2014 |
Peraltilla, S., and S. Bertrand. "In situ measurements of the speed of Peruvian anchovy schools." Fisheries Research. 149 (2014): 92–94.
Résumé: While speed of fish schools is critical information for parameterizing numerous ecosystem models and evaluating fishery management options, it is poorly documented. Here we present results of in situ measurements of the speed of Peruvian anchovy schools, a small pelagic species that sustain the world's largest mono-specific fishery. Instantaneous school speed was in average 0.6 ms(-1), authorizing theoretical maximum displacements of similar to 26 km day(-1).
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2013 |
Brehmer, P., et al. "Does coastal lagoon habitat quality affect fish growth rate and their recruitment? Insights from fishing and acoustic surveys." Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci.. 126 (2013): 1–6.
Résumé: Ensuring the sustainability of fish resources necessitates understanding their interaction with coastal habitats, which is becoming ever more challenging in the context of ever increasing anthropogenic pressures. The ability of coastal lagoons, exposed to major sources of disturbance, to provide resources and suitable habitats for growth and survival of juvenile fish is especially important. We analysed three lagoons with different ecological statuses and habitat quality on the basis of their eutrophication and ecotoxicity (Trix test) levels. Fish abundances were sampled using fishing and horizontal beaming acoustic surveys with the same protocols in the same year. The relative abundance of Anguilla anguilla, Dicentrarchus labrax or the Mugilidae group was not an indicator of habitat quality, whereas Atherina boyeri and Sparus aurata appeared to be more sensitive to habitat quality. Fish abundance was higher in the two lagoons with high eutrophication and ecotoxicity levels than in the less impacted lagoon, while fish sizes were significantly higher in the two most severely impacted lagoons. This leads us to suggest low habitat quality may increase fish growth rate (by the mean of a cascading effect), but may reduce lagoon juvenile abundance by increasing larval mortality. Such a hypothesis needs to be further validated using greater investigations which take into account more influences on fish growth and recruitment in such variable environments under complex multi-stressor conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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2011 |
Brehmer, P., et al. "Exploratory and instantaneous swimming speeds of amphidromous fish school in shallow-water coastal lagoon channels." Estuaries and Coasts. 34.4 (2011): 739–744.
Résumé: Fish school swimming speeds is essential for ecological and management studies. The multibeam sonar in horizontal beaming provided dynamic echo traces of mobile fish schools. We used two school swimming speed indicators: the average of a series of instantaneous speed values, and the exploratory speed. These swimming speeds were estimated for each fish school observed on the basis of their Euclidian position within the sonar beams. The average ISS values per school ranged from 0.15 m s(-1) to 4.46 m s(-1), while the ESS values per school were lower, ranging from 0.04 m s(-1) to 3.77 m s(-1). Multibeam sonar technology makes it possible to measure fish school swimming speeds in their natural habitat at small spatio-temporal scales. This methodology can therefore be used to analyse in situ their movements, and has a wide range of applications in behavioural studies and management purposes.
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2010 |
Gerlotto, F., et al. "When good neighbours become good friends: observing small scale structures in fish aggregations using multibeam sonar." Aquatic Living Resources. 23 (2010): 143–151.
Résumé: Converging results in different scientific fields (behavioural ecology, fisheries biology, acoustic tagging, fisheries acoustics, behavioural modelling) suggest the existence of “micro-groups” inside fish schools. These would comprise a few (5-10) fish maintaining contact during a period long enough to allow individuals to recognise each other. It is hypothesised that they would prefer to share the space with familiar rather than anonymous conspecifics. To evaluate whether acoustic methods could be used to recognise “micro-structures” inside fish schools and help test the “micro-group” hypothesis we analysed acoustic data from anchovy schools off Peru, and gadoids in the North Sea. Data collection used a multibeam sonar (Reson SeaBat 6012). In the Peruvian case study, the sonar was mounted set horizontally on a drifting research vessel and the internal structure of the schools of anchovies was analysed, although individual fish could not be discriminated. In the North Sea case study, the sonar was orientated vertically above a demersal trawl to allow observation of individual fish entering the trawl. Geostatistical analyses were used to evaluate the existence of small spatial structures in anchovy schools. In these schools, “micro-structures” with a scale as small as 0.5 m were observed acoustically. For the gadoids nearest neighbour distance (NDD) measurements were carried out, suggesting that the fish aggregated in small groups (2 to 25 individuals, with an average of 3.7 fish per group) in the trawl catches. The perspectives and limitations of these results are discussed.
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