Hook Selectivity in an Artisanal Spotted Rose Snapper Lutjanus guttatus Fishery on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

Commercial fishing is responsible for declines in both the abundance and biomass of many marine species (Ward and Myers 2005). The Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) Sustainable Seafood Certification Program focuses on fishery modifications to reduce such impacts on marine species and ecosystems. On the Nicoya Peninsula in northwestern Costa Rica, the Costa Rican nongovernmental organization Programa Restauración de Tortugas Marinas has been working with artisanal fishers since 2007 to promote sustainable fishing practices, with the goal of applying for a sustainable fishery certificate from the MSC. To collect relevant data for the MSC application, we tested the selectivity of the hooks used in the artisanal fishery to determine how the fishery interacts with the target species, the Spotted Rose Snapper Lutjanus guttatus , as well as nontarget, bycatch species. We constructed a longline composed of equal numbers of different sized hooks (the Mustad #8 “J” style hooks commonly used in the fishery as well as smaller #10 and larger #6 hooks). Decreasing the hook size led to higher catch rates of both Spotted Rose Snapper and most bycatch species, with no change in mean size of Spotted Rose Snapper. Increasing the hook size led to decreased catch rates of both Spotted Rose Snapper and most bycatch species and an increase in the mean size of Spotted Rose Snapper. The size range of the Spotted Rose Snapper caught on this gear did not exceed that of the artisanal fishery. This study suggests that the artisanal fishery is using an appropriately sized hook to minimize bycatch rates without unduly minimizing the catch rates of the target species, though increasing hook size could exclude the smallest Spotted Rose Snapper from the fishery. Received November 27, 2012; accepted May 21, 2013