nerc.ac.uk

Fidelity of yellowfin tuna to seamount and island foraging grounds in the central South Atlantic Ocean

Wright, Serena R.; Righton, David; Naulerts, Joachim; Schallert, Robert J.; Bendall, Victoria; Griffiths, Christopher; Castleton, Michael; David-Gutierrez, Daniel; Madigan, Daniel; Beard, Annalea; Clingham, Elizabeth; Henry, Leeann; Laptikhovsky, Vladimir; Beare, Douglas; Thomas, Waylon; Block, Barbara A.; Collins, Martin A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7132-8650. 2021 Fidelity of yellowfin tuna to seamount and island foraging grounds in the central South Atlantic Ocean. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 172, 103513. 13, pp. 10.1016/j.dsr.2021.103513

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.
[thumbnail of Open Access]
Preview
Text (Open Access)
Crown Copyright © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1-s2.0-S0967063721000522-main.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (6MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

The yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) is a widely distributed, migratory species that supports valuable commercial fisheries throughout their range. Management of migratory species requires knowledge of movement, mixing and key life history parameters such as growth rate, natural and fisheries mortality. Current management is based on the assumptions that the species is highly migratory and populations are well mixed, but these assumptions have been questioned by recent studies. Since November 2015, yellowfin tuna have been tagged with conventional, archival and pop-up satellite tags (PSAT) in the South Atlantic Ocean around St Helena, with the goal of better understanding their movement patterns and ecology in this region. Conventional tags were attached to 4049 yellowfin tuna (size range 24–158 cm fork length, FL), PSAT tags were deployed on 15 yellowfin in inshore St Helena waters (size range 95–138 cm FL) and 7 yellowfin (size range 125–140 cm FL) at Cardno Seamount, and archival tags were deployed on 48 yellowfin tuna in inshore St Helena waters (size range 69–111 cm FL). Most yellowfin tuna remained within 70 km of their release location, suggesting a degree of retention to the region. Although displacement of yellowfin was generally low, the furthest distance travelled between release and recapture location was 2755 km, with other tuna also displaying large-scale movements. Tagging revealed connections between inshore regions and seamounts, as well as links between St Helena waters and key fishing regions and putative spawning grounds in the Gulf of Guinea.

Item Type: Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1016/j.dsr.2021.103513
ISSN: 0967-0637
Additional Keywords: tagging; satellite tags; philopatry; archival tags; growth; length-frequency
Date made live: 19 Apr 2021 08:46 +0 (UTC)
URI: https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528379

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Document Downloads

Downloads for past 30 days

Downloads per month over past year

More statistics for this item...