Browsing by Author "Brown, Craig"
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- Sea turtles in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, a step towards understanding bycatch and management of these species in tuna fisheriesPublication . Domingo, Andrés; Baéz, José Carlos; Miller, Philip; Parker, Denham; Ramos, María Lourdes; Sabarros, Philippe S.; Brown, Craig; Camiñas, Juan Antonio; Coelho, Rui; Forselledo, Rodrigo; Fiedler, Fernando Niemeyer; Giffoni, Bruno; Macías, David; Hanke, Alex; Kerwath, Sven; Lauretta, Matthew V.; Poisson, Francois; Rueda, Lucía; Ruiz, Jon; Sales, Gilberto; Leite, Nilamon de Oliveira; Salmerón, Francisca; Santiago, Josu; Taylor, Nathan; Jiménez, SebastiánKnowledge of the spatiotemporal behavior and interactions with fishing gear of bycatch species is essential to improve conservation and fisheries management strategies. We analyze fine-scale data from onboard observers, covering 25 fishing fleets from 2002 through 2018, to assess temporal trends and spatial variation in sea turtle bycatch in longline and purse seine tuna fisheries in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. For the spatial analysis, we used the latest Regional Management Units for Sea Turtles (RMUs). In 117,381 fishing sets (51,431 in longlines and 65,950 in purse seine), a total of 26,050 sea turtles were incidentally caught. Bycatch was significantly higher in the Atlantic than in the Indian Ocean. Some bycatch trends were observed in longline fisheries but should be interpreted with caution due to low observer coverage and uneven sampling. In purse seine fisheries, where observer coverage was higher, an increasing trend over time was found in the bycatch rate of the three most caught species during the study period. This could be related to an increase in population size as suggested in other regional-scale analyses. We identified RMUs that should receive further attention from the perspective of increased capture rates over time. Our large-scale analysis confirms that surface longline sets capture significantly more turtles than deep longline sets. Purse seine sets on fish aggregating objects (FOB) captured more turtles than sets made on free schools of fish. These results are of relevance for the management and protection of these threatened species and the development of management measures.
- Spatial and temporal size distribution of swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean: implications for conservation and managementPublication . Rosa, Daniela; Schirripa, Michael; Gillespie, Kyle; Macías, David; Forselledo, Rodrigo; Mourato, Bruno; Kai, Mikihiko; Arocha, Freddy; Su, Nan-Jay; Kerwath, Sven; Bahou, Laurent; Pappalardo, Luigi; Diaz, Guillermo A.; Lino, Pedro G.; Salmeron, Francisca; Urbina, Josetxu Ortiz de; Cardoso, Luis Gustavo; Sant’Ana, Rodrigo; Travassos, Paulo; Santos, Miguel N.; Erzini, Karim; Domingo, Andrés; Báez, Jose Carlos; Hanke, Alex; Brown, Craig; Coelho, RuiSwordfish (Xiphias gladius) is a common target species of surface pelagic longline fisheries. In the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, swordfish is managed as three separate stocks, all having management measures in place to rebuild or conserve the stocks, including minimum landing sizes. The objective of this study was to review size data for swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean, model the sex-specific size distribution and determine areas where there is higher likelihood of capturing undersized fish. The size distribution differed between males and females and varied by quarter, indicating movements of large fish between temperate and tropical waters. Undersized fish seems to occur in association with coastal waters, with higher proportions in the Northwest Atlantic and tropical areas. This study provides a better understanding of the temporal and spatial size and sex distribution of swordfish and presents insights into the distribution of undersized swordfish that is subject to management measures.