Erik C. Franklin Timothy B. Grabowski 2017 <p>Giant Trevally (ulua aukea) Caranx ignobilis is one of the most highly prized and frequently<br>targeted nearshore species. However, there is very little information on its current status in<br>Hawaiian waters. This study uses mark-recapture data collected as part of recreational angler<br>tagging program conducted by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources-Division<br>of Aquatic Resources during 2000-2012. Mark-recapture data were used to estimate von<br>Bertalanffy growth curve parameters and survivorship. Growth curves generated from the markrecapture<br>data suggested that Giant Trevally from the main Hawaiian Islands may be growing<br>faster and reach a smaller maximum size than individuals in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, but<br>there are a number of issues rendering this conclusion uncertain. The survivorship of Giant<br>Trevally was positively associated with age, in part due to ontogenetic habitat shifts that result in<br>older fish moving to offshore habitats where they are less vulnerable to anglers. When compared<br>to stock assessments performed using commercial landings data and fisheries-independent visual<br>surveys, the mark-recapture data produced similar estimates for the average length of exploited<br>fish, a metric highly negatively correlated to fishing mortality. These results emphasize the need<br>for additional information on the biology of Giant Trevally in Hawaiian waters and suggest that<br>the data collected from this recreational angler tagging program may be useful to generate<br>reliable estimates of mortality for stock assessment purposes.</p> application/pdf en U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service What can volunteer angler tagging data tell us about the status of the Giant Trevally (ulua aukea) Caranx ignobilis fishery in Hawaii: revisiting data collected during Hawaii’s Ulua and Papio Tagging Project 2000-2016 reports