144 
Fishery Bulletin 95(1 ), 1997 
Figure 5 
Interpolation of snapper abundance from all video deployments at the east 
Oahu study site (north Kaneohe, south Kaneohe, and Kailua). Increasing 
snapper abundance is signified with darker shading. Both north and south 
channels of Kaneohe Bay are contoured on the map, and a line is used to 
indicate the eastward extension of the Kailua outfall from the Mokapu 
pennisula. Isobaths are in 15-m intervals. 
West 
Station numbers of spatial replicates 
East 
Figure 6 
Mean (filled circle) and range (hollow circles) of number of snappers seen 
per video drop on south Molokai coastline survey. Each station received 
two video deployments. The drainage from the Kahanui swamp enters 
the ocean ~1 km to the east of extreme right of the graph. 
sity of 6.6 snappers/km 2 , which was taken 
as representative of routine “nonpre- 
mium” habitat. Assuming this density and 
a uniform distribution of snappers at a 
large scale, we estimated that the 2,600 
km 2 of available habitat at 60-90 m depth 
in the MHI is equivalent to 17,200 juve- 
nile snappers. This video-based estimate 
is no more than 15% of the 115,600- 
189,200 juvenile snappers (44—72 snap- 
pers/km 2 ) backcalculated from catch in 
the commercial fishery. A pilot study of 
recreational fishing 6 suggests that if rec- 
reational catch was included in the back 
calculation, the difference between video 
and catch estimates could be as high as 
one order of magnitude. 
Discussion 
Premium nursery habitat 
Persistence of specific snapper aggrega- 
tions on east Oahu was supported by 
both the multicanyon and multiyear 
analyses. However, because no multi- 
year surveys extended beyond the north 
Kaneohe site, we can only assume that 
year-to-year variability in the other east 
Oahu sites was similar. A strong year 
class of snappers might be expected to 
force some individuals to occupy mar- 
ginal habitat, making the distinction 
between snapper aggregations less 
clear. Results of the multiyear survey 
indicated that 1993 and 1994 were rela- 
tively poor years for recruitment of 
young snappers, suggesting that the 
observed snappers in the multicanyon 
stations occupied favorable habitat. 
Slope showed no significant effect on 
the distribution of snappers, but relief 
did. The deep sediment deposits on the 
terraces preclude any undetected small- 
scale relief features to which juveniles 
might orient. The few areas where es- 
carpment features protruded from the 
sediment layer were associated with ab- 
6 Hamm, D. C., and H. K. Lum. 1992. Prelimi- 
nary results of the Hawaii small-boat fisheries 
survey. Honolulu Laboratory, Southwest Fish. 
Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Hono- 
lulu, HI 96822-2396. Southwest Fish. Sci. 
Cent. Admin. Rep. H-92-08, 35 p. 
