as is consistent with 

more than average numbers of records for reporting days with higher than average catch. Prior to 

this analysis, fishers had suggested that maximum catch from a single-reporting day during the 

1980s should be higher than other time periods because it was a time of maximum catch in the 

fishery, but in fact single-reporting days catching more than 1500 lb occur throughout the time 

series. It was apparent that applying this filter in past assessments removed relatively few records 

from CPUE analysis. Some participants asked whether catches of more than 1500 lb were 

catching mostly Hapuupuu as the largest fish, but in fact these catches are 29% Opakapaka, 20% 

Onaga, 15% Hapuupuu, 9% Ehu, and 8% Kahala by weight. 

Applying different daily cutoffs changes the average weight of Deep 7 caught:

If a 1500-lb cutoff is applied, average catch on a single-reporting day is 55 lb, 
46

If a 1000-lb cutoff is applied, average catch on a single-reporting day is 52 lb, 

If a 500-lb cutoff is applied, average catch on a single-reporting day is 43 lb. 

Some of the fishers commented that given the composition of the fishery (a few highliners with 

many more being opportunistic), the ~50-lb average daily catch seemed right. Participants found 

use of a pounds daily cutoff unsatisfactory in dealing with the multi-day trip issue because they 

recounted their own experiences of highly successful bottomfishing days. Fishers noted that it 

was possible to catch 2000 lb of Hapuupuu on one day if a fisher found a spawning aggregation, 

and others recounted catching up to 900 lb. Applying a daily cutoff filter would remove feasibly 

accurate data on the high end of possible CPUE values, so instead other approaches were sought 

to account for multi-day trips. 

Another investigated approach was to only use middle reporting days: single-reporting days 

when a fisher also reported catches the day immediately before and immediately after. The logic 

behind this exploration was that by using the date in the middle of two other reported days, there 

is higher certainty of selecting only a single day’s effort. Only 6.7% of single-reporting days 

(20,442 out of 303,354) were middle reporting days, and of these 10 had Deep 7 catches > 1500 

lb and 57 had Deep 7 catches > 1000 lb. The species composition of middle reporting days was 

investigated to determine whether they represented anomalous days. Yellowfin tuna represented 

14%, Opakapa 13%, Onaga 7%, Ehu 7%, Uku 6%, Kalekale 6%, Kahala 6%, and Papio/Ulua 5% 

of the middle reporting days’ catch by weight. Ultimately the low number of middle reporting 

days and the question of whether they were anomalous compared to the average bottomfishing 

day led the participants to reject the use of middle reporting days only. 

The prevalence of reporting only on the first and/or last day of the month was also 

investigated as a means of accounting for multi-day trips. The participants asked whether fishers 

were prone to reporting on the first and/or last day of the month given the monthly reporting 

requirement between 1948 and 2002, with the idea that someone who reported on the first and/or 

last day of the month may have been reporting multiple trips all at once. A slight increase of 

records occurs on the first and last day of the month, and also an increase of records in winter 

months especially leading up to the end of the year because of high holiday demand for 

bottomfish (Figure 20). Records from the first and last days of the month did not seem to report 

more fish than other records: only 0.2% (167) single reporting days from the first and last days of 

the month caught more than 1500 lb of Deep 7 bottomfish, which is higher than the 0.08% of all 

single reporting days that caught over 1500 lb of Deep 7, but remains a very low number. 

Another way of investigating this topic was to calculate the proportion of trips by a fisher in a 

given year (unique combination of license number and year; referred to as fisher-year) that 

reported on the first or last day of the month. The majority of fisher-years did not report on the 

first and last day of the month at all, but 816 (3.6%) fisher-years only ever reported on either the 

first or last day of the month (Figure 20). It is not known how many unique persons this number 

represents, because license numbers changed from year to year during the time period in 

question. These 816 fisher-year combinations reported 1885 single reporting days, representing 

5672 records or 2.2% of the records between 1948 and September 2002. Of these 816 fisheryears that only ever reported on the first or last day of the month, 0.7% (13) single-reporting 

days caught more than 1500 lb of Deep 7, and 1.7% (32) single reporting days caught more than
47

1000 lb. The majority (512 or 63%) of these 816 fisher-year combinations fished only one time 

per year, 96 (12%) fished two times per year, 53 (6.5%) fished three times per year, 30 (3.7%) 

fished four times per year, and 32 (3.9%) fished five times per year. The most number of times 

fished in a year by these 816 fisher-year combinations was 12 times in a year (4 out of 816). The 

816 fisher-year combinations did report higher pounds of Deep 7 caught (on average 92 lb per 

single reporting day, compared to 57 lb caught per single reporting day for all records), and also 

reported the maximum amount caught in a single-day.

Because fishers did not want to omit anyone who only fished once per year around the holidays 

as there are many people who fish part-time sporadically but may have been doing so for a long 

time, participants investigated the question of whether the 512 out of 816 fisher-year 

combinations that only report fishing once a year were reporting at the end of the year. However, 

the analysis revealed that these 512 fisher-year combinations were reporting throughout the year 

(Figure 20). Based on all the analyses, but primarily because the average pounds caught was 

higher and there are so few records in question, participants decided to exclude the data from the 

816 fisher-year combinations (5672 records) that only ever reported on the first and/or last day of 

the month when using single reporting day as the effort metric for CPUE.

Figure 20. (Top left) The number of records reported on a given day of the year, from 

1948 to September 2002. Red bars indicate last days of the month, blue bars indicate first 

days of the month. (Top right) The proportion of fisher-years (unique combination of 

license number and year) that reported on the first or last day of the month. (Bottom left) 

The months of reporting for 512 fisher-years who report only once a year on the first 

and/or last day of the month.
48

Workshop participants also saw presentations by Jerry Ault and Steve Smith (University of 

Miami) who showed some CPUE data filtering approaches that were similar, but some that were 

different as well. One approach discussed by workshop participants and also presented by Ault 

and Smith was the idea of separating a single-reporting day into multiple days based on 

distances. If a fisher reported multiple grids and/or multiple ports on a single date, and the grids 

are far enough apart, the trip likely took place over more than one day. For records that report 

both port and area fished, the distance between these two gives a sense of whether the fishing 

took place over one day or multiple days. Ault and Smith presented a distance of 30 nm as a 

threshold for the maximum distance a fisher would travel for a single day of fishing, based on 

previous conversations they had with fishers and the fact that the maximum speed of sampans 

(large vessels used for multiday trips) was 5 nm/hour, with the last sampan retired in 1996). 

There was much discussion by fishers that larger vessels used for multi-day trips generally 

traveled slower than smaller vessels, and that travel speeds changed over time based on engine 

capability and affordability. The practice and frequency of multi-day trips may have shifted over 

time, and many fishers today still fish over multiple days or at least overnight. Fishers also noted

that distance is an imperfect filtering criteria, because there are fishers that travel shorter than 30 

nm but stay out for multiple days. One-day fishing trips are still common practice and many 

single reporting days travel shorter than 30 nm as well. 

Workshop participants agreed to incorporate the following two filters as a way of accounting for 

multi-day trips. Workshop participants recognized that these filters are imperfect in accounting 

for multi-day trips, and may result in multi-day trips being misclassified as single-reporting days. 

However, the idea is that these two filters will account for those trips most likely to be multi-day 

trips and leave the rest of the data alone because of lack of information to distinguish otherwise. 

The first step in accounting for multi-day trips was based on whether multiple areas and/or 

multiple ports were reported. A few single-reporting days in the data reported multiple areas 

fished and multiple ports landed. Fishing in multiple areas and landing in multiple ports in one 

day is possible, but for some combinations of areas and ports that are very far from one another it 

is highly improbable and most likely represent records from multiple trips recorded together on a 

single day. To initially account for multi-day trips, information on the number and locations of 

ports and areas recorded were first used to refine the records into multiple trips. The criteria for 

splitting records within a single-reporting day into multiple days differed based on the number of 

areas and common ports visited. Many records report multiple areas visited and a maximum of 2 

common ports within any one single-reporting day. All single-reporting days with one area and 

one common port reported were left as-is because it was assumed that these records were 

accurate (but a filter based on distance may be applied in the next steps). 

For single-reporting days that report one area and two common ports, records were separated 

into two single-reporting days only when the common ports were on two separate and nearby 

islands (if the common ports were on the same island, the single-reporting day was left as-is). 

Similarly, if the common ports were at least two islands away (either Big Island-Oahu, or KauaiMaui Nui), it was assumed to be a database error, and therefore the trip was left as-is because 

there was no way to know the true trip details. 

For single-reporting days with multiple areas and a single common port, the distance for the trip 

was taken as the greatest distance among each port-area distance. For single-reporting days with 
49

multiple areas and multiple common ports, the data showed that one area was consistently 

associated with one common port and thus it was assumed that these single-reporting days 

actually took place over multiple days. These single-reporting days were separate into multiple 

reporting days based on the number of common ports reported. The combination of all of these 

filters related to separating multi-port, multi-area single reporting days into multiple reporting 

days, added 57 new single-reporting days to the data set. 

The second step to accounting for multi-day trips was based on distance. Once distance was 

assigned to each single-reporting day based on the common ports and fishing areas visited, and 

multi-area or multi-port single-reporting days were separated into multiple reporting days based 

on the description above, an expected number of days were assigned to each single-reporting day 

based on a selected distance threshold value. After the conclusion of the workshop, as agreed 

there was an email discussion of whether a 30-nm threshold was appropriate or whether a 

different value should be used. Many fishers expressed concern that distances traveled varied by 

island, over time with engine capacity, and that distance traveled is not always a good predictor 

of how long a trip is. As examples, fishers on Maui only need to travel ~ 8 nm to reach fishing 

grounds but may still stay out for multiple days, and when sampan boats were still in operation, 

they commonly stayed out for multiple days. When the distances traveled by each single 

reporting day were plotted in frequency histograms by decade, it was evident that most distances 

traveled were between 5 and 30 nm with another cutoff around 50 nm. This pattern is stronger 

after 1970 (Figure 21). Based on conversations with participants at the workshops, it was 

expected that the threshold in the earlier part of the time series would be smaller than that in the 

later parts of the time series due to the vessels participating in the fishery early on being larger 

and slower. However, in the end it was agreed that a threshold of 30 nm would be applied to all 

years as it indicated a clear break in the number of trips occurring in years after 1960, and was 

inclusive of possible trips in the 15–30 nm range for years prior to 1960 where a clear breakpoint 

was slightly less obvious. Selecting a 30 nm distance was thus a conservative distance that left 

many of the single-reporting days as-is. Each trip was assumed to last a day for every multiple of 

this threshold. Thus, a distance between 0 and 30 nm would reflect a 1-day trip, a distance of 

30.1 to 60 nm a two day trip, and so on. Based on this criterion, a total of 23,258 trips were 

changed from single-reporting days to multi-reporting days, with the longest trip being 11 days. 

Applying the 30-nm threshold to the two distance-based filters, most of the single-reporting days 

remain 1 fishing day, with few being broken into 2- or 3-fishing days based on distance traveled. 

There were 1.3 % of the single-reporting days that did not provide distance information, and 

those would remain as single reporting days for CPUE analysis. The average trip length and the 

idea that most trips are single reporting days is similar to present-day data when there is more 

detailed effort information available (Table 8). In the end, a majority of participants agreed to 

use the 30-nm threshold based on the fact that it was a maximum distance traveled in one day 

and the small proportion of corrections it would apply, with a few fishers remaining skeptical 

that it was the correct value. Applying this threshold does not correct for all multiple-day trips 

and notably does not correct for multiple-day trips that traveled less than 30 nm, since there is no 

information in the data set to distinguish it as a multiple-day trip. Workshop participants could 

not think of other options to remove multiple-day trips. 
50

Figure 21. Frequency histograms of distances traveled by a single reporting day (‘trip’) 

as reported from 1948 to 2002, grouped by decade. There are single reporting days that 

traveled greater than 50 nm, but they are not plotted to maintain confidentiality.

Table 8. The breakdown of ‘trip’ duration if a 30-nm threshold is applied to data from 1948

to 2002, and for the most recent 2016 fishing year with detailed effort information.

‘Trip’ Length 

(Days)

from 1948 to 2002 Data

Number of Trips % of Trips % of Trips

1

Applying 30-nm Threshold to Data 2016 Fishing-year 

144292 85 86.4

2 17205 10 10.9

3 3142 2 2

4 1416 0.8 0.3

5 1495 0.9 0.4

Hours as an effort metric: 

Starting in October 2002, fishers began reporting more detailed effort information including 

hours spent fishing. 

Workshop participants encouraged the use of effort metrics more detailed than single reporting 

day in future stock assessments. Since detailed effort data are only available starting in October 

2002, it was recognized that using different effort metrics over time requires splitting up the 

CPUE time series in the stock assessment model into before and after October 2002. 

There was much discussion about the best way to report hours fished and whether to include time 

spent transiting, searching, or even dropping lines. There is an already-existing definition for the 

“hours” field agreed upon 15 years ago by PIFSC, DAR, and fishers. The best effort metric is 

probably total time spent fishing on fishing grounds: search time plus time lines are in the water. 
51

This does not include transit time to and from port or between sites. Most but not all fishers 

report including both transit time and search time, so there are differences among commercial 

fishers about how hours fished is calculated. Fishers noted that it requires more time to find fish 

that are willing to bite than to catch once those fish are found. Regardless of how fishers have 

been calculating hours, if they have been reporting in the same way since 2002 then their 

individual trend is accurate for CPUE calculation and standardization. 

 Fishers also noted that there are differences in how fishers report overnight bottomfishing trips 

which occur over two calendar days. Some split the effort and catch over those two calendar 

days, and some include all on one calendar day because the effort is less than 24 hours of fishing. 

After October 2002, when the reporting form changed, the instructions for reporting an overnight 

trip of greater than 24 hours are to split the catch into 2 days but to retain as a single calendar day 

of fishing if the total hours fished is less than 24 hours. However, fishers report that this is still 

not being done correctly by all fishers. Some confusion may have arisen because of differences 

between reporting instructions provided via the online vs. paper reporting forms. 

Workshop participants discussed and investigated a variety of different effort metrics for the 

time period starting in October 2002. To investigate, participants used data from 48,704 singlereporting days from October 2002 – 2015 time period. Almost all (98.8%, 48105 single-reporting 

days) report a single area, and 98.1% (47778 single reporting days) report a single area with a 

single estimate of hours fished (as opposed to different hours fished within the same singlereporting days). Number of gears (which is the number of lines for bottomfishing) was also 

commonly filled (47,707 single reporting days), with the overwhelming majority reporting either 

1 or 2 lines fished. Other data fields were less often completed. The data field Number of Hooks 

is rarely completed, with only 3.4 % (1639) of single-reporting days from 25 unique license 

holders reporting a non-zero value. Number of Hooks does not seem to be reported since 2012. 

Number of hooks is only present on the bottomfishing report form, not the general report form, 

so it’s possible that few people use the specific form that asks for number of hooks. The data 

field Number of Sets had no data to analyze. 

Further investigation of hours fished revealed some patterns. The average number of reported 

hours per single-reporting day varies slightly over time but is on average ~ 7 hours. The average 

number of reported hours per single-reporting day also exhibits a seasonal trend, with ~ 7.5 

hours fished on average in winter months and ~ 6.7 hours for summer months. Fishers reported 

on average more hours fished in certain areas and from certain ports/islands compared to others. 

Participants compared nominal CPUE for the two primary metrics, hours fished and line-hours 

fished (calculated by multiplying hours fished by number of lines), with single-reporting day 

which is used in the previous time period. When these effort metrics were compared with the 

single-day fished effort metric, the overall trends in nominal CPUE were very similar (Figure 

22). Overall, the selection of an effort metric did not have a major effect on resulting CPUE 

calculation. 

Workshop participants had concerns with using line-hours as an effort metric primarily because 

fishers do not increase the number of lines to increase effort. Instead, they will increase the time 

spent fishing and searching. Additionally, fishers may not deploy all reported lines during the 
52

entire hours fished since they may drop one line if testing the waters for fish. The number of 

reported lines is mostly 1 or 2, suggesting that fishers are reporting this field correctly. 

Other potential effort metrics were discussed. Number of Crew is a new data field reported 

starting in September of 2011, when fishers can now report number of crew and their license 

numbers. Since there are only a few years of data for this, this effort metric was not explored at 

this time but could be explored in the future when more years of data are available. Vessel size 

may affect effort, and may be more important prior to 2002 when large sampan vessels still 

operated. After 2002, vessel size variation is smaller, and vessel size could be partially accounted 

for through tracking individuals through time in CPUE standardization. Vessel-size information 

is available through DOBOR (Hawaii Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation) databases but 

they were not accessible at the time these workshops are held, nor were they accessible to stock 

assessment scientists in the past. Until the DOBOR database is made available, there is no 

information to pursue this as an effort metric. Participants recognized that this was potentially an 

important database and encouraged DAR and PIFSC to continue pursuing the availability of this 

data set. Two other effort metrics discussed but lacking any data are anchoring practices and 

number of line drops, the latter of which was also recognized as difficult to report accurately, 

especially during productive fishing trips. 

Given the information presented, workshop participants agreed to use hours fished as the effort 

metric starting in October 2002, and did not identify other issues with using this effort metric 

that needed to be explored or addressed. 

Figure 22. Nominal CPUE trends for three different effort metrics for the October 2002–

present-day time period. These CPUE trends are exploratory and do not incorporate all 

filters agreed upon by workshop participants.
53

RESOLUTION for CPUE Step 2, Selecting data records that comply with a unit of effort: 

From 1948 to Sep 2002: 

(viii) Use ‘single-reporting day’ as an effort metric from 1948 to Sep 2002, defined as a 

unique combination of license number and date. 

Account for multi-day trips showing up as a single day in this data by applying the following: 

(ix)For ‘single-reporting days’ that report one area and two ports, divide into 2 fishing 

days if the two ports are on nearby islands. 

(x) For ‘single reporting days’ that report multiple areas and multiple ports, separate into 

multiple fishing days based on number of ports. 

(xi)For all of the above ‘single-reporting days’ that report both area and port, divide into 

2 fishing days if distance from area to port is between 30.1-60 nm; divide into 3 

fishing days if distance from area to port is between 60.1 and 90 nm; and so on. 

(xii) For records prior to October 1, 2002, remove all records from licenses that only 

ever reported on the first and/or last day of the month. 

From Oct 2002 to present: 

(xiii) Use hours fished as an effort metric starting from Oct 2002. 
54

D.3.3. CPUE Step 3: Select Data that are Representative of CPUE Trends over 

Time

When used as an indicator in a stock assessment, CPUE trends through time should be 

representative of actual changes in CPUE rather than changes in reporting or other artefacts. 

Workshop participants investigated a few criteria that they agreed make a representative or 

responsible reporter for calculating CPUE. At the Workshop #2, workshop participants discussed 

the following ideas in coming to agreement on criteria for representative or responsible reporters. 

This list captures suggestions from discussion and does not represent consensus or decisions. 

• Use the “full-time” fishers: Defined in terms of economics and not catch amount when 

defining the term “full-time.” Possible criteria: 

o Someone who provides a report at least 9 months of the year 

o Someone who catches a minimum pounds per year 

o Someone who conducts a minimum effort per year, in terms of number or 

proportion of total records 

• Use the “Highliners”: Fishers who report most of the catch. Possible criteria: 

o Select the top 10 fishers in terms of annual catch, including all islands if this 

method is used because each island has a different amount of average catch

o Select fishers from each island and calculate CPUE by island where fish was 

caught

o Select fishers that average more than 200 lb on a day fished 

o Select fishers that have provided reports over a certain number of years (not 

necessarily consecutively), as far back in time series as possible given that fishers 

can only be tracked using CML as far back as 1994 

• Use “mid-liners” or “low-liner” as an alternative to “highliners,” given that highliners 

may continue to find fish even if they decline in abundance 

o Rank fishers by annual catch and select using a low enough threshold to include 

the mid-liner fishers, or low-liner fishers, and compare trends with highliners 

• Use consistent or quality reporters: Fishers that always report the same way and/or pay 

attention to detail when reporting 

o Select fishers with internally consistent forms: few obvious errors, no out of range 

reports

o Select fishers that submit complete forms, filling out all the fields consistently 

(detail-oriented reporters that may for example indicate gear change or changes in 

gear configuration by day fished) 

o Select fishers that report more than just target species or commercially valuable 

species including fish lost and released, as required in the instructions 

o Select fishers who always report on time (this filter could only be applied starting 

in 1994, when report date is recorded) 

o Select fishers who fished for many years (not necessarily consecutively), as far 

back in time series as possible given that fishers can only be tracked using CML 

as far back as 1994

o Select fishers who remain in the fishery for a long time and thus show 

commitment or dependency on the fishery, as far back in time series as possible 

given that fishers can only be tracked using CML as far back as 1994 
55

o Select fishers who do not under-report and otherwise report consistently when 

compared to dealer reports (this filter could only be applied starting from 2000 

when dealer reports started)

o Eliminate fishers who don’t report often enough to calculate a trend, for example 

someone who only a handful of reports a year 

o Select fishers who report consistency in the duration of day fished (this filter 

could only be applied starting in October 2002 when more detailed effort 

reporting became required)

o Select fishers who are fishing regularly, reporting a minimum number of days 

fished a year, or a minimum proportion of the total days fished a year 

o Select fishers that report zero catch records, as they take reporting seriously (this 

filter could only be applied starting in 1989 when it became possible to enter zero 

catch records)

There was much discussion on whether the use of data from “highliners” only was an effective 

way to calculate CPUE. A few of the scientists pointed out that the most effective fishers are also 

likely to be able to continue finding fish even when abundance begins declining; this ability has 

been shown in other fisheries. Using data from highliners only would result in a CPUE time 

series that would not accurately reflect trends in abundance or biomass, as highliner expertise 

may mask any declines. Fishers recognized that there are only a few highliners in the fishery, and 

using only highliners would result in ignoring the rest of the data, including data from some 

fishers present in the room because they were not highliners yet had been active in the fishery for 

decades. Not wanting to omit data from fishers who had been active over long time periods but 

may not have caught enough fish to be considered highliners, the group started to shift focus to 

embrace the concepts of including long-term or consistent fishers, since data from such persons 

would still be valid for purposes of CPUE calculation. This approach would be more inclusive in 

terms of types of fishers. Ultimately, the group decided to explore whether representative fishers 

could be selected based on three concepts: consistent or long-term effort, longevity in the fishery, 

and quality of data being reported. 

It was widely recognized that the ability to track individuals through time would greatly benefit 

CPUE analysis and standardization. Tracking individuals is challenging prior to 1994, when 

individuals were assigned a different license number each year and identifying information such 

as first and last name were not always entered. To that end, Paul Tao at PIFSC conducted an 

extensive effort to add last names and vessel names all the way back to the beginning of the data 

set in 1948. This required taking annual lists of fisher name, license number, and vessel, and 

populating missing fields using some common unique field(s). In the end, tens of thousands of 

records annually were populated with fisher name and/or vessel name (Figure 23). Six license 

numbers were corrected and 12,744 more records had a last name but not a first name. Once last 

names and vessel names were matched, this new data set was used to explore CPUE analyses 

during the workshops and will be used for the stock assessment. 
56

Figure 23. Number of records with information added: last name, vessel name, vessel 

records.

The first attempt to select representative CPUE data involved investigating whether selecting 

representative fishers could be based on consistent or long-term effort. The idea was that fishers 

who report many days fished a year, or a large percentage of all days fished in a year, are 

consistently providing quality information about the fish and fishery. Analyses of fishers with 

consistent effort were conducted using metrics of the percentage of available days fished a year 

(available days are defined as days for which at least one person reported a bottomfish). With the 

exception of the late 1950s and early 1960s, most years had close to 365 available days (Figure 

24). Increasing the cutoff percentage of available days fished resulted in fewer fishers reporting 

fewer records (Figures 24 and 25). If a cutoff of 5% or more of available days is applied, ~ 75 

fishers are selected in recent years. At 10% or more of available days, the number of selected 

fishers in recent years falls drastically to ~20. This 10% cutoff corresponds approximately to 

fishing a little less than once a week. Moving to a cutoff of 15% or more of available days, on 

average ~ 7 individual fishers in recent years are selected. Fewer than 5 fishers in recent years 

fished at least 25% of available days, and no fishers fished at least 50% of available days in 

recent years. 

These analyses confirmed what fishers already know: that only a few persons fish frequently, 

and that most license holders only fish occasionally and often less than once a week. It also 

became apparent that applying any filter based on consistent effort would quickly cut out many 

of the fishers, since so many of them fish infrequently. A few cautioned against filtering out so 

many fishers, as they do make up a bulk of the effort and the records. It was noted ‘highliners,’ 

arguably the fishers who fish frequently, are skilled enough that they are likely able to find and 

catch fish regardless of stock reduction or movement; such ability would result in their data 

masking actual stock trends. Workshop participants also suggested replicating these analyses 

with a slightly different metric of number of days fished in a year, but the results using either 

metric (% of available days, number of days fished) were similar because the number of 

available days is close to 365 in any given year. 
57

Figure 24. (Top) Number of available days (days for which at least one person reported a

bottomfish) for each year. (Left) The number of fishers, and (right) the number of records 

for fishers that fished at least (middle) 5% of all available days in a given year, and 

(bottom) 10% of all available days in a given year. 
58

Figure 25. (Left) The number of fishers, and (right) the number of records for fishers that 

fished at least 15% of all available days in a given year. 
59

The second attempt to select representative CPUE data involved investigating whether selecting 

representative fishers could be based on longevity in the fishery. The idea was that fishers who 

fished a certain minimum number of years (that don’t need to be consecutive) are consistently 

providing quality information about the fish and fishery. Individuals were uniquely identified by 

a combination of first and last name. Of note is the inconsistency of name reporting, such that it 

was not possible to determine whether B. Smith, B Smith, Bob Smith, or Robert Smith, were the 

same or different people. For analysis purposes, these were all assumed to be different people. 

However, instances of adding an initial to a full name (Bob Smith and Bob J Smith) were 

assumed to be the same person. This decreased the unique number of fishers from 9524 to 6971 

over the entire time series. According to a histogram of the number of years fished per person, 

46% of all fishers only ever reported fishing in one year (Figure 26). Twenty-eight fishers have 

been reporting bottomfish longer than 31 years. 

This confirms what fishers have always known and said, that bottomfishing is a highly 

specialized fishery that requires skill and expert knowledge. It is difficult for an individual to 

become a bottomfisher, so it seems many individuals may try it and fish for a few years but don’t 

stay in the fishery. Very few individuals fished more than 20 years, with a handful of individuals 

fishing more than 30 years. Intuitively, as the number of years fished increases, the number of 

records reported increases as well. Workshop participants discussed the pros and cons of 

potentially excluding the 46% of fishers that only report in 1 year. If the fisher is reporting only 

in the most recent year then he/she is just entering the fishery and should not be excluded. If the 

fisher is reporting at some point in the past, then their individual CPUE calculation is only one 

point in time and does not provide a trend. The stock assessment scientists explained that these 

individual points from the 46% of fishers would not strongly influence CPUE calculation if 

individual fishers are tracked in the standardization because they do not offer trend information. 

In other words, these 46% of fishers would not strongly influence CPUE. 

Ultimately, the workshop participants realized that effort and longevity are intertwined concepts: 

someone who fishes frequently is also likely to be someone who has fished for many years. 

Rather than exclude any data based on the analyses for effort and longevity, the workshop 

participants wanted to be inclusive of the bulk of the data. They agreed to remove records from 

the fishers who used gear 3 but never reported catching a Deep 7 species, as they did not 

consider these fishers to be Deep 7 bottomfishers. No other filter based on effort or longevity 

was chosen, but instead the participants agreed to include an additional factor for CPUE 

standardization under Step 4: cumulative number of Deep 7 bottomfishing trips to-date. This 

serves as a metric for cumulative experience. PIFSC stock assessment scientists agreed to add 

this to the list of standardization factors already agreed upon under CPUE Step 4. 
60

Figure 26. The number of unique fishers (tracked by name) that reported for a given 

number of nonconsecutive years. Twenty-eight fishers have fished more than 31 years, 

but their data are not plotted to maintain confidentiality.

The third attempt to select representative CPUE data involved investigating whether selecting 

representative fishers could be based on quality of data being reported by fishers. The idea was 

to attempt to select fishers who submitted mostly complete forms most of the time, with attention 

to detail and few obvious errors such as: 

• No out-of-range reports for area, 

• No out-of-range reports for pounds, 

• Reporting in the “LOST” field, 

• Reporting in the “RELEASED” field, and 

• Reporting non-Deep 7 species.

There was a suggestion to investigate whether an additional criterion could be fishers who report 

on time as indicated by date report submitted available since 1994, but this information was not 

readily available in the data set so was not further explored. 

Out-of-range reports for area: Given that it was impossible to know whether a reported value for 

most fields was an error or not, workshop participants looked at the “area error flag” field which 

is available starting in 2002 to get a sense of how often invalid or incorrect areas were reported. 

There were a total of 16 area error flags from 9 fishers, and they occurred between 2007 and 

2010 (Figure 27). These 9 fishers reported a total of 2916 records starting in 1977, and the 

maximum percentage of records with an area error flag by any of these fishers was 6%. Based on 

the low number of records these 9 fishers represent, workshop participants concluded they are 

likely to be infrequent fishers and agreed not to remove any data based on an area error flag. It’s 
61

possible that some of these errors are filtered out already in a previous step (since the analyses 

shown for discussion did not include all agreed-upon steps given that they were conducted prior 

to agreement on all steps). Also, these area error flags are system-generated and not fisherreported. Reggie Kokubun noted that while staff does follow up if a flag is generated, it is still 

possible that validated correct data still has the area error flag. 

Figure 27. (Left) Number of records with an area error flag by year. (Right) The total 

number of records reported annually by the 9 fishers from the left panel.

Out-of-range reports for pounds: Out-of-range reporting was investigated as a possible data 

quality filter using the “pounds error flag” field, available starting in 2002. There were 119 

records with a pounds error flag from 86 fishers who report a total of 43,301 records over the 

years (Figure 28). The maximum percentage of records with a pounds error flag by any of these 

fishers came from fishers who report less than 10 records total. Workshop participants again 

drew the conclusion that these are likely to be infrequent fishers based on the low number of 

records these fishers report, and agreed not to remove any data based on a pounds error flag. 

Similar to the area error flag, pounds error flags are system-generated and not fisher-reported. 

Reggie Kokubun noted that while staff does follow up if a flag is generated, it’s still possible that 

validated correct data still has the pounds error flag. 

Figure 28. (Left) Number of records with a pounds error flag by year. (Right) The total 

number of records reported annually by the 86 fishers from the left panel.

Reporting in the “LOST” field: The “LOST” field is provided so fishers can report when a fish 

was lost to predation or otherwise fell off the gear. Only 8791 records reported by 691 fishers 

reported in this field. These 691 fishers reported a total of 152,436 records over the years (Figure 

29). Workshop participants agreed there was no justification to use only these 691 fishers for 

CPUE calculation. Doing so would result in omitting a high percentage of the available data, and 

the increase in reporting in the “LOST” field over time is most likely a result of increased 

outreach on this topic starting in ~ 2007. 
62

Figure 29. (Left) Number of records reporting in the “LOST” field by year. (Right) The 

total number of records reported annually by the 691 fishers from the left panel.

Reporting in the “RELEASED” field: The “RELEASED” field is provided so fishers can report 

when a fish was released back to the water. Only 6950 records reported by 508 fishers reported 

in this field. These 508 fishers reported a total of 105,236 records over the years (Figure 29). 

Workshop participants agreed there was no justification to use only these 508 fishers for CPUE 

calculation. Doing so would result in omitting a high percentage of the available data. Fishers 

commented that the only reason to release a bottomfish would be as part of a tagging study, so 

using only this data would not be representative of the fishery. There was a suggestion by fishers 

to remove data from targeted tagging trips starting around 2014 using individual fisher names 

and in cases where ‘single reporting day’s released more than 50% of Deep 7 caught by numbers 

for that day. PIFSC scientists agreed to investigate this for the subsequent benchmark stock 

assessment rather than the ongoing on. 

Figure 30. (Left) Number of records reporting in the “RELEASED” field by year. (Right) 

The total number of records reported annually by the 508 fishers from the left panel.

Reporting non-Deep 7 species: Workshop participants investigated the occurrence of fishers 

reporting species that were not Deep 7, as a potential method for selecting fishers that report 

carefully. A total of 388,290 records reported by 8870 fishers showed species that were not Deep 

7. These 8,807 fishers reported a total of 388,290 records over the years (Figure 31). Nearly all 

the data is included if these 8,870 fishers were selected. Fishers commented that this made sense 

given that often non-Deep 7 species were caught in the process of targeting Deep 7 species. 

Workshop participants agreed not to place special emphasis on this data and thus agreed not to 

include a filter to use only this data. 
63

Figure 31. (Left) Number of records reporting non-Deep 7 bottomfish by year, 388,290 

total by 8870 fishers. (Right) The total number of records reported annually by the 8807 

fishers from the left panel.

Finally, workshop participants agreed to remove records associated with the fishery-independent 

survey efforts that have taken place over the most recent years. These records do not represent 

bottomfishing, since they take place in areas designated by PIFSC scientists and using 

standardized gear configurations and fishing times. There was discussion and acknowledgement 

that removing these records may be difficult and incomplete given that there is not a specific flag 

for these records, and that fishers participating in the survey did also bottomfish commercially on 

the same days they also fished for the survey, sometimes even in the same grid area. 

RESOLUTION for CPUE Step 3, selecting data representative of CPUE trends over time:

(xiv) Remove records from fishers who used gear 3 but never caught any pounds of Deep 7. 

(xv) Remove single-reporting days that occurred during fishery-independent sampling for 

specific fishers in specific grids. 

D.3.4. CPUE Step 4: Account for factors that affect CPUE

Certain factors are known to affect CPUE that can be accounted for, provided there is data 

available on them. Workshop participants identified a list of factors known or believed to affect 

CPUE, and then identified those for which data are available and thus are feasible to explore in 

an analysis. Recognizing that some factors affect CPUE more than others, factors vary in their 

data availability, and that investigating all possible factors would require extensive time and 

effort, participants then prioritized analysis of the factors. 

At workshop #2, participants came up with a list of factors that are known or believed to affect 

CPUE are feasible to investigate because of data availability. Recognizing that to investigate all 

of these factors would require extensive time and effort, participants prioritized these 24 factors 

at workshop #3 through a voting exercise to obtain equal input from all participants. Starting 

with the list of factors known or believed to affect CPUE and have data available, participants 

were asked to choose their top 5 priority factors that he/she believed most affects bottomfish 

CPUE. The most important factor believed to be affecting CPUE received a vote of “5,” the 

second most important received a vote of “4,” and so on. The numbers were tallied for each 

factor and those with the highest total numbers were considered to be the most important factors 

affecting CPUE as determined by workshop participants. The following table shows the 

prioritized list of factors affecting CPUE for which data is thought to be available. 
64

Table 9. Factors that are known or believed to affect CPUE and are feasible to investigate 

because of data availability, in order of priority by workshop participants.

Factor Category Priority

Total 

number

Total # 

of votes

Fisher skill (license number as proxy) Fishery 1 69 20

Wind speed and direction Oceanography 2 62 19

Fishing grid area Ecosystem 3 49 13

BRFAs and Kahoolawe Management 4 33 11

Island area Ecosystem 5 21 6

Month or season Oceanography 6 18 9

Technology (data for this still pending from interviews) Fishery 7 18 6

Targeting by species Fishery 8 12 6

Moon phase Oceanography 9 6 2

Depredation Ecosystem 10 5 2

Ecosystem productivity (chlorophyll, SST) Ecosystem 11 4 3

Fish market prices since Oct 2002 Economics 11 4 3

Fisher abundance Fishery 13 4 1

El Nino/La Nina Oceanography 13 4 1

TACs and ACLs starting in 2007–2008 Management 13 4 1

State noncommercial bag limit starting June 1998 Management 16 3 1

Distance to fishing area from port Fishery 17 2 2

Pacific Decadal Oscillation Oceanography 18 2 1

Rainfall (may affect recruitment?) Ecosystem 19 0 0

Taape catch Ecosystem 19 0 0

Hook competition (non-Deep 7 species caught) Ecosystem 19 0 0

Ciguatera (effect of UFA no longer buying kahala in 

early 1980s) Economics 19 0 0

Federal noncommercial bag limit starting in 2008 Management 19 0 0

Targeting by size Fishery 19 0 0

Workshop participants present for this voting exercise self-identified as 9 scientists, 8 fishers, 3 

data analysts, and 2 managers. PIFSC agreed that for the next stock assessment, the first 3 

priority factors will be explored for inclusion in CPUE standardization. For each subsequent 

stock assessment, the next 2–3 factors on the list will be explored. There is likely to be 

diminishing returns on effort in exploring factors further down the priority list, since many 

factors received few or no votes by workshop participants. At workshop #4, fishers requested to 

include additional standardization factors in the upcoming stock assessment and PIFSC scientists 

agreed to explore two more standardization factors in addition to the first 3. The first factor is 

catch of Uku on the same single-reporting day, which ties into the targeting by species factor 

listed as priority 8 and the hook competition factor listed as priority 19. The second factor is the 

cumulative number of Deep 7 single-reporting days so far, which is meant as a proxy for 

experience and is similar to priority 1 which is fisher skill.
65

Although voting occurred using an agreed-upon list of factors, 2 workshop participants wrote in 

‘vessel size’ as a factor and gave it a total priority of 7. Vessel size as it affects CPUE was 

discussed in detail under CPUE Step 2, “Other effort metrics.” It was noted that vessel size may 

affect effort, especially in the early period from 1948-2001 when there were more larger vessels 

that were more likely to conduct multiday trips and carry more crew. After 2002, vessel size 

variation is smaller, and vessel size is accounted for through tracking individuals through time. 

Table 10 is a comprehensive list of all factors that are known or believed to affect CPUE 

developed at Workshop #2, regardless of whether there is data available for them. Participants 

also noted that a combination of these factors could affect CPUE in synergistic ways. Workshop 

participants recognized that currents and gear configuration are two factors that are very 

important in affecting CPUE, but noted there is no data set available on them so they cannot be 

investigated. 

Table 10. Comprehensive list of all factors known or believed to affect CPUE and 

corresponding general category, in no particular order. Data is not available on all of 

these factors.

Factor Category

Fisher abundance Fishery

Fisher skill (license number as proxy) Fishery

Technology (data for this still pending from interviews) Fishery

Targeting by species Fishery

Targeting by size Fishery

Distance to fishing area from port Fishery

Travel time due to weather/wind Fishery

Behavior Fishery

Bait type Fishery

Palu or not Fishery

Anchor or drift or parachute Fishery

Line set up or method Fishery

Vessel characteristics Fishery

Fish abundance Ecosystem

Fishing grid area Ecosystem

Island area Ecosystem

Ecosystem productivity (chlorophyll, SST) Ecosystem

Ahi CPUE Ecosystem

Taape catch Ecosystem

Depredation Ecosystem

Bait stealing Ecosystem

Hook competition by other species (non-Deep 7 caught) Ecosystem

Competition or interference by other species Ecosystem

Fish behavior (the “bite,” as affected by environmental 

conditions)

Ecosystem
66

Factor Category

Patchiness of fish distribution Ecosystem

Rainfall (may affect recruitment?) Ecosystem

Day or night Ecosystem

Current speed and direction Oceanography

Current speed and direction at surface vs. at depth Oceanography

Tides Oceanography

Moon phase Oceanography

Ocean temperature at depth Oceanography

Wind speed and direction Oceanography

Month or season Oceanography

Holidays Oceanography

El Nino/La Nina Oceanography

Pacific Decadal Oscillation Oceanography

Fish market prices since Oct 2002 Economics

Ciguatera (effect of UFA no longer buying kahala 

starting in early 1980s

Economics

Gas prices Economics

Bait prices and availability Economics

BRFAs and Kahoolawe Management

TACs and ACLs starting in 2007-2008 Management

State noncommercial bag limit starting in June 1998 Management

Federal noncommercial bag limit starting in 2008 Management

Weight limit Management

E. CONCLUSION

These 5 workshops sought to find solutions to identified commercial fishery data quality issues 

to the extent possible. Many possible filters were explored but not adopted for various reasons 

ranging from exclusion of too much data to not having enough information to apply the filter or 

having to make too many assumptions to apply the filter. Many new filters were agreed upon that 

should improve the quality of the commercial data used for future stock assessments. Workshop 

participants agreed according to the Terms of Reference, that each issue will not be revisited 

unless additional information on this past data becomes available in the future. All participants 

provided insightful contributions about the data and the fishery that have allowed for improved 

commercial data sources as inputs for stock assessments. 
67

F. REFERENCES

Brodziak, J., R. Moffitt, and G. DiNardo. 

 2009. Hawaiian bottomfish assessment update for 2008. Pacific Islands Fisheries Science 

Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96822-2396. 

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Admin. Rep. H-09-02, 93 p. 

Brodziak, J., D. Courtney, L. Wagatsuma, J. O’Malley, H-H. Lee, W. Walsh, A. Andrews, R. 

Humphreys, and G. DiNardo. 

 2011. Stock assessment of the main Hawaiian Islands Deep7 bottomfish complex through 

2010. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo., NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-29, 

176 p. + Appendix. 

Brodziak, J., A. Yau, J. O’Malley, A. Andrews, R. Humphreys, E. DeMartini, M. Pan, M. Parke, 

and E. Fletcher. 

 2014. Stock assessment update for the main Hawaiian Islands Deep 7 bottomfish 

complex through 2013 with projected annual catch limits through 2016. U.S. Dep. 

Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo., NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-42, 61 p. 

Courtney, D., and J. Brodziak. 

 2011. Review of unreported to reported catch ratios for bottomfish resources in the Main 

Hawaiian Islands. Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine 

Fisheries Service, NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96822-2396. Pacific Islands Fisheries 

Science Center, Internal Report IR-11-017, 45 p. 

Moffitt, R., D. Kobayashi, and G. DiNardo. 

 2006. Status of the Hawaiian Bottomfish Stocks, 2004. Pacific Islands Fisheries Science 

Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96822-2396. 

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Admin. Rep. H-06-01, 50 p. 

Moffitt, R., G. DiNardo, J. Brodziak, K. Kawamoto, M. Quach, M. Pan, K. Brookins, C. Tam, 

and M. Mitsuyatsu. 

 2011. Bottomfish CPUE standardization workshop proceedings, August 4-6, 2008. 

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, 

NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96822-2396. Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, 

Internal Rep. IR-11-003, 134 p. 

Ralston, S., and Polovina, J. 

 1982. A Multispecies analysis of the commercial deep-sea handline fishery in Hawaii. 

Fishery Bulletin, 80(3): 435-448. 

Ralston, S., D. Tagami, and P. Shiota. 

 1986. An Analysis of Bottomfish Size Variation at the Honolulu Fish Auction. Southwest 

Fisheries Center Honolulu Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, 

NOAA, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-2396. Admin. Report, H-86-10, 14 p. 

Yau, A., and R. Oram. 
68

 2016. Summary of 2013 and 2015 Main Hawai‘ian Islands Bottomfish Research 

Coordination Workshops. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., 

NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-16-

04, 53 p. 
69

APPENDIX A: Terms of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data Workshops 

Terms of Reference

November 10, 2015 

Background:

The challenges surrounding the robustness and utility for scientific and management purposes of 

the Hawaiian Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR) commercial Fisher Reporting System 

(FRS) data have been known for some time. Starting at least in 2004, a series of stock 

assessment workshops were convened to assess current bottomfish and coral reef fish assessment 

methods and develop a plan to improve data collection and assessment methods to a point where 

reliable resource assessments could be obtained. The review, synthesis, and analysis of existing 

data were identified as a high priority by workshop participants. Since then, various meetings 

have been held to discuss, identify, and resolve ongoing data issues, including a commercial 

catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) workshop in 2008. The DAR has made efforts at improvements in 

data collection and the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) has continued 

analyzing and exploring the DAR FRS data set through multiple iterations of the bottomfish 

stock complex assessments. 

Despite these ongoing efforts, this issue emerged again in December 2014, when NOAA 

contracted the Center for Independent Experts to conduct an independent external peer review of 

the 2014 Main Hawaiian Islands Deep 7 bottomfish stock assessment which was completed by 

PIFSC scientists. This independent external review panel had strong reservations regarding the 

quality of the Hawaii DAR commercial FRS data used to calculate input catch and CPUE for the 

stock assessment. The review panel concluded that although the methods to standardize CPUE 

and the assessment model were appropriate, the deficiencies in input data quality caused the 

stock assessment to have serious flaws that compromised its utility for management. 

In response to these concerns and others, PIFSC will work with DAR, and will seek input from 

the NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), the Western Pacific Regional Fishery 

Management Council (the Council), and fisher stakeholders to help understand and resolve these 

data issues once and for all. This will be accomplished by identifying, and resolving to the extent 

possible, issues in the DAR FRS data that affect the quality of data on Deep 7 bottomfish for 

stock assessment purposes. A series of workshops and small-group working sessions will be held 

to facilitate completion of these tasks, with the ultimate goal of producing a higher quality FRS 

data set that is deemed acceptable for stock assessment and management use by scientific, 

management, and user group (fisher) stakeholders. The intent is that this series of workshops will 

not be repeated each time a benchmark stock assessment is conducted, because a final data set 

has been agreed upon. 
70

Scope: 

Hawaii DAR data reporting on Deep 7 bottomfish or deep-sea handline gear in the main 

Hawaiian Islands (MHI):

• Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) Data, 1948 – 2015 

This is the primary data set investigated, data through 2015 were used in 

workshop analyses. 

• Dealer Reporting System (DRS) Data, 2000 – 2015 

This data set was investigated mainly to address issues pertaining to the FRS data 

set, data through 2015 were used in workshop analyses. 

Participants: NOAA Fisheries PIFSC and PIRO, the Hawaii DAR, the Council, and 

(commercial) fishers/stakeholders

Goals: 

1) Identify and agree upon issues that affect the quality and consistency of DAR FRS data 

on MHI Deep 7 bottomfish fishing. 

2) Investigate and agree upon an acceptable resolution to each issue, understanding that 

some issues may not be fully resolvable and/or may not have a significant effect on stock 

assessment results.

3) Finalize a document describing the issues discussed and the agreed-upon resolution for 

each.

4) Apply the list of resolutions to a copy of the DAR’s commercial FRS data to create a 

stock-assessment-suitable higher quality set of DAR FRS data on MHI Deep 7 

bottomfish fishing for use by PIFSC in future stock assessments. This higher quality data 

set will constitute the best available scientific information for calculating total catch, 

catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE), and weight information of Deep 7 bottomfish species. 

Workshop 1: Summer 2015 

The goal of the first workshop will be to bring together participants to identify and agree upon a 

list of issues affecting the quality of the DAR FRS data for Deep 7 bottomfish. Participants will 

start with a draft list of issues and will discuss, edit, and possibly add to this list. The final 

agreed-upon list of issues should strive to be comprehensive to cover currently known issues 

regarding the quality and consistency of the bottomfish fishery data for the MHI. Ideally this list 

will not be added to in future workshops, since this final list will drive the subsequent schedule 

of workshops and intersessional work. At the first workshop, this list will be divided up and 

selected workshop participants will be asked to investigate these in smaller groups, with progress 

and results reported back at subsequent workshops. 

Future workshop(s):

Future workshop(s) prior to the next benchmark assessment will be held in order to have smaller 

groups report back about progress made in addressing the issues they have agreed to investigate, 

and for the full workshop participants to discuss and agree on a path forward for each issue. The 

exact number and frequency of workshops is to be determined, and will depend upon workflow 
71

and resource availability. Each issue should be resolved to the extent possible, recognizing that 

some issues may not be resolvable and that some do not have a significant impact on stock 

assessment results. Participants will come to an agreement on the resolution for each issue, 

which will be documented in a final report and in source code created and used to apply these 

resolutions to a copy of the DAR FRS data. The entire process is anticipated to be completed 

sometime in late 2016 or early 2017. 

Additional Information: 

Any resolutions that will continue to change DAR FRS data will be documented, so that if 

necessary, these can be consistently applied in the future. A list of errors in DAR FRS data will 

be provided to DAR. Additionally, there should be a discussion with DAR to evaluate whether 

long term changes in the FRS data collection forms and processes are warranted, so that DAR 

can determine when and if such changes can be made at the source.

By agreeing to the resolution for each issue, participants agree that each issue has been resolved 

to the extent possible and agree that an issue will be revisited only if additional information 

about the existing DAR data relevant to that issue becomes available in the future (beyond the 

simple addition of new years of DAR data). Thus, every attempt will be made during this current 

process to seek and consider all currently available information in finding resolutions to each 

issue. Participants agree that the newly created higher quality set of DAR FRS data can and 

should be used for stock assessment and management purposes. 
72
73

APPENDIX B: Acronym Table and Species Table

Table 11. Table of acronyms and definitions used in this report 

ACL Annual Catch Limit

BRFA Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Area

CPUE Catch-Per-Unit-Effort

DAR Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources

DOBOR Hawaii Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation

DRS DAR Dealer-Reporting System data set

FRMD Fisheries Research and Monitoring Division, PIFSC

FRS DAR Fisher-Reporting System data set

JIMAR Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research

KIR Kahoolawe Island Reserve

LHP Life History Program, FRMD, PIFSC

MHI Main Hawaiian Islands

NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service, a.k.a. NOAA Fisheries

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NWHI Northwest Hawaiian Islands

PIFSC Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, NOAA

PIRO Pacific Islands Regional Office, NMFS, NOAA

SAP Stock Assessment Program, FRMD, PIFSC

TAC Total Allowable Catch

WRPFMC Western Regional Pacific Fishery Management Council
74

Table 12. List of species in this report by common name, scientific name, type of fishery 

classification, and Hawaii Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR) species code 

Name Scientific name Type Species code

OPAKAPAKA Pristipomoides filamentosus Deep 7 bottomfish 19

ONAGA Etelis coruscans Deep 7 bottomfish 22

KALEKALE Pristipomoides sieboldii Deep 7 bottomfish 17

EHU Etelis carbunculus Deep 7 bottomfish 21, 36*

GINDAI Pristipomoides zonatus Deep 7 bottomfish 97

LEHI Aphareus rutilans Deep 7 bottomfish 58

HAPUUPUU Hyporthodus quernus Deep 7 bottomfish 15

UKU Aprion virescens Non-deep 7 bottomfish 20

KAHALA Seriola dumerili Non-deep 7 bottomfish 16

TAAPE Lutjanus kasmira Non-deep 7 bottomfish 114

PAPIO, ULUA (MISC.) Carangidae Coral Reef Ecosystem 23

TUNA (MISC.) Scombridae Pelagic 1

AKU Katsuwonus pelamis Pelagic 2

YELLOWFIN TUNA Thunnus albacares Pelagic 3

TOMBO Thunnus alalunga Pelagic 4

BLUEFIN TUNA Thunnus thynnus Pelagic 5

BIGEYE TUNA Thunnus obesus Pelagic 6

KAWAKAWA Euthynnus affinis, E. yaito Pelagic 7

BILLFISH (MISC.) Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae Pelagic 8

STRIPED MARLIN Tetrapterus audax Pelagic 9

BLUE MARLIN Makaira mazara, M. nigricans Pelagic 10

SWORDFISH Xiphias gladius Pelagic 11

SAILFISH Istiophorus platypterus Pelagic 12

MAHIMAHI Coryphaena hippurus Pelagic 13

ONO Acanthocybium solandri Pelagic 14

HAULIULI Gempylus serpens Pelagic 39

OPAH Lampris guttatus Pelagic 106

SHORTBILL 

SPEARFISH Tetrapterus angustirostris Pelagic 107

BLACK MARLIN Makaira indica Pelagic 108

MONCHONG Taractichthys (Taractes) steindachneri Pelagic 118

MAKO Isurus oxyrinchus Pelagic 320

THRESHER SHARK Alopias vulpinus Pelagic 321

BLUE SHARK Euselachii Pelagic 323

OCEANIC WHITETIP 

SHARK Euselachii Pelagic 324

* Code 36 only used in early 1950s and discontinued in 1989.
75

APPENDIX C: Participant List and Workshop Agendas

Participant List Present at workshop#

FIRST 

NAME

LAST 

NAME AFFILIATION 1 2 3 4 5

Nathan Abe Commercial fisher X X X X X

Jerry Ault University of Miami - - X X -

Chris Boggs Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center X X X X X

Jon Brodziak Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center X - - - -

Stefanie Dukes Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center - - X X X

Matthew Dunlap Pacific Islands Regional Office X X - X X

Edwin Ebisui II Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council - - - - -

Edwin Ebisui III Commercial fisher X - X X X

Eric Fletcher Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Joint Institute for Marine 

and Atmospheric Research X X - X X

Erik Franklin University of Hawaii - - - - -

Kimberlee Harding Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources - X X - X

Walter Ikehara Pacific Islands Regional Office X X X - X

David Itano Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council's 

Scientific and Statistical Committee X X - - -

Ariel Jacobs Pacific Islands Regional Office - - - - -

Kurt Kawamoto Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center X X X X X

Don Kobayashi

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Western Pacific 

Regional Fishery Management Council's Scientific and Statistical 

Committee

X X X X -

Reginald Kokubun Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources X X X X X

Brian Langseth Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center - - X X X

Kimberly Lowe Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center X X - - -

Beth Lumsden Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center X X X X X

Mark Mitsuyasu Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council staff X - X - -

Alton Miyasaka Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources - - - - -

Roy Morioka Waialua Boat Club, Commercial fisher X X X X X

Layne Nakagawa Commercial fisher X - X X X

Basil Oshiro Commercial fisher, Maui Cooperative Fishing Association X - - - -

Zack Oyafuso University of Hawaii - - - - X

Marlowe Sabater Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council staff X X X X X

Michael Seki Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center - X X X X

Steve Smith University of Miami - - X X -

Clay Tam Pacific Islands Fisheries Group X X X X X

Edwin Watamura Waialua Boat Club, Commercial fisher X - X X X

Leonard Yamada Aiea Boat Club, Commercial fisher X X X X X

Annie Yau Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center X X X X X
76

Workshop 1 Agenda 

Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data Workshop 

Workshop 1 

September 2, 2015 

NOAA Pier 38 conference room 

8 AM – 4 PM 

1. Welcome and Introductions 

2. Background and Terms of Reference 

3. DAR data issues

a. Catch data

b. Weight data

c. CPUE
77

Workshop 2 Agenda 

Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data Workshop 

 On the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), 

Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) Data

Workshop 2 

November 4–5, 2015 

NOAA Pier 38 conference room 

8 AM – 4 PM each day

The focus of this workshop will be on data issues surrounding calculation of nominal catch-perunit-effort (CPUE). 

There will be no-host lunch breaks, and at least 2 additional breaks scattered throughout each 

day.

Timing is approximated, and the meeting may adjourn earlier if all agenda items are completed. 

DAY 1

1. Welcome and Introductions 

2. Background and Terms of Reference (reminder)

3. DAR data issues

a. Catch data – recap of action items from Workshop 1, future steps 

b. Weight data – recap of action items from Workshop 1, future steps 

LUNCH

c. CPUE

i. Discuss issues

ii. Determine action items and assign to individuals

DAY 2

c. CPUE continued if needed... 

i. Discuss issues

ii. Determine action items and assign to individuals

LUNCH

c. CPUE continued if needed... 

iii. Discuss issues

iv. Determine action items and assign to individuals
78

Workshop 3 Agenda 

Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data Workshop 

 On the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), 

Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) Data

Workshop 3 

April 26–27, 2015 

NOAA Pier 38 conference room

8 AM – 4 PM each day

The focus of this workshop will be to: 

1) Wrap up and finalize any remaining issues with calculation of catch data, and 

2) Discuss and prioritize exploratory analyses in addressing issues surrounding calculation of 

nominal catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) stemming from discussion at Workshop 2. 

There will be no-host lunch breaks, and at least 2 additional breaks scattered throughout each day.

Timing is approximated, and the meeting may adjourn earlier if all agenda items are completed. 

DAY 1

1. Welcome and Introductions 

2. Background and Terms of Reference (reminder) 

3. Introduce draft report document 

4. DAR data issues

a. Catch data 

i. Recap of action items from Workshop 2 

ii. FINALIZE method for calculating catch 

LUNCH

b. Weight data 

i. Recap of action items from Workshop 2, future steps 

c. CPUE data

i. Determine analyses required to resolve CPUE steps

ii. Assign action items to individuals

iii. Presentation from guest scientists, Jerry Ault and Steve Smith of University of 

Miami

DAY 2

c. CPUE data continued as needed... 

i. Determine analyses required to resolve CPUE steps

ii. Assign action items to individuals

LUNCH

c. CPUE data continued as needed... 

i. Determine analyses required to resolve CPUE steps

ii. Assign action items to individuals 
79

Workshop 4 Agenda 

Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data Workshop 

 On the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), 

Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) and Dealer Reporting System (DRS) Data

Workshop 4 

August 1–5, 2016 

14th floor conference room, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council 

(17th floor conference room on Wednesday) 

8:30 AM – 5 PM 

The focus of this workshop will be on CPUE steps 1-3: 

1) Selecting bottomfishing data records, 

2) Selecting records that comply with a single unit of effort, and 

3) Selecting data most representative of CPUE trends over time. 

A small group of analysts identified at the 3rd workshop has worked intersessionally on CPUE 

steps 1-3 using input provided by everyone at past 3 workshops. At this 4th workshop, they will 

present results for group discussion and decision-making. 

There will be no-host lunch breaks, and at least 2 additional breaks scattered throughout each 

day.

Timing is approximated, and the meeting may adjourn earlier if all agenda items are completed. 

DAY 1, MONDAY

1. Welcome, Introductions, Logistics 

2. Background and Terms of Reference (reminder)

3. Comments on draft report document? 

4. CPUE Step 1

a. Presentation

b. Discussion

c. Any requested additional analyses?

LUNCH

5. CPUE Step 2

a. Presentation

b. Discussion

c. Any requested additional analyses?

DAY 2, TUESDAY

 (Workshop does not convene. Analysts will work on new analysis requests.) 

(Ben Richards will provide a short presentation and Q&A session on fishery-independent 

survey design and analysis for interested parties)
80

DAY 3, WEDNESDAY (17th floor conference room)

4. CPUE Step 1

a. Presentation of new analyses

b. Discussion

c. Final decisions on Step 1 

5. CPUE Step 2

a. Presentation of new analyses

b. Discussion

c. Final decisions on Step 2 

LUNCH

6. CPUE Step 3

d. Presentation

e. Discussion

f. Any requested additional analyses?

DAY 4, THURSDAY

 (Workshop does not convene. Analysts will work on new analysis requests.) 

(If needed, Ben Richards can continue to answer questions on fishery-independent 

survey) 

DAY 5, FRIDAY

6. CPUE Step 3

a. Presentation of new analyses

b. Discussion

c. Final decisions on Step 3 

LUNCH

7. Extra time as needed to wrap up lingering issues with CPUE steps 1-3 
81

Workshop 5 Agenda 

Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data Workshop 

 On the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), 

Commercial Fisher Reporting System (FRS) and Dealer Reporting System (DRS) Data

Workshop 5 

November 14-18– 2016 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) 

NOAA Pier 38 conference room 

8:00 AM – 3:45 PM each day 

The focus of this workshop will be on weight. Information on fish weight over time is used to 

infer changes in the stock over time. 

Weight data needs to represent what is happening to the stock in the water.

The weight data TREND (increasing vs decreasing) and SCALE (exact values in pounds) 

are important. 

GOAL: Agree on filtering procedures to produce accurate, reliable, and representative weight 

data for stock assessment use. We do not need to choose a single set of weight data. Instead, we 

will choose all the weight data that can be used for stock assessments, and then only a specific 

set will be used depending on the stock assessment model chosen later. 

A small group of analysts has worked intersessionally on weight data analyses using input 

provided by everyone at past workshops. At this 5th and final workshop, they will present results 

for group discussion and decision-making.

There will be no-host lunch breaks, and at least 2 additional breaks scattered throughout each 

day.

Timing is approximated, and the meeting may adjourn earlier if all agenda items are completed. 

DAY 1, MONDAY

1. Welcome, Introductions, Logistics 

2. Background and Terms of Reference (reminder)

3. Draft report document update 

4. Go over handout to guide decisions on weight data 

5. Fisher-reporting system (FRS) weight data

a. Presentation, discussion, decisions 

b. Any requested additional analyses?

LUNCH

6. Fisher-reporting system (FRS) weight data

a. Presentation, discussion, decisions 

b. Any requested additional analyses?

DAY 2, TUESDAY
82

(Workshop does not convene. Analysts will work on new analysis requests.)

(8-10 AM: OPTIONAL: Ben Richards available to provide a short presentation and Q&A 

session on fishery-independent survey design and analysis for interested parties; he will 

also meet with Clay Tam, Reggie Kokubun, Kimberly Harding, and Annie Yau to discuss 

best future practices for reporting bottomfish survey fish and effort.)

DAY 3, WEDNESDAY 

7. Fisher-reporting system (FRS) weight data

a. Presentation, discussion

b. Final decisions completed for FRS data 

LUNCH

8. Dealer-reporting system (DRS) weight data

g. Presentation, discussion, decisions

h. Any requested additional analyses?

DAY 4, THURSDAY

(Workshop does not convene. Analysts will work on new analysis requests.)

DAY 5, FRIDAY

9. Dealer-reporting system (DRS) weight data

a. Presentation, discussion, decisions

LUNCH

10. ALL FINAL DECISIONS made for weight data

11. Closeout of Bottomfish Commercial Fishery Data workshops
83

APPENDIX D.1: R Code to Implement Catch Data Resolutions 

for Stock Assessments

#######################################

#Purpose: Calculated catch by deep7 species by fishing year

#Use: 2018 Deep 7 MHI bottomfish assessment

#By: Brian Langseth, PIFSC

#Created: 12/19/2016

#Last updated: 12/20/2016

#Rversion 3.2.4

#Input: Files provided by Paul Tao on June 28, 2016

# updating license names and number from ORACLE DAR data back to 1948. 

# Also fixed some duplicate license numbers.

#Output: Catch of deep7 bottomfish species for MHI 

# grids only by fishing year and species 

#######################################

rm(list=ls())

# --Combine input data sets into single data set--------------------------

library(foreign)

early=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\HFY48_93E.dbf",as.is=T)

late=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\hf94c15F.dbf",as.is=T)

#Add fields added by Paul in late file to early file. 

#Initially not provided in early, so original entries for all were NA

early[,c("O_LICENSE","O_LNAME","O_FNAME","O_VESSEL","O_USCG","O_HA_NO","

CHNG")]=NA

fulldata=rbind(early,late)

dim(fulldata) 

#Add lbs field as maximum of LBS and LBS_SOLD

fulldata$lbs=pmax(fulldata$LBS,fulldata$LBS_SOLD,na.rm=T)

# --Use only records of Deep 7 species ----------------------------------

##Read in species names from Oracle download

fish_spec=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\fisher_species_5_6_16.csv",header=T)

#Use common names of deep7 species since Gindai has two scientific names

com_names=c("HAPUUPUU","KALEKALE","OPAKAPAKA","EHU","ONAGA","ehu","LEH

I","GINDAI")
84

##Species code 36 is also ehu according to Appendix II.4g in Moffitt et al. 2011 

# "Bottomfish CPUE standardization workshop proceedings August 4-6, 2008", 

# but was discontinued in 1989. 

id=c(15,17,19,21,22,36,58,97)

fish_spec[fish_spec$SPECIES_PK%in%id,]

####----#####

deep7=fulldata[fulldata$SPECIES%in%id,]

dim(deep7)

####----#####

#Assign ehu species code 36 to ehu code 21.

deep7[deep7$SPECIES==36,"SPECIES"]=21

# --Use only records from the MHI------------------------------------

#Read in the mhi_areas excel file from Reggie that lists which are

#valid entries and which are not, and which are ponds

#Only keep valid entries

areasReggie=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\BF_Area_Grid_Reggie.csv",header=T)

valid=areasReggie[which(areasReggie$Valid.==""),]$area

#Remove non-valid subareas (A and B) from area 16123 as well as 

#records from 16123 without a subarea specified

####----#####

mhidata=deep7[deep7$AREA%in%valid,] #valid areas

mhidata=mhidata[!mhidata$SUBAREA%in%c("A","B"),] #remove known invalid subareas 

(16123A and 16123B)

mhidata=mhidata[!(mhidata$AREA==16123 & is.na(mhidata$SUBAREA)),] #remove the 

16123 records without a subarea distinction

####----#####

# --Partition invalid areas to known mhi ares-----------------------------

#Based on proportion of species/year in mhi area compared to nwhi areas

#Invalid areas include 0's, ponds, and non valid MHI areas

invalid=areasReggie[which(areasReggie$Valid.!=""),]$area

notvalid=deep7[deep7$AREA%in%invalid,]

#Need NWHI areas as well

#NWHI areas are those not in mhi_areas.csv

####----#####

nwhidata=deep7[!deep7$AREA%in%areasReggie$area,]

####----#####

#Calculate proportion of fish by species and year in MHI vs NWHI
85

agg_mhi=aggregate(mhidata$lbs,by=list("FYEAR"=mhidata$FYEAR,"SPECIES"=mhidata$SP

ECIES),FUN=sum)

mhi_table=matrix(agg_mhi$x,length(1948:2015),length(id[-6]),dimnames=list(1948:2015,id[-

6]))

agg_nwhi=aggregate(nwhidata$lbs,by=list("FYEAR"=nwhidata$FYEAR,"SPECIES"=nwhidata

$SPECIES),FUN=sum)

comb_agg=merge(agg_mhi,agg_nwhi,by=c("FYEAR","SPECIES"),all.x=T)

comb_agg[is.na(comb_agg$x.y),"x.y"]=0

comb_agg$percMHI=comb_agg$x.x/(comb_agg$x.x+comb_agg$x.y)

agg_inval=aggregate(notvalid$lbs,by=list("FYEAR"=notvalid$FYEAR,"SPECIES"=notvalid$S

PECIES),FUN=sum)

comb_all=merge(comb_agg,agg_inval,by=c("FYEAR","SPECIES"),all=T)

comb_all$add_catch=comb_all$percMHI*comb_all$x

invalid_ADD=matrix(comb_all$add_catch,length(1948:2015),length(id[-

6]),dimnames=list(1948:2015,id[-6]))

invalid_ADD[is.na(invalid_ADD)]=0

#Final reported catch table

final_reported_table=round(invalid_ADD+mhi_table,2)

# --Output material-------------------------------------

#Final data set

#write.csv(mhidata,"D:\\FilePath\\Finalized_catch_dataset.csv",row.names=F)

#Final reported table

#write.csv(final_reported_table,"D:\\FilePath\\Reported_catch_table.csv",row.names=T)
86

APPENDIX D.2: R Code to Implement Fish Weight Data Resolutions 

for Stock Assessments

#######################################

#Purpose: Prepare and calculate weight data 

# from FRS based on decisions made at the weight data workshop in Nov, 2016

#Use: 2018 Deep 7 MHI bottomfish assessment

#By: Brian Langseth, PIFSC

#Created: 11/21/2016

#Last updated: 8/3/2016

#Rversion 3.2.4

#Input: Original FRS files provided by Paul Tao on June 28, 2016. 

# 

#Output: Filtered data set based on workshop 

# decisions, and calculated weight by year

# with std. error for opakapaka/onaga using 

# all records as decided on at weight 

# workshop in Nov. 2016.

#######################################

rm(list=ls())

library(plyr)

library(foreign)

# --Read in initial data sets from Paul Tao and combine into single data set--------------------------

early=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\HFY48_93E.dbf",as.is=T)

late=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\hf94c15F.dbf",as.is=T)

#Add fields added by Paul in late file to early file. 

#Initially not provided in early, so original entries for all were NA

early[,c("O_LICENSE","O_LNAME","O_FNAME","O_VESSEL","O_USCG","O_HA_NO","

CHNG")]=NA

#Combine data sets

fulldata=rbind(early,late)

dim(fulldata) 

# --Filter out records--------------------

#Reduce to only deep7 species

id=c(15,17,19,21,22,36,58,97)

com_names=c("HAPUUPUU","KALEKALE","OPAKAPAKA","EHU","ONAGA","ehu","LEH

I","GINDAI")

frs1=fulldata[fulldata$SPECIES%in%id,]

dim(frs1)

#assign species code 36 (4065 records) to be 21 (both are ehu)

frs1[frs1$SPECIES==36,"SPECIES"]=21

#Read in the mhi_areas excel file from Reggie that lists which are
87

#valid entries and which are not, and which are ponds

#Only keep valid entries

areasReggie=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\BF_Area_Grid_Reggie.csv",header=T)

valid=areasReggie[which(areasReggie$Valid.==""),]$area

frs2=frs1[frs1$AREA%in%valid,]

dim(frs2)

#Filter out A and B subareas for area 16123, which is the only region with 

#subareas. Remove non-subareas in 16123. Only 16123-C is valid for 16123.

table(frs2[!is.na(frs2$SUBAREA),"AREA"])

frs2=frs2[!frs2$SUBAREA%in%c("A","B"),] #remove A and B subareas

frs2=frs2[!(frs2$AREA==16123 & is.na(frs2$SUBAREA)),] #remove the 16123 records without 

a subarea distinction

#Remove partial fishing year 2016 records.

frs3=frs2[frs2$FYEAR<2016,]

dim(frs3)

#Keep only gear 3 records.

frs4=frs3[frs3$GEAR==3,]

dim(frs4)

#Filter out records with either 0 lbs or 0 number.

frs5=frs4[frs4$LBS>0 & frs4$CAUGHT>0,] #Number sold is too irregularly used

dim(frs5)

#Remove records with extreme average weights as based on max and min

#weights from the DAR species list

specTAB_f=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\fisher_species_5_6_16.csv",header=T)

specTAB_d=read.csv("D:\\ FilePath \\dealer_species_5_6_16.csv",header=T)

deep7_f=specTAB_f[specTAB_f$SPECIES_PK%in%id,c("SPECIES_PK","MIN_WT_CAUGH

T","MAX_WT_CAUGHT")]

deep7_d=specTAB_d[specTAB_d$SPECIES_PK%in%id,c("SPECIES_PK","MIN_WT_CAUG

HT","MAX_WT_CAUGHT")]

#Merge min(frs) and max(drs) weights to main data set

temp_min=merge(frs5,deep7_f[,c(1,2)],by.x="SPECIES",by.y="SPECIES_PK")

frs6=merge(temp_min,deep7_d[,c(1,3)],by.x="SPECIES",by.y="SPECIES_PK")

#Calculate average weight

frs6$avgw=frs6$LBS/frs6$CAUGHT

#Filter out records with avg weight > max and avg weight < min

out_f=c(which(frs6$avgw<frs6$MIN_WT_CAUGHT),which(frs6$avgw>frs6$MAX_WT_CAU

GHT))

length(out_f)

frs7=frs6[-out_f,]

dim(frs7)

# --Output final full data set--------------------

wdata=frs7 #final weight data set
88

#write.csv(wdata,"D:\\FilePath\\Finalized_weight_dataset.csv",row.names=F)

# --Weight calculations--------------------

#Calculate average weight of opakapaka and onaga together using all records. 

#Need a weighted standard deviation in order to calculate 

#standard error. Use my own function based on the frequency-weights

#(repeat-weights) way of calculating weighted variance, and is unbiased

wgt.var=function(data,weights){

 wmean=sum(data*weights)/sum(weights) #weighted mean

 wvar=sum(weights*(data-wmean)^2)/(sum(weights)-1)

 return(wvar)

}

wdata$avgw_kg=wdata$avgw/2.20462 #convert lbs to kg (for SS)

#For paka and onaga

wavg = ddply(wdata[wdata$SPECIES%in%c(19,22),], .(FYEAR), summarize, 

mean_w=weighted.mean(avgw,CAUGHT), sd_w=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw,CAUGHT)), 

n=length(avgw),fish=sum(CAUGHT),se=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw,CAUGHT)/sum(CAUGHT)))

#Remove first data point (1948) due to being a half year and first 

#part of data set and for looking very different than other years

wavg2=wavg[-1,]

wavgkg = ddply(wdata[wdata$SPECIES%in%c(19,22),], .(FYEAR), summarize, 

mean_w_kg=weighted.mean(avgw_kg,CAUGHT), 

sd_w_kg=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw_kg,CAUGHT)), 

n=length(avgw_kg),fish=sum(CAUGHT),se_kg=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw_kg,CAUGHT)/sum(CAUG

HT)))

wavgkg2=wavgkg[-1,]

#For paka only

wavg_paka = ddply(wdata[wdata$SPECIES%in%c(19),], .(FYEAR), summarize, 

mean_w=weighted.mean(avgw,CAUGHT), sd_w=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw,CAUGHT)), 

n=length(avgw),fish=sum(CAUGHT),se=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw,CAUGHT)/sum(CAUGHT)))

wavg_paka_nonexp = ddply(wdata[wdata$SPECIES%in%c(19),], .(FYEAR), summarize, 

mean_w_nonexp=mean(avgw), sd_w_nonexp=sqrt(var(avgw)), 

n=length(avgw),se_nonexp=sqrt(var(avgw)/length(avgw)))

#Remove first data point (1948) due to being a half year and first 

#part of data set and for looking very different than other years

wavg2paka=wavg_paka[-1,]

wavg2paka_nonexp=wavg_paka_nonexp[-1,]
89

wavgkg_paka = ddply(wdata[wdata$SPECIES%in%c(19),], .(FYEAR), summarize, 

mean_w_kg=weighted.mean(avgw_kg,CAUGHT), 

sd_w_kg=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw_kg,CAUGHT)), 

n=length(avgw_kg),fish=sum(CAUGHT),se_kg=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw_kg,CAUGHT)/sum(CAUG

HT)),se_kg_n=sqrt(wgt.var(avgw_kg,CAUGHT)/length(avgw_kg)))

wavgkg2_paka=wavgkg_paka[-1,]

wavgkg_paka_nonexp = ddply(wdata[wdata$SPECIES%in%c(19),], .(FYEAR), summarize, 

mean_w_kg_nonexp=mean(avgw_kg), sd_w_kg_nonexp=sqrt(var(avgw_kg)), 

n=length(avgw_kg),se_kg_n_nonexp=sqrt(var(avgw_kg)/length(avgw_kg)))

wavgkg2_paka_nonexp=wavgkg_paka_nonexp[-1,]

# --Output final yearly averaged data set--------------------

#For paka and onaga

#write.csv(cbind(wavg2,"",wavgkg2),"D:\\FilePath\\Weight_timeseries.csv",row.names=F)

#For PAKA only

#write.csv(cbind(wavg2paka,"",wavgkg2_paka,"",wavg2paka_nonexp,"",wavgkg2_paka_nonex

p),"D:\\FilePath\\Weight_timeseries_PAKA.csv",row.names=F)
90

APPENDIX D.3: R Code to Implement CPUE Data Resolutions 

for Stock Assessments

#######################################

#Purpose: Setup data set for CPUE analysis

# for bottomfish assessment. This is a working document based on

# decisions made in the data workshops.

#Use: 2018 Deep 7 MHI bottomfish assessment

#By: Brian Langseth, PIFSC

#Created: 8/8/2016

#Last updated: August 2017

#Rversion 3.2.4

#Input: Files provided by Paul Tao on June 28, 2016

# updating license names and number from 

# DAR data back to 1948. Also fixed some 

# duplicate license numbers.

#Output: Best available data set for CPUE time series

# I added fields: trip, lbs, deep7_lbs, deep7_perc,

# n_ports, n_areas, uku_lbs, cum_exp,

#######################################

rm(list=ls())

# --Combine input data sets into single data set--------------------------

library(foreign)

early=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\HFY48_93E.dbf",as.is=T)

late=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\hf94c15F.dbf",as.is=T)

#Add fields added by Paul in late file to early file. 

#Initially not provided in early, so original entries for all were NA

#"O" refers to original entry

#"CHNG" refers to what was changed 

early[,c("O_LICENSE","O_LNAME","O_FNAME","O_VESSEL","O_USCG","O_HA_NO","

CHNG")]=NA

#Combine data sets

fulldata=rbind(early,late)

dim(fulldata)

# --Use only records from the MHI------------------------------

#Read in key table from last assessment for MHI areas and keep

#only these grids

mhi_area=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\mhi_area.csv",header=T)
91

####----#####

mhidata=fulldata[fulldata$AREA%in%mhi_area$area,]

####----#####

dim(fulldata)-dim(mhidata) #removes 190,760 records from NWHI

# --Separate out deepsea handline gear as well as -------------------------

#other gears used on trips using deepsea handline gear

check_gear=table(mhidata$GEAR,useNA="always")

#Gear 3 records...

temp=mhidata[mhidata$GEAR==3,]

dim(temp)

#...add in records from other gears on "trips" that used gear 3

#Determine ‘single reporting day’ number for single reporting days that used gear 3;

# ‘trip’ used synonymously with ‘single reporting day’ in this code

addrec=unique(temp[,c("LICENSE","FISHED")])

#assign single reporting day number and merge it to data set

addrec$trip=c(1:nrow(addrec)) #assign trip number

temp2=merge(addrec,mhidata,by=c("LICENSE","FISHED")) #merge to data set

dim(temp2)

check_gear2=table(temp2$GEAR,useNA="always") 

####----#####

#Records from gear 3 and other gears on trips with gear 3

mhidata2=temp2 #1011510 records

####----#####

#Remove partial fishing year 2016 records

####----#####

mhidata3=mhidata2[mhidata2$FYEAR<=2015,]

dim(mhidata3) #1006952 records

####----#####

# --Output final data sets -------------------------

#For group step 3 comparison

#Keep some personal information

temp_out=subset(mhidata3,select=-

c(USCG,HA_NO,IMP_USER,O_FNAME,O_LNAME,O_VESSEL,O_USCG,O_HA_NO,ORI

G_USER))

temp_out=temp_out[temp_out$GEAR==3,] #826,839 records

write.csv(temp_out,"D:\\FilePath\\ForGroupCpueAnalysis_gear3Step3.csv",row.names=F)

# --Read in basic reduced data set from 01_WORKSHOP_data processing--------------------------

datafull=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\ForGroupCpueAnalysis_gear3Step3.csv",header=T)

dim(datafull)
92

# --FILTER data: keep duplicates, no invalid areas, no license number 0----------

a=duplicated(datafull)

sum(a) #663

#-Read in the mhi_areas excel file from Reggie that lists which are

#valid entries and which are not, and which are ponds

#Only keep valid entries

areasReggie=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\BF_Area_Grid_Reggie.csv",header=T)

valid=areasReggie[which(areasReggie$Valid.==""),]$area

#Confirm subareas are valid for 16123 (which is a valid area)

table(datafull[!is.na(datafull$SUBAREA),]$AREA) #all subareas are for 16123

table(datafull$SUBAREA) #filter out A and B subareas as well as those without a subarea

####----#####

data=datafull[datafull$AREA%in%valid,] #valid areas

data=data[!data$SUBAREA%in%c("A","B"),] #remove known invalid subareas (16123A and 

16123B)

data=data[!(data$AREA==16123 & is.na(data$SUBAREA)),] #remove the 16123 records 

without a subarea distinction

####----#####

#-Remove all instances where license number is 0 because

#these are unlikely to be from the same trip

head(table(data$LICENSE))

table(data[data$LICENSE==0,]$FYEAR) #all in 1997 or before

####----#####

data=data[data$LICENSE>0,]

####----#####

dim(data) #800130 records

# --STEP01: select deep7 bottomfish records----------------------------

##-##

#-Determine the percentage of deep7 caught for each trip and add to data set

#Base this on the larger of lbs_kept and lbs_sold (see catch data for details)

id=c(15,17,19,21,22,36,58,97) #include both ehu codes

data$lbs=pmax(data$LBS,data$LBS_SOLD,na.rm=T)

alllbs=aggregate(data$lbs,by=list(data$trip),sum)

deep7lbs=aggregate(data[data$SPECIES%in%id,]$lbs,by=list(data[data$SPECIES%in%id,]$trip

),sum) #lbs 

#merge records since many trips dont catch deep7

lbs_trip=merge(alllbs,deep7lbs,by="Group.1",all=T)

colnames(lbs_trip)=c("trip","all_lbs","deep7_lbs")

lbs_trip$deep7_perc = round(lbs_trip$deep7_lbs/lbs_trip$all_lbs,3)

#replace NAs with 0

lbs_trip[is.na(lbs_trip$deep7_perc),"deep7_perc"]=0 

lbs_trip[is.na(lbs_trip$deep7_lbs),"deep7_lbs"]=0

dim(lbs_trip) #number of unique trips
93

####----#####

#Add percentage of deep7 fish caught per trip to database

data1=merge(data,lbs_trip[,c("trip","deep7_perc","all_lbs","deep7_lbs")],by=c("trip"))

####----#####

##-##

#-Remove some trips where no deep7 bottomfish were caught

#Of those trips that did not catch deep7, remove all records from 

#trips that caught PMUS species, Uku, or Species=0 from Sept. 2002 back

#All records w/o deep7

data1old=data1[substr(data1$FISHED,1,7)<="2002-09",]

all0=data1old[data1old$deep7_perc==0,]

table(all0$SPECIES%in%id) #12 records where deep7 were recorded, just not as weight

dim(all0)

#Records from trips that caught PMUS

pmus.id=c(1:14,106,107,108,320,321,323,324,39,118) #39 is snake mackeral (Gempylidae) and 

118 is monchong (Bramidae)

pmus_all0=all0[all0$SPECIES%in%pmus.id,] #records of PMUS from trips w/o deep7

pmus_all0_trips=unique(pmus_all0$trip) #trips with records of PMUS from trips w/o deep7

pmus_all0_records=all0[all0$trip%in%pmus_all0_trips, ]#all records from trips with PMUS w/o 

deep7

dim(pmus_all0_records) 

#Records from trips that caught Uku

uku_all0=all0[all0$SPECIES==20,] #records of Uku from trips w/o deep7 

uku_all0_trips=unique(uku_all0$trip) #trips with records of Uku from trips w/o deep7

uku_all0_records=all0[all0$trip%in%uku_all0_trips,] #all records from trips with uku w/o deep7

dim(uku_all0_records)

#Records from trips that had Species=0

spec0_all0=all0[all0$SPECIES==0,] #records of Species=0 from trips w/o deep7 

spec0_all0_trips=unique(spec0_all0$trip) #trips with records of Species=0 from trips w/o deep7

spec0_all0_records=all0[all0$trip%in%spec0_all0_trips,] #all records from trips with Species=0 

w/o deep7

dim(spec0_all0_records)

#Total number of records removed from records w/o deep7

dim(all0[all0$trip%in%unique(c(pmus_all0_trips,uku_all0_trips,spec0_all0_trips)),])

####----#####

#Remove trips w/o deep7, and with records of PMUS species, uku, and species=0 <= Sept. 2002

data2=(data1[!(data1$deep7_perc==0 & data1$trip%in%pmus_all0_trips) & 

 !(data1$deep7_perc==0 & data1$trip%in%uku_all0_trips) & 

 !(data1$deep7_perc==0 & data1$trip%in%spec0_all0_trips),])

####----#####
94

##-##

#-Kona/South Point: Remove trips that caught any PMUS species while catching <50lbs of 

deep7 in FY1985 and before

BIarea = c(108,100,101,102,128,120,121,122 ) # DAR grids off Kona and South Point

BIdata = data2[data2$AREA%in%BIarea,] 

#Which of these trips had deep7 catch less than 50 lbs and caught a PMUS in FY1985 and before

BIdata_pmus=BIdata[BIdata$SPECIES%in%pmus.id,]

BIdata_pmus50=BIdata_pmus[BIdata_pmus$deep7_lbs<50,]

BIdata_pmus50_1985=BIdata_pmus50[BIdata_pmus50$FYEAR<=1985,]

####----#####

data3=data2[!data2$trip%in%unique(BIdata_pmus50_1985$trip),]

dim(data3)

####----#####

##-##

#-Remove records (trips) that occurred when the fishery was closed

#Date fishery closed: Apr 16,2008; Jul 6,2009; Apr 20,2010; Mar 12,2011

#Theres a lot, originally many of these were removed when I included

#trips after Sept. 2002 to be removed that didnt catch any deep7 (but

#did catch PMUS, Uku, and species=0) - most (by weight) of these are uku

data3$FISHED=as.Date(data3$FISHED)

####----#####

data4=data3[!(data3$FISHED>"2008-04-16" & data3$FISHED<="2008-08-31") &

 !(data3$FISHED>"2009-07-06" & data3$FISHED<="2009-08-31") &

 !(data3$FISHED>"2010-04-20" & data3$FISHED<="2010-08-31") &

 !(data3$FISHED>"2011-03-12" & data3$FISHED<="2011-08-31"),]

####----#####

# --STEP02: select records that comply to a unit of effort---------------------

#Single reproting day (CML-FISHED) combo up through Sept. 2002

#Hours fished after Sept. 2002

##-##

#-Multiday trips: distance cutoff

#Read in distance values

distances=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\comport_area_distance_table.csv",header=T,col.names=c("co

m_port","AREA","SUBAREA","distance"))

ports=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\port_comport_table.csv",header=T,col.names=c("PORT_LAND","

com_port"))

port_changes=matrix(c(101,182,201,291,427,411),3,2,byrow=T)

colnames(port_changes)=c("PORT_LAND","com_port")

ports2=rbind(port_changes,ports)

####----#####

#Add common port to data set.

data4b=merge(data4[substr(data4$FISHED,1,7)<="2002-

09",],ports2,by="PORT_LAND",all.x=T) 
95

table(data4b$com_port,useNA="always") #5809 records that dont have a corresponding 

com_port

####----#####

#Remove distance combination for subareas of area 16123 that aren't in the data

#which are all subareas other than subarea "C"

head(data4b[data4b$AREA==16123,])

distances=distances[!(distances$AREA==16123 & distances$SUBAREA!="C"),]

##Assign number of known common ports visited and number of areas visited on a trip

#How many areas per trip are there?

multiarea=rowSums(table(data4b$trip,data4b$AREA)>0) 

table(multiarea) 

#How many common ports per trip are there?

multiport=rowSums(table(data4b$trip,data4b$com_port)>0)

table(multiport,useNA="always") #161 trips visit 2 common ports (0 are because a common port 

isn't available for PORT_LAND)

ports_v=data.frame("trip"=names(multiport),"n_com_ports"=multiport)

areas_v=data.frame("trip"=names(multiarea),"n_areas"=multiarea)

ports_areas=merge(ports_v,areas_v,by="trip",sort=FALSE)

####----#####

#number of known common ports and areas per trip

data4c=merge(data4b,ports_areas,by="trip")

####----#####

table(data4c$n_com_ports,data4c$n_areas)

table(unique(data4c[,c("trip","n_com_ports","n_areas")])$n_com_ports,unique(data4c[,c("trip","

n_com_ports","n_areas")])$n_areas)

##Assign distances based on combination of ports-areas

#FOR TRIPS WITH 1 AREA

data4c_1area=merge(data4c[data4c$n_areas==1,],distances[,-

3],by=c("com_port","AREA"),all.x=T)

#Those with 1 area and 1 common port. Distances are valid.

data4c_1area_1=data4c_1area[data4c_1area$n_com_ports==1,]

#

#Those with 1 area and 2 common ports. 

#Need to separate trips when applicable and use a single distance

data4c_1area_2=data4c_1area[data4c_1area$n_com_ports>1,]

#Separate trips when applicable:

#For ports on same island or with general port code on same island, keep together as 1 trip.

#For ports on distant islands, separate. For ports with very distant 

#island, keep together because likely a database error (define as greater than 3 islands away,

#so Kauai-Maui, or Oahu-Big Island).

u_areas=tapply(data4c_1area_2$com_port,data4c_1area_2$trip,unique)

u_areas2=matrix(as.numeric(unlist(u_areas,use.names=F)),length(u_areas),2,byrow=T,dimname

s=list(rownames(u_areas)))

sametrips=rownames(u_areas2)[which(substr(u_areas2[,1],1,1)==substr(u_areas2[,2],1,1))]

difftrips=rownames(u_areas2)[which(substr(u_areas2[,1],1,1)!=substr(u_areas2[,2],1,1))]
96

#Of the difftrips, which are very far apart (Big Island - Oahu or Maui - Kauai) 

#and thus assumed to be errors. Want to keep together

far_difftrips=rownames(u_areas2)[which(abs(u_areas2[,1]-u_areas2[,2])>300)]

difftrips2=difftrips[!difftrips%in%far_difftrips]

#Take the trips that are to be separate, reclassify trip and add back to database

tosep=data4c_1area_2[data4c_1area_2$trip%in%difftrips2,]

tosep$trip2=paste0(tosep$trip,".",floor(tosep$com_port/100)) #to add a decimal that indicates 

the first digit of the com_port (needed to distinguish ports 499 and 501, which weren't when 

rounding)

data4c_1area_2sep=merge(data4c_1area_2,unique(tosep[,c("trip","com_port","trip2")]),by=c("tri

p","com_port"),all.x=T)

data4c_1area_2sep[is.na(data4c_1area_2sep$trip2),"trip2"]=data4c_1area_2sep[is.na(data4c_1ar

ea_2sep$trip2),"trip"]

#Reclassify distance. 

#For each trip2 the most frequent distance is used, which can include NAs.

#Create own function to extract the modal distance. For instances where the number of distances 

#is the same (e.g. two record trip that goes to two com_ports, this function defaults to the shorter 

#distance)

modal=function(x){

 aa=as.numeric(names(which.max(table(x,useNA="always"))))

 return(aa)}

temp=aggregate(data4c_1area_2sep$distance,by=list(data4c_1area_2sep$trip2),modal)

colnames(temp)=c("trip2","distance2")

data4c_1area_2FINAL=merge(data4c_1area_2sep,temp,by="trip2")

#FOR TRIPS WITH 2+ AREA

data4c_manyareas=merge(data4c[data4c$n_areas>1,],distances[,-

3],by=c("com_port","AREA"),all.x=T)

#Those with many areas and 1 common port

data4c_manyareas_1=data4c_manyareas[data4c_manyareas$n_com_ports==1,]

head(data4c_manyareas_1[order(data4c_manyareas_1$trip),],20)

#Reclassify distance.

#Take greatest distance among areas as the trip distance

temp=aggregate(data4c_manyareas_1$distance,by=list(data4c_manyareas_1$trip),max)

colnames(temp)=c("trip","distance2")

data4c_manyareas_1FINAL=merge(data4c_manyareas_1,temp,by="trip")

#

#Those with many areas and 2 common ports

#Need to separate trips when applicable and use a single distance

data4c_manyareas_2=data4c_manyareas[data4c_manyareas$n_com_ports>1,]

head(data4c_manyareas_2[order(data4c_manyareas_2$trip),],20)

#Separate by trip. Nearly all have distinct areas for distinct ports

#and vice versa. Hence use trip-com_port as unique trip identifier for all

#Take the trips that are to be separate, reclassify trip and add back to database
97

data4c_manyareas_2$trip2=paste0(data4c_manyareas_2$trip,".",data4c_manyareas_2$com_port

) #use entire com_port to separate out trips

#Reclassify distance. 

#Take max distance among areas as the trip distance

temp=aggregate(data4c_manyareas_2$distance,by=list(data4c_manyareas_2$trip2),max)

colnames(temp)=c("trip2","distance2")

data4c_manyareas_2FINAL=merge(data4c_manyareas_2,temp,by="trip2")

#FOR TRIPS WITH 0 COM_PORT

#No need to add distances since com_port is unavailable

data4c_0port=data4c[data4c$n_com_ports==0,]

##Combine all trips together into a single database

#This includes the records without com_ports 

#Ensure all sub data sets have all names included

data4c_1area_1$trip2=data4c_1area_1$trip #Add trip2 to 1port-1area data set

data4c_1area_1$distance2=data4c_1area_1$distance #Add distance2 to 1port-1area data set

data4c_manyareas_1FINAL$trip2=data4c_manyareas_1FINAL$trip #Add trip2 to 1portmanyarea data set

data4c_0port$distance=data4c_0port$distance2=NA #Add NA distance and distance2 to 0port 

data set

data4c_0port$trip2=data4c_0port$trip #Add trip2 to 0port data set

##Single database

data4c_corrected=rbind(data4c_1area_1,data4c_1area_2FINAL,data4c_manyareas_1FINAL,dat

a4c_manyareas_2FINAL,data4c_0port)

#

#The 10 records in 1 area-2 ports trips with com_port

#not in database

table(data4c_corrected[is.na(data4c_corrected$distance2),]$n_com_ports)

#So NA's in distance are either due to a PORT_LAND that

#doesnt have a corresponding com_port, or a com_port/Area

#combination not in the database

##Now determine distance cutoff

#Corrected distances BY TRIP2 in 10yr increments

data4c_corrected_trip2=unique(data4c_corrected[,c("trip2","FYEAR","distance2")])

#Use 30nm for cutoff after 1960. Its inclusive of more data, and 

#minimizes the amount of changes we make. There also is a break

#in the histograms at this value.

####----#####

data4c_corrected$days=ceiling(data4c_corrected$distance2/30)

####----#####

##Relink back to original database (which include 

#the records after Sept. 2002)

newdata4=data4[substr(data4$FISHED,1,7)>"2002-09",]
98

newdata4$com_port=newdata4$n_com_ports=newdata4$n_areas=newdata4$distance=newdata4

$distance2=newdata4$days=NA

newdata4$trip2=newdata4$trip

####----#####

data5=rbind(data4c_corrected,newdata4)

####----#####

##-##

#-Multiday trips: only first-last reports

#Remove trips from fishers who only ever reported on the first or last day of the month

#Use only for records prior to September 2002

monthday=table(substr(data5[substr(data5$FISHED,1,7)<="2002-09",]$FISHED,6,10))

lastindex=c(31,59,91,121,152,182,213,244,274,305,335,366) #end of each month

monthday[lastindex] #check - exclude Feb. 29

firstindex=c(1,32,61,92,122,153,183,214,245,275,306,336) #first of each month

monthday[firstindex] #check

choices=c(names(monthday[lastindex]),names(monthday[firstindex])) #first and last dates of the 

month

#Explore the extent to which a fisher only reports on the first or last day of the month

past_data5=unique(data5[substr(data5$FISHED,1,7)<="2002-

09",c("trip2","LICENSE","FISHED","deep7_lbs","FYEAR")]) #trips in past

past_data5$firstlast=0 #indicator if trips was first/last day of month

past_data5[which(substr(past_data5$FISHED,6,10)%in%choices),"firstlast"]=1 

tab=table(past_data5$LICENSE,past_data5$FYEAR,past_data5$firstlast) #table of trips by 

fishing year and license that occurred and did not occur on the first and last days of the month

per_tab=round(tab[,,2]/(tab[,,1]+tab[,,2]),2) #percent of trips by fisher-year that occurred on the 

first or last day of the month

#Pull out the 646 that were 100%; only occurred on the first or last day of the month 100%

col=floor(which(per_tab==1)/nrow(per_tab)) #column occurring

row=which(per_tab==1)-nrow(per_tab)*col #row occurring

all_firstlast=data.frame("LICENSE"=NA,"FYEAR"=NA,"percent"=NA)

for(i in 1:length(which(per_tab==1))){

 all_firstlast[i,"LICENSE"]=as.numeric(dimnames(per_tab)[[1]][row[i]]) #add license # (row 

names)

 all_firstlast[i,"FYEAR"]=as.numeric(dimnames(per_tab)[[2]][col[i]+1]) #add fyear (col name). 

Add one to col due to flooring

 all_firstlast[i,"percent"]=per_tab[row[i],col[i]+1] #add value

}

#merge to obtain trip numbers of license-fished combinations

trips_firstlast=merge(all_firstlast,past_data5,by=c("FYEAR","LICENSE")) #trips on the first 

and last days of the month from CML-fished combinations that did not record another trip

#merge with original data to obtain all records from license-fished combinations

records_firstlast=merge(data5[substr(data5$FISHED,1,7)<="2002-

09",],trips_firstlast,by=c("trip2","LICENSE","FISHED","deep7_lbs","FYEAR"))
99

####----#####

#exclude records from the first or last day of the month in a year

data6=data5[!data5$trip2%in%trips_firstlast$trip2,] 

dim(data6)

####----#####

# --STEP03: select data representative of CPUE trends---------------------

##-##

#-Representative data: remove records from fishers that never caught weight of Deep7

####----#####

data6$fisher=gsub("[.]","",tolower(paste(data6$FNAME,data6$LNAME))) #remove punctuation 

and set all names to lowercase

####----#####

checkFISH=table(data6$fisher,data6$deep7_lbs==0)

per_checkFISH=checkFISH[,1]/rowSums(checkFISH) #percent of recors with deep7

checkFISH_dataframe=data.frame("fisher"=attr(checkFISH,"dimnames")[[1]],"records"=as.num

eric(rowSums(checkFISH)),"perc_deep7"=as.numeric(per_checkFISH))

neverDeep7=checkFISH_dataframe[checkFISH_dataframe$perc_deep7==0,]

dim(neverDeep7) #1482 people never caught a Deep7 

sum(neverDeep7$records) #have 7851 records

####----#####

data7=data6[!data6$fisher%in%neverDeep7$fisher,]

####----#####

##-##

#-Remove fishing independent survey trips 

#Read in database of fisher, day, areas from the FI surveys

FI=read.csv("D:\\FilePath\\FI to HDAR grid_priortoFY16.csv",header=T)

FI$Date=as.Date(FI$Date,format="%m/%d/%Y")

FI$last=tolower(FI$last)

#Find FI survey trips in filtered database

FI$combo=paste(FI$Date,FI$HDAR.Grid,FI$last) #do this to combine all unique conditions> If 

you cond1 & cond2.... then dont get unique conditions

a=data7[paste(data7$FISHED,data7$AREA,tolower(data7$LNAME))%in%FI$combo,]

table(a$fisher) #insure that use of last name was appropriate and only got Captains from survey 

(it was)

#Check to ensure that a trip doesn't cover multiple areas (it doesn't)

dim(a[!duplicated(a[,c("FISHED","AREA","fisher")]),])

length(unique(a$trip2))

####----#####

data8=data7[!data7$trip2%in%unique(a$trip2),] #97 records, 40 trips removed

####----#####

# --STEP04: Factors for CPUE standardization---------------------

##-##
100

#-Add a measure of experience to each trip; cumulative number of trips

red=data8[,c("trip2","fisher","FISHED")]

ord_uniq=unique(red)[order(unique(red)$fisher,unique(red)$FISHED),] #unique fisher-trip 

combinations ordered by fisher

library(plyr)

num_exp=count(ord_uniq,vars="fisher") #number of unique fisher-trip combos by fisher

ord_uniq$cum_exp=unlist(lapply(num_exp$freq,FUN=seq)) #add experience value; from 1 to 

number of unique fisher-trip combinations per fisher 

red2=join(red,ord_uniq,by=c("trip2","FISHED","fisher")) #use join so that the same order is 

maintained with data6

####----#####

data8$cum_exp=red2$cum_exp

####----#####

##-##

#Determine amount of Uku caught in each trip and add to data set

ukulbs=aggregate(data8[data8$SPECIES==20,]$lbs,by=list("trip2"=data8[data8$SPECIES==20,

]$trip2),sum)

#merge records since many trips dont catch deep7

####----#####

data9=merge(data8,ukulbs,by="trip2",all=TRUE)

data9[is.na(data9$x),"x"]=0

dimnames(data9)[[2]][86]="uku_lbs"

####----#####

##-##

#Add quarter to the data set

#Base it on FYEAR quarter

months=as.numeric(substr(data9$FISHED,6,7))

season=months

season[months%in%c(1:3)]=3

season[months%in%c(4:6)]=4

season[months%in%c(7:9)]=1

season[months%in%c(10:12)]=2

####----#####

data9$qtr=season

####----#####

##-##

#Add wind speed and wind direction information to appropriate records. 

#Wind is on a daily basis over 0.25 degree grids starting 1987-07-09

#Use getWind function which is in getWind.R

#-#

#Read in locations of management grids

library(foreign)

area_loc=read.dbf("D:\\FilePath\\Fishchart2007110807_gridpts.dbf",as.is=T)

area_locMHI=area_loc[area_loc$AREA_ID%in%valid,] #valid areas (from filtering above)
101

#write.dbf(area_locMHI,"D:\\FilePath\\MHI_Fishchart2007110807_gridpts.dbf")

#There are duplicate area values in Jerry and Steve's dbf file for

#area_id's 307,313,323,401,406,and 16123. Since data for only 16123 

#subarea C exists in the data set, can remove all other subareas for 

#16123. For all others remove the records with small length components

#which are not actually midpoitns of grids.

area_locMHI2=area_locMHI[-c(232,233,243:248,

 282,290,292,136,140,267),] 

#Assign wind information to all records within a trip

#Accounts for trips with more than one area.

#Not all locations will have viable wind data

#This takes 20 hours! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< NOTE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

source("D:\\FilePath\\getWind.R")

temp=data9[data9$FISHED>="1987-07-09",]

temp[,c("speed","xdir","ydir")]=NA

u_trips2=unique(temp$trip2)

for(i in 1:length(u_trips2)){

 temp_data=temp[temp$trip2%in%u_trips2[i],]

 wind=getWind(temp_data,area_locMHI2)

 temp[temp$trip2%in%u_trips2[i],c("speed","xdir","ydir")]=

 

wind[match(temp[temp$trip2%in%u_trips2[i],c("AREA")],wind$AREA),c("speed","xdir","ydir

")]

 print(paste(i,"out of",length(u_trips2)))

}

#Relink with old (prior to wind data) records and form updated data set

data9_old=data9[data9$FISHED<"1987-07-09",]

data9_old[,c("speed","xdir","ydir")]=NA

####----#####

data10=rbind(data9_old,temp)

####----#####

# --OUTPUT: finalized record data set for CPUE standardization---------------------

#write.csv(data10,"D:\\FilePath\\Finalized_recordCPUE_dataset.csv",row.names=F)