Catch and Release Population Estimates Lab Collaborators Sarah Roberson and Cody Robinson Abstract The problem

was how effective the catch and release method is in measuring population size. The hypothesis was, if fifteen fish are tagged, then the population size will be off (higher or lower than the actual fish count) by five to ten fish, and there will be less variation with more fish tagged. Fourteen different groups put plastic beads that were all the same color into a bag, and putting in 10, 15, or 20 different colored beads to represent the tagged fish. Each group shook the bag and caught random numbers of fish 10, 15, or 20 times then calculated the estimated population size. Then the actual numbers of fish were counted, the percent error was calculated, and the results were put into a group table. The less fish tagged, and the least amount of catches provided the best results. This was not true to the hypothesis. Catch and release could be an effective way to measure population, if the fish, or whatever is being caught and released, can stay alive once they are released.

Problem How effective is the catch and release method in measuring population size? Hypothesis If fifteen fish are tagged, then the population size will be off (higher or lower than the actual fish count) by five to ten fish, and there will be less variation with more fish tagged. Parts of the Experiment The control group was the bag of fish with no tagged fish. The experimental group were the bags of fish with tagged fish. The independent variables were how many fish were tagged, and how many times each group tagged and released fish. The dependent variable was how close the estimated population was to the actual population size. Materials Paper bag A large number of plastic beads (all the same color) 10 30 plastic beads that are a different color than the other plastic beads Methods 1. Put the large number of same colored plastic beads (fish) into the paper bag. 2. Put a sample catch of 10, 15, or 20 of the different colored beads (tagged fish) into the bag.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Shake the bag. Without looking, remove a sample catch from the population in the bag. Repeat this for a total of 10, 15, or 20 catches. Calculate the percent tagged for each catch and average that column. Calculate the estimated population size. Count the actual population. Calculate the percent error between the estimated population and the actual population. Compare those numbers with the other groups to test the hypothesis. Data

Number tagged

Number of catches 15

% error 2.5%

20 15 10 15 20 7.1% 7%

20

15

23.8%

15 10 10 20 10 20

13%

9%

1.5%

15

10

20.8%

15 15 20 15 20 10 15 15

42%

30.1%

8.1%

16%

20 20 15 15

14.6%

3%

Data Analysis The groups that tagged ten fish, and had fifteen catches had the percent errors of 7% and 13%. The groups that tagged ten fish, and had twenty catches had the percent errors of 1.5% and 8.1%. The group that tagged fifteen fish, and had ten catches had a percent error of 20.8%. The groups that tagged fifteen fish, and had fifteen catches had percent errors of 42%, 16%, and 3%. The groups that tagged fifteen fish, and had twenty catches had percent errors of 30.1%, and 7.1%. The group that tagged twenty fish, and had ten catches had a percent error of 9%. The groups that tagged twenty fish, and had fifteen catches had percent errors of 2.5% and 23.8%. The group that tagged twenty fish, and had twenty catches had a percent error of 14.6%.

Conclusion The groups that tagged the least fish, and caught the least number of times had the lowest percent error. This does not support the hypothesis of the more fish tagged, and the more catches there are, then there will be a lower percent error. This is the opposite of the hypothesis because it was shown that the less fish tagged, and the less catches done, the lower the percent error was. Catch and release could be an effective way to estimate population size of fish. However; this method could be more effective if the fish stayed alive after being caught, tagged, and released. [The fish] caught and released immediately had 1.3% mortality, bass caught, held and culled had 14.9% mortality, and fish brought to weigh-in had 39.1% mortality. If the fish stay alive after being caught, tagged, and released, then the catch and release method could be very effective. 1. Chance (whether or not tagged fish are caught each time), overfishing, and predators could cause the population size estimate to be different from the actual population size. 2. The estimate was over by 39 fish. 3. The less fish that are tagged and caught, the lower the chance of catching tagged fish, which will give a better estimate because when tagged fish are caught because there are not that many tagged fish out there. 4. Yes, this method appears to be an effective way to assess population size if there are fewer catches because this will provide more accurate results. 5. If predicting a large population, like an actual ocean fishery, our percent error could be very large because the fish will keep reproducing, even when scientists stop tagging fish. 6. A biologist should be concerned about the migration patterns of the fish they are tagging because if the fish swim away to a different area, and the biologist stays where the fish were, then the biologist will not catch may, if any, tagged fish.

Works Cited Horst, Jerald. "CATCH & RELEASE: LIVING TO FIGHT AGAIN." Louisiana Fisheries - Fact Sheets. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.