N OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS BIOSPHERE RESERVE BY



UTILIZATIO

ARTISANAL FISHERMEN



BIOSPHERE RESERVE

RESEARCH



REPORT NO. ll



RALF H. BOULON, JR.

AND

ILEANA E. CLAVIJO

DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS

GOVERNMENT OF THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS



U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE



AND



VIRGIN ISLANDS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COOPERATIVE

VIRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK

P.O. BOX 7789, ST. THOMAS

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS 00801



LOCAL CONTRACTING AGENT

ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION

RED HOOK BOX 33, ST. THOMAS



U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS 00802

(NPS CONTRACT NO. cx-0001-3-0048)



©



ral



Abstract



REPORT NO. 11

Subtask 2.4



UTILIZATION OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS BIOSPHERE RESERVE BY

ARTISANAL FISHERMEN



Catch and landings on St. John are described for a 8ix~

month period (January to June 1981). Methods include port

interviewss annual catch reports» informal interviews and

questionnaires. Resources taken near or landed on St. John

by 28 commercial fishermen were categorized into ten

different fishing methods. Landings for the period of study

total 16,067 pounds (fish, shellfish and crustaceans) for a

total value of $38,221. West-Indian fish traps represent

the greatest proportion of the landings followed by bottom

longline and handlines .



The subsistence fishermen were interviewed and were

found to set from one to ten fish traps and some handline

fishing. Traps are usually hauled on the weekends and yield

from six to fifty pounds of fish per month. Fish are used

to supplement the diet provided from regular income.



Most, if not all of the commercial fishing activities

take place outside of the Biosphere Reserve. The major

impact is socio-economic, rather than resource utilization.

The primary resource use impact within the Biosphere Reserve

comes from subsistence and recreational fishermen. The

majority of subsistence level fishing takes place from Rams

Head to East End and south of Cruz Bay. Total fish traps

observed in Biosphere Reserve waters are less than - two

dozen. All lobstering in NPS waters is done by hand and is

concentrated around Fish and Reef Bays where grassbeds are

more abundant. Hook fish taken in NPS waters is mainly

limited to bottom fishing and trolling by recreational

vessels, both of which are nearly impossible to sample. BVI

fishermen do not appear to fish in these water

preferring their own waters which are less overfished.



It appears that little intensive fishing takes place

within the Biosphere Reserve/National Park. This area may

serve as a refuge for many individuals that would. be

harvested if they were outside the Biosphere Reserve. This

protected area may also serve as a recruitment source and

emigration base for areas outside the Biosphere Reserve

where fishing pressure is greater. Even with Little

fishing, the numbers, sizes and species composition could be

affected by more intensive fishing outside the Biosphere

Reserve » thus, creating an external vacuum producing the

same effect as overfishing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS



FOREWORD



LIST OF TABLES



en



LIST OF FIGURES cesses eee e cee cccececcncecescecccce,



INTRODUCTION



a oe oe



METHODS eee eee e cece cece ccccccsccccecsccccccec,



3.1 Commercial Fishermen. .ccccccccccccccccece



Hook Fishescccccccccccscccecs

Lobsterescecsccscccsccccccecs



CONCH sce cccccccccccccccccvcce

Spear Fisheccccecsccccccccecs

Whelkecsccccuccccccseseccccece

Bottom Longline...cccccccccee

Surface Longline...ccsssscecce

Net Fish... cc ccccccccccecucce

O Summary..ccccccccccccccccecae



.

°



WWW WW W & Ww WW

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el cell er A on eo

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ht OO CON OUI Wo fo



3.2, Subsistence Fishermen... ccsccccccceae

3.3 Fish TMpOrterssccccccccccccccccececes



DISCUSSION. ccc cece cece esc cccccccccccccecuce



Pot Fishecccccccsscccccccccccccce



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... ccc cece ccc cccccccccccceccee



REFERENCES,...... be rr er



Appendix a - Fish Sampling FOrMecccccccccccccccee



Appendix 2 - Subsistence Fishermen Sampling Form..



iii



iv



28

30

34

35

36



37

FOREWORD



Virgin Islands National Park was designated as an

International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO)

in June, 1976. However, the formal dedication did not take

place until Mays 1983. The standardized, single~page

description of the area which was issued by UNESCO under the

Man and the Biosphere Programs, MAB Project 8, in 1976 is

entirely inadequate for the purpose of meeting Biosphere



Reserve Objectives.



The purpose of the present (VIRMC I) project was to

provide more detailed descriptions of the Reserve's physical

and biological features as well as certain aspects of human

use, such as fishing and boating. Inherent in the concept

of the Reserve is the belief that it is intimately related

to the nearby British Virgin Islands and that it should also

Fit within a future multi-site Lesser Antillean Biosphere



Reserve.



The following reports are included in the VIRMC I



Research Series Reports.



The West Indies Laboratory (Fairleigh Dickinson

University) prepared the reports for “Ecological Community

Type Maps and Biological Community Descriptions for Buck

Island Reef National Monument and Proposed Marine Park Sites

in the British Virgin Islands; "Trends in Recreational

Boating in the British Virgin Islands, A Preliminary

Assessment of Impact from Human Activities on Anchorages and

Development of a Monitoring Program for Safe Anchoragess'

“Geographic Range and Research Plan for Monitoring White

Band Disease?’ and “Marine Ecosystems of the Lesser Antilles



- Identification of Representative Sites.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife (Department of

Conservation and Cultural Affairs, Government of the U.S8.

Virgin Islands) Prepared, "Map of Fishery Habitats Within

the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve," "Fisheries Habitat of

the Virgin Islands Region of Ecological Importance to the

Fishery Resources of the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve,'

" Utilization of the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve by

Artisanal Fishermen," and " Long-Term Monitoring of Fisheries



in the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve."



The Caribbean Research Institute (College of the Virgin

Islands) prepared, " Marine Community Descriptions and Maps

of Bays Within the Virgin Islands National Park/ Biosphere

Reserve,” and " Collection of Common Organisms Within the



Virgin Islands National Park/Biosphere Reserve."



The Island Resources Foundation prepared, “Assessment

of Fish and Shellfish Stocks Produced in the Virgin Islands

Biosphere Reserve, "Socioeconomic and Cultural Role of

Fishing and Shellfishing in the Virgin Islands Biosphere

Reserve Area, “Characterization of Lesser Antillean Regional



Fisheries, as well as the Synopsis and Executive Summary.



Field work for the project was carried out during the

period December, 1983, through October, 1984. Copies of the

individual reports can be obtained from: The Virgin Islands

National Park, Red Hook Headquarters, P.0. Box 7789, St.

Thomas, Charlotte Amalie, VI 00801.



ii

LIST OF TABLES



Table 1. Numbers of fishermen from whom data were collected for each

of the fishing methods or target species on St. John, U.S. Virgin

Islands, during the period of January to June, 1984.



Table 2. Reported potfish landings and value from January to June,

1984, on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.



Table 3. Catch composition and landings data for three commercial fishpot

fishermen on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands from January to June, 1984.



Table 4. Rank listing and mean sizes of the twelve most common fish caught

in traps.



Table 5. Estimated annual income of three commercial fishpot fishermen on

St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.



Table 6. Reported handline landings and value of yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus

chrysurus) from January to June, 1984, on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.



Table 7. Reported handline landings and value of fish other than Yellowtail

Snapper from January to June, 1984, on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Fish primarily caught using bottom handline techniques.



Table 8. Reported landings and value of lobster (Panulirus argus) caught by

hand from January to June, 1984.



Table 9. Reported landings and value of lobster (Panulirus argus) caught by

trap from January to June, 1984.



Table 10.. Reported landings and value of conch (Strombus gigas) from January

to June, 1984, on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.



Table 11. Reported spear fish landings and value from January to June, 1984,

on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.



Table 12. Catch composition of a vessel utilizing the vertical (bottom)

longline technique (see text for description).



‘Table 13. Catch composition of a vessel utilizing the surface longline

technique (see text for description).



Table 14. Gear and landings data on subsistence fishermen on St. John,

U. S. Virgin Islands.



Table 15. Composition and weights of fish imported to St. John, U.S. Virgin

Islands from Tortola, British Virgin Islands, by a sole importer during

the period of January to June, 1984.



Table 16. Total reported commercial landings and value of fisheries resources

taken near or landed on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands during the period

of January to June, 1984.



iii



PAGE



10



14



16



16



Ie



~



]



IS

PAGE



LIST OF FIGURES



Figure l. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, showing locations discussed



in the text 5

Figure 2, Diagram of most popular West Indian fish trap styles. 7

Figure 3. A bottom longline construction description. 23



iv

———



1. INTRODUCTION



Past and recent surveys of the commercial fishery of the Virgin Islands have

generally treated the islands as two groups: St. Croix and St. Thomas/St. John.

St. John has never been singled out in a quantitative fisheries survey. Fiedler

and Jarvis (1932) described the fisheries and problems of marketing on St. John

and Idyll and Randall (1959) made a survey of the commercial and sport fisheries

of St. John at the request of the National Park Service. All previous work by

the Division of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs

. on fisheries landings for the U.S. Virgin Islands have combined St. John and St.

Thomas. The objectives of this report are to present the results of a six-month

fishery landings survey on St. John by commercial and subsistence fishermen and

attempt to qualitatively determine the impact of fisheries activities on the

marine fishery resources of the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve.

Virgin Islands marine shelf resources support a small but diverse fishery.

For fishermen reporting year 1982-83, there were four hundred fifty-four

(454) licensed fishermen in the U.S. Virgin Islands with a total reported catch

of 1,358,785 pounds of fish, shellfish and crustaceans (Clavijo, 1984). These

landings represent the use of more than ten different fishing methods with West

Indian fish traps being the most commonly used fishing device (Sylvester and

Dammann, 1972). It has been reported that greater than 80 percent of all fish-

ermen use fish traps and that nearly 90 percent of all reported catch is taken

in fish traps (Olsen, et al., 1975). However, for the period of 1978 to 1983,

reported potfish landings represented 68 percent of the total reported landings

for all fisheries resources (calculated from Clavijo, 1984). As all commercial

record keeping is done for St. Thomas/St. John, it is impossible to obtain ac-

curate values for St. John alone.

The eastern Caribbean Sea in general is known to have quite low primary

productivity (phyto-plankton) for a variety of reasons (Hargraves, et al., 1970)

and this results in a low potential for any large-scale commercial fisheries

activity (Brownell, 1972). Probably due to this, the fisheries in the U.S. Virgin

. Islands are primarily artisanal in nature using traditional fishing techniques.

The supply of fisheries products locally does not meet the public demand.

Virgin Islands fishery resources are reported to currently supply approximately

60 percent of local consumption (Dammann, 1969) with the balance being supplied

by the United States, Puerto Rico and foreign countries (Swingle, et al., 1969).



This figure may be lower now due to increases in population.

EEE '*~S— Le



The earliest economic fisheries survey of the U.S. Virgin Islands was



done in 1930 (Fiedler and Jarvis, 1932). They report an active artisanal



fishery of four hundred and five (405) fishermen landing a total catch of

616,000 pounds for 1930. At that time, only one fishing boat was propelled by

a motor. The lack of motors to propel large boats limited fishermen both in

amount of gear they could tend and distance from shore they could fish. At that

time, the fishery was reported to be approximately 50 percent underfished (Fiedler “

and Jarvis, 1932). Subsequently, in spite of technological advances, the land-

ings in terms of catch-per-unit-effort (calculated by gear) has declined over

the last forty-four years (Dammann, 1969). This is not related to a increase in

number of fishermen as this has remained nearly constant over this period.

Olsen, et al. (1978) suggests that this decrease in CPUE is indicative of

potential overfishing.



This decrease in CPUE from traditional fishing methods has led Virgin Islands

fishermen to diversification of fishery methods and introduction of technology

(depth sounder, hydraulic pot/longline haulers, etc.) at the traditional boat

size (16 to 20 feet) (Olsen and LaPlace, 1981). Diversification of methods

reduces pressure on any single resource. An example is the development of a

deepwater snapper-grouper fishery (Brownell and Rainey, 1971; Sylvester and

Dammann, 1979) and investigations into the resource potential of a portunid



crab population (Olsen, et al., 1978).



An additional factor that has increased interest in development of alternate

fishing methods is the presence of ciguatera producing toxin in many species

taken by traditional methods. The ciguatera problem in the Virgin Islands in-

hibits full utilization of viable and otherwise acceptable resources because of

its sporadic and unpredictable nature (Sylvester, et al., 1977). This presents

the fishermen with marketing problems (Brownell and Rainey, 1971) that he



attempts to negate by fishing for "safe" species, including many of the deepwater

————



snappers and groupers.



An attempt is made here to survey commercial and subsistence level fishermen

on St. John and to report on fishing methods and quantities of fish, shellfish,

and crustaceans landed on St. John for use by st. John residents. Resources being

harvested within V.I. Biosphere Reserve waters are identified and problem areas



“ to be taken into account when designing a fisherman landings survey program are



defined.



2 METHODS



Data on fishermen landings and catch composition on St. John during the period of

January through June, 1984 were collected in a variety of ways (Table 1). Com-

mercial potfish fishermen who land their catches on a regular basis at the fish

house in the "Creek", Cruz Bay (see Fig. 1) were interviewed at least once a

week upon their arrival. Their catches were enumerated by species and weight.

Several hookfish fishermen provided us with their catch data on a monthly basis.

The operators of the deep-water longline vessel provided access to their catch

records for enumeration of their landings by species and weight. Much of the

total landings data by fishing type were obtained through the annual catch reports

turned in to DCCA by licensed fishermen. Ten subsistence fishermen (generally

unlicensed) were interviewed once to obtain landings and catch/effort data. The

fish importer provided information on species and weights brought in.



All Virgin Island fishermen are required by law (V.I.C. T 12, Ch. 10) to

submit annual catch reports showing landings by gear type per month in order to

qualify for commercial fisherman tax and boat registration fee exemptions. Annual

catch reports for St. Thomas fishermen were examined to determine if any reported



. catches were taken within or adjacent to the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve,

however, exact location was undeterminable. Several St. Thomas boats reported by

NPS personnel as fishing with traps within the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve



could not be sampled since these fishermen did not submit annual catch reports.

TABLE 1.



Numbers of fishermen supplying data on each of th



species on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands,

1984. Information was obtained from twent



he fishing methods or target

during the period of January to June,

y-eight commercial and ten subsistence



fishermen.

Fishing Method or Target Species No. Fishermen in Data Base!

Pot Fish 6

Hook Fish - Yellow tail - 4

Other - 7

Lobster ~ Hand - 5

Trap - 5

Conch - 3

Spear Fish - 2

Whelk - 1

Vertical Longline - l

Surface Longline - 1

Net Fish - 1

Subsistence Fishermen - 10°

Fish Importer - 1



Tan individual fisherman may be included in more than one fishing method

or target species category.



2rhis represents an unknown percentage of the total number of subsistence

fishermen but is enough to describe gear and landings.

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Since fishermen are generally reluctant to reveal their fishing locations



it was usually impossible to determine if the catch came from within or adjacent



to the Biosphere Reserve. For this reason all catches are reported as landings



on St. John and not as resources being harvested from the Virgin Islands Biosphere



Reserve. Where catches are known to have been taken from the Virgin Islands



Reserve, it is noted.



3. RESULTS



3.1 Commercial Fishermen



A commercial fisherman is defined as “any person who takes fish (including fin

fish, shellfish and crustaceans) by any method or means and sells, exchanges or in

any way possesses said fish for profit" (Virgin Islands Code (VIC), Title 12, Chap-

ter 10, Subsection 302, (9), (10), (12), (17). Under Virgin Islands law (VIC,

Title 12, Ch. 10, 312 (c through j) any person engaged in commercial fishing is

required to have a license. No license is required for fishing for personal use

providing it does not involve pots, traps, set nets or hand seines (VIC Title 12,

Ch. 10, 302 (k). For the period of July 1, 1983 to June 30, 1984, twelve (12)



St. John fishermen were licensed as commercial fishermen. These included full-

time commercial fishermen to part-time commercial fishermen who catch fish pri-



marily for personal use but sell their excess catch to defray costs.



3.1.1 Pot Fish



Pot fish are any species of fin fish caught in a fish trap (pot) placed on the

bottom and generally buoyed at the surface. The conventional West-Indian fish

trap (Figure 2) is constructed of 1-1 to 2 inch mesh chickenwire and supported

by wooden braces, usually from tree saplings. One or two funnels are present,

Fish traps are the basic unit of gear in the commercial fishery of the Virgin

Islands (Sylvester and Dammann, 1972). Fish traps are set in depths from less

than a fathom to over 100 fathoms. Traps are baited with a variety of items in-



cluding trash fish, bread, cactus and animal skins, however, unbaited traps are

ARROWHEAD



RECTANGULAR



Figure 2. Diagram of most popular West Indian fish trap



styles. After Sylvester and Dammann (1972).

BC EEEESSSS'’S=S



said to catch at the same rate as baited traps once they have been properly

"seasoned" (covered by marine fouling communities) .



Commercial fish-trap fishermen sampled in this study use boats from 16 to

20 feet in length, powered by outboard engines from 50 to 80 horsepower. All

pull their traps by hand. Commercial fishermen set their traps both within and

outside the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve. No figure is available for total *

number of commercial fish traps located within the Virgin Islands Biosphere Re-

Serve as commercial fishing is prohibited in National Park Service waters and

most fishermen are reluctant to reveal the location of their traps.



During the period of this study, six commercial fish-trap fishermen reported

a total of 5,285 pounds of potfish for a total reported value of $10,374.00

(Table 2). Three commercial fish-trap fishermen were port sampled on a weekly

basis and their catches were enumerated by species and numbers (Table 3). From

their catch composition, the twelve most common species caught were determined

and ranked (Table 4). A number of individuals of each species were measured and

weighed to obtain mean lengths and weights of fish landed (Table 4). The estimated

annual income for each of the three fishermen was calculated and represent the

range from full-time commercial fishermen to part-time commercial fishermen

supplementing their regular job income (Table 5).



The full-time commercial trap fisherman pulls his traps three times a week,

usually from 0500 to 1000 hours and sells his catch at the fish house in the

"Creek", Cruz Bay, St. John. This fisherman is from St. Thomas and works with

a full-time assistant. He sells his catch on St. John due to the demand. The

two part-time commercial trap fishermen are from St. John and pull their traps

once a week on Saturday mornings. They market their fish also at the fish house



in Cruz Bay.



3.1.2 Hook Fish



Hook fish can be subdivided into two main categories: yellowtail snapper and

TABLE 2.



Reported potfish landings and value from January to June, 1984, on St. John,

U.S. Virgin Islands. All fish were caught using West Indian fish traps

(see text for description).



2

Month No. Fishermen Total Pounds Total Value

Reporting Reported Reported



January 5 979 $ 1,858.00

February 5 1143 2,194.00



March 3 939 1,874.00



April 2 919 1,838.00



May 4 1178 2,356.00

sunet 2 127 254.00

TOTAL 6 5285 $ 10,374.00



L : .



Most fishermen submit annual catch reports for the period of June to May,

so June 1984 will be reported in 1985. However, two annual catch reports

did contain June 1984.



2 : F

Not all fishermen reporting catch reported sales income.

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14

————



1



others. The distinction lies in the use of different fishing methods with different



target species.



Yellowtail snapper is a much preferred food species and can be caught at



night in large numbers using chum and the floating handline technique. The



state of the moon (near full) and the presence of a current are integral to the



success of this method. Chum is made of mashed fry (dwarf herring) or other



small fish and mixed with sand to carry it towards the bottom. The boat is anchor-



ed on an offshore bottom feature having vertical relief. The chum is dispensed



over the side and dispersed by the current. Light handlines with very small



(less than 4 oz.) sinkers are baited with fry and allowed to "float" out away



from the boat with the current along with the chum. The chum attracts the yellowta-



snapper towards the boat where the fishermen catch them. Other species of fish



also caught with this method include kingfish, black jack and sharks. If the

current stops, the chum goes directly to the bottom, greatly reducing the area

being affected by the chum and thus, the amount and species of fish which are

attracted.



Reported handline landings of yellowtail snapper on St. John during the



period of January to June, 1984 range from 50 to 700 lbs. per mouth (Table 6).



It is not uncommon for a fisherman with an assistant to bring home 100 to 300



pounds of yellowtail from one night's fishing. Landings data do not indicate



number of fishing trips, only monthly totals.

The other main method of handline fishing is bottom fishing using a weighted

line with bait (fry, whelk, soldier crab, etc.). Chum may or may not be used.



- Fish caught using this method include most of the demersal fin fish species that

are also caught in fish traps (Table 3). Reported commercial landings and value

are shown in Table 7. This is the most common fishing method utilized by people

of the Virgin Islands for recreational and probably subsistence purposes. Due to

the number of people utilizing it and the non-reporting requirement it would be

very difficult to attempt to estimate the total pounds of fish landed using this



method.

Estimated annual income of three commercial fishpot fishermen on St. John,

U.S. Virgin Islands. Calculated from landings data presented in Table 2.



SPECTES Price Cleaning Fisherman

Per lb. Fee (per 1b.) 1 2 3

Lobster $5.00 --~= $ 1,026.00} $ 205.00 $ 97.00

Potfish(Quality) 2.00 -25-.50 -

2 40,630.00] 6,214.00 3,472.00 °

Potfish(Inferior} 1$1.00/1.50 | .25-.s0



_4



ESTIMATED ANNUAL INCOME {$41,656.00 $6,419.00 |$3,569.00



Ithese are small fish or those of less desirable species.

The amount earned cleaning fish generally compensates for the amount of fish

sold as inferior.



RERKEKKEKRAEREKRRRREE



TABLE 6.



Reported handline landings and value of Yellowtail Snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus)

from January to June, 1984, on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Fish primarily

caught using the floating handline technique (see text for description).



MONTH Number of Fishermen Total Pounds Total Value

Reporting Reported Reported



January 2 300 $ 600.00 |



February 3 515.75 1,031.50



March 2 705 1,410.00



April 2 659.5 1,319.00



May 1 46.75 93.50



June 1 530 1,060.00



TOTAL 4 2757 $5,514.00



RHEEREREKKREKRKEKKEREER

TABLE 7.



Reported handline landings and value of fish other than Yellowtail Snapper

from January to June, 1984, on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Fish pri-

marily caught using bottom handline techniques (see text for description).



MONTH Number of Fishermen Total Pounds Total Value



Reporting Reported Reported*

January 4 69 $ 101.00

February 6 274.5 460.50

March 6 314 396.00

April 5 360 403.50

May 4 227 236.00

June 3 99 : 162.00

TOTAL 7 1343.5 $ 1,657.50



*Not all fish caught were reported as sold.



KKAKKERKEKKKKRKAEREAEER



TABLE 8.



Reported landings and value of Lobster (Panulirus argus) caught by hand

from January to June, 1984. All lobster were caught using snares (see text

for description).



MONTH Number of Fishermen Total Pounds Total Value



Reporting Reported Reported

January 2 124 $ 620.00

February 3 245.5 1,227.50

March 2 80 400.00

April 3 219 1,095.00

May 4 144 720.00

June 4 146 730.00

TOTAL 5 958.5 $ 4,792.50



Note: This estimate includes one fisherman who lands his catch on St.

Thomas. Catch reports indicate that the lobster reported herein

were caught adjacent to or within Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve

boundaries.

18



3.1.3 Lobster



The lobsters (Panulirus argus) taken around St.



John are taken by diving (hand)



or in fish traps as incidental catch. Several fishermen on St. Thomas fish for



lobster using New England~type lobster traps but none are believed to be set near

St. John. Federal regulation prohibits this type of trap from being set in Park

waters.



The majority of lobster landed in St. John are taken by hand (Table 8). All

lobstering in NPS waters is done by hand and appears to be concentrated around Fish

and Reef Bays on the south side and Johnson's Reef on the North side. They are

caught usually under ledges in reefs or on offshore bank pavement using a

snare.



A snare is a length of wood or metal having a soft wire or monofilament noose

at one end which is used to catch the lobster either around its tail or lower

part of the antenna.



Fishermen often catch lobsters in traps set for fish. Table 9 shows reported

landings (with estimates from three(3) regularly sampled pot-fish fishermen) of

lobsters on St. John for the period of January to June 1984. All lobsters reported

here were taken in traditional West-Indian fish traps (Figure 2).



Under Virgin Islands law (VIC, Title 12, Ch. 10, §319) it is prohibited

to spear, hook or in any way impale a lobster in order to capture it. Lobsters

may only be captured by hand, snare, pot or trap. Egg-bearing lobsters must be

released or left in the trap until eggs are naturally released. At the present

time it is illegal to take a lobster having a carapace measurement of less than 3

inches. However, starting on December 1, 1984, it will be illegal to take a lob-~

ster having a carapace measurement of less than 3.5 inches (Virgin Islands Legis-

lative Act no. 4953, June 1, 1984).



These figures do not include the many lobsters probably taken by recreational

snorklers and SCUBA divers. Nor do they include lobsters taken by St. Thomas



fishermen (French fishermen have been seen diving for lobster at Fish Bay and

————



Reef Bay) with the exception of one fisherman who reported his catch as having come



from St. John.



3.1.4 Conch



The Queen Conch (Strombus gigas) is a large gastropod mollusc found in grass beds,



sand flats and algal plains from lm in depth to over 20m. The muscular foot is a

very preferred food and is in great demand. It is well known that overfishing is

depleting the populations as fishermen have to go deeper and deeper to obtain them

in any numbers. There are presently no regulations governing size of conch that car

be taken.



During the study period, only three fishermen reported catching any conch for

a total of 192 pounds landed on St. John (Table 10). This does not include ail

the recreational take of conch that may be greater than the commercial take. One

fisherman who had been reguarly catching conch off St. John and selling them on

the Cruz Bay public dock stopped fishing in January. This was the major commercial



source of conch on St. John. It is impossible to estimate total pounds of conch



harvested around St. John due to the recreational and incidental take by both

St. John and St. Thomas boaters. information provided by fishermen does indicate

that the majority of conch taken in NPS waters is subsistence/recreational and is



mostly confined to the south shore where grass beds are more abundant.



3.1.5 Spear Fish



Although fishing with a speargun is prohibited within National Park waters, a

number of people do spearfish outside and adjacent to NPS waters. Many boaters

use spearguns to catch fish for their own consumption and are impossible to sample

for a study of this sort. During the period of this study, only two fishermen

reported commercial landings of spear fish (Table 11). We can conclude that



spearfishing is not a commercially feasible or very important fishing technique.

20



TABLE 9.



Reported landings and value of lobster (Panulirus argus) caught by trap

from January to June, 1984, All lobster were caught in West Indian fish

traps (see text for description).



MONTH Number of Fishermen Total Pounds Total Value



Reporting Reported Reported

January 3 66 $ 330.00

February 4 81 405.00



;



March 3 66 330.00

April 5 86 430.00

May 4 82 410.00

June 3 66 330.00

TOTAL 5 447 S 2,235.00



1 commercial fishermen (3) who did not report lobster landings in their an-

nual catch report had pounds of lobster caught per month estimated from

(Total lbs. Lobster Port Sampled during study period + No. Times Port

Sampled) x No. Trips per Month.



REKEKREKEKRRRKRERRKREKK



TABLE 10.



Reported landings and value of conch (Strombus gigas) from January to June,

1984 on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. All conch were collected by hand

(see text for description).



Number of Fishermen Total Pourds Total Value



MONTH Reporting Reportedl Reported

--- --- ;



January ---

February 1 30 $ 60.00 |

March 1 10 20.00

April 1 50 100.00

May 2 42 84.00

June 1 60 120.00

TOTAL 3 192 $ 384.00



weight reported in meat weight.

TABLE 11.



Reported spear fish landings and value from January to June,



John, U.S. Virgin Islands.



MONTH Number of Fishermen Total Pounds Total Value

. Reporting Reported Reported



January --- -—- ---

February 1 41 $ 82.00

March “-- --- ---

April -—- --- ---



May . --- --- ---



June 1 40 80.00

TOTAL 2 81 $ 162.00



1984, on St.

22



3.1.6 Whelk



The whelk (Cittarium pica) is a small gastropod mollusc found intertidally on

rocky coasts. They are good eating and collected primarily for personal use. In

the past they were much more abundant and were probably sold more frequently

since they could be collected in large numbers. It has become very difficult to

find sufficient whelk for even the subsistence fishermen.



During the study period only one fisherman reported taking any whelk. Twenty-

eight pounds were reported in March 1984, and since no value was reported, it is

assumed they were kept for personal consumption. It is also assumed that the



weight reported included shells.



3.1.7 Bottom Longline



During the study period only one vessel was using the deepwater bottom longline

technique. To be able to efficiently utilize this method, a large boat is needed

with a hydraulic pot hauler. Bottom longlining is done for deepwater snapper/

grouper resources along the north or south dropoff in 150 to 200 fathoms of

water. A typical bottom longline rig is shown in Figure 3. Usually a fisherman

will set three of these at a time and retrieve them in rotation.



The main species of commercial importance caught by this method are misty

grouper, queen snapper and silk snapper (Table 12). Wenchman snapper and dogfish

sharks are also abundant but are not as easily sold. During the study period

this boat fished for four months and landed 4,262 pounds (cleaned weight of fish)

on St. John (Table 12) using this method. The entire catch was always sold within

a few hours of landing. Even large fish can always be readily sold due to the

ciguatera-free nature of these deep-water species.



This method of fishing is very much a hit or miss operation, in spite of

numerous technologies such as radar, satelite navigation and others. Numerous

lines can be set without catching any fish while a chance hit on a good ledge



can produce several hundred pounds on one or two lines. Relocation of exact

Figure 3. A bottom longline constructed of a float (1) attached

to 100-200 fathoms of 0.25 inch polypropylene line. Tuna Gangions with

hooks wired on them (2) are placed every fathom between the two



5 lb. weights (3) which keep the hooks near the bottom. Knots between the

hooks prevent the gangions from bunching up when big fish are hooked. From

15 to 20 hooks and gangions give the best results (Olsen, et al., 1974).

24



TABLE 12.



Catch composition of a vessel utilizing the bottom longline tech-



nique (see text for description).



All weights are cleaned weight. Data

Relative



are cummulative from 14 fishing trips (February to May, 1984).

abundance is calculated on the basis of numbers of fish caught.

TOTAL AVERAGE

wumper | CLEANED | cLEanep | RELATIVE

SPECIES WEIGHT(1bs) WEIGHT(1bs} ABUNDANCE

Misty Grouper 118 2780.18 23.56 27

(Epinephelus mystacinus)

Queen Snapper 106 729.95 6.89 24

(Etelis oculatus)

Silk Snapper 45 192.9 4.29 .10

(Lutjanus vivanus)

Wenchman Snapper 64 83.85 1.31 15

(Pristipomoides aquilonaris)

Yellow-Edge Grouper 5 110.13 22.03 O01

Epinephelus flavolimbatus)

Red Snapper 2 15.25 7.63 005

(Lutjanus campechanus)

Tilefish 1 5 5 .002

(Caulolatilus sp.)

Dogfish Sharks 95 344.73 3.63 22

(Squalidae)

TOTALS 436 4,261.99 ~-o- .997



Rak tk KK KK aR

spots is difficult in 200 fathoms of water fifteen miles offshore so the operator

continues hoping to hit another ledge or concentration of fish.



One other boat had been using this method out of Coral Bay to provide cig-

uatoxic-free fish for a restaurant, but ceased operations about the time this study

started. Although all fish caught by this method are caught well outside of

Virgin Islands Biosphere boundaries, they are brought back in and sold locally,



thus effecting the socioeconomics of the St. John fishing industry.



3.1.8 Surface Longline



The same boat which utilizes the bottom longline method during the day will often

remain at sea for the night and set a surface longline. This is constructed of



a heavy mono-filament main line up to five miles in length, bouyed at the surface

at each end and at intervals in between. This line lies about 10 fathoms below



the surface and has tuna gangions (Figure 3 ) at fixed intervals with drop lines

containing a baited hook. The most common baits are squid and small mackerel or

bonito. Chemical light sticks are often attached. to the bait as an attractor.



The line is set before sunset and retrieved shortly after dawn. The primary

target species of this method is the swordfish. Tuna, shark and other pelagics are

often caught also. During the period of February to May, 1984, nine surface long-

line trips were made. Five swordfish were caught for a total of 490.4 pounds

(Table 13). Sharks may have been the most abundant fish caught but many were cut

loose rather than handle them and many of the smaller ones were given away and



therefore, not recorded in the sales records.



3.1.9 Net Fish



A traditional method of catching coastal migratory pelagic species of fish is



to set a beach seine, purse seine or gill net. Collectively, any fish caught by

any of these methods are referred to as net fish. During the course of this



study, one boat was seen twice at the Cruz Bay public dock selling net fish. On

26



NG ICC —™AGSSS



both occasions the three fishermen in the boat would not respond to any questions.

It is, therefore, impossible to say where the fish were caught. On both occasions

the fish they had included bonito, blue runner (hardnose) and bar jack (carang),

the fish most commonly caught in nets.



As the National Park Service prohibits nets greater than twenty feet in

length from being used in their waters, it can be assumed that these fish had

not come from within the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve. As the boat had a

U.S. Virgin Islands registration number, it can further be assumed that the



fishermen were from St. Thomas, as the boat is not from St. John.



3.1.10 Commercial fisheries summary



During the course of this study, fisheries resources taken near or landed on

St. John by ten different fishing methods were sampled. Reported landings for

the period of the study total 16,067.37 pounds for a total reported value of

$38,220.96 (Table 14). Pot fish represented the greatest proportion of the



landings followed by bottom longline and handline hookfish.

TABLE 13.



Catch composition of a vessel utilizing the surface longline technique (see

text for description). All weights are cleaned weight. Data are cummulative

from 9 fishing trips (February to May, 1984). Relative abundance is calcu-

lated on the basis of numbers of fish caught.



TOTAL AVERAGE

RELATIVE

SPECIES NUMBER CLEANED CLEANED

WEIGHT (lbs) WEIGHT lbs} ABUNDANCE



Swordfish 5 490.4 98.1 «45

(Xiphias gladius)

Bigeye Tuna 1 87.13 87.13 .09

(Thunnus obesus )

Yellowfin Tuna 4 100.85 25.2 .36

(Thunnus albacares)

Shark* 1 35.5 35.5 09

TOTALS 11 713.88 -~- 99



*Other sharks caught were discarded or not sold.



KREKKAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK



TABLE 14.



Total reported commercial landings and value of fisheries resources

taken near or landed on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands during the



period of January to June, 1984. Relative abundance is based on

landings.



ishing Method Total Reported Reported Relative

OR Landings (lbs.) Value Abundance



Target Species

Pot Fish 5,285.00 $10,374.00 .33

Hook Fish 4,100.50 7,171.50 -25

Lobster 1,405.50 7,027.50 .09

Conch 192.00 384.00 01

Spear Fish 81.00 162.00 .005

Whelk 28.00 --- -002

Vertical Longline 4,261.99 10,203.00 .27

Surface Longline 713.88 2,898.96 04

TOTALS 16,067.37 $38,220.96 1.007



KRKREKKKKRKRKKRRRKRKKEK

28



3.2 Subsistence Fishermen



A subsistence fisherman can be defined as a person who fishes strictly to obtain

food for personal use and who is required by law to have a fishing license. This

type of fisherman is either retired or has other full-time employment. A subsis-

tence trap fisherman sets out from one to ten fish traps and sometimes does some

handline fishing (Table 15). Traps are usually hauled every weekend, and yield

from six (6) to fifty (50) pounds of fish per month. Some fish may be given away

to friends or family members of different households; in general, more than one

person benefits from the fish caught.



From species lists provided by the fishermen interviewed, species caught are

essentially the same as sampled in commercial fishermen's catches (Table 3). Most

of the subsistence fishermen interviewed have their own boats or use friends’

boats to haul their traps. Boats are generally small (14 to 18 feet) and usually

have a small outboard engine. Some fishermen haul their traps by rowing their

boats to where they are set. The majority of subsistence level fishing appears to

take place from Rams Head around to East End and south of Cruz Bay, mostly outside

of National Park Service waters. This is probably because most subsistence fish-

ermen live in Coral Bay/John's Folly area and some in Cruz Bay, and most subsis-

tence fishermen do not travel very far (43 to four miles) from port to fish. Within

the Park, the most intensively fished bay appears to be the Lameshur Bays with



three fishermen reporting a total of seventeen (17) traps set in these bays.



3.3. Fish Importer



One person interviewed on St. John supplements her regular income by importing



fish from the British Virgin Islands three times a week. Fish is bought from the

British Virgin Islands Fishing Co., LTD. and brought to St. John three times a week

on a local ferry. Twice a week the fish brought in is sold directly to several

hotels on the island. The third time the fish is sold on the dock to the general



public. All fish imported is already cleaned and scaled. Sometimes it is already

eee



TABLE 15.

Gear and landings data on subsistence fishermen on St. John, U.S. Virgin



Islands. Ten (10) subsistence fishermen cooperated in the interviews.

F'LSHERYAN # OTHER # TIMES LBS .FISH USE oF # PEOPLE AREA

# TRAPS METHODS FISH/MO. PER MO. FISH BENEFLTT ING} FISHED

1 7 --- 4 30 P 10 Lameshur

‘ Bays

. 2 3 Handline 4 50 P/G N/A John's

; Folly

3 5 Handline 4 40 P 5 East End

° 4 5 --- 4 25-30 P 8-9 East End

5 0 Handline 2 25 ;  ?P 7 SW St.Jot

6 0 Speargun 1 10-15 i P 4 East End/

§.Cruz Be

1 --- 4 6 P 5 SW St. Jc

8 2 --- 4 10 P 4 No .Shore

9 8 --- 3-4 20 P 5 Lameshur

Bays

10 2 -—- 4 8 P 4 Lameshur

Bays



1 :

Pp-Personal, G-Gift

HAKKKAKEKKREKERERER



TABLE 16,



Composition and weights of fish imported to St. John, U.S. Virgin

Islands from Tortola, British Virgin Islands, by a sole importer

during the period of January to June, 1984. All weights are in pounds.

All listed here were sold to the general public.



MONTH NO. SAMPLES } POTFISH LOBSTER 5 CONCH OTHER

January” 0 --- ~--- ~~ --~

February 4 790 --- --- ~-= }

March 4 980 16 5 502

April 3 400 --- 5 ---

May 2 225 8 5 ---



. June 3 362 8 --- ---

TOTAL 16 2,757 32 i5 50

Avg.lbs./trip 172.3 2 .95 3.1

Est.lbs./year 8,960 104 49 161



l_. .

Fifty (50) lbs. of Bonito were imported as bait for a commercial

longline vessel,



We did not know of this importer in January.

30



filleted. On special order, lobster, conch, or other spectalty fish will be

brought to the individual requesting it.



The majority of fish brought in is pot fish of similar composition to that

brought in by local fishermen. Total poundage of all imports for public consump—

tion during the study period are shown in Table 16. Prices are slightly higher

than those charged by the local commercial fishermen, however, this is due to the

fish being already cleaned and scaled. In all cases where this importer was inter-

viewed, all fish were sold relatively quickly supporting the contention that on



St. John, the demand is always equal to or greater than the supply.



4. DISCUSSION



It is quite clear that all fishing done in St. John and adjacent waters uses

artisanal West Indian techniques with the exception of the longline vessel and

spear fish fishermen. Eight artisanal methods were sampled with trap fishing

being the most common.



The majority of all fishing done in Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve (NPS)

waters is subsistence or recreational in nature as commercial fishing is prohib-

ited. In spite of this prohibition, several traps reported as being located in

the Park waters have been associated with boats belonging to commercial

fishermen (M. Sutton, personal communication). Other boats reported fishing belong

to subsistence or recreational fishermen.



While the distinction between commercial and subsistence or recreational

fishermen is clear, the difference between subsistence and recreational is not.



A distinction can be made on the basis of economic need and fishing methods used,

although a large grey area makes the two terms interchangeable.



A number of. very real problems exist with attempting to obtain landings data

from fishermen and will be described here as problems to be considered when design-

ing a port or fisherman sampling program. Some of these problems are peculiar to



St. John and may not apply elsewhere.

1) In general, demand is much greater than supply. This makes it difficult to

obtain numbers and length/weight data for individual species because of the volume

of customers and the speed of sales. Sometimes customers will allow their purchase

to be measured and some data can be obtained this way. It is important not to

interfere with sales as fishermen's cooperation can be lost.



2) When the demand is much greater than the supply, there is no pressure on the

fishermen to be the first one back to port to sell their catch. This lack of a

competitive market produces extremely variable and irregular port arrival times



of the fishermen. The fisherman can always sell his catch. This makes it extremely

difficult to sample all fishermen as much time could be spent waiting.



3) Non-commercial fishermen go out when they want to and generally return to

widely dispersed sites. Data can only be obtained from these fishermen by chance

or through an interview system with pre-made sample forms. Fisherman cooperative-

ness can be enhanced by obtaining the desired information in conversation and

filling in your forms later.



4) Fishermen, by their very nature, tend to be independent and usually reluctant

to discuss their catches or fishing locations with anyone. This suspicion that

catch information is wanted for tax purposes or to somehow regulate fishing makes

it extremely difficult to obtain reliable data, if any. The other extreme is the

fisherman who inflates his catch to make people, usually other fishermen, think he

is doing better than he is.



The distribution of landings by catch method on St. John is different than

previously reported for the Virgin Islands and St. Thomas/St. John in general.

While previous reports for percent of total catch being composed of potfish range

from sixty-eight (68) to nearly ninety (90) percent (Clavijo, 1984 and Olsen, et al

1975, respectively), this study shows St. John landings of pot fish to be much lower

but still most abundant. This is due to the low number of full-time pot fish

fishermen and the disproportional amount of longline landings compared to St. Thoma



and St. Croix.

32



It is concluded that the vast majority of all known fishing activity, both

commercial and subsistence/recreational, affecting socioeconomics on St. John takes

place outside of the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve/National Park Service waters.

Seven (7) boats have been reported as tending traps in National Park Service waters.

Two (2) boats have been reported as lobstering in NPS waters and one (1) as hand-

line fishing. Total traps observed in NPS waters are less than two dozen. All

lobstering in NPS waters is done by hand and is concentrated around Fish and Reef

bays on the south side and Johnson's Reef on the north side. Conch taken in NPS *

waters is primarily subsistence/recreational and is mostly confined to the south

shore where grass beds are more abundant. Hook fish taken in NPS waters is main-

ly limited to bottom fishing and trolling by recreational vessels, both of which

are next to impossible to sample.



It is apparent from conversations with British Virgin Islands fisheries

officers and operators of the British Virgin Islands Fishing Co., LTD. that few,

if any British Virgin Islands fishermen fish in NPS waters, preferring their own

waters which are less overfished. One fisherman is reported to occasionally fish

in St. John waters but it was said to be hard to contact him and that he would be

reluctant to admit fishing in U.S. Virgin Islands waters even though it is allowed

under the USVI/BVI Reciprocal Fisheries Agreement (1979).



It appears then that little intensive fishing takes place within the

Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve/National Park Service. As such, this area may ser\

as a refuge for many individuals that would be harvested if they were outside the

VIBR/NPS. It would be interesting to compare numbers and sizes of individual specic

found within the VIBR/NPS with those found outside the VIBR/NPS on St. John and St.

Thomas. This might quantitatively demonstrate lesser fishing pressure and possibly

more abundant and larger fish found in the VIBR/NPS. This protected area may also

be serving as a recruitment source and emigration base for areas outside the

VIBR/NPS where fishing pressure is greater.



Another possibility is that the current numbers, sizes and species composition



of fishes in the National Park are smaller and different from what they were before

any fishing was done in these waters. Unfortunately, there are no records

documenting these statistics nor are there records of whether past fishing in



these waters was greater than present. Even with little present fishing, the

numbers, sizes and species composition could be affected by more intensive fish-

ing being done outside of National Park waters, thus creating an excess of external

available habitat, drawing fish out of the National Park waters. This would



produce a similar affect as overfishing within the National Park waters.

34



5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS



This project was funded by the National Park Service, Contract NO. CX-001-

2-0048 (Work Order No. PX-0001-3-0885) and administered by Island Resources

Foundation in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Resource Management Coopera-

tive (VIRMAC). Thanks go to Marielle Brandon and Ann Swanbeck of the

Division of Fish and Wildlife for their assistance in collecting port



sample and subsistence fishermen data, respectively. Special thanks go



to all the fishermen of St. John who provided information for this project

during port sampling and other interviews. Michael Sutton provided infor-

mation on boats observed fishing around St. John in NPS waters. Dr. Arthur

Dammann provided much appreciated advice and technical support. Dr. Robert

Brander made possible these projects in the first place and to him go thanks

for all his effort. Thanks also go to Kathleen Brown and Charlene Vaughan



for typing and retyping this paper.

any fishing was done in these waters. Unfortunately, there are no records

documenting these statistics nor are there records of whether past fishing in

these waters was greater than present. Even with little present fishing, the

numbers, sizes and species composition could be affected by more intensive fish-

ing being done outside of National Park waters, thus creating an excess of external

available habitat, drawing fish out of the National Park waters. This would



produce a similar affect as overfishing within the National Park waters.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS



This project was funded by the National Park Service, Contract NO. CX-001-

2-0048 (Work Order No. PX-0001-3-0885) and administered by Island Resources

Foundation in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Resource Management Coopera-

tive (VIRMAC). Thanks go to Marielle Brandon and Ann Swanbeck of the

Division of Fish and Wildlife for their assistance in collecting port



sample and subsistence fishermen data, respectively. Special thanks go



to all the fishermen of St. John who provided information for this project

during port sampling and other interviews. Michael Sutton provided infor-

mation on boats observed fishing around St. John in NPS waters. Dr. Arthur

Dammann provided much appreciated advice and technical support. Dr. Robert

Brander made possible these projects in the first place and to him go thanks

for all his effort. Thanks also go to Kathleen Brown and Charlene Vaughan

for typing and retyping this paper.

REFERENCES



Brownell, W.N. and Rainey, W.E., 1971. Research and development of deep-

water commercial and sport fisheries around the Virgin Islands plateau.

Carib. Res Inst., V.I.E.R.S., Contrib. No. 3, 88pp.



» 1972. Fisheries of the Virgin Islands. Comm. Fish. Rev.,

33 (11-12): 23-30.



Clavijo, I.E., 1984. Fishery Statistics of the Virgin Islands; 1978-1983.

Completion Report, 2~-335-R (1-5), NMFS, NOAA, DOC. Opp.



Dammann, A.E., 1969, Study of the fishery potential of the Virgin Islands.

V.I.E.R.S. Contrib. No. 1, 204pp.



Fiedler, R.H. and Jarvis, N.D., 1932. Fisheries of the Virign Islands of

the United States. U.S. Dept. Comm. Bur. Fish. Invest., Rept. No. 14,

32pp.



Hargraves, P.E., Brody, R.W. and Buckholder, P.R., 1970. A study of the

phytoplankton in the Lesser Antilles region. Bull. Mar. Sci., 20(2):

331-349,



Olsen, D.A., Dammann, A.E. and Neal, D., 1974. A vertical longline for

Red Snapper fishing. Mar. Fish. Rev., 36(1): 7+9.



F and LaPlace, J.A., 1975. Results of fishemen's

information forms for 1974-75. V.I. Fish.Wildl. News, 4(3): 4-10.



; and , 1978. Portunus spinnimanus

Latrielle, a portunid crab with resource potential in the U.S. Virgin

Islands. Mar. Fish. Rev., Paper No. 1314: 12-14,



and LaPlace, J.A., 1981. Demonstration of advances in Virgin

Islands small boat fishing techniques. Mar. Fish.Rev., 43(11): 11-15.



Swingle, W.E., Dammann, A.E. and Yntema, J.A., 1979. Survey of the com-

mercial fishery of the Virgin Islands of the United States. Proc.

Gulf Caribb. Fish. Instit., 22: 110-121.



Sylvester, J.R. and Dammann, A.E., 1972. Pot fishing in the Virgin Islands.

Mar. Fish. Rev., 34(9-10): 33-35.



and » 1974. Some observations on the deepwater

fishery resources of the Virgin Islands. Carib. J. Sci., 14(3-4):

103-165.



Fi and Dewey, R.A., 1977. Ciguatera in the

U.S. Virgin Islands. Mar. Fish. Rev., Paper No. 1260: 14-16.



Virgin Islands Code, Title 12, Chapter 10. Commercial Fishing. As ammended

by Act 3330, 1972.

L



| H ; APPENDIX 1

f 4 ee oe

Lp fog in, PE Z Llc, Lilmn £.

Date ; ima Liithnees z, /L



Type of Sh fit; aaa Le gL wh Aeteil



Yellowtail Snapper_ .



Virgin (Mutton) Snapper

Pot (Lane) Snapper

tog Snapper”

Yollow Fyé Siidpper

Black Silk" Stiapper

Black Fin” Snapper pote pee

Silo



Other snappers "~~ ---



ed ee ee en



Nassau Grower , —_

Yellavfin Grouper —

John Prowl’. (Red) 777 To

Red Wind 70 00777 aoe aa “

Butterfish™ (Corey) —-—~— | — ;



Other Groupers and Hinds

Old’ Wife Te

Other Trigderfish

Parrotfish (Goo too)

‘Squirrelfish



Grunts ; '



Porgics



Shellfish



Goat fishes



Hogfish

Spanish Hogfish

Other Wrasses - —-|-—



Surgeonfish

Flatfi sho



Other angels So siemen es ame eo ae



Carang (Bar Jack) ~ |

Hardnose 0 ror fw ;



' Horse-eye Jack—

‘Anber jack | Soe ners Fone



Kingfish. ,

Mackerél 77

Bonito —

Wahoo

Barracucla bows

Blackfin Tuna «= -

Yellowfin Tuna.



Blue Marlin ) -

Waite Marlin ee : 2

Sailfish Totes ree mee ee fe



ejt



1 eee pe cet oe



oes



— “ ind

Nurse Sharks — !

Other Sharks ke mmm eg ~

SSIES oe



Subsistence Fishermen Sampling form

Division of Fish and Wildlife



Number of Traps



Other Fishing Methods



Approximate location of fishing activity



' APPENDIX .



Distance from home



Number of times per month haul traps/other methods



Approximate pounds of fish per month



Principal use of fish caught (personal or given away)



Number of people benefitting from fish caught



Main species caught (list below)