Abstract
The influence of multiple anchored fish aggregating devices (FADs) on the spatial behavior of yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye tuna (T. obesus) was investigated by equipping all thirteen FADs surrounding the island of Oahu (HI, USA) with automated sonic receivers (“listening stations”) and intra-peritoneally implanting individually coded acoustic transmitters in 45 yellowfin and 12 bigeye tuna. Thus, the FAD network became a multi-element passive observatory of the residence and movement characteristics of tuna within the array. Yellowfin tuna were detected within the FAD array for up to 150 days, while bigeye tuna were only observed up to a maximum of 10 days after tagging. Only eight yellowfin tuna (out of 45) and one bigeye tuna (out of 12) visited FADs other than their FAD of release. Those nine fish tended to visit nearest neighboring FADs and, in general, spent more time at their FAD of release than at the others. Fish visiting the same FAD several times or visiting other FADs tended to stay longer in the FAD network. A majority of tagged fish exhibited some synchronicity when departing the FADs but not all tagged fish departed a FAD at the same time: small groups of tagged fish left together while others remained. We hypothesize that tuna (at an individual or collective level) consider local conditions around any given FAD to be representative of the environment on a larger scale (e.g., the entire island) and when those conditions become unfavorable the tuna move to a completely different area. Thus, while the anchored FADs surrounding the island of Oahu might concentrate fish and make them more vulnerable to fishing, at a meso-scale they might not entrain fish longer than if there were no (or very few) FADs in the area. At the existing FAD density, the ‘island effect’ is more likely to be responsible for the general presence of fish around the island than the FADs. We recommend further investigation of this hypothesis.
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Notes
Due to the low number of data on bigeye tuna, this species is not considered here.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are deeply indebted to many colleagues who volunteered their time for scientific diving and contributed their fishing and tagging expertise. These include Pedro Santos, Tom Swenarton, Amy Long, Yannis Papastamatiou, Dean Grubbs, Bo Alexander and Dave Pence. Dr. Anders Nielsen provided valuable help with statistical analyses. The project could not have proceeded without advice and information generously provided by members of Hawaii’s fishing community including E. Choy, J. Delgado, S. Frazier and M. Strait. This research was funded by Cooperative Agreement number NA17RS1230 between the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies. The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which the experiments were performed.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe.
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Dagorn, L., Holland, K.N. & Itano, D.G. Behavior of yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye (T. obesus) tuna in a network of fish aggregating devices (FADs). Mar Biol 151, 595–606 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0511-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0511-1