Use Of Video Monitoring To Quantify Spatial And Temporal Patterns In Fishing Activity Across Sectors At Moored Fish Aggregating Devices Off Puerto Rico

Use of Video Monitoring to Quantify Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Fishing Activity Across Sectors at Moored Fish Aggregating Devices Off Puerto Rico

A key challenge in small-scale fisheries that use moored fish aggregating devices (mFADs) is the ability to accurately quantify multi-sector fishing activity through fishery-independent methods. Here, we present a novel fishery-independent assessment of multi-sector fishing activity associated with a newly developed open access mFAD programme off San Juan, Puerto Rico. We identified three fishing sectors (recreational, charter and commercial) and 158 individual fishing vessels that routinely operated in the vicinity of the mFADs. The results indicate that daytime fishing activity varied by time of day, day of week, location and sector. During fishing tournaments, the data revealed that fishing activity increased threefold; across monitoring periods, for-hire charter vessels were the most consistent day-to-day user segment, and recreational activity peaked on weekends. Our study represents a new technique for rapidly identifying and detecting multi-sector fishing activity near mFADs and highlights the potential to gather comparable data wherever mFADs are deployed. The results are used to discuss how this technique can be used to assess the performance of mFADs to identify sector overlap and guide management in determining deployment patterns and facilitate the design of cost-effective surveys to estimate mFAD vessel activity, and potentially catch, of mFAD-associated species.

Survey Manual for Tropical Marine Resources

The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.