Natural mortality augments population fluctuations of forage fish

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nis S Jacobsen ◽  
Timothy E Essington
Keyword(s):  
Forage Fish ◽  
Natural Mortality ◽  
Population Fluctuations

scholarly journals Seabird‐induced natural mortality of forage fish varies with fish abundance: Evidence from five ecosystems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Saraux ◽  
William J. Sydeman ◽  
John F. Piatt ◽  
Tycho Anker‐Nilssen ◽  
Jonas Hentati‐Sundberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Forage Fish ◽  
Natural Mortality

Detecting mortality variation to enhance forage fish population assessments

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nis S Jacobsen ◽  
James T Thorson ◽  
Timothy E Essington
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Stock Assessment ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Forage Fish ◽  
Natural Mortality ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Fishing Mortality ◽  
Catch Data ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Contemporary stock assessment models used by fisheries management often assume that natural mortality rates are constant over time for exploited fish stocks. This assumption results in biased estimates of fishing mortality and reference points when mortality changes over time. However, it is difficult to distinguish changes in natural mortality from changes in fishing mortality, selectivity, and recruitment. Because changes in size structure can be indicate changes in mortality, one potential solution is to use population size-structure and fisheries catch data to simultaneously estimate time-varying natural and fishing mortality. Here we test that hypothesis, using a simulation experiment to test performance for four alternative estimation models that estimate natural and fishing mortality from size structure and catch data. We show that it is possible to estimate time-varying natural mortality in a size-based model, even when fishing mortality, recruitment, and selectivity are changing over time. Finally, we apply the model to North Sea sprat, and show that estimates of recruitment and natural mortality are similar to estimates from an alternative multispecies population model fitted to additional data sources. We recommend exploring potential trends in natural mortality in forage fish assessments using tools such as the one presented here.

Contributions of adult mortality to declines of Puget Sound Pacific herring

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret C Siple ◽  
Andrew O Shelton ◽  
Tessa B Francis ◽  
Dayv Lowry ◽  
Adam P Lindquist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Age Structure ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Adult Mortality ◽  
Forage Fish ◽  
Pacific Herring ◽  
Natural Mortality ◽  
Structured Population Model ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Age Structured

Abstract Forage fish undergo dramatic changes in abundance through time. Long-term fluctuations, which have historically been attributed to changes in recruitment, may also be due to changes in adult mortality. Pacific herring, a lightly exploited forage fish in Puget Sound, WA, have exhibited shifts in age structure and decreases in spawning biomass during the past 30 years. Here, we investigate changes in adult mortality as a potential explanation for these shifts. Using a hierarchical, age-structured population model, we indicate that adult natural mortality for Puget Sound Pacific herring has increased since 1973. We find that natural mortality has increased for every age class of adult (age 3+), especially age 4 fish, whose estimated mortality has doubled over the survey time period (from M = 0.84–1.76). We demonstrate that long-term shifts in mortality explain changes in age structure, and may explain biomass declines and failure to reach management thresholds for two spawning sites in Puget Sound (Cherry Point and Squaxin Pass). Temporal shifts in natural adult mortality could have negative implications for herring and herring predators. We demonstrate that adult mortality, in addition to recruitment variation, is an important driver for forage fish, which face exceptionally high natural mortality compared with other fishes.

scholarly journals Fishing amplifies forage fish population collapses

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (21) ◽  
pp. 6648-6652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy E. Essington ◽  
Pamela E. Moriarty ◽  
Halley E. Froehlich ◽  
Emma E. Hodgson ◽  
Laura E. Koehn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Fish Population ◽  
Forage Fish ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
Fishing Pressure ◽  
Marine Food Webs ◽  
Marine Food ◽  
Natural Productivity ◽  
Population Collapses

Forage fish support the largest fisheries in the world but also play key roles in marine food webs by transferring energy from plankton to upper trophic-level predators, such as large fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Fishing can, thereby, have far reaching consequences on marine food webs unless safeguards are in place to avoid depleting forage fish to dangerously low levels, where dependent predators are most vulnerable. However, disentangling the contributions of fishing vs. natural processes on population dynamics has been difficult because of the sensitivity of these stocks to environmental conditions. Here, we overcome this difficulty by collating population time series for forage fish populations that account for nearly two-thirds of global catch of forage fish to identify the fingerprint of fisheries on their population dynamics. Forage fish population collapses shared a set of common and unique characteristics: high fishing pressure for several years before collapse, a sharp drop in natural population productivity, and a lagged response to reduce fishing pressure. Lagged response to natural productivity declines can sharply amplify the magnitude of naturally occurring population fluctuations. Finally, we show that the magnitude and frequency of collapses are greater than expected from natural productivity characteristics and therefore, likely attributed to fishing. The durations of collapses, however, were not different from those expected based on natural productivity shifts. A risk-based management scheme that reduces fishing when populations become scarce would protect forage fish and their predators from collapse with little effect on long-term average catches.

Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment: Who are they, and Where are they?

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2705-2709 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Stock Assessment ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
Important Species ◽  
Fisheries Resources ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
Climate Scale ◽  
Resource And Environment

The Chesapeake Bay, while a significant habitat for fisheries resources, is in actuality an aquatic “bedroom community”, as many of the economically important species are seasonally transient. The pressure on these resources due to their demand for human consumption and recreation, proximity to extensive industrial activity along the shores, and climate scale environmental fluctuations has resulted in stock declines by most important species. Our inability to separate natural population fluctuations from those of anthropogenic origin complicates management efforts. The only way to make these separations, and subsequent informed management decisions is by supporting long-term stock assessment programs (monitoring) in the Bay which allow us to examine trends, cycles and stochastic processes between resource and environment. These programs need to monitor both recruitment and fishing mortality rates of the economically important species, and to identify and monitor the environmentally sensitive “canary” species.

Variation in size distribution of juvenile pink shrimps Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis and F. paulensis in the estuarine-adjacent ocean area of Cananéia, south-eastern coast of Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-129
Author(s):  
Dalilla da Silva Salvati ◽  
Júlia Fernandes Perroca ◽  
Sabrina Morilhas Simões ◽  
Antonio Leão Castilho ◽  
Rogerio Caetano da Costa
Keyword(s):  
Development Time ◽  
Carapace Length ◽  
Growth Parameters ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Natural Mortality ◽  
Juvenile Phase ◽  
Juvenile Recruitment ◽  
Estuarine Lagoon ◽  
Closed Season

AbstractThe study characterized the structure of juveniles and sub-adults of Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis and F. paulensis in the Cananéia-Iguape estuarine lagoon system and its adjacent coastal area by evaluating the period of juvenile recruitment, sex ratio, growth, longevity, natural mortality, and development time until the late juvenile phase. Samples were collected from July 2012 to June 2014. Shrimps were identified by species and sex, and measured (carapace length – CL mm); 889 individuals of F. brasiliensis and 848 of F. paulensis were analysed. Females were more abundant than males for both species. The growth parameters of F. brasiliensis were: CL∞ = 45.5 mm, k = 1.8 year−1 for males and CL∞ = 55.2 mm, k = 1.6 year−1 for females; longevity of 2.52 years (males) and 2.88 years (females); and natural mortality of 1.71 (males) and 1.55 (females). For F. paulensis, the following values were observed: CL∞ = 40.7 mm, k = 2.3 year−1 for males and CL∞ = 56.5 mm, k = 1.9 year−1 for females; longevity of 2.04 years (males) and 2.37 years (females); and natural mortality of 2.39 (males) and 2.05 (females). The juvenile recruitment of both species peaked in January 2014. The development time until late juvenile phase was ~7 months (F. brasiliensis) and ~5 months (F. paulensis). Even though the highest abundance of juveniles did not occur in the closed season, fishing is forbidden in the estuarine area and the migration towards the adult population occurred close to or even during the closed season.

Climate Change May Cause Shifts in Growth and Instantaneous Natural Mortality of American Shad Throughout Their Native Range

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin K. Gilligan‐Lunda ◽  
Daniel S. Stich ◽  
Katherine E. Mills ◽  
Michael M. Bailey ◽  
Joseph D. Zydlewski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
American Shad ◽  
Natural Mortality ◽  
Native Range
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