Direct estimation of natural mortality rates for littoral marine fishes using populational data from a marine reserve

2000 ◽  
Vol 137 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1067-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Macpherson ◽  
A. García-Rubies ◽  
A. Gordoa
2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Starr ◽  
Victoria O'Connell ◽  
Stephen Ralston ◽  
Laurence Breaker

Advances in electronic telemetry systems have led to fish tagging studies that are sufficiently long to provide estimates of natural mortality of many marine fishes. We used acoustic transmitters and an array of recording receivers to estimate natural mortality, residence times, and rates of movements of lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) in a marine reserve in southeast Alaska. We surgically implanted acoustic tags in a total of 83 lingcod in December 1999 and July 2000, and distributed recording monitors with receiving ranges of at least 800 m throughout the reserve. The receivers were anchored on the seafloor in locations that resulted in overlapping receiving ranges, and thus created an array of receivers that completely encompassed an 8 km2 reserve. In this way, we were able to estimate natural mortality rates and track movements of tagged lingcod into and out of the reserve from December 1999 through October 2001. Acoustic tag results indicated that most of the tagged fish frequently left the reserve, but were only absent for short time periods. Tagged fish showed a high degree of site fidelity. The large number of signals received from tagged fish enabled us to generate models that provided a way to predict the effects of marine reserves on yield and eggs per recruit for a cohort of female lingcod.


2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (7) ◽  
pp. 1061-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne E. Harris ◽  
Joseph E. Hightower

We developed an integrated tagging model to estimate mortality rates and run sizes of Albemarle Sound – Roanoke River striped bass (Morone saxatilis), including (i) a multistate component for telemetered fish with a high reward external tag; (ii) tag return components for fish with a low reward external or PIT tag; and (iii) catch-at-age data. Total annual instantaneous mortality was 1.08 for resident (458–899 mm total length, TL) and 0.45 for anadromous (≥900 mm TL) individuals. Annual instantaneous natural mortality was higher for resident (0.70) than for anadromous (0.21) fish due to high summer mortality in Albemarle Sound. Natural mortality for residents was substantially higher than currently assumed for stock assessment. Monthly fishing mortality from multiple sectors (including catch-and-release) corresponded to seasonal periods of legal harvest. Run size estimates were 499 000–715 000. Results and simulation suggest increasing sample size for the multistate component increases accuracy and precision of annual estimates and low reward tags are valuable for estimating monthly fishing mortality rates among sectors. Our results suggest that integrated tagging models can produce seasonal and annual mortality estimates needed for stock assessment and management.


1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 1018-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Hannah

Interannual variation in geographic stock area, catchability, and natural mortality of age 2 ocean shrimp (Pandalus jordani) was investigated for the years 1980–1990, using commercial catch and logbook data. Stock area changed gradually from 1980–1990, but showed wide variation, demonstrating that an assumption of constant catchability is not valid for ocean shrimp. Stock area was positively correlated with total catch, suggesting that stock area increases roughly in proportion to shrimp abundance. The time series of fishing effort and effort per unit stock area were quite different, showing that fishing effort probably gives incorrect information on time trends in ocean shrimp fishing mortality. Natural mortality rates varied widely over the study period also and were positively correlated with the abundance of age 2+ Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), a known shrimp predator. The best correlations were between natural mortality rates and the number of age 2–7 Pacific hake. Hake abundance indices that included only age 3+ fish were not significantly correlated with shrimp natural mortality rates, suggesting that if a trophic interaction exists between these two species, it may be influenced by hake recruitment events.


2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas P. Swain ◽  
Ian D. Jonsen ◽  
James E. Simon ◽  
Trevor D. Davies

Mature thorny (Amblyraja radiata), winter (Leucoraja ocellata), and smooth (Malacoraja senta) skates have declined to very low abundance in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (SGSL) and on the eastern Scotian Shelf (ESS). We used stage-structured state-space models to examine decadal patterns in mortality rates in these skates. Mortality at early life stages (embryos in egg cases, hatchlings, and (or) small juveniles) appeared to decrease between the 1970s and the 2000s. In contrast, estimated mortality rates increased for larger individuals over this period. Although potentially confounded in models with effects of any changes in juvenile growth, the estimated increases in mortality could not instead be attributed solely to changes in growth. Increases in the mortality of large individuals appeared to reflect increases in natural mortality, possibly due to predation by grey seals. Increases in natural mortality were not evident for skates on the neighbouring western Scotian Shelf, where grey seal abundance has remained lower. Even in the absence of fishing, recovery of skates is unlikely under current ecosystem conditions in the SGSL and on the ESS.


1962 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Lander

This paper examines the problem of estimating mortality rates from knowledge of catch and of the change in composition caused by selective fishing on one of two classes of a closed population.Estimators of fishing mortality in the presence and in the absence of natural mortality are given. An estimator of natural mortality is shown for the special case where final population size is known.A numerical example illustrates the method. Certain problems are discussed and two types of application are suggested.


1982 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1054-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Deriso

Fishing mortality constraints are derived for fishes harvested at the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) determined by a delay-difference population model. Those constraints depend upon rates of natural mortality and growth as well as a simple constraint placed on abundance of the exploited population. The results are generalized for a wider class of population models where it is shown that MSY fishing mortality is constrained often to be less than the fishing mortality which maximizes yield per recruit. Fishing mortality rates are lower in the delay difference model in comparison to MSY fishing rates in the logistic model, when a quadratic spawner–recruit curve is applied.Key words: delay-difference model, logistic model, fishing mortality, maximum sustainable yield, yield per recruit


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 2421-2428 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Paloheimo ◽  
Yong Chen

We present a method for estimating effective efforts or fishing mortality rates based on a linearized version of the catch equation. Catch-at-age for at least two age groups over a series of years is required. The method presupposes a value for natural mortality rate (M). The method is validated using simulated data with an appropriate error structure. The algorithm always converges to a set of effective efforts that are compatible with the known catches. Nevertheless, the solution to the basic equations is not unique although the different solutions are typically highly correlated. If the M assumed by the algorithm is the same as the actual M the iterated effective efforts are typically very close to the true effective efforts or fishing mortality rates. If the assumed M is too high or too low the pattern of effective efforts is still recovered to a high degree of accuracy, typically 0.90 < r < 1.00, even though M may be off by as much as 60%. When data for three or more age groups are available the method is extended to at least squares procedure that takes into account the increasing uncertainty of catches with age.


1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard P. Heyward ◽  
Grant L. Norbury

The incidence of secondary poisoning was determined by using radio-telemetry to assess the survival of 68 ferrets and 21 cats on two treatment sites and one control site in the dry tussock grasslands of New Zealand. The treatment sites were aerially poisoned with 1080-coated carrot baits (0.02% wt/wt) to control rabbits. The control site was not poisoned. Ferrets and cats were monitored at two-weekly intervals for at least 1 month before, and 2 months after the poison operations. Muscle samples from ferrets and cats that died within 50 days of poisoning on the treatment sites were assayed for 1080. In all, 7–11% (n = 28) of ferrets on one site and 8–15% (n = 26) of ferrets at the other site apparently died of secondary 1080 poisoning. Natural mortality rates of ferrets were 46–81% per annum. While we have evidence that secondary poisoning of cats does occur, we monitored insufficient numbers of cats to reliably estimate mortality rates. Declines in predator numbers are commonly observed after rabbit poisoning. This study indicates that secondary poisoning contributes to these declines.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document