scholarly journals Effects of bottom trawling on fish foraging and feeding

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1799) ◽  
pp. 20142336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Frederick Johnson ◽  
Giulia Gorelli ◽  
Stuart Rees Jenkins ◽  
Jan Geert Hiddink ◽  
Hilmar Hinz
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Bottom Trawling ◽  
Prey Biomass ◽  
Reduced Body ◽  
The Irish Sea

The effects of bottom trawling on benthic invertebrates include reductions of biomass, diversity and body size. These changes may negatively affect prey availability for demersal fishes, potentially leading to reduced food intake, body condition and yield of fishes in chronically trawled areas. Here, the effect of trawling on the prey availability and diet of two commercially important flatfish species, plaice ( Pleuronectes platessa ) and dab ( Limanda limanda ), was investigated over a trawling intensity gradient in the Irish Sea. Previous work in this area has shown that trawling negatively affects the condition of plaice but not of dab. This study showed that reductions in local prey availability did not result in reduced feeding of fish. As trawling frequency increased, both fish and prey biomass declined, such that the ratio of fish to prey remained unchanged. Consequently, even at frequently trawled sites with low prey biomass, both plaice and dab maintained constant levels of stomach fullness and gut energy contents. However, dietary shifts in plaice towards energy-poor prey items were evident when prey species were analysed individually. This, together with a potential decrease in foraging efficiency due to low prey densities, was seen as the most plausible cause for the reduced body condition observed. Understanding the relationship between trawling, benthic impacts, fish foraging and resultant body condition is an important step in designing successful mitigation measures for future management strategies in bottom trawl fisheries.

Do protozoa contribute significantly to the diet of larval fish in the Irish Sea?

2007 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 843-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela M. de Figueiredo ◽  
Richard D.M. Nash ◽  
David J.S. Montagnes
Keyword(s):  
Prey Availability ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
Food Limitation ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Gut Contents ◽  
Fish Feed ◽  
Fish Diet ◽  
Fish Diets ◽  
The Irish Sea ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

This study evaluates the role of protozoa in larval fish feeding by describing protozoa in larval fish diets and testing the hypothesis that, in the Irish Sea, larval fish feed on protozoan prey at rates that potentially sustain their food requirements. Gut contents of 11 taxonomic groups of larval fish were examined, and protist prey occurred in the diet of all of them. Protozoan prey were identified, which provided an insight into their trophic role. Most of the protozoan prey were autotrophic or mixotrophic. In general, larval fish diets were constant over the spring/summer period, regardless of prey availability in the field and the composition of larval fish assemblage (taxonomy and size). A laboratory experiment on ingestion rates of flounder larvae as a function of ciliates concentration was conducted. Combined laboratory and field data showed that, in the Irish Sea, it is unlikely that ciliates are often the primary food source of flounder larvae, and, by implication, other larval fish as well. However, ciliates and other protozoa could be a substantial component of the larval fish diet, and they may potentially prevent food limitation.

scholarly journals Same species, different prerequisites: investigating body condition and foraging success in young reef sharks between an atoll and an island system

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ornella C. Weideli ◽  
Ian A. Bouyoucos ◽  
Yannis P. Papastamatiou ◽  
Gauthier Mescam ◽  
Jodie L. Rummer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Maternal Investment ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Reef Sharks ◽  
Island System ◽  
Carcharhinus Melanopterus

Abstract Acquiring and storing energy is vital to sharks of all age-classes. Viviparous shark embryos receive endogenous maternal energy reserves to sustain the first weeks after birth. Then, in order to maintain body condition, sharks must start foraging. Our goal was to understand whether maternal energy investments vary between blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) from two populations and to what extent body condition and the initiation of foraging might be affected by presumably variable maternal investments. A total of 546 young sharks were captured at St. Joseph atoll (Seychelles) and Moorea (French Polynesia) between 2014 and 2018, and indices of body condition and percentage of stomachs containing prey were measured. Maternal investment was found to be site-specific, with significantly larger, heavier, and better conditioned individuals in Moorea. Despite these advantages, as time progressed, Moorea sharks exhibited significant decreases in body condition and were slower to initiate foraging. We suggest that the young sharks’ foraging success is independent of the quality of maternal energy resources, and that other factors, such as prey availability, prey quality, and/or anthropogenic stressors are likely responsible for the observed differences across sites. Insights into intraspecific variations in early life-stages may further support site-specific management strategies for young sharks from nearshore habitats.

scholarly journals Genetic variation in Irish Sea brown crab (Cancer pagurus L.): implications for local and regional management

2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall J. McKeown ◽  
Hayley V. Watson ◽  
Ilaria Coscia ◽  
Emma Wootton ◽  
Joseph E. Ironside
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Cancer Pagurus ◽  
Neutral Genetic Diversity ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
High Gene ◽  
The Irish Sea ◽  
Genetic Patchiness

AbstractUnderstanding demographic processes over multiple spatial scales is vital for the optimization of conservation/management strategies, particularly for commercially harvested taxa such as the brown crab (Cancer pagurus L). Brown crab population genetic structure was investigated at (i) a local scale within the Irish Sea, which included comparisons with the Lundy No Take Zone (NTZ) and (ii) across the NE Atlantic. The results indicate that the brown crab does not exhibit strong spatial structure either within the Irish Sea or at the regional level, suggesting high gene flow within and among the Irish Sea, English Channel and North Sea. Comparisons between the Lundy NTZ and harvested areas revealed similarly high levels of genetic diversity. An intriguing result was that the Lundy NTZ sample exhibited a degree of genetic patchiness (ephemeral geographically unpatterned differentiation) which may indicate elevated recruitment skews within the NTZ. Overall, the results support the view that brown crabs within the sampled area belong to a single genetically panmictic stock and that if breeding stock sizes are maintained genetic drift will not be strong enough to reduce neutral genetic diversity. The highly connected nature of this species requires international cooperation for sustainable management, an important component of which will be the application of more powerful population genomic approaches to assess finer scale aspects of stock structure as well drivers of genetic patchiness reported for the species. This is a timely consideration in light of potential future misalignments between biological and geopolitical stock boundaries in the Irish Sea following Brexit.

The medieval cultures of the Irish sea and the North Sea: Manannan and his neighbors [Book Review]

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 142-144
Author(s):  
John Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Irish Sea

Review(s) of: The medieval cultures of the Irish sea and the North Sea: Manannan and his neighbors, by MacQuarrie, Charles W., and Nagy, Joseph Falaky Nagy (eds), (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019) hardcover, 212 pages, 1 map, 4 figures, RRP euro99; ISBN 9789462989399.

scholarly journals Morphological abnormality in thornback ray Raja clavata in the Irish Sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Irish Sea ◽  
Beam Trawl ◽  
Morphological Abnormality ◽  
Free Swimming ◽  
Pectoral Fins ◽  
North Wales ◽  
Head Section ◽  
Thornback Ray ◽  
Raja Clavata ◽  
The Irish Sea

AbstractA free-swimming thornback ray Raja clavata specimen demonstrating significant morphological abnormality is reported, captured by beam trawl in the Irish Sea off north Wales, UK. The anterior sections of both pectoral fins were separated from the head section for a length of approximately 140 mm extending from the rostrum tip to a point posterior of the spiracles, along with abnormal morphology of the gill slits. This phenomenon has been observed elsewhere but is the first documented example of this abnormality in the eastern Irish Sea, despite widespread targeting of the species across the region by commercial and recreational fishers. Possible causes and consequences of the observed abnormality are discussed.

scholarly journals Survival of the fattest: linking body condition to prey availability and survivorship of killer whales

Ecosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Stewart ◽  
John W. Durban ◽  
Holly Fearnbach ◽  
Lance G. Barrett‐Lennard ◽  
Paige K. Casler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Killer Whales

scholarly journals Prey Size Decline as a Unifying Ecological Selecting Agent in Pleistocene Human Evolution

Quaternary ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Miki Ben-Dor ◽  
Ran Barkai
Keyword(s):  
Prey Size ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Biomass Density ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Progressive Decline ◽  
Brain Expansion

We hypothesize that megafauna extinctions throughout the Pleistocene, that led to a progressive decline in large prey availability, were a primary selecting agent in key evolutionary and cultural changes in human prehistory. The Pleistocene human past is characterized by a series of transformations that include the evolution of new physiological traits and the adoption, assimilation, and replacement of cultural and behavioral patterns. Some changes, such as brain expansion, use of fire, developments in stone-tool technologies, or the scale of resource intensification, were uncharacteristically progressive. We previously hypothesized that humans specialized in acquiring large prey because of their higher foraging efficiency, high biomass density, higher fat content, and the use of less complex tools for their acquisition. Here, we argue that the need to mitigate the additional energetic cost of acquiring progressively smaller prey may have been an ecological selecting agent in fundamental adaptive modes demonstrated in the Paleolithic archaeological record. We describe several potential associations between prey size decline and specific evolutionary and cultural changes that might have been driven by the need to adapt to increased energetic demands while hunting and processing smaller and smaller game.

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