Nine Years of Video Landers at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Marine Resources Program, Information Report 2020-01

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: Rasmuson, Leif K., Kelly A. Lawrence, Gregory K. Krutzikowsky, Jessica L. Watson, Lindsay Aylesworth, Robert W. Hannah, Brett T. Rodomsky, Brittany Huntington, Keith Matteson, and Ryan R. Easton

Publish Date: 2020

Online Link: None

BPA Project #:

Contact Information

Agency: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Name: Cedric Cooney

Job Position: Natural Resources Data and Systems Manager

Telephone: 503-947-6094

E-Mail Address: cedric.x.cooney@odfw.oregon.gov

Description

Abstract: The purpose of this report is to describe the large body of fishery independent video lander data that has been collected by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff and partners. The underwater video lander data presented in this report includes data collected from three different research groups (Fisheries, Reserves, and Nearshore), carrying out over 10 independent studies from 2009 – 2017 as part of ODFW’s Marine Resources Program. This document summarizes the similarities and differences of video lander configurations and field methods used by ODFW over this nine-year period, describes the spatial and temporal extent of the data collected, and provides results for some of the species observed by utilizing a common set of abundance metrics. The design and configuration of the underwater video landers varied greatly over time, both across the three research groups, as well as within the Fisheries Group and Reserves Group. In the nine years video landers have been in use, ten configurations have been designed and tested in the field. Lander design was determined by the study site, species of interest, and considerations of cost and repeatability. All lander deployment sites summarized by this report were categorized into one of five general regions; north coast (sites north of Cascade Head, n=339), central coast (nearshore sites between Cascade Head and Cape Perpetua, n=864), Perpetua (sites on or adjacent to Perpetua Reef, n=61), south coast (sites south of Cape Blanco, n=259), and offshore (any site west of the 80 m line, n=1168). All three groups used the same deployment and retrieval methods while conducting video lander surveys. Over the years, video review protocols have varied between groups, as well as within both the Fisheries and Reserves Groups, mainly due to advances in technology and advancing applications of video as a management tool. For the purposes of this document, standardization of each video review protocol was applied. Different estimation techniques were used to estimate the parameters that describe the distribution of the count data. Preliminary examination of the MaxN count data (regardless of species or study area) showed that it was best described by a negative binomial distribution. Therefore, in this document, we have only provided parameters to describe a negative binomial fit for each species/study area combination. In general, there was a moderate amount of agreement between the parameter estimates generated using the two methods. This suggests that there is consistency in the data observed by different landers and in the different study areas. Ultimately, we consider this indicative of no major biases in what species or how many fish were observed by each research group in each study area. This information is meant to be useful to stock assessors, fishery scientists and managers, as well as the general public. In particular, the information presented here seeks to help inform discussions about the ongoing efforts to enhance fishery independent surveys in untrawlable rocky habitat using video landers, and the potential to use such data in stock assessments. Synthesizing all of this information in one document offers a picture of the full extent of work completed to date. Moving forward, we suggest that video landers are a useful tool for providing fishery independent data from Oregon’s rocky reefs. Key benefits of this tool are cost effectiveness and the ability to work in untrawlable habitats. This document also includes an appendix where underwater video lander data, collected by the Fisheries Group, is used to parameterize a variety of simulations of an annual synoptic fishery independent survey for Yelloweye Rockfish, and we provide a table of estimated uncertainty and cost.

Purpose:

Time Period of Content: 2009-2017

Geographic Extent: Oregon

Status: Final

Use Constraints:

Format: PDF

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Attributes Description: Field attribute information is available in the attached file(s).

Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? Unknown