scholarly journals Reproductive investment in Atlantic cod populations off Newfoundland: Contrasting trends between males and females

FACETS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 660-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Baulier ◽  
M. Joanne Morgan ◽  
George R. Lilly ◽  
Ulf Dieckmann ◽  
Mikko Heino

Life history theory predicts selection for higher reproductive investment in response to increased mortality among mature individuals. We tested this prediction over the period from 1978 to 2013 for three populations of Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland. These populations were heavily fished for a long period. We considered changes in standardized gonad weight as a proxy for changes in gonadal investment. We accounted for the allometry between gonad and body weight, individual body condition, water temperature, and potential spatial and density-dependent effects. Males display significant temporal trends in gonadal investment in all populations; in agreement with theoretical predictions, these trends show increased gonadal investments during the earlier part of the time series when mortality was high, with the trends leveling off or reversing after the later imposition of fishing moratoria. In contrast, females display patterns that are less consistent and expected; significant trends are detected only when accounting for density-dependent effects, with females in two populations unexpectedly showing a long-term decline in gonadal investment. Our results support the hypothesis that fisheries-induced evolution has occurred in gonadal investment in males, but not in females, and suggest that gonadal investment is more important for male reproductive success than expected in this lekking species.

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (10) ◽  
pp. 1719-1733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Pardoe ◽  
Anssi Vainikka ◽  
Gudmundur Thórdarson ◽  
Gudrun Marteinsdóttir ◽  
Mikko Heino

Decreasing temporal trends in probabilistic maturation reaction norm (PMRN) midpoints, symptomatic of earlier maturation despite environmentally induced variation in growth, have been observed in many exploited fish stocks. Here, we studied the growth and maturation trends of female and male Icelandic cod ( Gadus morhua ) by estimating PMRN midpoints for cohorts 1964–1999 and found evidence that a shift towards maturation at smaller sizes and younger ages has occurred independently of changes in growth, condition, and temperature. Weighting the data with regional survey abundance estimates to account for spatial heterogeneity in maturity status and sampling intensity did not qualitatively affect the temporal trends. Length-at-age also decreased through the study period, which, through simulations, could be attributed to the energetic costs of earlier maturity at maturing age groups but not at younger ages. These findings support the hypothesis that such changes in maturation schedules are not caused by environmental factors alone but could also reflect a genetic change, potentially in response to intensive fishing.


1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1890-1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cabilio ◽  
David L. DeWolfe ◽  
Graham R. Daborn

Selected long-term fisheries catch data from the New England – Fundy area and the Grand Banks were examined for concordance between changes in fish catches and the 18.6-yr nodal cycle of the tides using a nonlinear regression model. Significant positive correlations were found for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus), and scallop (Placopecten magellanicus), with lag times that are biologically appropriate for the time from hatching to recruitment into the fishery. A significant negative correlation with the nodal cycle was evident for Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), for which this area constitutes the most northerly part of its range. Cod catches on the Grand Banks showed no correlation with the nodal cycle. It is suggested that the correlations between the nodal cycle and the changes in fish catches are caused by correlated changes either in sea surface temperature or in productivity resulting from changes in the degree of vertical mixing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 937-949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisha Guan ◽  
Yong Chen ◽  
James A. Wilson ◽  
Timothy Waring ◽  
Lisa A. Kerr ◽  
...  

To evaluate the influence of spatially variable and connected recruitments at spawning component scale on complex stock dynamics, a typical agent-based complex stock was modeled based on the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stock in the Gulf of Maine. We simulated three scenarios with different degrees of connectivity (i.e., individual exchange) between the spatially variable recruitments of 36 spawning components within four subpopulations under the stock. Subsequently, the temporal trends were compared for different scenarios in age-1 recruitment, spawning stock biomass, and local depletion proportion of the overall complex stock and the individual subpopulations. Results show that increased recruitment connectivity from 0.1–0.2 to 0.6–0.8 between various components tends to increase the productivity and stability of a complex stock at local and global scales and reduce the proportion of depleted components due to overfishing. Moreover, depletions of less productive components may occur without a substantial reduction in the overall complex stock biomass and recruitment.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1104-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
C H Ainsworth ◽  
U R Sumaila

Where the conventional model of discounting advocates aggressive harvest policies, intergenerational discounting could have been used to render the historic gross overfishing of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) economically unappealing compared with a more conservative long-term strategy. Under these discounting approaches, we compare the historic harvest trend from 1985 (and projected postcollapse earnings) with theoretical optimal harvest profiles determined by an ecosystem model. The optimal scenarios generate less initial harvest than the historic profile but maintain the resource and provide greater yields over the long term. At a discount rate equal to market interest, we demonstrate that it was more economic under conventional valuation to harvest the cod stock to collapse than it would have been to sustain the population. However, under intergenerational valuation, the sustainable optimal scenarios outperform the actual harvest profile. Application of conventional discounting by fishing consortiums may be partly to blame for depletion, yet management fell short of even that ideal.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 140075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kuparinen ◽  
Jeffrey A. Hutchings

Negative density-dependent regulation of population dynamics promotes population growth at low abundance and is therefore vital for recovery following depletion. Inversely, any process that reduces the compensatory density-dependence of population growth can negatively affect recovery. Here, we show that increased adult mortality at low abundance can reverse compensatory population dynamics into its opposite—a demographic Allee effect. Northwest Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) stocks collapsed dramatically in the early 1990s and have since shown little sign of recovery. Many experienced dramatic increases in natural mortality, ostensibly attributable in some populations to increased predation by seals. Our findings show that increased natural mortality of a magnitude observed for overfished cod stocks has been more than sufficient to fundamentally alter the dynamics of density-dependent population regulation. The demographic Allee effect generated by these changes can slow down or even impede the recovery of depleted populations even in the absence of fishing.


Aquaculture ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 322-323 ◽  
pp. 184-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Børge Damsgård ◽  
Frode Bjørklund ◽  
Helge K. Johnsen ◽  
Hilde Toften

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2038-2043 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Khan ◽  
J. Kiceniuk

To assess the long-term effect on the tissues of marine fish, Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L., were exposed to water-soluble fractions of Venezuelan and Hibernia crude oils at concentrations of 50–300 ppb for 12–13 weeks in a flow-through seawater system. Histopathological changes in oil-exposed fish included increased numbers of mucus-producing epithelial cells, capillary dilation, lamellar hyperplasia, and fusion of adjacent filaments in gills, microvesicular formation in hepatocytes, delayed spermatogenesis with intratubular multinucleated giant cells, and an increase of melanomacrophage centers in the spleen and kidney. Lesions were more prevalent and severe in fish exposed to Hibernia crude than to Venezuelan crude at a similar concentration.


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