New publication by Dr. Sara Maxwell on “Seasonal spatial segregation in blue sharks (Prionace glauca) by sex and size class in the Northeast Pacific Ocean”

The question of habitat use varies significantly when separating individuals based on sex and size. Blue sharks use significantly different habitat, particularly in the fall based on their sex and size highlighting the importance of considering multiple life history stages, or at least the most vulnerable, in management.

S.M. Maxwell, K.L. Scales, S.J. Bograd, D.K. Briscoe, H. Dewar, E.L. Hazen, R.L. Lewison, H. Welch, and L.B. Crowder, 2019. Oceanographic drivers of spatial segregation in blue sharks by sex and size class. Diversity and Distributions. doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12941. PDF

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Climate resiliency in fisheries management in ICES J of Marine Science

Following on The effects of climate change on the world’s oceans conference, Kirstin Holsman led an effort to discuss the role of old and new, tried and true, dynamic and static in fisheries management. Given how ecological response often varies based on the scale of species-environment interactions and even our scale of measurement, alignment between data and management can be misaligned. The paper uses the Bering Sea as one of the case studies to explore the advantages of dynamic vs. adaptive vs. fixed approaches in managing variable ocean resources. Read more in the recent NOAA Fisheries article here!

K.K. Holsman, E.L. Hazen, A. Haynie, S. Gourguet, A. Hollowed, S.J. Bograd, J. Samhouri, and K. Aydin, 2019. Toward climate resiliency in fisheries management. ICES J Marine Science,doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsz031 PDF

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New research in TREE “Translating Marine Animal Tracking Data into Conservation Policy and Management”

Tracking data are collected around the world, but the data often end up in repositories or are summarized in an academic publication without translation to management or conservation opportunities. Recently, tracking data are becoming more and more relevant for management and conservation, and Hays and colleagues summarized some of the species and ocean ecosystems where concrete examples are available.

Figure 1

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New publication in Science Advances led by Tim White at Stanford

By combining species distribution models from Hazen et al. 2013 with Global Fishing Watch data from Kroodsma et al. 2018, White et al. assesses overlap between tunas and sharks and Pacific fishing vessels. In addition, the manuscript assesses which species occur within North American Exclusive Economic Zones versus the open ocean requiring different approaches towards management.

There has been a good discussion on how scale effects overlap calculations for GFW data as well by Amaroso et al. and in the Kroodsma et al. response finding that “fished area” could be between 4% and 55% depending on the scale of calculation. Both articles provide a valid rationale for why their scale was chosen. The work here was conducted on a coarse spatial scale, so it is highly likely that overlap would decrease if finer resolution data were available, yet this scale is appropriate for the ecosystem footprint of much of the gear and the top predator models as well.

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Many species of sharks and tunas are threatened by overexploitation, yet the degree of overlap between industrial fisheries and pelagic fishes remains poorly understood. Using  satellite tracks from 1,007 industrial fishing vessels in conjunction with predictive habitat models built using 2,406 electronic tags deployed on seven pelagic shark and tuna species, we developed fishing effort maps by gear type across the Northeast Pacific Ocean and assessed overlap with core habitats of pelagic fishes. We found that up to 35% of species’ core habitats overlapped with industrial fishing effort and identified overlap hotspots along the North American continental shelf, the equatorial Pacific, and Mexico’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Our results indicate which species require international, high seas conservation efforts for effective management (e.g., 90% of blue shark overlap and 48% of albacore tuna overlap occurs in international waters) and which may be effectively managed by single nations (e.g., 75% of salmon shark overlap occurs in U.S. waters). Vessels flagged to just 5 nations (Mexico, China, Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S.) account for the vast majority (> 95%) of overlap with core habitats of our focal sharks and tunas on the high seas. These results may inform ongoing, global negotiations over national fishing rights and conservation priorities to achieve sustainability on the high seas.

T.D. White, F. Ferretti, D.A. Kroodsma, E.L. Hazen, A.B. Carlisle, K.L. Scales, S.J. Bograd, B.A. Block, 2018. Predicted hotspots of overlap between highly migratory fishes and industrial fishing fleets in the Northeast Pacific. Science Advances. PDF

Abrahms et al. publish in PNAS on Memory and resource tracking drive blue whale migrations

Blue whales are the largest animals to every exist on earth but feed on some of the smallest animals on earth, so they need to eat a huge amount of krill to meet their energy needs. Blue whales are estimated to eat 8,000 pounds of krill per day! So it’s important they’re able to find enough food as they’re migrating up the coast of North America. Rather than surfing the contemporaneous “green wave,” the whales can hedge their bets by going with the average timing they’ve experienced in the past. This suggests memory or social communication over basin scales may be at play. From a commentary by William Fagan, “The ultimate analysis and results underpinning conclusions about memory-driven movement in whales are deceptively simple, but the data-intensive process to get there underscores just how much integration is necessary to make progress in cognitive movement ecology.”

B. Abrahms, E.L. Hazen, E.O. Aikens, M.S. Savoca, J.A. Goldbogen, S.J. Bograd, M. Jacox, L. M. Irvine, D.M. Palacios, B.R. Mate, 2019. Memory and resource tracking drive blue
whale migrations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.1819031116. PDF

 

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New publication titled “Practical considerations for operationalizing dynamic management tools” by Heather Welch

When building an operational tool, building the ecological models is only part of the equation. Equally important is ensuring that we have operational tools and regular predictions for use in management. Welch et al. 2018 explore the operational-side of the EcoCast tool, including potential pitfalls and solutions towards decision making. The paper came out in early view in the Journal of Applied Ecology and there is a discussion on the steps involved in creating fisheries nowcasts in the Conversation.

Figure 1. The four stages of operationalizing a dynamic management tool (hollow fill) and internal components (grey fill). The framework is relevant to operationalizing tools at one point in time and does not encompass tool updates as new data become available.

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New publication on dynamic ocean management for the California swordfish fishery in Science Advances

New computer-generated daily maps will help fishermen locate the most productive fishing spots in near real time while warning them where they face the greatest risk of entangling sea turtles, marine mammals, and other protected species. Scientists developed the maps, the products of a system called EcoCast, to help reduce accidental catches of protected species in fishing nets.

Funded primarily by NASA with support from NOAA, California Sea Grant, and Stanford University, Ecocast was developed by NOAA Fisheries scientists and academic partners with input from fishermen and managers.

E.L. Hazen, K.L. Scales, S.M. Maxwell, D. Briscoe, H. Welch, S.J. Bograd, H. Bailey, S.R. Benson, T. Eguchi, H. Dewar, S. Kohin, D.P. Costa, L.B. Crowder, R.L. Lewison. 2018. A dynamic ocean management tool to reduce bycatch and support sustainable fisheries. Science Advances, 4: eaar3001. PDF

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