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Movement patterns of white seabass Atractoscion nobilis tagged along the coast of Baja California, Mexico

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Abstract

This study outfitted wild-caught white seabass (Atractoscion nobilis) with electronic data storage tags (DSTs) to evaluate subsequent movements of adult fish captured along Baja California, Mexico (BC). Cefas G5 DSTs were surgically implanted into 89 wild-caught white seabass ranging in size from 66 to 152 cm TL between La Salina (32.11°N/116.90°W) and San Quintin (30.25°N/115.83°W), BC. Twenty-four tagged individuals (27%) were recaptured between April, 2010 and May, 2017, following a mean time at liberty of 608 days (range = 18–1424 days) and a mean displacement of approximately 125 km (± 173 km; range = 3–720 km) between the point of release and recapture. Tagged white seabass were recaptured between Santa Rosalillíta, BC (28.66° N/114.27°W) and Monterey Bay, California (36.65°N/121.86°W), with four individuals reported above the U.S-Mexico border. Collectively, 8547 days of archived data revealed that white seabass spent 95% of the time at depths <60 m, with a maximum depth of 158 m. Ambient water temperature ranged from 10.2 to 24.1 °C, with a mean (± SD) of 15.2 ± 0.4 °C. Seasonal shifts in depth profiles to deeper waters during the winter months were comparable with findings from previous tagging studies performed off California. Relatively high recapture rates reaffirm the economic importance of this resource in both the U.S. and Mexico, while tag recoveries within close proximity to particular deployment sites suggest seasonal site fidelity to specific geographic areas. White seabass movements between BC and California further support the transboundary nature of the stock and suggest that future management would benefit from international fishery policies.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for continued support from the George T. Pfleger Foundation and the Offield Family Foundation. We appreciate generous donations from the Catalina Seabass Fund, Southern California Edison, the San Diego Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Avalon Tuna Club, Oakpower Unlimited, and the Long Beach Neptunes. Gratitude to Tom Pfleger and the Pfleger family, Chase and Calen Offield, John and Johnny Talsky, along with the legendary Paxson Offield, who collectively supported and inspired this work. We greatly appreciate assistance and support from Kena Romo-Curiel, Sharon Herska, Omar Santana, Arturo ‘Masao’ Fajardo Yamamoto, Paul Tutunjian, Tommy Fullam, Mike Wang, Mark Okihiro, Vicki Wintrode, Jennifer Thirkell, Jeanine Sepulveda and Kacy Lafferty along with cooperation from all fishers that assisted with tag deployments and reported tag recovery information.

Availability of data and material

The data used to produce this manuscript has been uploaded to an online data repository and may be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Funding

Primary funding for this work was provided by the George T. Pfleger Foundation and the Offield Family Foundation, with additional support from the Catalina Seabass Fund, Southern California Edison and the San Diego Fish and Wildlife Commission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research (PIER), 315 Harbor Drive South, Suite B, Oceanside, CA, 92054, USA

    Scott A. Aalbers & Chugey A. Sepulveda

  2. Centro de Invesigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE), Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

    Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki & Chugey A. Sepulveda

  3. University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Justin E. Stopa

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  1. Scott A. Aalbers
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  4. Chugey A. Sepulveda
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Correspondence to Scott A. Aalbers.

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Animal Ethics Approval

All live-fish capture and handling procedures were approved by the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research Animal Handling and Ethics Committee (Protocol #146–155.14-21).

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All authors declare that there are no known conflicts of interest or competing financial interests that may have influenced the material in this publication. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with entities that have interest in the subject matter or financial interests in the material discussed in this manuscript.

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Aalbers, S.A., Sosa-Nishizaki, O., Stopa, J.E. et al. Movement patterns of white seabass Atractoscion nobilis tagged along the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Environ Biol Fish 105, 1781–1795 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01091-x

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