Icon for: Arelis Arocho-Montes

ARELIS AROCHO-MONTES

University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras
Years in Grad School: 3
Judges’
Choice
Judges’ Queries and Presenter’s Replies
  • Judges and Presenters may log in to read queries and replies.

Presentation Discussion
  • Icon for: Francisco Soto-Santiago

    Francisco Soto-Santiago

    Graduate Student
    May 22, 2012 | 10:04 a.m.

    Interesting story!
    So how different is the database from the independent assessment to the one made by the government and fishermen?

  • Icon for: Arelis Arocho-Montes

    Arelis Arocho-Montes

    Lead Presenter
    May 22, 2012 | 11:46 a.m.

    Hi Francisco: In the case of the Red Hind Grouper (Ephinephelus guttatus), the information is consistent in both data bases. In the fisheries independent data the average size of the catch specimens has been stable. In the fishermen data base the percentage of the catch composed by this grouper is also stable. Is important to clarify that these results are not conclusive, and as we say in the video appears to be stable and that these results are not consistent with an increasingly overfished stock.

  • Icon for: Glenn Page

    Glenn Page

    Project Evaluator
    May 22, 2012 | 11:41 a.m.

    Quality of fisheries landings data is constantly an issue – around the world – how do you deal with the quality issue and are there implications for longer term adaptive capacity building strategies for reef management as a result of your work?

  • Icon for: Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff

    Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff

    Graduate Student
    May 22, 2012 | 12:30 p.m.

    Great research topic and presentation Arelis! As you know, Caribbean fisheries are multi-species, multi-gear, multicultural, and data sparse. This is particularly challenging for adopting conventional fishery methods to assess stocks, and particularly for your case, for relating databases created using different methods and different data collectors to portray stock status at different times. How are you planning on addressing this later challenge when you’re aiming to depict a clearer picture of how the red hind stock harvested by fishers from Puerto Real has been doing? How fishing effort (or catch per unit of effort) affects the historical trend of your reported total catches? What role can fishers and their knowledge play in your research?

  • Icon for: Arelis Arocho-Montes

    Arelis Arocho-Montes

    Lead Presenter
    May 22, 2012 | 01:53 p.m.

    Hola Pablo:
    For complementing the available data, we plan to develop an ethnographic research with fisherman, in order to produce some geographic information about the changes in the marine ecosystems of the area, the fishing grounds of some species (Red Hind included) and for recording their perceptions about the historical changes and the effects of these changes on the ecosystems. The finality of the comparison of the available data bases is to explore the possibilities of the available data to be use as part of the research. We pick the Red Hind for this analysis, because at present is one of the most abundant carnivores in the reef and because is an indicator of the presence of reef substratum. In the future I will be developing a catch per unit effort analysis for the Red Hind, but also for the Coney (Cephalopholis fulva), which is one most abundant Serranidae in Puertorrican coral reefs.

  • Icon for: Arelis Arocho-Montes

    Arelis Arocho-Montes

    Lead Presenter
    May 22, 2012 | 12:41 p.m.

    Hi doctor Page: It is a constant issue, but in this case we are fortunate that in this area there is an independent abundance assessment from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP). Thanks’ for your comments.

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.