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Network analysis of acoustic tracking data reveals the structure and stability of fish aggregations in the ocean
Citation
Stehfest, K and Patterson, TA and Dagorn, L and Holland, KN and Itano, D and Semmens, JM, Network analysis of acoustic tracking data reveals the structure and stability of fish aggregations in the ocean, Animal Behaviour, 85, (4) pp. 839-848. ISSN 0003-3472 (2013) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2013 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.02.003
Abstract
Aggregations in the distribution of individuals are an almost universal phenomenon in living organisms.
Groups of animals that display collective coordinated movement without forming stable social bonds
such as fish schools are a special type of aggregation. In tropical tuna fisheries, aggregating behaviour is
directly exploited through the use of artificial fish aggregating devices (FADs). Hence, understanding the
dynamics of schooling behaviour and the potential impacts of FADs upon it may have ramifications for
tuna management. As a novel way of quantifying spatiotemporal co-occurrences of animals, we applied
network statistics to acoustic tracking data to identify the co-occurrences of individual yellowfin tuna,
Thunnus albacares, in an array of FADs and determine the frequency and temporal dynamics of these
co-occurrences. We observed large interannual variation in movement rates of tuna between FADs, and
corresponding interannual variability in the mean number of spatiotemporal associates for each individual
as well as the temporal stability of associations. When movement rates were high, associations
within FAD aggregations decayed to randomness three times faster than when movement rates were
lower. This raises the possibility that if FADs are sufficiently close for fish to perform frequent between-
FAD movements, school mixing may be increased and cohesion reduced.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | acoustic tagging,aggregation,association,collective motion,co-occurrence,fishery,Hawai’i,network analysis,Thunnus albacares,yellowfin tuna |
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Fisheries sciences |
| Research Field: | Fisheries management |
| Objective Division: | Animal Production and Animal Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Fisheries - wild caught |
| Objective Field: | Wild caught fin fish (excl. tuna) |
| UTAS Author: | Stehfest, K (Dr Kilian Stehfest) |
| UTAS Author: | Semmens, JM (Professor Jayson Semmens) |
| ID Code: | 88195 |
| Year Published: | 2013 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 27 |
| Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
| Deposited On: | 2014-01-17 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-05-13 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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