The novel use of pop-off satellite tags (PSATs) to investigate the migratory behaviour of European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax

Peer-reviewed This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: O'Neill, R., Ó Maoiléidigh, N., McGinnity, P., Bond, N., & Culloty, S. (2018). The novel use of pop‐off satellite tags (PSATs) to investigate the migratory behaviour of European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax. Journal of fish biology, 92(5), 1404-1421, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13594. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.A total of 12 adult European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax were tagged with pop‐off satellite archival tags (PSAT) in Irish coastal waters and in offshore waters in the north‐east Celtic Sea between 2015 and 2016. Archived data were successfully recovered from five of the 12 tags deployed, three from fish released in inshore Irish waters and two from fish released offshore in the eastern Celtic Sea. All three fish tagged in inshore waters were found to undertake migrations into the open ocean coinciding with the spawning period. These fish also exhibited fidelity to inshore sites post‐migration, returning to the same general location (within c. 73 km, which is roughly the predicted mean accuracy of the method) of their original release site. Although the number of tracks obtained here was limited, some degree of aggregation between inshore and offshore tagged fish in the eastern Celtic Sea was noted during the expected spawning period suggesting PSATs can provide new information on specific spawning locations of European sea bass.Beaufort Marine Research Award in Fish Population Genetics Irish Government under the Sea Change Programm

Tracking Atlantic bluefin tuna from foraging grounds off the west coast of Ireland

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via the DOI in this recordPop-up archival tags (n=16) were deployed on Atlantic bluefin tuna off the west coast of Ireland in October and November 2016 (199 to 246cm Curved Fork Length, CFL), yielding 2799 days of location data and 990 and 989 days of depth and temperature time-series data respectively, including downloaded archives from three recovered tags. Most daily locations (96%, n=2,651) occurred east of 45°W, the current stock management boundary for Atlantic bluefin tuna. Key open ocean habitats occupied were the Bay of Biscay and the Central North Atlantic, with two migratory patterns evident: an east-west group and an eastern resident group. Five out of six tags that remained attached until July 2017 returned to the northeast Atlantic after having migrated as far as the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean Sea and the Central North Atlantic. Tracked bluefin tuna exhibited a diel depth-use pattern occupying shallower depths at night and deeper depths during the day. Four bluefin tuna visited known spawning grounds in the central and western Mediterranean Sea, and one may have spawned, based on recovered data showing oscillatory dives transecting the thermocline on 15 nights. These findings demonstrate the complexity of the aggregation of Atlantic bluefin tuna off Ireland and, more broadly in the northeast Atlantic, highlighting the need for dedicated future research to conserve this important aggregation.European Maritime and Fisheries FundU.K. Department for Farming Fisheries and Rural Affair

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Tagging Programme in Ireland 2017

It is important that stock origin, habitat utilisation and large-scale movement patterns of Atlantic bluefin are characterised in detail to ensure that the population models and concepts used in Atlantic bluefin tuna stock assessment and Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) are parameterised as accurately as possible. Investigation of the distribution and movements of Atlantic bluefin tuna in Irish waters is now a priority for Ireland. The ocean waters off south Donegal are now regarded by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) as an important area for Atlantic bluefin tuna and indications are that significant numbers arrive in the area over the period August to November each year. The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) requested that the Marine Institute carry out a bluefin tagging programme in autumn 2016 to support the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) Grand Bluefin Year Programme (GBYP) Atlantic research programme for Bluefin tuna

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Tagging Programme in Ireland 2016

It is important that stock origin, habitat utilisation and large-scale movement patterns of Atlantic bluefin are characterised in detail to ensure that the population models and concepts used in Atlantic bluefin tuna stock assessment and Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) are parameterised as accurately as possible. Investigation of the distribution and movements of Atlantic bluefin tuna in Irish waters is now a priority for Ireland. The ocean waters off south Donegal are now regarded by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) as an important area for Atlantic bluefin tuna and indications are that significant numbers arrive in the area over the period August to November each year. The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) requested that the Marine Institute carry out a bluefin tagging programme in autumn 2016 to support the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) Grand Bluefin Year Programme (GBYP) Atlantic research programme for Bluefin tuna

A predictive model for estimating river habitat area using GIS-derived catchment and river variables

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: McGINNITY, P., DE EYTO, E., GILBEY, J., GARGAN, P., ROCHE, W., STAFFORD, T., McGARRIGLE, M., Ó′ MAOILÉIDIGH, N. and MILLS, P. (2012), A predictive model for estimating river habitat area using GIS-derived catchment and river variables. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 19: 69–77. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2400.2011.00820.x, which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2400.2011.00820.xpeer-reviewedThe implementation of many fisheries management-related activities in fresh water depends on habitat area inventories over extensive geographical scales. While river lengths are readily available, representative widths, necessary for area calculations, are difficult to obtain. As field surveys to collect this information are resource intensive, a predictive model was developed to enable the calculation of river wetted width using GIS-derived values for catchment and river descriptors. A model containing upstream catchment area and the Shreve river drainage network index accounted for 88% of the variation in field measured river wetted width. Comparisons in Irish and Scottish rivers between modelled and measured widths were highly correlated and suggest that the model may be transferable to neighbouring geographic areas. As an example, the model is applied to provide an estimate of the usable fluvial habitat available to Atlantic salmon in Ireland

A general swimming response in exhausted obligate swimming fish

Marine organisms normally swim at elevated speeds relative to cruising speeds only during strenuous activity, such as predation or escape. We measured swimming speeds of 29 ram ventilating sharks from 10 species and of three Atlantic bluefin tunas immediately after exhaustive exercise (fighting a capture by hook-and-line) and unexpectedly found all individuals exhibited a uniform mechanical response, with swimming speed initially two times higher than the cruising speeds reached approximately 6 h later. We hypothesized that elevated swimming behaviour is a means to increase energetic demand and drive the removal of lactate accumulated during capture via oxidation. To explore this hypothesis, we estimated the mechanical work that must have been spent by an animal to elevate its swim speed and then showed that the amount of lactate that could have been oxidized to fuel it comprises a significant portion of the amount of lactate normally observed in fishes after exhaustive exercise. An estimate for the full energetic cost of the catch-and-release event ensued