Utilizing reflex impairment to assess the role of discard mortality in ‘Size, Sex, and Season’ management for Oregon Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) fisheries

We found that crab discarded from Oregon (U.S.A.) commercial and recreational fisheries for Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) have lower post-release mortality than previously estimated. This aligns with the goals of the ‘3-S’ management strategy currently employed for these fisheries, to protect discarded sub-legal male (Size), female (Sex), and soft-shell (Season) crab. We found that, for the commercial ocean Dungeness fishery, overall discard mortality rates (five days after release) were 0.080 (95% Confidence Interval 0.061-0.100) for females; 0.012 (95% Confidence Interval 0.002-0.022) for hard-shell males; and 0.092 (95% Confidence Interval 0.026-0.157) for soft-shell males. The overall discard mortality rate for the recreational bay fishery (from a boat) was estimated to be 0.009 (95% Confidence Interval 0-0.018). A Reflex Action Mortality Predictor (RAMP) relationship, which relates reflex impairment to mortality probability, was created and utilized to estimate mortality rates. Our study highlights the importance of looking not only at discard and mortality rates to evaluate ‘3-S’ fishery management, but also the mortality- and bycatch-per-retained ratios, and temporal trends relative to changes in effort, animal condition, and catch composition.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author