New tracking and observing technologies are giving marine conservationists a fish-eye view of conditions, from overfishing to climate change, that are contributing to declining fish populations, according to a new study.
Until recently, scientists provided fishery managers only such limited data as stock counts and catch estimates, said Charles Greene, Cornell professor of ocean sciences and lead author of the study published in the March issue (Vol. 22, No. 1) of the journal Oceanography.
But new advances in miniature sensors and fish-tracking tags, ocean observing systems and computer models are providing much more insight into environmental changes and how fish are responding behaviorally and biologically to such changes, thereby enabling better modeling to predict fish populations. As a result, researchers are making more informed recommendations for strategies to address falling fish populations.
Obtaining real-world data is essential, stressed Greene. "Many of the commercial fish populations in the world are pretty highly depressed. It's a bleak picture in terms of the status of many wild marine fish populations."
For example, the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery, which can garner more than $15,000 per fish, is managed as two separate stocks, one in the Eastern Atlantic basin, with a breeding ground in the Mediterranean, and another in the western basin, with a breeding ground in the Gulf of Mexico. Both stocks are not sustainably harvested, and the western population has declined by roughly 90 percent over the last 25 years, despite strict quotas.
A project known as Tag A Giant (TAG) uses an implanted tag in the tuna to record external pressure, internal and external temperature and ambient light, though the tuna must be recaptured to recover these data. TAG also uses a pop-up tag that is attached to the tuna but self releases, floats to the surface and transmits data on each tuna's external conditions via
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| Contact: Blaine Friedlander bpf2@cornell.edu 607-254-8093 Cornell University Source:Eurekalert |
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