Southern flounder gigging charter trip logs from the Texas Coastal Bend from 2017-05-01 to 2019-12-31

Southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) populations are declining in the Gulf of Mexico basin. This is particularly true in Texas, where this unique and culturally important fishery has been in decline since the 1980s despite increasingly stringent regulatory measures. Current angler-intercept creel surveys used to estimate recreational flounder harvest levels are conducted during daylight hours and do not account for the high levels of nighttime flounder gigging (spearing) activity, a popular and efficient harvest method for this fishery. There are legitimate scientific and logistical concerns that have prevented the use of wide-spread nighttime creel surveys to monitor the flounder gigging fishery in the past, however this has made accurate catch and effort estimates difficult to obtain. Given the concern about this economically important fishery’s status, we adopted a unique approach utilizing social media to provide unprecedented information into this fishery’s impact during periods that are not traditionally monitored. Specifically, we reconstructed seasonal flounder harvest and effort metrics stemming from the nighttime recreational guided flounder gigging sector over 2.6 years using guided flounder gigging charter photo archives publicly available through Facebook. The dataset here represents trip records for three guides that posted numerous photos of their guided trips on Facebook. Each row represents one photo that was assumed to represent an individual charter trip (usually confirmed based on photo description or client party size). For each photo, the number of clients and all fish pictured were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible and counted. For each photo, two independent readers made blind counts of each species present and the number of clients. When counts differed, the photo was jointly examined to reach a consensus. This dataset supports the publication: Hall, Q. A., D. M. Coffey, M. K. Streich, M. R. Fisher, and G. W. Stunz. 2022. Social media shines light on the "hidden" impact of nighttime guide-gigging charters on Texas' Southern Flounder fishery: A stab in the dark. PLOS ONE. In Press.墨西哥湾流域的南方牙鲆（Paralichthys lethostigma）种群数量正持续下降，这一情况在德克萨斯州尤为突出。该渔业兼具独特性与文化重要性，自20世纪80年代以来，尽管监管措施日趋严苛，其捕捞规模仍呈下滑趋势。 当前用于估算休闲牙鲆捕捞量的垂钓者拦截式渔获调查（angler-intercept creel surveys）均在日间开展，未纳入夜间牙鲆叉捕（鱼叉刺捕）活动的高占比情况——这类捕捞方式是该渔业中流行且高效的手段。过往因合理的科学与后勤层面顾虑，无法开展大范围夜间渔获调查以监测该叉捕渔业，这使得准确获取捕捞量与作业强度的估算值困难重重。 鉴于这一具有经济重要性的渔业现状令人担忧，我们采用了一种独特的方法，借助社交媒体获取此前未被监测时段内该渔业影响的前所未有的数据。 具体而言，我们通过Facebook平台公开的夜间休闲向导式牙鲆叉捕包船服务的照片档案，重建了2.6年间该细分领域的季节性牙鲆捕捞量与作业强度指标。本数据集包含三位向导在Facebook上发布的其向导式出海行程的大量照片对应的行程记录。每一行数据对应一张照片，我们默认每张照片代表一次独立的包船行程（通常可通过照片描述或客户团队规模进行确认）。 针对每张照片，我们会识别出照片中所有鱼类的最低分类阶元并完成计数，同时统计随行客户的数量。每张照片均由两名独立评审员进行盲法计数，统计其中各物种的数量及客户人数。若二者计数结果存在差异，则会共同检视该照片以达成共识。 本数据集支撑以下已接收待刊论文：Hall, Q. A., D. M. Coffey, M. K. Streich, M. R. Fisher, and G. W. Stunz. 2022. 社交媒体揭示德克萨斯州南方牙鲆渔业夜间向导叉捕包船的“隐性”影响：暗夜中的探索。PLOS ONE.