Evaluating the reliability and equitability of at-sea observer release reports in the B.C. offshore groundfish trawl fishery

At-sea observer release reports must be reliable for stock assessment accuracy, and equitable for individual transferable quota management programme validity. However, reliability and equitability may be compromised when harvesters benefit economically from under-reported releases. For example, harvesters in the British Columbia offshore groundfish trawl benefit from under-reported marketable released sablefish and dead released halibut. When monitoring programmes provide essential data for management, a review of the programme's veracity is required. In this analysis, releases are predicted using environmental, social and economic predictors, and then compared with reported releases. Compared to the average individual, some observers report more- or less-than-expected releases, and some skippers have more- or less-than-expected releases deducted from quota. However, these weights appear to be negligible for both species. The analysis does not provide strong reasons to suspect that release data are unreliable or inequitable for their intended purpose.