FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 79, NO. 1 



PANHANDLE 



lA 



</> 



1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 r 1 1 1 T i 1 1 n I 



HJSDNJSDMJSDMJSDNJSDMJSDHJSDHJSD 



NEW ORLEANS 



FIGURE 8.— Monthly CPUE for white marlin 

 from the Panhandle and New Orleans areas, 

 1971-78. CPUE is derived from standardized 

 recreational (both dock and tournament fish- 

 ing) and longline effort. The first month de- 

 picted on the abscissa is March (M) 1971. 



^nrnjTJTJTYTUJJ:, 



1971-1978 



part of the comparable longline effort probably 

 occurred in the western portion of area II where 

 few sailfish are caught. Recreational and longline 

 data were pooled, and the aggregate indices of 

 abundance are shown in Figure 9. The results 

 indicate that the basic catch model is adequate for 

 representing the sailfish data in the northern Gulf 

 of Mexico. 



In view of these results, it then seems appropri- 

 ate to examine white marlin and sailfish catch 

 data from the Gulf of Mexico to see if any trends in 

 relative abundance are apparent. Figure 8 pre- 



sents CPUE for white marlin from the Panhandle 

 and New Orleans areas and suggests that a gen- 

 eral decline in white marlin abundance has taken 

 place since 1973. There was a peak in 1975 in both 

 areas (also seen in the yearly average of CPUE 

 shown below) and two good months in 1978 in the 

 Panhandle area, but the overall trend would ap- 

 pear to be downward. 



Figure 9 presents similar data for sailfish from 

 all three gulf areas. For this species, too, the gen- 

 eral trend in relative abundance, at least in the 

 Panhandle and New Orleans areas, appears to be 



62 



