Seasonal Spatial Segregation in Blue Sharks (Prionace glauca) by Sex and Size Class in the Northeast Pacific Ocean

Aim: Animal tracking can provide unique insights into the ecology and conservation of marine species, such as the partitioning of habitat, including differences between life history stages or sexes, and can inform fisheries stock assessments, bycatch reduction and spatial management such as dynamic management. Location: Northeast Pacific Ocean. Methods: We used satellite tracking data from 47 blue sharks (Prionace glauca) from the Northeast Pacific to determine movements and home range along the west coast of North America, and sex–size class (immature females, mature males) specific habitat preferences using boosted regression trees. Using a suite of static and dynamic environmental variables, we determined distribution and habitat preferences across summer and fall for each sex–size class. Results: We found that there was spatial segregation between sex–size classes particularly in the summer months with immature females found largely north of 33°N, and males south of 35°N. In fall, females travelled south, resulting in an overlap in distributions south of 37°N. Sea surface temperature (SST), latitude and longitude were top predictors. However, immature females and adult males demonstrated unique habitat preferences including SST, with immature females preferring cooler temperatures (SST \u3c 15°C) than adult males in summer, and a broader band of SST than adult males in fall. All models performed well, explaining 50%–67% of deviance, and 23%–41% of deviance when predictions were cross‐validated. Main conclusions: We provide first insights into coastal movements and habitat preferences of blue sharks in the Northeast Pacific. We found that immature females undergo a seasonal southward migration in this more coastal habitat, similar to patterns observed in the North Atlantic. We also found some overlap between adult males and immature females in fall months, suggesting the importance of more coastal habitat in managing this species, particularly in determining population structure for blue shark stock assessments, and reducing blue shark bycatch

Integrated monitoring of mola mola behaviour in space and time

Over the last decade, ocean sunfish movements have been monitored worldwide using various satellite tracking methods. This study reports the near-real time monitoring of finescale (< 10 m) behaviour of sunfish. The study was conducted in southern Portugal in May 2014 and involved satellite tags and underwater and surface robotic vehicles to measure both the movements and the contextual environment of the fish. A total of four individuals were tracked using custom-made GPS satellite tags providing geolocation estimates of fine-scale resolution. These accurate positions further informed sunfish areas of restricted search (ARS), which were directly correlated to steep thermal frontal zones. Simultaneously, and for two different occasions, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) videorecorded the path of the tracked fish and detected buoyant particles in the water column. Importantly, the densities of these particles were also directly correlated to steep thermal gradients. Thus, both sunfish foraging behaviour (ARS) and possibly prey densities, were found to be influenced by analogous environmental conditions. In addition, the dynamic structure of the water transited by the tracked individuals was described by a Lagrangian modelling approach. The model informed the distribution of zooplankton in the region, both horizontally and in the water column, and the resultant simulated densities positively correlated with sunfish ARS behaviour estimator (r(s) = 0.184, p < 0.001). The model also revealed that tracked fish opportunistically displace with respect to subsurface current flow. Thus, we show how physical forcing and current structure provide a rationale for a predator's finescale behaviour observed over a two weeks in May 2014

Scales and structure of frontal adjustment and freshwater export in a region of freshwater influence

Sea surface temperature satellite imagery and a regional hydrodynamic model are used to investigate the variability and structure of the Liverpool Bay thermohaline front. A statistically based water mass classification technique is used to locate the front in both data sets. The front moves between 5 and 35 km in response to spring-neap changes in tidal mixing, an adjustment that is much greater than at other shelf-sea fronts. Superimposed on top of this fortnightly cycle are semi-diurnal movements of 5-10 km driven by flood and ebb tidal currents. Seasonal variability in the freshwater discharge and the density difference between buoyant inflow and more saline Irish Sea water give rise to two different dynamical regimes. During winter, when cold inflow reduces the buoyancy of the plume, a bottom-advected front develops. Over the summer, when warm river water provides additional buoyancy, a surface-advected plume detaches from the bottom and propagates much larger distances across the bay. Decoupled from near-bed processes, the position of the surface front is more variable. Fortnightly stratification and re-mixing over large areas of Liverpool Bay is a potentially important mechanism by which freshwater, and its nutrient and pollutant loads, are exported from the coastal plume system. Based on length scales estimated from model and satellite data, the erosion of post-neap stratification is estimated to be responsible for exporting approximately 19% of the fresh estuarine discharge annually entering the system. Although the baroclinic residual circulation makes a more significant contribution to freshwater fluxes, the episodic nature of the spring-neap cycle may have important implications for biogeochemical cycles within the ba