Showing papers by "Molly Lutcavage published in 2009"

Tagging and tracking of marine animals with electronic devices

Abstract: Behavioural Insights Based on the Use of Electronic Tags.- Using Telemetry to Monitor Movements and Habitat Use of Cultured and Wild Juvenile Winter Flounder in a Shallow Estuary.- Comparative Behavior of Wild and Hatchery Reared White Sea Bream (Diplodus sargus) Released on Artificial Reefs Off the Algarve (Southern Portugal).- Survival, Migration Speed and Swimming Depth of Atlantic Salmon Kelts During Sea Entry and Fjord Migration.- Small Scale Vertical Behaviour of Juvenile Albacore in Relation to Their Biotic Environment in the Bay of Biscay.- A Review of Acoustic Telemetry Technology and a Perspective on its Diversification Relative to Coastal Tracking Arrays.- The Ocean Tracking Network - Adding Marine Animal Movements to the Global Ocean Observing System.- Observations of the Behaviour of European Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in the North Sea.- Vertical Movements and Habitat Utilization of Skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), Yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), and Bigeye (Thunnus obesus) Tunas in the Equatorial Eastern Pacific Ocean, Ascertained Through Archival Tag Data.- Investigations of Horizontal Movements of Atlantic Swordfish Using Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags.- Vertical Behavior and the Observation of FAD Effects on Tropical Tuna in the Warm-Pool of the Western Pacific Ocean.- Effects of T-bar and DST Tagging on Survival and Growth of European Hake.- Body Temperature of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) in the Western Mediterranean.- Multi-Channel Data-Logging: Towards Determination of Behaviour and Metabolic Rate in Free-Swimming Sharks.- Harnessing the Sun: Testing a Novel Attachment Method to Record Fine Scale Movements in Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola).- An Archival Tag for Monitoring Key Behaviours (Feeding and Spawning) in Fish.- Geolocation Methods.- Lessons from a Prototype Geolocation Problem.- Geolocating Fish Using Hidden Markov Models and Data Storage Tags.- State Space Model for Light Based Tracking of Marine Animals: Validation on Swimming and Diving Creatures.- Removing Bias in Latitude Estimated from Solar Irradiance Time Series.- Positioning Pelagic Fish from Sunrise and Sunset Times: Complex Observation Errors Call for Constrained, Robust Modeling.- Summary Report of aWorkshop on Geolocation Methods for Marine Animals.- Applications of Electronic Tags to Fisheries Management.- Developing Integrated Database Systems for the Management of Electronic Tagging Data.- Electronic Tagging Data Supporting Flexible Spatial Management in an Australian Longline Fishery.- Correction Factors Derived from Acoustic Tag Data for a Juvenile Southern Bluefin Tuna Abundance Index in SouthernWestern Australia.- A Multi-Scale Study of Red Porgy Movements and Habitat Use, and Its Application to the Design of Marine Reserve Networks.- Erratum.

Investigations of Horizontal Movements of Atlantic Swordfish Using Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags

Abstract: The long-distance horizontal movements of swordfish tagged in Canadian waters are described, using information obtained from pop-up satellite archival tags. Some of the satellite tags remained attached to the fish for up to 411 days, among the longest periods of attachment of pop-up satellite tags reported for any fish species. The results to date challenge the assumption employed in current stock assessments that swordfish move freely from the western North Atlantic to the eastern North Atlantic, as no such movement has been found. The results also demonstrate a consistent pattern of movement with residence in temperate waters from June to October, followed by migration to the south into the Caribbean Sea, with fish remaining there until April. Tagged swordfish returned to temperate waters by June, with evidence of precise homing to feeding areas.

Inclusion of prey data improves prediction of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) distribution

Abstract: We examined the distribution of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Gulf of Maine, Northwest Atlantic Ocean, from 17 to 23 August 1995, in relation to physical and biological parameters. Specifically, we fit a binomial GLM to the bluefin tuna presence–absence data and predictor variables that include: sea surface temperature (SST), ocean depth, distance to an SST front, time-lagged density of SST fronts, and an interpolated surface of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) density. In addition, we use simple and partial Mantel tests to examine whether bluefin tuna presence–absence data are significantly associated with these predictors, once spatial autocorrelation is accounted for. Results suggest that the distribution of bluefin tuna significantly correlated with herring density (z = 3.525, P = 0.000424), and that inclusion of biological variables results in a more parsimonious model. Mantel tests results indicate that bluefin tuna abundance is significantly correlated with herring density after the effect of spatial structure is removed (Mantel r = 0.043, P < 0.019).

Positioning Pelagic Fish from Sunrise and Sunset Times: Complex Observation Errors Call for Constrained, Robust Modeling

Abstract: Current lightbased geolocation techniques used to identify migration routes of highly mobile species have inherent limitations, depending on the type of tag technologies used. Recovered data storage tags provide detailed time series of light-levels suited for extensive post-processing, while pop-up satellite tags (PSATs) are bandwidth-limited and generally provide samples only at critical times of the day. An alternative approach is to detect a sunrise or sunset event and transmit only this information, thus freeing bandwidth for depth or temperature data. We show here that this geolocation technique retains the essential information to correct for known problems such as errors at the equinoxes. We describe the suitable model for such data, as well as the behavior of resulting location error and bias in simulated cases. Illustrations from PSAT tags at the ocean’s surface and on a freely-swimming fish reveal a highly non-Gaussian error distribution. To solve for this, we present a more generalized estimation framework than linear Gaussian models, based on an extension of the Kalman filter. We apply iterative nonlinear Least squares to address non-Gaussian errors, non-linear dynamics and missing data. The proposed optimization method may include coastlines or bathymetric limits as hard constraints. Our results indicate that sunrise/sunset-based geolocation is a viable technique technique to surmount tag design or engineering limitations when tracking pelagic fish.