Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Fish aggregation'

Les sites d'agrégation de ponte (AP) sont des zones où des poissons d'une même espèce se rassemblent pour frayer. En dépit de leur importance dans la reproduction de nombreuses espèces de poissons des récifs coralliens, bien peu de sites d'AP sont gérés. Le but de cette étude est d'améliorer la compréhension générale sur l'écologie des sites d'AP en vue de faciliter la gestion. L'étude, réalisée aux Seychelles, se concentre sur les individus regroupant sur les sites d'AP pour frayer et aussi sur ceux résidant sur ces sites. La télémétrie acoustique et le recensement visuel sous-marin ont, ici, été employé comme principaux outils d'observation des espèces formant des agrégations de reproduction (cordonnier (Siganus sutor), mérou camouflage (Epinephelus polyphekadion) et mérou marbré (E. fuscoguttatus)) et des espèces résidant sur les sites d'AP. Les détections acoustiques ont montré que les individus de S. sutor présentent une grande fidélité à leur site de ponte et une périodicité liée à la période de pleine lune. Par ailleurs, les agrégations de ponte d'E. fuscoguttatus et E. polyphekadion se chevauchent spatialement et temporellement avec une forte périodicité liée à la nouvelle lune. La formation d'AP de E. fuscoguttatus et E. polyphekadion provoque des changements complexes dans l'assemblage de poissons résidents sur le site. L'effet de la phase lunaire sur les assemblages de poissons résidant sur les sites d'AP de S. Sutor apparait être dépendant de l'échelle considérée. Les informations sur la dynamique spatiale et temporelle des espèces étudiée sont utilisées pour proposer des mesures de gestion susceptibles d'améliorer la protection des sites d'AP
Fish spawning aggregation (FSA) sites are areas where repeated concentration of conspecific fish gathers for the purpose of spawning. Despite of their importance in the reproduction of many coral reef fishes, few FSA sites are actively managed. The aim of this study, conducted in the Seychelles, was to improve general understanding on the ecology of FSA sites to facilitate their management. It focuses on both the individuals that aggregate at FSA sites to spawn and those that are resident at FSA sites. Acoustic telemetry and underwater visual census were used to study three species that form spawning aggregations (spinefoot shoemaker (Siganus sutor), Camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) and Brown-marbled grouper (E. fuscoguttatus)) and the resident fish assemblages at FSA sites. Acoustic detections found individual S. sutor to have high fidelity to individual FSA sites and to show significant periodicity with the full moon period in the timing of their arrival and departure from FSA sites. Conversely, spawning aggregations of E. fuscoguttatus and E. polyphekadion overlapped spatially and temporally, with strong periodicity for spawning aggregation to form with the new moon period. The formation of E. fuscoguttatus and E. polyphekadion FSAs caused complex changes in the fish assemblage that is resident at the FSA site. The effect of lunar phase on the resident fish assemblages at S. sutor FSA sites appeared to be scale-dependent, having greater impact at the larger than the smaller FSA site. Information on the spatial and temporal dynamics of aggregating and resident fish species is used to propose management actions to improve the protection of FSA sites

Understanding basic antiviral mechanisms in vertebrates is essential for developing methods to enhance antiviral responses and promote human and animal health. In fish these antiviral mechanisms are poorly understood, but are important to understand because of the devastating impact of viral diseases on aquaculture. Therefore, the antiviral responses of a rainbow trout macrophage-like cell line, RTS11, and two non-immune cell lines, the rainbow trout fibroblast RTG-2 and Chinook salmon embryo CHSE-214 were studied. Three antiviral responses were first characterized using the viral mimic, synthetic double-stranded RNA (poly IC), and then their induction was investigated using Chum salmon reovirus (CSV). The responses were: 1) apoptosis, which is programmed cell death and a primitive antiviral defense; 2) homotypic aggregation (HA), which is clustering of like immune cells; and 3) expression of Mxs, which are antiviral proteins belonging to GTPase super-family. Some of these antiviral mechanisms were investigated using a novel continuous cell line, PBLE, developed from a peripheral blood leukocyte preparation of the American eel, Anguilla rostrata.

RTS11 was exceptionally susceptible to apoptosis. The cells died at lower concentrations of poly IC and other agents, including the translation inhibitor, cycloheximide (CHX), and fungal metabolite, gliotoxin. Death was predominantly by apoptosis, as judged by DNA ladders, nuclear fragmentation, and protection by caspase inhibitors. By contrast, the other two cell lines died most commonly by necrosis, when death did occur. Co-treating RTS11 with CHX greatly sensitized the cells to poly IC. Based on the protection afforded by inhibitors of dsRNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), RTS11 apoptosis induced by poly IC with CHX co-treatment but not gliotoxin was mediated by PKR. As macrophages are likely among the first cells to contact viruses during an infection in vivo and are mobile, the sensitivity of RTS11 to dsRNA killing could reflect a protective mechanism by which virus spread is limited by the early death of these first responders.

HA of RTS11 was induced by poly IC. HA required divalent cations and was blocked by CHX and by PKR inhibitors. This suggested that HA induction was PKR-mediated and involved the synthesis of new cell surface molecule(s), possibly galectins. As an antiviral mechanism, HA induction by dsRNA could be interpreted as an initial protective response, allowing cell localization at the site of infection, but once translation becomes inhibited, apoptosis ensues.

Mx was induced by poly IC in RTS11 and RTG-2 as judged by RT-PCR. Western blotting revealed constitutive Mx expression more consistantly in RTS11, but induction by poly IC in both cell lines. Medium conditioned by cells previously exposed to poly IC and assumed to contain interferon also induced Mx transcripts in RTS11 but not RTG-2. In RTS11, poly IC activated PKR activity, and PKR inhibitors blocked Mx induction, which is the first demonstration of PKR mediating Mx expression.

The dsRNA virus, CSV, also induced apoptosis, HA, and Mx expression, but in some cases contrasting with poly IC experiments. CSV induced apoptosis in RTG-2 and CHSE-214 but not in RTS11, and HA induction by CSV in RTS11 was not dependent on PKR. Mx induction was sustained in RTG-2 and transitory in RTS11; however, both cell lines supported CSV replication.

The novel cell line, PBLE, was also characterized in this study. PBLE was derived from an adherent culture of peripheral blood leukocytes from the American eel, Anguilla rostrata. PBLE were found to grow over a wide range of temperatures and fetal bovine serum (FBS) concentrations. This cell line was able to undergo apoptosis in response to gliotoxin. PBLE was also susceptible to a number of viruses, including CSV; however, CSV infection did not lead to apoptosis.

This study suggests that antiviral responses are likely numerous and overlapping and depend on cell type and virus. Understanding them should lead to novel methods for protecting fish from viral diseases. More specifically, using cell lines such as PBLE may aid in the understanding of species specific and perhaps even cell type specific antiviral mechanisms.

Power law relationships are ubiquitous in ecology, and complex systems in general, and can be used as metrics to describe many aspects of ecosystem structure and function. While ecological interactions and processes predominantly occur at the individual level of biological organisation, currently, most ecological studies aim to estimate “typical” ecosystem behaviour over large spatial and temporal scales. This disconnect results in the under- appreciation of ecosystem dynamics that are potentially important for developing ecological theory and ecosystem modelling. The research presented herein aims to estimate within-ecosystem dynamics, as quantified by power law relationships, to test whether expected ecological dynamics can be captured effectively at smaller scales. I show that Taylor’s power law, a metric of aggregation, varies systematically, both spatially and temporally within the North Sea fish community, with the abiotic environment when populations were considered as cohorts of individual body sizes. By combining estimates of the power law distribution of body size in fish with stable isotopes that can be used to infer trophic interactions, I show that seasonal trends in fish movement patterns and the incorporation of pulsed phytoplankton production can be quantified in a highly dynamic estuarine environment. Estimates of the in situ community predator-prey mass ratio, which describes trophic behaviour, and the apparent trophic transfer efficiency are then derived and shown to exhibit strong seasonal variation, indicative of an estuarine food web that is temporally variable. Finally, I quantify the degree of individual specialisation, a mechanism by which intraspecific competition is modulated, in the diet of a commercially important but over-exploited fish species to inform conservation efforts. This work shows that ecological dynamics can be captured by a range of ecosystem metrics and that, therefore, small scale behaviours can be tested for empirically to direct ecosystem models and theory.

Fishing is a significant source of food, and constitutes an important source of income in Turkey. Due to the large extent required to analyse the distribution of fish stocks, information derived from satellites play an important role in fisheries applications. Chlorophyll concentration and sea surface temperature (SST) are the most significant parameters which define the fish habitat. The accuracy of these parameters in the Black Sea taken from two different satellites, namely Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-views Sensor (SeaWIFS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are evaluated. Results indicate that both satellites give good estimates of SST but the algorithms overestimate the chlorophyll concentration values. MODIS products are used in the subsequent analyses due to their high correlation with in-situ measurements relative to SeaWIFS products. The cause of the overestimation of chlorophyll concentration is further examined and a general description of environmental variability in Black Sea is done using MODIS products. Anchovy, the most important commercial fish in Turkey, has been selected as the target specie of the study. Level 3 weekly average MODIS chlorophyll and SST products are processed using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) integration to estimate potential favorable zones for pelagic fish aggregations. Two different decision rules are employed to generate fish stock maps, simple additive weigthing (SAW) and fuzzy additive weigthing (FSAW). The resultant maps are used to visualize the general distribution of Anchovy in Turkish Seas from May 2000 to May 2001. The resultant thematic fish stock maps generated by FSAW analysis represents the uncertainity in the environment better than the ones generated by SAW analysis.

This thesis had two overriding aims. The first was to describe the biology of Samson Fish Seriola hippos and therefore extend the knowledge and understanding of the genus Seriola. The second was to uses these data to develop strategies to better manage the fishery and, if appropriate, develop catch-and-release protocols for the S. hippos sportfishery. Trends exhibited by marginal increment analysis in the opaque zones of sectioned S. hippos otoliths, together with an otolith of a recaptured calcein injected fish, demonstrated that these opaque zones represent annual features. Thus, as with some other members of the genus, the number of opaque zones in sectioned otoliths of S. hippos are appropriate for determining age and growth parameters of this species. Seriola hippos displayed similar growth trajectories to other members of the genus. Early growth in S. hippos is rapid with this species reaching minimum legal length for retention (MML) of 600mm TL within the second year of life. After the first 5 years of life growth rates of each sex differ, with females growing faster and reaching a larger size at age than males. Thus, by 10, 15 and 20 years of age, the predicted fork lengths (and weights) for females were 1088 (17 kg), 1221 (24 kg) and 1311 mm (30 kg), respectively, compared with 1035 (15 kg), 1124 (19 kg) and 1167 mm (21 kg), respectively for males. Despite these differences, female and male S. hippos attained similar maximum age, i.e. 29 (1470 mm FL) and 28 years (1280 mm FL), respectively. The maximum age determined for S. hippos is greater than that recorded for any other Seriola spp. The largest female and male S. hippos recorded during this study were encountered during the tagging component and had fork lengths of 1600 mm and 1380 mm, respectively. Seriola hippos has a protracted spawning period, ca four months, which starts in late spring and continues through summer into early autumn during which time many individuals engage in large spawning aggregations on the lower west coast of Australia. The length at which 50 % of the females in the population reached maturity was 831 mm FL (888 mm TL) and approximately 4 years of age, whilst all females over 950 mm FL were mature. Whilst aggregated for spawning S. hippos ceases feeding, however, during the non-spawning period this species can best be described as an opportunistic carnivore which feeds on a variety of pelagic and demersal prey. This study has greatly increased our understanding of S. hippos movement on the west and south coasts of Australia and has documented, for the first time, the migratory behaviour of a carangid in these waters. Many S. hippos individuals undertake long distance migrations to join spawning aggregation sites near Rottnest Island. Individuals tagged at these aggregation sites where recaptured throughout this species distribution along the south coast of Australia, some after travelling distances of over 2400 km. Many S. hippos individuals displayed strong temporal and spatial spawning ground fidelity as numerous fish released at the spawning aggregations were recaptured at the exact same spawning site at similar times in subsequent years. Tagging data suggest that on the completion of spawning S. hippos individuals return to a resident location and remain in that general vicinity over the winter months. This study has developed a hypothesis describing larval dispersal associated with the S. hippos spawning behaviour exhibited near Rottnest Island. It is proposed that variations in the prevailing ocean currents, at this important spawning location throughout the protracted spawning period, leads to high intra and inter-annual variation in larval distribution and survival. The affect of this variation on the evolution of the spawning and migratory behaviour displayed by S. hippos is discussed. A recent increase in the popularity of S. hippos as a catch-and-release sportfish has led to concerns by some anglers about post release survival of this species, particularly due to the depth of capture. Short term mortality of S. hippos capture at the sportfishing sites was assessed by monitoring fish held within an enclosure near the site of capture for up to 31 hours post release. The total hooking mortality of S. hippos subjected to catch-and-release angling within the Rottnest Island sportfishery is approximately 8%. Most of this observed mortality is delayed and occurs sometime after release. Although best handling practises require ongoing development, the current level of mortality associated with this catch-and-release fishery is considered acceptable. Furthermore, this mortality is likely to have little effect on the S. hippos population due to the high abundance of this species and the fact that even the highest fishing effort yields a relatively low catch. Seriola hippos exhibits a typical teleost neuroendocrine stress response associated with catch-and-release. The physiological dysfunction associated with the stress of capture in this species does not appear to cause any post release mortality. Instead, most mortality was attributable to barotrauma, however, although mortality in S. hippos increases with capture depth, this species is much less susceptible to depth induced mortality than other commonly targeted species in which barotrauma has been observed. This study developed key handling protocols for fishers who catch-and-release S. hippos at the Rottnest Island aggregation sites. These protocols cover aspects of catch-and-release fishing such as hook type, water depth, time at surface, release method and shark predation. Almost all S. hippos observed during capture from deep water released large quantities of gas from the opercular region, particularly during the last 10 to 20 m before reaching the surface. This phenomenon has also been witnessed by divers and fishers to occur under natural conditions. Investigations into this release of gas revealed this physoclistous species to exhibit unique swim bladder characteristics. Seriola hippos possess a membranous tube that connects the posterior-dorsal surface of the swim bladder internally to a region under each operculum externally. This connection, termed the swim bladder vent, allows the escape of expanding swim bladder gases on rapid ascent. The presence of the swim bladder vent provides an explanation as to why the incidence of external barotrauma symptoms in S. hippos captured from the deepwater was low. The ability to expel excess swim bladder gases during rapid ascent whilst retaining full swim bladder function is likely to offer this semi-pelagic species considerable advantages when hunting prey, avoiding predators and engaging in spawning activities. Preliminary estimates of total mortality indicated that S. hippos is not currently subjected to a high level of fishing pressure. However, managers must remain mindful of the fact that the size at which females reach sexual maturity, i.e. 888 mm TL, is greater than the current minimum legal length, i.e. 600 mm, and thus fishers are currently allowed to harvest sexually immature fish. Furthermore, the effectiveness of future conservation measures must consider the large scale migration and spawning strategy undertaken by this species in order to ensure its protection. The collaborative research approach undertaken during this study demonstrated that a high level of community engagement produced a large amount of research interest, increased stakeholder satisfaction from project input, improved understanding of research outcomes, and increased research uptake, all of which has led to increased stewardship and conservation of the S. hippos fishery and fisheries resources in general. Indeed, projects of this nature would not be possible without this type of approach.

The silky shark Carcharhinus falciformis forms the primary elasmobranch bycatch in tuna purse seine fisheries using fish aggregating devices (FADs) in all of the world’s tropical oceans. Its life-history traits of slow growth, late maturation and low fecundity make it vulnerable to over exploitation, as is apparent from historical bycatch trends. Very little is known about the associative behaviour of this species with floating objects, information which is essential in formulating effective mitigation and management measures. This study aims to address this knowledge gap through the use of various electronic tagging techniques in conjunction with dietary analysis. Dietary data were collected from 323 silky sharks incidentally caught at FADs. Approximately 40 percent of the diet consisted of prey associated with FADs while the remaining 60 percent were non-associated species of crustaceans, cephalopods and fishes. These results suggest that the associative behaviour is not primarily driven by trophic enhancement, but is likely a combination of predator avoidance, social interactions and feeding. Fine-scale behavioural data from silky sharks associated with drifting FADs were collected through the use of acoustic telemetry techniques. Acoustic tags were implanted into 38 silky sharks (69- 116 cm TL) at eight FADs. FADs were equipped with satellite linked acoustic receivers and abandoned to drift freely. Presence/absence and swimming depth data were telemetered via the Iridium satellite system. A total of 300 d of behavioural data were collected from 20 tagged individuals. Individuals remain associated with the same FAD for extended periods (min = 2.84 d, max = 30.60 d, mean = 15.69 d). Strong diel patterns were observed in both association and swimming depth. Typically individuals moved away from FADs after sunset and return later during the night, then remain closely associated until the following evening. Vertical behaviour also changed around sunset with sharks using fairly constant depths, within the upper 25 m, during the day and switching to rapid vertical movements during the night, with dives in excess of 250 m recoded. Broader scale movement behaviour was investigated using pop-up archival satellite tags (PSATs). Tags were deployed on 46 silky sharks (86-224.5 cm TL) for a total of 1495 d. Light data were used to calculate geolocation estimates and reconstruct the sharks’ trajectories. Movement patterns differed between animals and according to deployment duration. Several extensive horizontal movements were observed, with an average track length of 3240 km during an average tag deployment of 44.02 d. Horizontal movement patterns were found to correlate very closely with drift patterns of FADs. Consequently, it appears that the movement behaviour of juvenile silky sharks is strongly influenced by the movement of drifting FADs in this region. Ghost fishing of silky sharks through entanglement in FADs was also investigated using data derived from PSATs as well as underwater visual censuses. Thirteen per cent of the tagged sharks became entangled in FADs and entangled sharks were observed in 35 percent of the 51 FADs surveyed. Using this information in conjunction with estimated time that sharks remained entangled in the FAD (from depth data from PSATs), and scaling up according to estimates of FAD numbers, it was found that between 480 000 and 960 000 silky sharks are killed annually in this manner in the Indian Ocean. Subsequent management measures in this region prevent the deployment of FADs with netting that could lead to entanglement. Overall, floating objects appear to play a significant role in the juvenile life stages of silky sharks in this region. While their association with floating objects is clearly advantageous in an evolutionary sense, under current tuna fishery trends, this behaviour is certainly detrimental for the population.

Artificial reefs are becoming a popular biological and management component in shallow water environments characterized by soft seabed, representing both important marine habitats and tools to manage coastal fisheries and resources. An artificial reef in the marine environment acts as an open system with exchange of material and energy, altering the physical and biological characteristics of the surrounding area. Reef stability will depend on the balance of scour, settlement, and burial resulting from ocean conditions over time. Because of the unstable nature of sediments, they require a detailed and systematic investigation. Acoustic systems like high-frequency multibeam sonar are efficient tools in monitoring the environmental evolution around artificial reefs, whereas water turbidity can limit visual dive and ROV inspections. A high-frequency multibeam echo sounder offers the potential of detecting fine-scale distribution of reef units, providing an unprecedented level of resolution, coverage, and spatial definition. How do artificial reefs change over time in relation to the coastal processes? How accurately does multibeam technology map different typologies of artificial modules of known size and shape? How do artificial reefs affect fish school behavior? What are the limitations of multibeam technology for investigating fish school distribution as well as spatial and temporal changes? This study addresses the above questions and presents results of a new approach for artificial reef seafloor mapping over time, based upon an integrated analysis of multibeam swath bathymetry data and geoscientific information (backscatter data analysis, SCUBA observations, physical oceanographic data, and previous findings on the geology and sedimentation processes, integrated with unpublished data) from Senigallia artificial reef, northwestern Adriatic Sea (Italy) and St. Petersburg Beach Reef, west-central Florida continental shelf. A new approach for observation of fish aggregations associated with Senigallia reef based on the analysis of multibeam backscatter data in the water column is also explored. The settlement of the reefs and any terrain change are investigated over time providing a useful description of the local hydrodynamics and geological processes. All the artificial structures (made up by water-based concrete for Senigallia reef and mainly steel for St. Petersburg Beach reef) are identified and those showing substantial horizontal and/or vertical movements are analyzed in detail. Most artificial modules of Senigallia reef are not intact and scour signatures are well depicted around them, indicating reversals of the local current. This is due to both the wind pattern and to the quite close arrangement of the reef units that tend to deflect the bottom flow. As regards to the St. Petersburg Beach reef, all the man-made steel units are still in their upright position. Only a large barge shows a gradual collapse of its south side, and presents well-developed scouring at its east-northeast side, indicating dominant bottom flow from west-southwest to east-northeast. While an overall seafloor depth shallowing of about 0.30 m from down-current deposits was observed for Senigallia reef, an overall deepening of about 0.08 m due to scour was observed at the St. Petersburg Beach reef. Based on the backscatter data interpretation, surficial sediments are coarser in the vicinities of both artificial reefs than corresponding surrounding sediments. Scouring reveals this coarser layer underneath the prevalent mud sediment at Senigallia reef, and the predominant silt sediment at St. Petersburg Beach reef. In the ten years of Senigalia reef study, large-scale variations between clay and silt appear to be directly linked to large flood events that have occurred just prior to the change. As regards the water column investigation, acoustic backscatter from fish aggregations gives detailed information on their morphology and spatial distribution. In addition, relative fish biomass estimates can be extrapolated. Results suggest that most of the fish aggregations are generally associated with the artificial modules showing a tendency for mid- and bottom-water depth distribution than for the surface waters. This study contributes to understanding the changes in artificial reefs over time in relation to coastal processes. Moreover, the preliminary results concerning the water column backscatter data represents progress in fisheries acoustics research as a result of three-dimensional acoustics. They demonstrate the benefits of multibeam sonar as a tool to investigate and quantify size distribution and geometry of fish aggregations associated with shallow marine habitats.

Certains facteurs de risque, comme l’hyperlipidémie, l’hyper-agrégabilité des plaquettes sanguines et le stress oxydant favorisent la progression des maladies cardiovasculaires. L’objectif de ce travail est de comparer les effets des AGPI-LC issus de sources différentes (microalgue marine, huile d’argan et de poisson) sur l’installation du syndrome métabolique chez des rats soumis à un régime hyperlipidique. Les effets de l’huile d’argan sur la fonction plaquettaire et sur le bilan lipidique ont aussi été testés chez des patients dyslipidémiques. Une étude préliminaire sur des rats a été réalisée afin de rechercher la dose minimale de la microalgue (Odontella aurita) à incorporer dans le régime pour obtenir un effet positif sur les différents paramètres mesurés. Nous avons ensuite étudié l’effet du lyophilisat d’O. aurita sur les facteurs de risque cardiovasculaire induits par un régime hyperlipidique chez le rat. Les résultats ont montré, que l'apport d'O. aurita induit une diminution de la glycémie et des teneurs en lipides plasmatiques ainsi qu’une réduction de l'agrégation plaquettaire. Nous avons ensuite comparé les effets de cette microalgue avec l’huile de poisson. Pour cela une étude nutritionnelle a été réalisée chez des rats soumis à un régime hyperlipidique supplémenté ou non avec du lyophilisat d’O. aurita ou de l’huile de poisson. Il a ainsi été montré que la supplémentation en lyophilisat d’O. aurita et en huile de poisson diminue l’agrégation plaquettaire et le stress oxydatif. Nous avons par la suite comparé les effets de l’huile de poisson riche en oméga-3, et de l’huile d’argan riche en oméga-6 et oméga-9. Nos résultats montrent que les 2 sources diminuent l’agrégation plaquettaire et les facteurs de risque du syndrome métabolique mais leurs mécanismes d’action semblent être différent. En complément Nous avons sur l’huile d’argan, réalisé au Maroc une étude clinique pour rechercher l’effet antiagrégant et hypolipémiant chez des patients dyslipidémiques. Les résultats obtenus montrent une amélioration significative des lipides athérogènes chez les patients consommant de l'huile d’argan. Cette amélioration consiste en une baisse très significative des taux de cholestérol total et de LDL-cholestérol sériques auxquels s'ajoutent une diminution de l’agrégation plaquettaire et du stress oxydatif chez les patients consommant de l'huile d’argan
Some risk factors, such as hyperlipidemia, hyperaggregability of blood platelets and oxidative stress promotes the progression of cardiovascular disease. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of LC-PUFA from different sources (marine microalgae, argan oil and fish oil) on installing the metabolic syndrome in rats fed high fat diet. The effects of argan oil on platelet function and lipid profiles were also tested in dyslipidemic patients. A preliminary study was conducted to find the minimum dose of microalgae (Odontella aurita) to be incorporated in the diet for a positive effect on the different parameters measured. We then studied the effect of lyophilized O. aurita on cardiovascular risk factors induced by a high fat diet in rats. The results showed that the addition of O. aurita induces a reduction in blood glucose and plasma lipid levels and a reduction in platelet aggregation. We then compare the effects of microalgae with fish oil. For this, a nutritional study was conducted in rats subjected to a high fat diet (HF) supplemented or not with the freeze-dried O. aurita (HFOA) or fish oil (HFFO). Supplementation lyophilized O. aurita and fish oil decreases platelet aggregation and oxidative stress.We subsequently compared the effects of fish oil rich in omega-3, and argan oil which is rich in omega-6 and omega-9. Our results show that 2 sources of LC-PUFA decrease platelet aggregation and the risk factors of metabolic syndrome, but their mechanism of action appears to be different.We have also conducted a clinical study in Morocco to investigate the antiplatelet and lipid lowering effect of argan oil in patients with dyslipidemia. The results show a significant improvement in atherogenic lipids in patients consuming argan oil for 3 weeks. This improvement consists in a very significant reduction in total cholesterol and serum LDL cholesterol, with a decreased platelet aggregation and oxidative stress in patients consuming argan oil

Species conservation is typically founded upon a range of management strategies, which integrate both biological and socioeconomic data. In this thesis, population genetics, acoustic telemetry, spawning aggregation surveys and stakeholder assessments were used to address key knowledge gaps limiting effective conservation management for critically endangered Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) stocks in The Bahamas. A panel of polymorphic microsatellite markers was optimised to assess the genetic population dynamics of more than 400 Nassau grouper sampled throughout the country. Microsatellite data indicate that contemporary Nassau grouper populations in The Bahamas are predominantly genetically diverse and weakly differentiated, but lack geographic population structure. Assessments of changes in effective population size (Ne) show substantive reductions in Ne within The Bahamas compared to historic values that are likely due to natural disturbances. Evidence for recent bottlenecks occurring in three islands as well as an active spawning site, along with higher inbreeding coefficients in two islands were also found, and can be attributed to more recent anthropogenic activities. Collapse of a historically important Nassau grouper fish spawning aggregation (FSA) was supported by both acoustic telemetry and spawning aggregation survey dives. Restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) of 94 Nassau grouper was used to explore intraspecific population dynamics, loci under selection and patterns of gene flow in The Bahamas. Genomic assessments of diversity were in accord with microsatellite data and examinations of gene flow support higher levels of connectivity in The Bahamas than was previously suggested. The increased resolution gained from assessments of genomic data support intraspecific population structuring that may be driven by differences in gene flow and putative loci under divergent selection. Telemetry data were successfully used to identify the origins of spawning adults, and support demographic connectivity through migrations between an active FSA in the central Bahamas and home reef habitats within the Exumas and a no-take marine protected area. Stakeholder assessments highlight the complexities of fisheries management within The Bahamas, with key stakeholders often exhibiting conflicting opinions regarding the status of Nassau grouper and the efficacy of management options. However, these groups mutually agree upon the need to better manage remaining Nassau grouper stocks within The Bahamas through science-grounded policies. Synthesis of these studies along with a review of fisheries governance in The Bahamas was used to develop a comprehensive national management plan for Nassau grouper to facilitate better conservation for remaining populations of this ecologically important marine species.

Habitat use of mesophotic coral reefs by sharks is largely unknown. However, it is well established that mesophotic reefs are the site of spawning aggregations for many species of teleost fish. These aggregations represent seasonal concentrations of potential prey biomass that may influence the habitat use of predatory species such as large sharks. I employed acoustic monitoring to examine the movements of three shark species [lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris), tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), and Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi)] to determine 1) the comparative spatiotemporal patterns of mesophotic reef habitat use by the three shark species and 2) the spatiotemporal relationship between these sharks and grouper spawning aggregations at a fish spawning aggregation (FSA) site (Hind Bank and Grammanik Bank) along the southern reef shelf edge off St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Tiger and lemon sharks were detected across nearly the entire acoustic array, which spanned ~ 1060 km2. When present, Caribbean reef sharks used a much smaller activity space, composed exclusively of mesophotic reef habitat located within FSA sites. Individuals from all three species were typically detected for stretches of several consecutive days, while periods without detections usually lasted less than one week. Lemon sharks were present at the FSA site more often during the grouper spawning season (Dec-May) than the non-spawning season (Jun-Nov), but showed no preference toward specific areas within the FSA site, which varied by location and grouper species composition. In contrast, there was no relationship between the presence of tiger and Caribbean reef sharks at the FSA site and the grouper spawning season. My results suggest that despite different habitat use 5 patterns and varying degrees of fidelity, this mesophotic reef serves as an important habitat to all three shark species.

Habitat use of mesophotic coral reefs by sharks is largely unknown. However, it is well established that mesophotic reefs are the site of spawning aggregations for many species of teleost fish. These aggregations represent seasonal concentrations of potential prey biomass that may influence the habitat use of predatory species such as large sharks. I employed acoustic monitoring to examine the movements of three shark species lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris), tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), and Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi)] to determine 1) the comparative spatiotemporal patterns of mesophotic reef habitat use by the three shark species and 2) the spatiotemporal relationship between these sharks and grouper spawning aggregations at a fish spawning aggregation (FSA) site (Hind Bank and Grammanik Bank) along the southern reef shelf edge off St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Tiger and lemon sharks were detected across nearly the entire acoustic array, which spanned ~ 1060 km2. When present, Caribbean reef sharks used a much smaller activity space, composed exclusively of mesophotic reef habitat located within FSA sites. Individuals from all three species were typically detected for stretches of several consecutive days, while periods without detections usually lasted less than one week. Lemon sharks were present at the FSA site more often during the grouper spawning season (Dec-May) than the non-spawning season (Jun-Nov), but showed no preference toward specific areas within the FSA site, which varied by location and grouper species composition. In contrast, there was no relationship between the presence of tiger and Caribbean reef sharks at the FSA site and the grouper spawning season. My results suggest that despite different habitat use patterns and varying degrees of fidelity, this mesophotic reef serves as an important habitat to all three shark species.

Proteins are biological macromolecules that consist of long chains of small building blocks, called amino acids. These long sequences of amino acids are unique for each protein, define a specific three-dimensional structure that allows the protein to carry out a specific function in a living organism. In fact, they can catalyse metabolic reactions, respond to stimuli, provide structure and transportation routes within the cell [1]. In a cell proteins are ubiquitous. They can be soluble in water and have usually a globular shape; they can be arranged in fibers, give structural integrity to their host, and provide the infrastucture upon which small molecules are transported where needed; they can be embedded, partially or totally, in the membrane, a wall of a lipidic bilayer, of the cell and mediate the exchange of matter with the environment. In particular, membrane proteins are categorised into three groups: permanently attached to the membrane, integral membrane proteins have several structural elements that span the width of the membrane; peripheral membrane proteins are temporarily attached to the lipid bilayer by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, usually following a post-translational modification of a soluble protein; water-soluble proteins, like toxins, that upon aggregation, attack the membrane and cause the disrupture of the cell. In the last decades, the availability of structural information on proteins and their three-dimensional conformation enabled the rapid development of a computational tool, molecular dynamics (MD), that allows to explore biological processes and systems at a sub-nanometer scale. The idea behind MD is to integrate Newton’s equations of motion to describe the evolution of a protein within its biological environment. The refinement of the empirical potentials, called force fields, that defines the interactions of the system of interest and the increase in the computational resources of modern computers have enhanced scientists to investigate and characterise dynamics and functions of protein with high predictive power. This methodology is nowadays widely established as an in silico technique and can be considered a real computational microscope [2, 3]. Despite its successes, the complexity and the timescale involved in realisation of a biological process required the development of new techniques that accelerate the dynamics of the system under scrutiny and the sampling of conformations of the macromolecule [4]. Enhanced sampling methods are, therefore, essential for the study of conformational transitions, key events that trigger the function of a protein. In this thesis I will focus mainly on three membrane proteins I studied in my research that span different functions and interactions with the lipid bilayer. The presence of the membrane slows down the dynamics of an em- bedded protein with respect to the water-soluble counterpart [5]. In addition, it requires a specific treatment of the system and the biological conditions necessary to mimic the experiments as close as possible. Therefore, the first chapter will be devoted to introduce molecular dynamics as a computational technique to shed light on proteins dynamics and the undelying mechanisms of the functions they perform. I will discuss the algorithms that allow a predictive use of molecular dynamics in the presence of the membrane, and a better approximation of the experimental conditions in which biological data are gathered [6]. In addition, I will briefly describe the enhanced sampling methods used to investigate large conformational changes, and the analysis techniques used to extract meaningful information from the simulations. The rest of the thesis will describe the systems that I studied in my research work. In the second chapter I will digress on the prestin protein. Prestin is a motor protein and it is present in arrays in the cochlear outer cells in the mammalian hearing mechanism. Due to its coordinated contraction and elongation in response to external stimuli, this protein changes the shape of the cell allowing the transduction of the signal. This mechanism is mediated by a ligand, but there is no evidence of the transport of the ligand across the membrane. The non-mammalian ortholog of this protein is highly similar in the amino acid sequence, but it does not perform the same function. In fact it is a transporter that allows the exchange of chloride ions, and oxalate molecules, from the intracellular to extracellular environment, and viceversa. To investigate this difference, first I performed the simulation of two proteins, the expression of prestin in the rat and in the zebrafish species, in two conformations, inward open and outward open, for 700 ns each starting from homology models, due to the absence of experimental crystal structures. I assessed the relaxation of the four structures toward a stationary state, and the equilibrated systems were simulated under the action of an external electric field to mimic the cellular environment. with this second step I was able to determine the different paths of chloride ions in the two homologs in the binding to a conserved residue, S398 in rat and S401 in the zebrafish. Finally, each expression of the protein underwent biased simulations to explore possible pathways in the change from the inward to the outward conformation. The data are not definitive to draw a conclusion, although the elevator mechanism seems to favour the elevator-like transport, a mechanism proper of other proteins in the same family of the prestin. In the third chapter I will discuss the insertion of the recoverin protein, a peripheral membrane protein, in a membrane patch. Recoverin is a calcium sensor protein expressed in the vertebrate retina. The binding of two calcium ions triggers the extrusion of a myristoyl group, a post-translational modification of the N-terminus of the protein that adds a hydrophobic chain. This extrusion gives the protein an anchor to bind the lipidic bilayer, and this insertion leads to the formation of a complex with rhodopsin kinase. In collaboration with a master student, I simulated the recoverin in two conditions, both isolated and in the complex with a peptide from the rhodopsin kinase, to investigate its unbiased anchoring. We found that the insertion of the myristoyl is highly enhanced by the electrostatic interaction of the lipidic charged group and arginines of the surface of the protein. The same pattern were found in both setups, and the abovementioned interactions were no longer required to keep the protein in contact with the membran after the myristoyl penetrated the lipidic patch. In addition we analysed the communication networks of the systems and how it was affected by the presence the peptide. This could shed a light on how the recoverin-rhodopsin kinase complex assemblies itself. The last chapter will be devoted to the conformational changes of aquaporin type 4 upon aggregation. This membrane protein is a water channel, assembled in tetramers. In the human species it is present in two isoforms, M1and M23, named after the starting residue of the N-terminus. Studies shows that in the isoform M23, AQP4 aggregates and is more likely to form large orthogonal array of particles (OAPs) that are target for the antibody AQP4-IgG. This leads to an inflammatory disease, neuromyelitis optica [7]. Although the AQP4 has already been studied as a pharmaceutical target, there is no in silico study of the protein in the isonform M23. In order to mimic the OAPs, I created an assembly of four tetramers and simulated it for 800 ns. I analysed the influence of the N-terminus after the aggregation, and no evidence of a significant difference in the global behaviour of the protein were found. New insights are instead evident in the arrangement of the transmembrane segments of the protein. Further developments are being studied to have a better understanding of the aggregation mechanism.

Depuis le milieu des années 1990, l’utilisation de Dispositifs de Concentration de Poissons (DCP), des objets artificiels spécifiquement mis à l’eau pour agréger des bancs de poissons, est devenue de plus en plus importante pour la pêche au thon tropical à la senne. Cette utilisation massive des DCP, qui s’accompagne d’une utilisation massive de dispositifs de suivi comme les balises GPS et les balises échosondeurs, est aujourd’hui source d’inquiétude pour les stocks de thons, les prises accessoires mais aussi pour le fonctionnement des écosystèmes pélagiques. Cependant, les modalités d’utilisation des DCP et des balises GPS qui servent à les suivre restent mal connues, ce qui complique considérablement l’évaluation et la gestion des impacts de ces pratiques de pêche. Afin d’améliorer les connaissances actuelles de la pêcherie, les positions des balises GPS utilisées par les 3 armements français dans les océans Atlantique et Indien, constituant une part significative des DCP utilisés dans ces deux océans, ont été analysées. Ces données ont été combinées avec des multiples sources d’information : les livres de bord, les trajectoires VMS des senneurs français ainsi que des entretiens avec les patrons français. Elles nous permettent de mieux comprendre les stratégies de mise à l’eau des DCP et des balises, d’estimer le nombre d’objets flottants utilisés par les flottes de senneurs dans les océans Atlantique et Indien, de mesurer la contribution des DCP et des navires auxiliaires à l’efficacité de pêche des senneurs, d’identifier des destructions potentielles d’habitats par les DCP échoués and pour finir de proposer des solutions de gestion pour la pêcherie. Les résultats montrent une grande saisonnalité dans les mises à l’eau des deux océans, une croissance rapide du nombre de balises GPS au cours des 7 dernières années puisqu’elle est multipliée par 4.2 dans l’Océan Indien et 7 dans l’Océan Atlantique, des dommages possibles causés à des écosystèmes côtiers fragiles avec une probabilité d’échouage de l’ordre de 10% et finalement une augmentation de l’efficacité de pêche entre 2003 et 2014 de l’ordre de 3.8-18.8% dans l’Océan Atlantique et 10.7%-26.3% dans l’Océan Indien. Les entretiens avec les capitaines des senneurs soulignent la nécessité d’une gestion plus efficace de la pêcherie, avec entre autres l’instauration de quotas, une régulation de la capacité de la flotte de senneurs et un meilleur suivi des navires auxiliaires. Les résultats obtenus constituent les premières étapes nécessaires à une meilleure gestion de la pêche sous objet flottant
Since the mid 1990s, the use of drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs) by purse seiners, artificial objects specifically designed to aggregate fish, has become an important mean of catching tropical tunas. In recent years, the massive deployments of dFADs, as well as the massive use of tracking devices on dFADs and natural floating objects, such as GPS buoys, have raised serious concerns for tropical tuna stocks, bycatch species and pelagic ecosystem functioning. Despite these concerns, relatively little is known about the modalities of GPS buoy tracked objects use, making it difficult to assess and manage of the impacts of this fishing practice. To fill these knowledge gaps, we have analyzed GPS buoy tracks provided by the three French fishing companies operating in the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, representing a large proportion of the floating objects monitored by the French fleet. These data were combined with multiple sources of information: logbook data, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) tracks of French purse seiners, information on support vessels and Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) of purse seine skippers to describe GPS buoy deployment strategies, estimate the total number of GPS buoy equipped dFADs used in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, measure the contribution of strategies with FOBs and support vessels to the fishing efficiency of tropical tuna purse seiners, identify potential damages caused by lost dFADs and finally to propose management options for tropical tuna purse seine FOB fisheries. Results indicate clear seasonal patterns of GPS buoy deployment in the two oceans, a rapid expansion in the use of dFADs over the last 7 years with an increase of 4.2 times in the Indian Ocean and 7.0 times in the Atlantic Ocean, possible damages to fragile coastal ecosystems with 10% of GPS buoy tracks ending with a beaching event and an increased efficiency of tropical tuna purse seine fleets from 3.9% to 18.8% in the Atlantic Ocean over 2003-2014 and from 10.7% to 26.3% in the Indian Ocean. Interviews with purse seine skippers underlined the need for a more efficient management of the fishery, including the implementation of catch quotas, a limitation of the capacity of purse seine fleets and a regulation of the use of support vessels. These results represent a first step towards better assessment and management of purse seine FOB fisheries

Thousands of floating objects, known as drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs), are released every year by commercial tropical tuna purse seine vessels in the three equatorial oceans to aggregate tuna and increase catch. The escalation in the number of dFADs deployed over the last three decades has caused changes in fishing effort that are poorly reflected in traditional indices of purse seine effort and catch per unit of effort (CPUE). In addition, concerns have been raised regarding the impacts of such high numbers of dFADs being deployed on both catch and bycatch species. I studied two aspects of dFAD deployments in order to clarify how dFADs are used by purse seiners and how they affect the magnitude of bycatch. My specific goals were to determine how often purse seine vessels fish on the dFADs they deploy and how regional dFAD density affects the magnitude of bycatch and catch. I analyzed commercial data, independent observer data, satellite buoy trajectories, and estimated floating object densities from the French tropical tuna purse seine fisheries in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to examine these relationships. My results indicate that only 2.7-20.6% of dFAD fishing sets were on the dFADs that French purse seiners deployed over the period 2007-2013. Although this percentage increased over time, such a low percentage suggests that French vessels do not primarily increase CPUE by using the dFADs they deploy for directed fishing. If French purse seiners are not mainly using their own dFADs in this manner, then using a metric of nominal effort based on individual vessel activity is unlikely to produce reliable CPUE estimates for the fishery. While information about how often purse seiners fish on their own dFADs could be incorporated into indices of fishing effort, it may be just as important, if not more so, to quantify the collective component of dFAD releases for overall fishing effort. The results for the second objective showed that average dFAD density had a relatively weak relationship with total bycatch biomass. There was no statistically significant effect on mean total bycatch biomass, but dFAD density was related to heteroscedasticity in bycatch biomass. In particular, there was a significant negative relationship between dFAD density and the upper quantiles of the bycatch biomass distribution, suggesting that dFAD density determines the upper bound for bycatch biomass caught per set. These relationships were not constant across species, however, as the five most prevalent bycatch species (i.e., those caught in the greatest number of sets) showed a mix of positive, negative, or no relationships to dFAD density. The total biomass of catch increased significantly as average dFAD density increased both at the mean and throughout the majority of the distribution, although this effect only explained a small fraction of the total variance in catch biomass. at this time, the low amount of variance explained and the inconsistent impact of average dFAD density on bycatch and target species indicate that it would be ineffective to mitigate bycatch levels in these fisheries by attempting to control regional dFAD densities.

Aquesta tesi doctoral ha demostrat que els esculls artificials (ARs) de les Balears presentaren una colonització del 74% de les espècies en els primers 17 mesos de fondeig, i que el substrat original del lloc determinà la velocitat de colonització. El principal efecte dels ARs ha estat el de concentrar peixos de mida mitjana i grossa, si bé s’ha demostrat que aquest efecte no ha incrementat el risc de sobreexplotació en l’àrea d’influència. Les reserves marines de Balears han servit per recuperar les poblacions de peixos d’interès pesquer, tant a zones de màxima protecció com a zones parcialment protegides. La determinació de la capacitat de càrrega a les zones de màxima protecció i la determinació dels factors ambientals que la determinen ha permès avaluar l’estat de conservació del litoral pel que respecta els peixos amb interès pesquer.
Esta tesis doctoral ha demostrado que los arrecifes artificiales (ARs) de Baleares presentaron una colonización del 74% de las especies en los primeros 17 meses de fondeo, si bien el substrato original del lugar determinó la velocidad de colonización. El principal efecto de los ARs ha sido el de concentrar peces de tamaño medio y grande, si bien se ha demostrado que este efecto no ha incrementado el riesgo de sobreexplotación en el área de influencia. Las reservas marinas de Baleares han servido para recuperar las poblaciones de especies de interés pesquero, tanto en las zonas de máxima protección como en zonas parcialmente protegidas. La determinación de la capacidad de carga en las zonas de máxima protección y el análisis de los factores ambientales que la determinan ha permitido evaluar el estado de conservación del litoral balear por lo que respecta a las especies de peces con interés pesquero

SILVA, Guelson Batista da. Dinâmica populacional e pesca de atuns em cardumes associados no Atlântico oeste equatorial. 2013. 155 f. : Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Ceará, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Departamento de Engenharia de Pesca, Fortaleza-CE, 2013
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The present study aims to characterize the technolo gical features and the catch composition, complemented with studies on the age a nd growth and feeding of the target species in the fishery for tunas in associated schools in the western equatorial Atlantic. For this purpose, a total of 109 landings by the fleet based on Areia Branca, RN, were observed in the period from June 2010 to M ay 2013, as well as on board in nine fishing cruises in the period from February 2011 to December 2012. The age and growth study was performed based on readings of age rings of the dorsal spines and daily microincrements present in the otolith of Thunnus albacares, adjusted to von Bertalanffy , Gompertz and Logistic growth models, which were selected based on their AIC (Akaike 's Information Criterion) valu es. The feeding study was developed through the identification and assessment of food items present in the stomach contents from T. obesus and T. albacares . The fleet consisted of 9 boats, with an average length overall of 13.4 m, which use various fishing techniques such as handline, rod and line and trolling, combined with natural baits or lures. Landings amounted 691,533 kg, from which, the target species were bigeye and yellowfin tunas, as well as bycatch, species such as dolphinfish, blue marlin, skipjack, wahoo, rainbow runner and, even occasionally, species such as swordfish and triggerfish. The values of L were estimated at 175.13 and 171.6 cm for the obser ved and backcalculated data from the dorsal spines and 166.6, 171.14 and 155.38 cm, respectively for the pooled data, males and females based on otolith daily microstructure. The main food items observed in the diet of both predators were the following fish families: Myctophidae, Exocoetidae, Bramidae and Nomeidae. Cephalopods and crustaceans were occasionally observed. We can conclude that results provide essential information that will ass ist in the understanding of fishing activities as well as expand the knowledge on the biology of the target species.
O presente trabalho tem por objetivo a caracterização dos aspectos tecnológicos e da composição das capturas, complementados com estudos sobre o crescimento e a alimentação das principais espécies na pesca de atuns e afins em cardumes associados no Atlântico Oeste Equatorial. Para tanto, foram acompanhados 109 desembarques em Areia Branca, RN, no período entre jun/2010 e mai/2013, assim como o embarque em nove cruzeiros de pesca no período entre fev/2011 e dez/2012. O estudo de idade e crescimento, foi realizado com base nas leituras de anéis etários nos espinhos dorsais e microincrementos diários de otólitos de Thunnus albacares ajustados aos modelos de crescimento de von Bertalanffy, Gompertz e Logístico, os quais foram selecionados a partir dos valores de AIC (Akaike’s Criterion Information). O estudo de alimentação foi desenvolvido por meio da identificação e avaliação dos itens alimentares presentes no conteúdo estomacal de T. obesus e T. albacares. Foram observadas 9 embarcações, com comprimento total médio de 13,4 m, as quais utilizam diversas técnicas de captura como a linha de mão, vara e linha, corrico e corso, com o uso de iscas artificiais e naturais. Os desembarques totalizaram 691.533 kg de pescado, dentre os quais, as espécies alvo foram a albacora bandolim e a albacora laje, sendo retidas tambem espécies como o dourado, agulhão negro, bonito-listrado, cavala empinge, peixe rei e ainda, ocasionalmente, espécies como espadarte e cangulo. Os valores de L ̅_∞ foram estimados em 175,13 e 171,6 cm para os dados observados e retrocalculados a partir dos espinhos dorsais e em 166,6; 171,14; e 155,38 cm respectivamente para os dados agrupados, para machos e fêmeas a partir dos microincrementos diários de otólitos. Os principais itens alimentares observados na dieta de ambos os predadores foram os peixes das famílias Myctophidae, Exocoetidae, Bramidae e Nomeidae, sendo observadas com menor frequência os cefalópodes e os crustáceos. Podemos concluir que os resultados obtidos fornecem informações essênciais que ajudarão a compreender as atividades de pesca, bem como ampliarão os conhecimentos sobre a biologia das principais espécies capturadas.

Le comportement des thons tropicaux autour des objets flottants : De l'étude des comportements individuels et collectifs à l'étude du piège écologiqueLes recherches en halieutique ont pour objectif d'améliorer les connaissances sur le fonctionnement des populations de poissons afin de transférer celle-ci vers des outils de gestion. Ce travail de thèse repose sur un ensemble d'expériences et de modélisations destinées à approfondir notre compréhension générale du comportement associatif de poissons grands pélagiques avec des objets flottantes à la surface de l'océan. Notre objectif est de tester si les milliers d'objets flottants artificiels déployés par les pêcheurs (DCP - Dispositifs de Concentration de Poissons) constituent des pièges écologiques pour les thons tropicaux. Pour mener à bien ce travail, nous avons dans le premier chapitre caractérisé le comportement individuel de thons dans un réseau de DCP ancrés. L'analyse de données de marquage acoustique de 96 thons albacores (Thunnus albacares) (30-96 cm) à Hawaii montre que les thons présentent une plasticité comportementale forte face aux DCP qu'ils rencontrent mais également que le temps de résidence sous les DCP diminue avec la taille des individus. Afin de quantifier l'impact de l'augmentation de la densité de DCP il est essentiel de comprendre les mécanismes et les facteurs qui influencent les temps de résidences sous les DCP. Dans le second chapitre, des expériences de choix binaires suggèrent un rôle de la biomasse agrégée dans la formation, la maintenance et la dispersion des agrégations que forment les thons sous les objets flottants. La quantification de la dynamique des arrivées et des départs des poissons aux DCP permettra de valider les hypothèses que nous proposons concernant les mécanismes sociaux sous-jacents d'une part et d'autre part de tester l'influence de la qualité de l'environnement et de la densité de DCP sur les temps de résidences individuels et la distribution spatiale des populations. Dans le troisième chapitre, la comparaison de facteurs de condition de listaos (Katsuwonus pelamis) matures capturés en bancs libres et sous objets flottants dans une zone naturellement riche en objets flottants, et relativement peu impactée par le déploiement de DCP (Le Canal du Mozambique), nous a permis d'établir un point de référence essentiel pour estimer les effets des perturbations actuelles. Plus généralement, les résultats obtenus dans les différents chapitres tendent à conforter l'hypothèse d'un rôle social et non trophique des objets flottants dans l'écologie de thonidés. Les résultats obtenus durant cette thèse amènent à poser un regard nouveau sur l'hypothèse du piège écologique. Notre travail s'est principalement intéressé à un modèle biologique de choix, les thons tropicaux. Cependant le cadre théorique des questions abordées, les outils d'observations et les méthodes d'analyses développées sont assez génériques pour être appliqués aux autres espèces rencontrées sous les objets flottants. Cette recherche s'intègre plus généralement dans les problématiques visant à mieux comprendre les stratégies comportementales et la distribution des populations dans des environnements multi-sites
Research in fisheries science aims at investigating the functioning of fish population with the objective of using this knowledge to propose sustainable management measures. This PhD thesis relies on a collection of experiments and modelling designed to further our knowledge on the aggregative behaviour of large pelagic fish with floating structures at the surface of the ocean. The overall objective is to test whether the thousands of man-made floating structures deployed by fishermen (also referred as Fish Aggregating Device –FAD) act as ecological traps for tropical tunas. To archive this main objective, it was first necessary to characterize the individual behaviour of tuna in a network of FAD. In the first chapter, the analysis of 96 acoustically tagged yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) between 30-96 cm FL in the array of anchored FADs around Oahu (Hawaii, US) shows that individuals tuna exhibited behavioural plasticity while in the array and that behaviour around FAD is size dependent. In order to assess the impact of the increasing density of FAD, the major habitat modification, it is essential to understand the factors that influence the residence time at FADs. In the second chapter, binary choice experiments suggest that the aggregated biomass under the FAD play a role in the aggregative process. Nonetheless, quantification of arrival and departure dynamics of fish to FAD are required to validate the assumptions we proposed on the underlying social mechanism. Such model would, then, allow testing the effect of FAD density and environmental conditions on individual residence time and spatial distribution of population. In the third chapter, the comparison of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) condition between individual associated with logs and in free swimming schools in the Mozambique Channel, an area known to be naturally enriched with logs with few FADs, highlights the need for estimating reference points prior to assessing the impacts of anthropogenic modifications to habitats on animals.Combining the different chapters, our results tend to favour a social rather than a trophic role of floating objects in the ecology of tunas. More generally, we discuss what novel insight our results bring up on the ecological trap hypothesis. Tropical tunas represent an interesting model species on which we focused. However, the theoretical framework of the questions we addressed, the observation and analytical tools we developed are generic enough to be applied to the others species that are encountered around floating structures. In a broader extent, this work meets the general topic of studying behavioural strategies and distribution of population in multi-patch environment

Représentant la majorité des captures mondiales de thon, les thons tropicaux sont des espèces d'une importance capitale du fait de leur rôle essentiel en tant que ressource alimentaire et économique. La gestion durable de cette précieuse ressource est tributaire d’une estimation correcte de l’abondance des populations exploitées ainsi que de l’impact de la pression de pêche sur celles-ci. La présente thèse fournit un nouvel indice direct d’abondance capable d’évaluer de manière absolue les tailles des populations de thons tropicaux ainsi que de leurs composantes en nage libre et associée. Les espèces tropicales thonières se caractérisent en effet par un trait comportemental singulier, les amenant à s’associer en masse autour d’objets flottants dérivant en mer. Cette caractéristique est à la base du développement d’un mode de pêche pratiquée par les thoniers senneurs, consistant en la capture des bancs associés aux objets flottants. Ces dernières décennies ont ainsi vu le déploiement massif de milliers de dispositifs de concentration de poissons (DCP) qui sont des objets flottants spécifiquement conçus pour attirer et concentrer les bancs de thons, et généralement équipées de bouées échosondeurs. Ces bouées fournissent en continu aux pêcheurs des informations sur la localisation des DCP et les biomasses de thons associées. Cette thèse propose un cadre méthodologique standard pour le traitement des informations issues de ces dispositifs à des fins d’utilisation scientifique, incluant une nouvelle approche basée sur l’apprentissage supervisé pour l’exploitation des données acoustiques qu’ils fournissent. L’analyse de ces données a permis d’élargir le champ de connaissances sur les dynamiques associatives des agrégations de thons. Il a ainsi été montré que ces dernières différaient significativement entre océans, avec notamment des périodes d’absence de thons sous DCP plus longues dans l’océan Indien que dans l’Atlantique. Le nouvel indice d’abondance proposé par cette thèse exploite également le comportement associatif de ces espèces. Il s’appuie sur une approche de modélisation combinant les données sur les dynamiques d’occupation des objets flottants issues des bouées échosondeurs, aux données de dynamiques associatives individuelles des thons, collectées par marquage électronique. Une première application aux populations de listao de l’océan Indien occidental a permis de fournir des séries temporelles d’abondance absolues et relatives, méthode adoptée pour les évaluations de stocks de cette espèce par la CTOI (Commission des Thons de l’Océan Indien). Ce nouvel indice vient répondre aux besoins critiques actuels de méthodologies complémentaires pour les estimations d’abondance des thons tropicaux (estimations directes), exprimées par l’ensemble des organisations régionales de gestion des pêcheries
Representing the majority of the world’s tuna catches, tropical tuna species are of critical importance due to their essential role as food and economic resource. The sustainable management of this valuable resource depends on an accurate estimate of the abundance of the exploited populations and the impact of fishing pressure on them. The present thesis provides a new direct abundance index for tropical tuna populations that account for their free-swimming and associated components. Indeed, tropical tuna species are characterized by a singular behavioral trait that causes them to associate with floating objects drifting at sea. This characteristic has led to the development of a specific fishing mode widely used in tuna purse seine fishery, consisting in the capture of schools associated to floating objects. Recent decades have thus seen the massive deployment of thousands of floating objects known as fish aggregating devices (FADs), specifically designed to attract and concentrate tuna schools. The drifting FADs are equipped with satellite-linked echosounder buoys, which ensure their continuous monitoring, providing fishers with near-real time information on their location and associated tuna biomasses. This thesis presents a standard methodological framework for processing the information from echosounder buoys for scientific use, including a new approach based on supervised learning for processing the acoustic data they provide. The analysis of these data has allowed improving the general knowledge on the associative dynamics of tuna aggregations. Ocean-specific differences were evidenced, with notably longer periods of absence of tuna under FADs in the Indian Ocean than in the Atlantic Ocean. The novel index for estimating tuna abundances proposed by this thesis also exploit this associative behavior. It relies on a modelling approach combining data on the dynamics of the occupancy of floating objects from echosounder buoys with data on the associative dynamics of tuna individuals from electronic tagging. An initial application to skipjack populations in the Western Indian Ocean has made it possible to provide time series of absolute and relative abundances, used for stock assessments of this species. This new index addresses the current critical need for complementary methods for estimating tropical tuna abundances, expressed by all regional fisheries management organizations

碩士
國立臺灣大學
海洋研究所
107
Overfishing could increase spatial heterogeneity of fish populations, leading to weaker bet-hedging capacity and undermined population sustainability of the fishes. Although previous studies have found that the aggregation pattern of a population is associated with the size across species, few studies have examined the relationship between aggregation and size within a population. In this study, we examined how the “aggregation potential” changes among different size classes of the same population. Aggregation potential was quantified as the exponent b of Taylor’s power law (V=a*Mb), which measures how the spatial variance (V) changes with the mean abundance (M) of a population. We estimated b by size class for each of the eight commercial-important fish species in the North Sea, using the ICES survey data spanning 25 years. We found that the relationship between b and body size is hump-shaped, with the peak around the mature length of the species. This result indicates that the larger adults in a population tend to distribute more homogeneously when abundance increases and they play a critical role in maintaining homogeneous distribution of the population. Our findings highlight the importance of size structure for homogeneous distribution of populations. Both size and spatial structure and their joined effects on population stability should be considered for a sound fishery management.

Overfishing of stock and decreasing biodiversity are grave concerns for the U.S. and the rest of the world. Understanding and applying spatial and temporal information of marine species’ reproductive ecology and critical life habitat is vital to the development of effective strategies for marine resource management. In the Caribbean, one of the critical science gaps hindering effective management is the lack of information on how environmental factors may make fish spawning aggregation (FSA) sites optimal for spawning. Understanding the patterns of seafloor characteristics of spawning aggregation sites is of great interest to managers who need a means to efficiently design marine protected areas to help rebuild regional fish stocks. The specific goals of the study were: (1) to map the seafloor at historically known grouper and snapper spawning aggregation sites in three different countries, and (2) to characterize quantitatively the geomorphology of the sites including horizontal and vertical curvature profiles of the reefs, bottom depth at spawning sites, distance between spawning sites and shelf-edges/reef promontory tips, and the shortest distance between the spawning sites and 100 m water depth. These data were field-collected with a GPS and single-beam eco-sounder that provided latitude/longitude and depth. The point data were interpolated to surfaces in GIS to determine slope, aspect, curvature, and distance from spawning sites and three-dimensional reef structures. This study revealed that all 12 known Nassau grouper spawning aggregation sites in Belize and 5 known sites in the Cayman Islands were located at convex-shaped seaward extending reefs (reef promontories) jutting into deep water, within 1 km of reef promontory tips. However, spawning aggregations did not always occur at the tips of reef promontories, though all were found along the shelf edges within 1 km of promontory tips. Sixteen sites were multi-species spawning sites. These general characteristics were used to predict an undiscovered multi-species spawning aggregation in Belize. A successful prediction in Belize, together with the compiled data from multiple sites indicate: 1) reef promontories are vital locations for transient reef fish spawning aggregations, and 2) this study provides a potential tool for prediction of unknown spawning sites in the Caribbean.

碩士
國立成功大學
海洋科技與事務研究所
102
The use of fish aggregation devices (FADs) has increased catch sizes and convenience for fishermen; however, these devices may have a harmful impact on tuna stocks. Such structures are deployed throughout the oceans worldwide to concentrate fish and, thus, facilitate catching them. In addition, FADs may change the migration behavior of fish. Therefore, the use of FADs may influence the population of exploited fish species, leading to concerns of overfishing and decreases in recruitment in capture fisheries. Eight FADs are moored semipermanently on the continental shelf off the coast of eastern Taiwan. These FADs are under the sea surface at a depth of 20–60 m and located less than 30 km from the shore. Fishing data from the Fisheries Research Institute, Council Of Agriculture, Taiwan and Taitung Fishermen’s Association were analyzed to identify the various species caught, the frequency distribution of fork lengths, and catch per unit of effort (CPUE) in waters around FADs. The data revealed that fishing conditions differ between two substudy areas. The dominant species in Area A (near land) were yellowfin tuna, skipjack, and dolphinfish; however, the dominant species in Area B (farther from land) were yellowfin tuna, which represented more than 80% of the catch. The frequency distribution of fork lengths indicated that fish mainly ranged in size from 41 to 50 cm in Area A, but the size of the fish was often greater than 70 cm in Area B. Moreover, the CPUE has decreased in the past decade. In addition, conflict between fishing boats using different fishing gear has increased the need for enhanced management requirements for FADs. Appropriate management strategies for FADs and fish resources, namely limitation of fishing efforts and autonomous management by fishermen organizations, are recommended.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
環境生物與漁業科學學系
106
Taiwan government has been actively promoting construction of offshore wind powe. While the general public highly concerns the negative impacts that may brought from these massive anthropogenic objects, it is also believed that they would have positive fish aggregation effect. However, the effects need objectively be investigated by fisheries dependent and independent methods. Scientific echo sounder is one of the most important methods. In this study, we used joint survey of acoustic and scuba diving to evaluate fish aggregation effect among facilities in Miao-Li offshore wind farm areas. In order to evaluate such fish aggregation effect as well as to establish acoustic survey and post-processing method, three radial tracklines centered at present wind power facilities with radius of 500 meters were designed, by which acoustic surveys with vertical (90˚) and tilt (60˚) beam angles were conducted. The major results of the study are summarized below: (1) Based on practical survey data, the single target fish detection parameters suitable for western offshore were determined, namely 6dB for the maximum beam compensation, 0.6 τ for the minimum normalized pulse and 1.5 τ for the maximum normalized pulse. (2) In the artificial reef and wind turbine 2, the relationship between the TS values obtained by vertical survey and the scuba diving were basically consistent. However, in the wind tower and the wind turbine 1, a large amount of 5cm fish observed in the scuba diving were located outside the beam coverage, which leads to major discrepancy. (3) In terms of the fish aggregation effect close to the wind turbine and the wind tower (<20m), detections by vertical beam angle showed that the single targets of each facility were concentrated between 15 m and 17 m in deep layer. In the case of tilt detection, the single targets were concentrated 6 m and 12 m in the middle and surface layer can only be detected. (4) In comparisons of the fish aggregation effect among the four facilities in the two surveys, both wind turbines had higher value of Sv, NASC and estimated fish density no matter within 20 meter or 500 meter ranges, followed by the wind tower, and the lowest one was artificial reef. There were some minor inconsistencies in TS and Sv values between acoustic and scuba diving surveys within 20 m range of the wind turbine. We speculated that such inconsistencies were mainly caused by dead zone of detection, which can be improved by tilting the detection beam angle. As for this the preliminary findings of relatively better fish aggregation effect in present wind power facilities, it was suggested that more follow-up joint surveys need to be done for further verification. Keywords: Scientific echo sounder, Target strength, Offshore wind farm

The marine fishery in Kenya is predominantly small-scale and artisanal with about 11,000 fishers intensely fishing near shore coastal reefs using minimally selective fishing gears. A large majority (88%) of fishers use outdated equipment such as basket traps, beach seines, hand lines (hook and lines), fence traps, gillnets, spearguns and cast nets. Handmade canoes propelled by paddles (kasia) or sail power are used to access offshore waters, while only a few fishers have motorized boats. Although fishers along this coast know and express the potential of offshore fishing, most of them are disempowered and unable to access any of the largely untapped offshore pelagic resources. Using a unique dataset from four distinct coastal areas: Funzi-Shirazi bay area, Diani-Chale area, Mombasa-Kilifi north coast area and the Malindi-Ungwana bay area, containing species level length frequency catch data from the multi-gear and multi-species fishery, abundance of specific species, gear use comparisons in various regions, catch per unit effort and total catch estimate over a nine year period (2001 – 2009) were evaluated. Despite high diversity in the fishery, five species (Lethrinus lentjan, Siganus sutor, Leptoscarus vaigiensis, Lethrinus harak and Parupeneus macronemus) represented over 75% of the catch. A total of 11 legitimate gears were observed in this coastal artisanal fishery with basket traps (42%) being the most popular. Fishers along the Mombasa-Kilifi area predominatly used beach seines while those in Diani-Chale, Malindi-Ungwana bay and Funzi-shirazi bay predominaltly used spearguns, gillnets and basket traps, respectively. Apart from gillnets, a general declining trend for most of the gear types was observed since 2004. Beach seines recorded the lowest (20.9±0.2 cm) mean length while gillnets recorded the highest (34.2±0.3 cm). The highest catch (~26,000 metric tons) came in 2001 and the lowest (~15,000 metric tons) in 2005. The highest number of fishers was observed in 2008 while 2009 recorded the highest (4.8±2.3) mean number of hours per outing. The mean annual CPUE per region ranged from (1.5 kg.fisher-1.hr-1) in Diani-Chale to (1.0 kg.fisher-1.hr-1) in Malindi-Ungwana bay. Making use of questionnaire data, the attitudes towards offshore fishing strategies, FADs in particular, were evaluated. Some communities (about 25% in every location) were not even aware of FAD fisheries. With the imminent introduction of a FAD fishery in Kenya, it was concluded that, for this fishery to realize its full potential, training on FAD fishing techniques has to be done. Finally, effective management is necessary if small-scale fisheries are to continue providing food security for many poor coastal communities. Gear-based management in Kenya, although under represented and under studied, has the potential to be adaptive, address multiple objectives, and be crafted to the socio-economic setting. Management effectiveness in near shore fisheries has generally been evaluated at the scale of the fish community. However, community level indicators can mask species-specific declines that provide significant portions of the fisheries yields and income. This thesis seeks to identify ways in which the Kenyan artisanal fishery can be sustained and managed from within coastal communities, giving them the resources and education to effectively improve their lives. The introduction of a offshore FAD fishery and hence access to offshore pelagic species provides an opportunity to not only alleviate pressure on coastal resources but also to empower coastal communities and contribute to the growth of Kenya’s national economy as a whole.

The broad objective of this thesis is to improve the general understanding of the structure and dynamics of spawning aggregations of coral reef fish The specific aims are to identify and characterise: (1) the species of coral reef fishes that formed spawning aggregations, (2) the locations where spawning aggregations were formed, (3) the periodicity with which these aggregations were formed, and (4) individuals’ patterns of migration to spawning aggregation sites. All fieldwork was conducted on the inshore reefs of Kimbe Bay, New Britain, Papua New Guinea (5o30’S 150o6’E). Spawning aggregations of reef fish were located by intensively searching areas of reef on snorkel at all times of the day from before dawn to after dusk. After >2,000hours of observations made between June 2001 to May 2004, 37 species from 6 families were observed forming spawning aggregations at 38 sites spread over 7 reefs. All species were relatively large (none <10cm max T.L.) and all but one species spawned pelagically. There was no relationship between a species’ population density and whether it formed spawning aggregations, nor was spawning aggregation formation itself a density dependent phenomenon, with aggregations ranging in size from 3 to 2000 individuals. Most spawning aggregation sites were used by multiple species, with a maximum of 27 species spawning aggregatively at one site of <10x10m. A selection of spawning aggregation sites were monitored on 3 reefs in order to establish the periodicities with which different species spawned. Of the 13 species for which such periodicities could be established, spawning occurred year round, and all but one species spawned during all 4 lunar quarters. Spawning occurred more often during high tides, but no species spawned predictably more often during either ebb or flood tides. Aggregative spawning was seen at times ranging from dawn (05:45hrs) to dusk (18:00hrs). However, each species had a fixed diel interval during which it spawned. For all species this interval spanned no more than 6 hours, but for most it was less than 2. For the one species with enough data for analysis, Ctenochaetus striatus, this diel spawning interval differed significantly between sites within reefs. The physical and biotic characteristics found at spawning aggregation sites of Ctenochaetus striatus were compared to those found at alternative sites. Within spawning aggregation sites, characteristics that varied temporally were compared between times of spawning and times of no spawning. It was predicted that spawning aggregations would be formed at sites and times with characteristics that limited predation on both spawning adults and their pelagically spawned eggs. Characteristics predicted to reduce predation on eggs included: seaward projecting margins of reef, steep slopes, currents flowing rapidly off-reef (as measured by purpose-built devices), and low densities of planktivores. Characteristics predicted to reduce predation on adults included: topographically complex substratum with a large number of holes providing refuge from predators, and low densities of piscivorous fish. The only physical feature consistently distinguishing spawning aggregation sites from alternative locations was that they were found on margins of reef that projected seawards, rather than flatter or concave margins. However, many seaward projections were not used as spawning aggregation sites, and any potential anti-predatory benefit from this feature was likely to be outweighed by: (1) the greater biomasses of planktivores found at spawning aggregation sites, (2) the frequently observed predation on recently spawned eggs, and (3) certain species of egg predator being attracted to spawning aggregation sites at times of spawning. Spawning aggregations were not formed at distinctive sites with regard to current speed or direction, and there was no difference between the currents at times of aggregative spawning and those at other times within sites. Individuals’ patterns of migration from home ranges to spawning aggregations were documented following an extensive tagging program of Ctenochaetus striatus. Tagged individuals were consistently resighted within limited home ranges (max. diameter averaging <13m). Tagged individuals were seen in spawning aggregations on a total of 549 occasions at 13 sites on 3 reefs. The maximum distance migrated was 291m. No tagged individuals were witnessed spawning at more than one site. Most resighted individuals migrated to the spawning aggregation site that was closest to their home range. However, the few individuals that migrated to sites further away always spawned at sites where the spawning aggregation was larger than that found closest to their home range. Neither the size nor the sex of individuals limited migration distance. However, males migrated more frequently than females, and larger females migrated more frequently than smaller ones. Migration distance did not affect the frequency with which individuals spawned. The notion that spawning aggregations are formed at intrinsically beneficial sites and times is not supported by the results of this study. Strong theoretical arguments are proposed that question the mechanisms by which such adaptation could arise. It is concluded that the sites and times of spawning aggregation formation in Ctenochaetus striatus in Kimbe Bay are not adaptive beyond their clarity as cues that enable conspecifics from home ranges with limited or no overlap to synchronise spawning in space and time. Patterns of spawning aggregation formation and migration suggest that tradition plays a more significant role than resource assessment in determining where and when individuals spawn. The use of small species of aggregative spawners as biological models has the potential to greatly enhance understanding of spawning aggregation formation in certain species of commercially exploited reef fish.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
環境生物與漁業科學學系
97
Recent decades, bycatch of small yellowfin and bigeye tunas caused by using fish aggregation device (FAD) during tuna purse seine operation had become a controversial issue for Regional Tuna Management Organizations. Evaluation prior to net setting by echosounder to avoid catching schools with high aggregation of small tunas is believed to be helpful for both tuna sustainable utilization and management. In this study, target strength (TS) was measured from 31 dead fishes sampled from moored FAD off Shiao-Liu-Chiu islet, including small yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacore), skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulate), bullet tuna (Auxis rochei rochei) with body length of 28~55 cm. There were 6 live small yellowfin tunas and 1 skipjack tuna for TS measurement in tank. With these TSs, we analyzed the characteristics among fishes and figure out measures on reducing bycatch of small yellowfin tuna. Results are summarized as the followings: (1) The TS of small tunas with length around 28~55 cm is not significantly related to fork length. While, dorsal and lateral TS of yellowfin larger than 35 cm are higher than those of skipjack, because swimbladder in yellowfin tuna starts to grow since 35 cm fork length but skipjack has no swimbladder at all. (2) Fishing (operation) should be carefully evaluated if TS are at the ranges of -34~38 dB where small yellowfin tunas and matured skipjack tuna co-existed by using 50 kHz echo sounder. Fishing action should be forbidden if TS are under -38 dB since both yellowfin and skipjack tunas are at young stage (juvenile). (3) Variations of TS measurement between 200 KHz and 50 KHz echo sounder, i.e. △TS, are helpful to distinguish small yellowfin tunas. Mean △TS for all directions is 1.36 dB and the variance of △TS for yellowfin tunas caused by swimming orientation are larger than skipjack tunas. The mean △TS from dorsal aspect of yellowfin and skipjack tuna reached 1.53 dB is the most differentiable among others. The samples of small yellowfin tuna obtained in this study are at very young stage (juvenile). As the size of swimbladders of yellowfin and bigeye tunas increase dramatically while growing, TS and △TS varied with diving and rising behavior would be much more significantly rom skipjack without swimbladder. Due to the measurements of TS in this study under contained environment and be different from natural environment, further practice and adjustment are necessary in future application.

碩士
國立中山大學
海洋事務研究所
96
The spatial movements of yellowfin tunas around the fish aggregating devices which were anchored below 40 meters water with a VEMCO VR2 receiver were investigated using ultrasonic telemetry tags V9P (VEMCO VP9-2H-S256). The experiment was conducted in the Shiao-Liu-Chiu Island of Taiwan from July to September, 2007. A pair of VEMCO VR2 receivers was separated by 400 meter distances in west of south sea ,Taiwan. A total of 9 tagged fishes with different sizes were monitored for maximum 19 days. Preliminary results showed that juvenile fish stayed longer and closer within FADs than the adult fish. Fish could move vertically to as low as 160 meters at daytime. They avoid the surface water where the temperature reach 30oC. In nighttime, juvenile fish that has fork length smaller than 55cm generally moves to the surface mixed layer. On the horizontal movement, there are three types. A) fish stays at FADs site. B) Fish move in and out FADs sites for a few hours period. C) fish moves away from FADs site for a long times (maybe 2~3 days). Sometimes juvenile fish would have B) or C) moved away from the FAD devices during dawn and dusk, and back at daytime. But this would not occurred with large fish. We estimated the attraction radius of FADs at least 1 km.

博士
國立臺灣海洋大學
環境生物與漁業科學學系
104
The yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, is one of the major species caught around subsurface fish aggregation devices (FADs) in the waters southwestern of Taiwan. An increase in yellowfin tuna catch by danish seine fisheries around the subsurface FADs in southwestern Taiwan waters has been a concern of local government and environmental groups. However, the attraction mechanism of aggregating tunas at the subsurface FADs and the interaction between yellowfin tuna and others organisms are still poorly known. The objectivs of this study are (1) to examine the fine-scale vertical and horizontal movements of juvenile yellowfin tunas around subsurface FAD, (2) to examine the diet and feeding habits of yellowfin tuna. In total, 53 tunas (35–81 cm fork length) were tagged with ultrasonic telemetry tags and released at a subsurface FAD in the waters off Shiao-Liu-Chiu Island, southwestern Taiwan from October 2008 to December 2009. These tunas stayed at the subsurface FAD for up to 31 days, with daytime vertical movement depths averaging 60–80 m at a maximum depth of 250 m. At night, the tuna gathered at a shallow depth of 40 m. The mean depth of vertical movement in the daytime is significantly different from that of the nighttime (p < 0.05, t- test,). The maximum detectable distance of horizontal movement was 1600 m, with 80% of the long horizontal movements occurring in the daytime. It is likely that the purpose of these vertical and horizontal movements was for feeding. Moreover, the tagged tunas did not depart from the subsurface FAD simultaneously, suggesting distinct behaviors in their movements. Stomach contents analysis based on 1477 specimens with fork lengths (FLs) ranging from 24 to 108 cm and stable isotope analysis (202 specimens) collected around subsurface FADs in the waters southwest of Taiwan. Stomach contents analysis indicated that juvenile yellowfin tuna with FL < 50 cm mainly feed on larval Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis, larval shrimps, and zooplanktonic organisms such as Amphipods. Yellowfin tuna with FL of ~50 cm switch their diet to teleost fishes such as Lestrolepis japonica, Benthosema pterotum, Exocoetidae, and Scombridae. Stable isotope analysis indicated that the δ15N values ranged between 6.2and 12.6‰, and the estimated trophic position varied from 3.2 ± 0.2for tuna with FL < 30 cm, while it reached 4.6 ± 0.5 for those with FL > 50 cm and 4.8 ± 0.1 for those with FL > 90 cm. Based on the distinct diet shift of the juvenile yellowfin tuna, demonstrated by both stomach contents and stable isotope analysis, this study concluded that tuna shift their diet at approximately 50 cm FL.