Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation
Draft Fishery Management Plan for Dolphin and Wahoo of the Atlantic
Prepared by SAFMC Staff
2024-4-02
1 Summary
This report summarizes information for the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Dolphin and Wahoo of the Atlantic. Each FMP is required to have a stock assessment and fishery evaluation (SAFE) report.
This Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report provides background material for the Shrimp Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the South Atlantic Region. The fishery management plan was approved in 2004. This report contains information on the biology of species in the FMP, recent harvest regulations, landings data, and recent trends in the fishery.
The FMP includes Dolphin (Coryphaena hippurus) and Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri). Stock status is unknown for these species in the Atlantic region. Table 1 summarizes information presented later in the report to give an overview of the report findings and can be used to gather a quick synopsis of the fishery. Dolphin trends were generally in the worse condition (4 out of 7), two in better condition, and one in the bad condition. This negative view of the fishery is supported by the fishery performance report (developed by a stakeholder advisory panel) where they described the fishery degrading in the recent years.
2 Introduction
This report summarizes information for species in the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan. Each FMP is required to have a stock assessment and fishery evaluation (SAFE) report. This is a draft document to demonstrate what SAFMC SAFE report could look like. SAFE reports should include information useful for determining annual catch limits (ACL); documenting trends or changes in the resource, ecosystem, and fishery; and assessing success of relevant state and federal FMPs. Information included in the report describes stock status, catch level recommendations, projections (when available), landings and releases by sector (where available), social and economic trends by sector, and essential fish habitat. This reports includes information through 2021 for most species.
Data for this report are pulled from multiple sources including:
- NMFS Southeast Regional Office’s ACL Monitoring webpage,
- recent stock assessments,
- Atlantic Coast Cooperative Statistics Program,
- NMFS Marine Recreational Information Program,
- Southeast Region Headboat Survey,
- SAFMC’s Essential Fish Habitat Mapper, and
- past and ongoing amendments.
2.1 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations
Fishing level recommendations for Dolphin and Wahoo are provided in Table 2.1.
| Species | Criteria | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Dolphin | Overfished Evaluation (SSB/SSBMSST) | Unknown |
| Dolphin | Overfishing Evaluation (F/Fmsy) | Unknown |
| Dolphin | Optimum Yield | 24,570,764 |
| Dolphin | MFMT (FMSY) | Unknown |
| Dolphin | SSBMSY (mt) | Unknown |
| Dolphin | MSST (mt) | Unknown |
| Dolphin | MSY (1,000 lbs) | Unknown |
| Dolphin | Y at 75% FMSY (1,000 lbs) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | Overfished Evaluation (SSB/SSBMSST) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | Overfishing Evaluation (F/Fmsy) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | Optimum Yield | 2,885,303 |
| Wahoo | MFMT (FMSY) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | SSBMSY (mt) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | MSST (mt) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | MSY (1,000 lbs) | Unknown |
| Wahoo | Y at 75% FMSY (1,000 lbs) | Unknown |
Fishing level recommendations (lbs) based on DW Amendment 10 (Table 2.2).
| Species | Year | OFL | ABC (lbs ww) | Discard OFL | Discard ABC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolphin | 2022 | NA | 24,570,674 | NA | NA |
| Wahoo | 2022 | NA | 2,885,303 | NA | NA |
3 Dolphin
Figure 3.1: Drawing of a Dolphin
Dolpin, Coryphaena hippurus, is an oceanic pelagic fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. The range for dolphin in the western Atlantic is from Georges Bank, Nova Scotia to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are also found seasonally throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and are generally restricted to waters warmer than 68°F (maybe add high temp too).
There is pronounced seasonal variation in abundance. Dolphin are caught off North and South Carolina from May through July. Dolphin off Florida‘s East Coast are caught mainly between April and June. February and March are the peak months off Puerto Rico‘s coast. Dolphin are caught in the Gulf of Mexico from April to September with peak catches in May through August. e pelagic often associated with structure such as Sargassum. Dolphin are fast growing, prolific and have a short lifespan (< 5 years). Average fork lengths for males and females ranges from 34 to 55 inches. Males grow faster and usually live longer than females.
Dolphin are batch spawners and have a protracted spawning season. The spawning season varies with latitude. Dolphin collected in the Florida Current spawned from November through July, and those collected from the Gulf Stream near North Carolina were reproductively active during June and July. Evidence for a continuous spawning season is attributed to the presence of several size classes of eggs found in the ovaries. Size at first maturity ranges from 14 inches in length in Florida to 21 inches in length (Gulf of Mexico) for sexes combined. Males first mature at a larger size than females. Females size at full maturity ranges from 20 inches in Florida, to 24 inches in Puerto Rico.
3.1 Assessment Information
There is not a peer-reviewed stock assessment for Dolphin and the SSC has not adopted an overfishing limit for the stock. Fishermen and some scientists have indicated the stock has been declining. Dolphin migratory behavior into international waters causes issues in developing a stock assessment because landings data from international fleets is often incomplete (Merten et al. 2022).
3.2 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes
Several changes have occurred in the management of Dolphin since 2010 (Table 3.1). Dolphin/Wahoo Amendment 10 was enacted in May 2022. The amendment revised the acceptable biological catch, annual catch limits, sector allocations, accountability measures, and management measures for dolphin and wahoo. The Council is working on three amendments that include actions to increase the geographic range of the 20” FL minimum size limit for dolphin, modify bag and vessel limits for dolphin, and reduce or remove captain and crew bag limits of dolphin in Dolphin Wahoo Regulatory Amendment 3; modifies the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) Control Rule to address scientific uncertainty, management risk, and rebuilding stocks and specifies criteria and procedures for phase-in of ABC changes and carry-over of unused portions of annual catch limits in Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 11; and modify reporting requirements for commercial logbooks in Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 4 (includes multiple FMPs).
| Date | Council Document | Management Change |
|---|---|---|
| 7/22/2010 | Amendment 1 | Designated EFH and EFH-HAPC |
| 4/16/2012 | Amendment 2 | Prohibited bag limit sales for Dolphin |
| 4/16/2012 | Amendment 2 | Established 20 inches fork length minimum size limit off South Carolina |
| 4/16/2012 | Amendment 2 | Established ABC, ACLs, AMs, and allocations for both commercial and recreational sectors |
| 7/7/2014 | Amendment 3 | Required electronic reporting for federal dealers and increased reporting frequency |
| 7/9/2014 | Amendment 5 | Revised ABCs, ACLs (including sector ACLs), recreational ACTs, and AMs implemented through the Comprehensive ACL Amendment; modifications to the sector allocations for dolphin; and revisions to the framework procedure |
| 1/27/2014 | Amendment 6 | Required electronic logbook reporting for headboat vessels |
| 5/1/2015 | Amendment 7 | Specified requirements to allow possession of fillets of Dolphin and Wahoo harvested from Bahamian waters. |
| 2/1/2015 | Amendment 8 | Increased commercial allocation of Dolphin from 7.54% to 10% to match previous “soft” cap |
| 3/21/2017 | Reg Amend 1 | Establish 4,000 lbs ww commercial trip limit for Dolphin once 75% of commercial ACL is reached |
| 1/4/2021 | Amendment 9 | Required weekly reporting for charter vessels |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Revised ABC and ACL to account for change in recreational catch estimation (increased) |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Adjusted allocations based on the revised recreational catch (93% recreational and 7% commercial) |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Modified accountability measures |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Reduced recreational vessel limit |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Removed requirement for operator card |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Allows retention of Dolphin when trap, pot, or buoy gear are onboard a vessel |
| On going | Reg Amend 3 | Increase range of 20 inch size limit |
| On going | Reg Amend 3 | Modify recreational bag and vessel limits |
| On going | Reg Amend 3 | Reduce or remove captain and crew bag limits |
| On going | Amendment 11 | Modify ABC Control Rule to address scientific uncertainty, management risk, and rebuilding stocks |
| On going | Amendment 11 | Allow phase-in of ABC changes and specify criteria |
| On going | Amendment 11 | Allow carry-over of unused ACL and specify criteria |
| On going | Amendment 4 | Modify commercial reporting requirements |
3.3 Fishery and Population Trends
Combined recreational and commercial landings of Dolphin have generally decreased since 2015 (Figure 3.2). The landings in 2020 and 2021 were the lowest of the timeseries.
Figure 3.2: Landings of Dolphin from 2012 to 2021 with the accepted biological catch that became effective in May 2022 (ABC, thinner dashed line).
Released Fish
Staff from NMFS and Council are working on methods to develop annual estimates of commercial discards. Once methods have been developed discards will be provided in the SAFE Report. Amendment 10 to the Dolphin Wahoo Plan (SAFMC 2021) indicated that less than 1,000 fish are released by commercial fishermen on dolphin and wahoo trips.
The number of Dolphin recreational released was highest in 2013 when releases were over 3 million fish. Most years the number of Dolphin released is around 1 million fish (Figure 3.3). Approximately 1/4 of Dolphin released do not survive (Rudershausen et al. 2019).
Figure 3.3: Number of released Dolphin by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.
Trend in Abundance
A fishery-independent survey is not available for Dolphin. Fishery-dependent data can be used to develop catch per unit effort (CPUE) for each year and by area to provide insight into the Dolphin population. Fishery-dependent data may be subject to potential biases due to the non-random nature of fisheries. Fishermen tend to target the species in areas where there is highest abundance. In these areas, the population may appear stable even though there has been a reduction in the population.
A simple CPUE is developed by taking the average of landings for each year. The commercial CPUE is decreasing since 2015 and is below the average from 2004 to 2022 (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4: Index of abundance for Dolphin from 2010 to 2021 based on scaled commercial landings per trip. There are several caveats when using fishery dependent data to represent trends in a population. .
3.4 Sector Trends
Recreational landings ranged from over 25 million pounds (2015) to less than 10 million pounds in 2020 and 2021 (Figure 3.5A.). The decrease in recreational landings have caused fishermen in Florida and elsewhere to be concerned for the Dolphin stock.
Commercial landings have been declining since 2014 with 2021 being the lowest in the series (Figure 3.5B.). The commercial ACL increased slightly with Amendment 10.
Figure 3.5: A. Dolphin recreational landings from 2012 to 2021 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2022 and beyond (dashed line). Recreational landings are based on the fully implemented MRIP estimates and include Monroe County, FL.
B. Dolphin commercial landings from 2012 to 2021 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2022 and beyond (dashed line). Note the different scales between sectors
3.5 Economic Trends
Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Dolphin are number of directed trips in the recreational sector based on MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. Directed trips in recreational fishery have decreased from 2018 to 2019 with a small increase since then (Figure 3.6A.). The ex-vessel value has generally decreased from 2016 to 2021 (Figure 3.6B.).
Figure 3.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Dolphin in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2021.
B. Ex-vessel value of Dolphin for the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2021 (2021 dollars).
Figure 3.7: Price per pound of Dolphin.
Figure 3.8: Revenue per trip from Dolphin.
3.7 Environmental Trends
During NMFS participatory workshops for Dolphin conducted in 2020 and 2021, it was noted that temperatures might be influencing the distribution of Dolphin in the SAFMC jurisdiction. In recent years, temperatures off south Florida have been warmer than normal and could be one explanation for the decreased abundance of Dolphin in the area.
Figure 3.9: Image of average annual sea surface temperature and monthly thermal sea surface temperature graphs (2020). Image was presented to the Council in June 2021
4 Wahoo
Figure 4.1: Drawing of a Dolphin
Wahoo, Acanthocbium solandri, is an oceanic pelagic fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. In the western Atlantic wahoo are found from New York through Colombia including Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. Wahoo are present throughout the Caribbean area, especially along the north coast of western Cuba where it is abundant during the winter.
There is pronounced seasonal variation in abundance. They are caught off North and South Carolina primarily during the spring and summer (April-June and July-September), off Florida‘s east coast year-round, off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands year-round with peak catches between September and March, in the Gulf of Mexico year-round, in the eastern Caribbean between December and June, and in Bermuda between April and September. Adult Wahoo in the Atlantic are pelagic in nature and generally associated with Sargassum. It is assumed that juveniles inhabit waters with temperatures of 72° to 86° F and are associated with Sargassum. Juvenile Wahoo are reported to travel in small schools.
Wahoo are short-lived fish (5 years) and grow rapidly, reaching lengths of up to 60 inches and weights of up to 45 pounds. Both sexes are capable of reproducing during the first year of life, with males maturing at 34 inches and females at 40 inches. Spawning in the United States takes place from June to August. Wahoo are voracious predators that feed primarily on fishes such as mackerels, butterfishes, porcupine fishes, round herrings, scads, jacks, pompanos, and flying fishes.
4.1 Assessment Information
There is not a peer-reviewed stock assessment for Wahoo and the SSC has not adopted an overfishing limit for the stock. Very little is known on the stock structure or abundance of Wahoo along the Atlantic Coast.
4.2 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes
Several changes have occurred in the management of Wahoo since 2010 (Table 4.1). Dolphin/Wahoo Amendment 10 was enacted in May 2022. The amendment revised the acceptable biological catch, annual catch limits, sector allocations, accountability measures, and management measures for dolphin and wahoo. The Council is working on two Wahoo related amendments that include actions to modify the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) Control Rule to address scientific uncertainty, management risk, and rebuilding stocks and specifies criteria and procedures for phase-in of ABC changes and carry-over of unused portions of annual catch limits in Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 11 and modify reporting requirements for commercial logbooks in Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 4 (includes multiple FMPs).
| Date | Council Document | Management Change |
|---|---|---|
| 7/22/2010 | Amendment 1 | Designated EFH and EFH-HAPC |
| 4/16/2012 | Amendment 2 | Established ABC, ACLs, AMs, and allocations for both commercial and recreational sectors |
| 7/7/2014 | Amendment 3 | Required electronic reporting for federal dealers and increased reporting frequency |
| 1/27/2014 | Amendment 6 | Required electronic logbook reporting for headboat vessels |
| 5/1/2015 | Amendment 7 | Specified requirements to allow possession of fillets of Dolphin and Wahoo harvested from Bahamian waters. |
| 1/4/2021 | Amendment 9 | Required weekly reporting for charter vessels |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Revised ABC and ACL to account for change in recreational catch estimation (increased) |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Modified accountability measures |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Reduced recreational vessel limit |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Removed requirement for operator card |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Allows retention of Wahoo when trap, pot, or buoy gear are onboard a vessel |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Revised ABC and ACL to account for change in recreational catch estimation (increased) |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Adjusted allocations based on the revised recreational catch (97.55% recreational and 2.45% commercial) |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Modified accountability measures |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Removed requirement for operator card |
| 5/2/2022 | Amendment 10 | Allows retention of Wahoo when trap, pot, or buoy gear are onboard a vessel |
| On going | Amendment 11 | Modify ABC Control Rule to address scientific uncertainty, management risk, and rebuilding stocks |
| On going | Amendment 11 | Allow phase-in of ABC changes and specify criteria |
| On going | Amendment 11 | Allow carry-over of unused ACL and specify criteria |
| On going | Amendment 4 | Modify commercial reporting requirements |
4.3 Fishery and Population Trends
Combined recreational and commercial landings of Wahoo spiked in 2016 (Figure 4.2). The landings from 2018 to 2021 were similar to landings from 2012 to 2014.
Figure 4.2: Landings of Wahoo from 2012 to 2021 with the accepted biological catch that became effective in May 2022 (ABC, thinner dashed line).
Released Fish
Staff from NMFS and Council are working on methods to develop annual estimates of commercial discards. Once methods have been developed discards will be provided in the SAFE Report. Amendment 10 to the Dolphin Wahoo Plan (SAFMC 2021) indicated that less than 10 Wahoo are released by commercial fishermen on Dolphin and Wahoo trips.
The number of Wahoo recreational released was highest in 2016 similar to landings when over 16,000 Wahoo were released. Most years the number of Wahoo released is less than 10,000 fish and are less than 10% of the number of fish landed (Figure 4.3).
Figure 4.3: Number of released Wahoo by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.
Trend in Abundance
An index of abundance has not been developed for Wahoo.
4.4 Sector Trends
Recreational landings typically ranged between 1 and 2 million pounds except for 2015 to 2017 when landings were over 3 million pounds each year 2021 (Figure 4.4A.). Since 2018, landings of Wahoo have ranged between 1 and 2 million pounds.
Commercial landings were stable from 2012 to 2019 (Figure 4.4B.). Since 2019 commercial landings of Wahoo have been decreasing. 2021 was the lowest in the series.
Figure 4.4: A. Wahoo recreational landings from 2012 to 2021 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2022 and beyond (dashed line). Recreational landings are based on the fully implemented MRIP estimates and include Monroe County, FL.
B. Wahoo commercial landings from 2012 to 2021 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2022 and beyond (dashed line). Note the different scales between sectors
4.5 Economic Trends
Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Wahoo are number of directed trips in the recreational sector based on MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. Directed trips in recreational fishery decreased from 2016 to 2020 and increased in 2021 (Figure 4.5A.). The ex-vessel value has generally decreased from 2017 to 2021 (Figure 4.5B.).
Figure 4.5: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Wahoo in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2021.
B. Ex-vessel value of Wahoo for the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2021 (2021 dollars).
5 Social-Ecological Model for the Dolphin Wahoo Fisheries
Information gathered through Participatory Workshops were used to develop social-ecological models of the Dolphin and Wahoo fisheries for North Carolina/Virginia and South Florida (McPherson et al. 2022). The below information was extracted from the NOAA Tech Memo.
5.1 North Carolina/Virginia Concept Model
5.1.1 Results from a collaborative effort between the SAFMC, SEFSC, and fishing communities
This conceptual fishery system model was built using a participatory approach focused on dolphin and wahoo fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic. It represents the combined perspectives of commercial, for-hire, and recreational fishermen in different communities. The perspectives should be considered as hypotheses and are not necessarily known or vetted truths.
5.1.2 Interactively explore the model components and connections here. Scroll down to the table to read more details.
Hover the mouse over ecosystem components at the perimeter of the circle to see what other components are linked. You can also hover over individual linkages inside the circle. Directionality of influence between ecosystem components is indicated in the text box that appears, and by following the connection lines from thick to thin.
5.1.3 Model details
This table contains the details behind the model component connections.
Enter a term in the ‘Search’ box to see more details about the related linkages. For example, if you are interested in perceptions of how tuna species are related to the dolphin-wahoo fishery, type “tuna” in the box.
*Source column refers to the workshop in which the linkage was discussed. The Beaufort and Virginia Beach workshops included participants from the for-hire and private sectors, while the Wanchese workshop included participants from the commercial and for-hire sectors.
5.2 South Florida Concept Model
5.2.1 Results from a collaborative effort between the SAFMC, SEFSC, and fishing communities
This conceptual fishery system model was built using a participatory approach focused on dolphin and wahoo fisheries in the South Atlantic. It represents the combined perspectives of commercial, for-hire, and recreational fishermen in different communities. The perspectives should be considered as hypotheses and are not necessarily known or vetted truths.
5.2.2 Interactively explore the model components and connections here. Scroll down to the table to read more details.
Hover the mouse over ecosystem components at the perimeter of the circle to see what other components are linked. You can also hover over individual linkages inside the circle. Directionality of influence between ecosystem components is indicated in the text box that appears, and by following the connection lines from thick to thin.
5.2.3 Model details
This table contains the details behind the model component connections.
Enter a term in the ‘Search’ box to see more details about the related linkages. For example, if you are interested in perceptions of how tuna species are related to the dolphin-wahoo fishery, type “tuna” in the box.
*Source column refers to the fishing sector and location of individuals mentioning the linkage during individual conversations. Blanks in this column indicate that the link was considered to be implicit from the discussions (e.g., an increase in effort results in an increase in catch), or that the link was brought up in group webinar discussion.
6 Additional Information
Fishery Performance Report (scroll down to Dolphin under species to display)
7 References
McPherson, M., M. Karnauskas, J. Byrd, J. Hadley, S. Sagarese, C. Peterson, K. Craig, A. Mastitski, S. Crosson. 2022. Participatory modeling of dolphin and wahoo fisheries in the U.S. South Atlantic: Final Report from a workshop series. NOAA Technical Memorandum: NMFS-SEFSC-755
Merten, W,. R. Appledorn, A. Grove, A. Aguilar-Perera, F. Arocha, R. Rivera. 2022. Condition of the international fisheries, catch, and effort trends, and fishery data gaps for dolphinfish ( Coryphaena hippurus ) from 1950 to 2018 in the Western Central Atlantic Ocean. Marine Policy (143). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105189
Rudershausen, P. J.,S. J. Poland, W. Merten, and J. A. Buckel,. 2019. Estimating discard mortality for dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) in a recreational hook and line fishery. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 39:1143–1154.
SAFMC (South Atlantic Fishery Management Council). 2021. Amendment 10 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery for the Atlantic with Final Environmental Assessment, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Regulatory Impact Review, and Fishery Impact Statement. South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 4055 Faber Place Drive, Ste 201, Charleston, S.C. 29405.
3.6 Social Trends
One proxy for social trends for Dolphin is sector closures which effect fishing opportunities (Table 3.2). While the negative effects of seasonal closures are usually short-term, if closures persist, they may induce indirect effects through changes in fishing behavior or business operations that could have long-term social effects, such as increased pressure on another species, or fishermen having to stop fishing altogether due to regulatory closures. There have been no ACL related closures of Dolphin since 2016.
A Fishery Performance Report for Dolphin was completed by the Dolphin Wahoo Advisory Panel in April 2022, fishermen noted the lower abundance and smaller size of schools. + Dolphin are a culturally iconic fish species. In Southeastern North Carolina and South Florida, people travel specifically for the sport, beauty, and culinary aspects (recreationally and commercially harvested) of the fish. As a result, dolphin have become an important part of the community and economy.
Along the entire coast, the loss of working waterfronts and infrastructure has negatively affected the dolphin fishery in recent years. Waterfront property is at a premium and fish houses are selling property for other uses. As a result, it can be tough to find a place to tie up a larger fishing vessel to stock up on supplies, fuel, and ice.
In the Outer Banks, the number of boats ramps has decreased, and navigation of inlets has impacted access for larger vessels (over 45 ft). o In South Florida, there has been increased access for private and charter vessels with more marinas and private residences on the water. However, the price of access has increased notably, and many fishermen are getting priced out of dock space.
Fishermen and communities have adapted to changes in the dolphin fishery by utilizing technology to more efficiently target dolphin coupled with more reliable and faster boats allowing fishermen to cover large expanses of water.
Due to the popularity of the dolphin fishery and individuals relocating to the coast anglers needed to travel further offshore and get away from the crowds to find better fishing.