CFP Fisheries Management & Conservation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal agency administers the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) and holds primary authority for managing marine fisheries in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone?
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Correct answer)
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
- Environmental Protection Agency
Correct answer: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NMFS operates under NOAA within the Department of Commerce and manages marine fisheries resources in the U.S. EEZ (3–200 nautical miles).
Question 2: Depletion-based stock assessment methods such as the Leslie-DeLury method are most appropriate when:
- Fish can be individually tagged and recaptured over several years
- A population is sampled repeatedly during a short removal experiment (Correct answer)
- Otolith aging data are unavailable
- Multispecies interactions dominate population dynamics
Correct answer: A population is sampled repeatedly during a short removal experiment
Depletion methods use sequential removal data to estimate initial abundance by tracking the decline in catch-per-unit-effort during a brief, intensive removal experiment.
Question 3: What is the primary ecological function of riparian buffer strips adjacent to streams?
- Provide spawning substrate directly in the channel
- Filter nonpoint source pollutants and stabilize stream banks (Correct answer)
- Increase water temperature for cold-water species
- Accelerate nutrient cycling in the hyporheic zone
Correct answer: Filter nonpoint source pollutants and stabilize stream banks
Riparian buffers intercept agricultural runoff, reduce sedimentation, stabilize banks with root systems, and provide shade and woody debris inputs to streams.
Question 4: Which index is most commonly used to evaluate fish community condition and biological integrity in rivers and streams in the U.S.?
- Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index
- Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) (Correct answer)
- Fulton's Condition Factor
- Population Viability Analysis score
Correct answer: Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI)
The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), developed by James Karr in 1981, uses multiple fish metrics to assess ecological health relative to least-disturbed reference conditions.
Question 5: Under the Endangered Species Act, a 'candidate species' is one that:
- Has already been listed as threatened or endangered
- Has been petitioned for listing and is awaiting a 12-month finding
- Is warranted for listing but precluded by higher-priority actions (Correct answer)
- Has recovered sufficiently to be considered for delisting
Correct answer: Is warranted for listing but precluded by higher-priority actions
Candidate species are those for which USFWS or NMFS has sufficient information to support listing as threatened or endangered but which are precluded from listing by other higher-priority actions.
Question 6: The 'stock-recruit relationship' in fisheries describes the link between:
- Fishing effort and gear selectivity
- Spawning stock biomass and the number of juveniles that survive to recruitment (Correct answer)
- Hatchery production and wild fish abundance
- Temperature and larval drift patterns
Correct answer: Spawning stock biomass and the number of juveniles that survive to recruitment
Stock-recruit relationships (e.g., Beverton-Holt, Ricker) model the functional relationship between parent spawning biomass and the number of offspring that survive to recruit to the fishable population.
Question 7: A fisheries manager wants to estimate the age structure of a walleye population. Which structure is MOST commonly used for aging this species?
- Scales
- Otoliths (Correct answer)
- Vertebrae
- Dorsal fin spines
Correct answer: Otoliths
Otoliths (sagittae) are preferred for aging walleye because they produce clearer annual rings (annuli) than scales, especially in older fish.
CFP Fisheries Management & Conservation 3
Which federal agency administers the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) and holds primary authority for managing marine fisheries in the U.S.
Exclusive Economic Zone?