Commercial, Sport, and Personal Use Fisheries Sample Clauses

Commercial, Sport, and Personal Use Fisheries. Valdez is a popular sport fishing area, particularly for wild and hatchery produced silver salmon. Some sport fishing for bottom fishes and personal-use fishing for crab and shrimp also occurs. There is no commercial fishing for wild salmon in the Port; however, the Solomon Gulch Hatchery provides a stock of pink salmon that is commercially harvested. Incidental takes of wild salmon are expected to occur with this harvest, but management practices attempt to limit the number of wild salmon caught with hatchery salmon. Commercial fishing for xxxxxxx has also occurred in the Port. Historically, feeding and spawning populations in the Port were small compared to other regions in PWS; however, the severe decline of xxxxxxx after the 1989 Exxon Xxxxxx oil spill increased public sensitivity to this issue. The reduced numbers of xxxxxxx makes this population more susceptible to other stresses. Measurements associated with risk to the Port Valdez fisheries populations are complicated by commercial or sport harvesting, wild predators, small population sizes, and mobility of the organisms. An effect seen in an individual fish or shellfish may have little connection to the Port Valdez environment. This is particularly true of anadromous fishes that spend almost all of their adult life in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Consequently, measurements related to the Port, such as spawning habitat quality, are more relevant to the assessment endpoint than is the health of individual fishes. Risk to fisheries populations in the Port can be monitored by measuring the following:  Survival and growth of hatchery pink salmon fry during their migration out of the Port;  Survival and growth of silver salmon fry and smolts during culture in net pens, release, and migration out of the Port;  Quality of nearshore habitats used for spawning, egg hatch, and embryo survival of xxxxxxx; and  Survival and settlement rates of pelagic crab larvae and juvenile crabs. Possible measurement endpoints related to fish populations are abundance, egg production or spawning success, size or growth of juveniles, food availability, and predation. Impacts to the population from these measurements can be evaluated in field surveys or through population modeling. Laboratory and in situ field testing of acute or chronic effects are also useful in obtaining information that can be extrapolated to the populations existing in the Port. Further investigation and study of the population and community...