The bottomfish fisheries in American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)

The bottomfish fisheries in American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are the only small boat demersal (on or near the ocean bottom) fisheries managed under the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Fishery Ecosystem Plans. The fisheries are predominantly a single-day trip, except for fishing in the northern islands of CNMI where it becomes a multi-day trip due to the sheer distance between fishing locations. The fishing grounds range from depths of 100 to 500 feet for the shallow species of grouper, snapper, emperor and jacks to more than 900-foot depth for deep snapper species. The bottomfishing vessels are mostly less than 25 feet. The gear is comprised of a pole and line (manual or electric reels) with multiple branch lines that split off several feet from the terminal end of the mainline. Lead weights are attached to the terminal end along with a chum bag to attract fish at the start of the branch line section. Each boat brings one to four gear setups on any given trip. Fishing participation in the territories is a fraction of Hawai‘i’s where, on average, 350 unique fishermen report catches.

The territory bottomfish is primarily managed through annual catch limits. This is a quota-based system where managers track the catch relative to the quota and the federal waters are closed once the quota is reached.

The bottomfish fishery data are collected by each territory’s fishery management agency: American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, Guam Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources and CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife. This is done through stratified random surveys— surveyors drive to the known ports, marinas and ramps at a specific time and date, count the number of boats that went out and try to intercept each boat when it returns to interview the captain and crew about their catch and effort. Other data on the bottomfish fisheries comes from the Commercial Purchase Receipt Book System where vendors log and report the bottomfish bought from the commercial fishermen and sold as fresh or processed product within their establishment.