Abstract

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) are highly migratory fish with a contemporary range spanning the North Atlantic Ocean. Bluefin tuna populations have undergone severe decline and the status of the fish within each population remains uncertain. Improved biological knowledge, particularly of natural mortality and rates of mixing of the western (GOM) and eastern (Mediterranean) populations, is key to resolving the current status of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. We evaluated the potential for acoustic tags to yield empirical estimates of mortality and migration rates for long-lived, highly migratory species such as Atlantic bluefin tuna. Bluefin tuna tagged in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) foraging ground (2009–2016) exhibited high detection rates post release, with 91% crossing receiver lines one year post tagging, 61% detected after year two at large, with detections up to ~1700 days post deployment. Acoustic detections per individual fish ranged from 3 to 4759 receptions. A spatially-structured Bayesian mark recapture model was applied to the acoustic detection data for Atlantic bluefin tuna electronically tagged in the GSL to estimate the rate of instantaneous annual natural mortality. We report a median estimate of 0.10 yr−1 for this experiment. Our results demonstrate that acoustic tags can provide vital fisheries independent estimates for life history parameters critical for improving stock assessment models.

Details

Title
Estimating Natural Mortality of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Using Acoustic Telemetry
Author
Block, Barbara A 1 ; Whitlock, Rebecca 2 ; Schallert, Robert J 3 ; Wilson, Steve 1 ; Stokesbury Michael J W 4 ; Castleton, Mike 5 ; Boustany, Andre 6 

 Stanford University, Pacific Grove, Hopkins Marine Station, California, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956); Stanford University, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, Tuna Research and Conservation Center, California, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956) 
 Stanford University, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, Tuna Research and Conservation Center, California, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956); Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Freshwater Research, Drottningholm, Sweden (GRID:grid.6341.0) (ISNI:0000 0000 8578 2742) 
 Stanford University, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, Tuna Research and Conservation Center, California, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956) 
 Acadia University, Biology Department, Wolfville, Canada (GRID:grid.411959.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9633) 
 Stanford University, Pacific Grove, Hopkins Marine Station, California, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956) 
 Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, USA (GRID:grid.26009.3d) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7961); Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, USA (GRID:grid.448395.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 2322 4726) 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Dec 2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2194571164
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.