Nearshore fisheries in the Main Hawaiian Islands encompass a diverse group of fishers using a wide array of gears and targeting many different species. Communities in Hawai’i often rely on these fisheries for economic, social, and cultural services. However, the stress from overfishing can cause ecosystem degradation and long-term economic loss. This layer represents the average annual catch of reef fish by non-commercial boat-based net fishing methods. Average annual catch at the island scale, from 2004 – 2013, was estimated from Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) combined fisher intercept and phone survey data (McCoy, 2015; McCoy et al., in prep). These Island scale estimates were spatially distributed offshore using distance to boat harbors and launch ramps, while accounting for marine managed areas, and restricted access areas (de facto MPAs e.g. Military Danger Zones).McCoy K. 2015. Estimating nearshore fisheries catch for the main Hawaiian Islands. Thesis. University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.McCoy, K., Friedlander, A., Kittinger, J., Ma, H., Teneva, L., Williams, I.D. In prep. Estimating nearshore fisheries catch for the main Hawaiian islands. PLoS One. This layer was developed as part of a geospatial database of key anthropogenic pressures to coastal waters of the Main Hawaiian Islands for the Ocean Tipping Points project (http://oceantippingpoints.org/). Ocean tipping points occur when shifts in human use or environmental conditions result in large, and sometimes abrupt, impacts to marine ecosystems. The ability to predict and understand ocean tipping points can enhance ecosystem management, including critical coral reef management and policies to protect ecosystem services produced by coral reefs. The goal of the Ocean Tipping Points Hawaii case study was to gather, process and map spatial information on environmental and human-based drivers of coral reef ecosystem conditions. Please contact the Ocean Tipping Points project in advance of applying these data sets to project work so the PI can track and communicate data uses and ensure no duplicate efforts are underway. When applying these data for publication, please reference and cite the complete journal article, Wedding et al. 2017. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.
