Las iniciativas de conservación “bottom-up” en la pesca submarina recreativa sugieren el desarrollo de actitudes positivas hacia la conservación

We show that marine recreational spearfishers voluntarily organize bottom-up conservation actions. The main goals of these actions are to provide support to research in monitoring fish assemblages, tracking biological invasions or mitigating impacts on the environment, such as those stemming from pollution and littering. We show that such initiatives started more than 20 years ago and are now facilitated by social media networking. We argue that the emergence of bottom-up conservation actions in marine recreational spearfishers should be encouraged, supported and integrated into participatory management plans. This is important to mitigate the potential negative impacts of marine recreational spearfishing and to catalyse broader civil actions for conservation of marine ecosystems.Los pescadores submarinos recreativos organizan voluntariamente acciones “bottom-up” de conservación del medio ambiente. Los principales objetivos de estas acciones son apoyar a la investigación en el monitoreo de los ecosistemas marinos, detectar especies invasoras o mitigar los impactos sobre el medio ambiente, como los derivados de la contaminación y la basura. Tales iniciativas comenzaron hace más de 20 años y hoy en día podrían ser facilitadas por las redes sociales. El desarrollo de acciones de conservación “bottom-up” en los pescadores submarinos recreativos deben ser alentadas, apoyadas e integradas en los planes de manejo participativo. Esto es importante para mitigar los potenciales impactos negativos de la pesca submarina recreativa y para catalizar acciones civiles más amplias para la conservación de los ecosistemas marinos

High-Throughput Tracking of Social Networks in Marine Fish Populations

Despite their potential to generate high-quality positioning data, the use of high-resolution acoustic telemetry systems (HRATS) has been neglected in coastal marine areas due to the limitations that these environments pose to the transmission of acoustic signals. In this work, we applied a HRATS and social network analysis (SNA) to study the social interactions of the pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula), a small coastal wrasse, in a Mediterranean marine reserve. Our analysis was based on proximity measures estimated from high-resolution trajectories from 232 individuals tracked during 55 days within a marine protected area. Associations were defined as the proportion of 5-min intervals in which two individuals were observed within 1 m from each other, and social networks were generated for the overall tracking period and for each particular day. The obtained network parameters were contrasted against 1,000 null association models obtained by randomly redistributing individual trajectories within the study area. The obtained networks showed a harem-like social structure, with agonistic behavior between males and larger association indices between individuals of different sex. Occasionally, sporadic associations of large groups of females were observed conducting excursions along the study area. By providing a comprehensive view of the organizational structure of the pearly razorfish, our study demonstrates the potential of HRATS to efficiently produce high-throughput tracking data from large numbers of individuals and of proper null social model formulation to reconstruct the social networks in wild-living marine fish populations. The combination of HRATS and SNA represents a powerful tool to study key ecological processes regarding the social interactions of individuals, including social dynamics, collective movements, and the response to environmental perturbations.Peer Reviewe

Consistent Selection towards Low Activity Phenotypes When Catchability Depends on Encounters among Human Predators and Fish

Together with life-history and underlying physiology, the behavioural variability among fish is one of the three main trait axes that determines the vulnerability to fishing. However, there are only a few studies that have systematically investigated the strength and direction of selection acting on behavioural traits. Using in situ fish behaviour revealed by telemetry techniques as input, we developed an individual-based model (IBM) that simulated the Lagrangian trajectory of prey (fish) moving within a confined home range (HR). Fishers exhibiting various prototypical fishing styles targeted these fish in the model. We initially hypothesised that more active and more explorative individuals would be systematically removed under all fished conditions, in turn creating negative selection differentials on low activity phenotypes and maybe on small HR. Our results partly supported these general predictions. Standardised selection differentials were, on average, more negative on HR than on activity. However, in many simulation runs, positive selection pressures on HR were also identified, which resulted from the stochastic properties of the fishes' movement and its interaction with the human predator. In contrast, there was a consistent negative selection on activity under all types of fishing styles. Therefore, in situations where catchability depends on spatial encounters between human predators and fish, we would predict a consistent selection towards low activity phenotypes and have less faith in the direction of the selection on HR size. Our study is the first theoretical investigation on the direction of fishery-induced selection of behaviour using passive fishing gears. The few empirical studies where catchability of fish was measured in relation to passive fishing techniques, such as gill-nets, traps or recreational fishing, support our predictions that fish in highly exploited situations are, on average, characterised by low swimming activity, stemming, in part, from negative selection on swimming activity. © 2012 Alós et al.This work was supported by the research project CONFLICT (grant # CGL2008-00958) and REC2 (grant # CTM2011-23835), both of them funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). Additional funding was received from the research project ARTEVIGO (grant # 09MMA022402PR) financed by the Galician Government, Spain. RA also received additional funding from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) through the Program for Social-Ecological Research for the project Besatzfisch (grant # 01UU0907)Peer Reviewe

Explaining participation rates in recreational fishing across industrialised countries

On average, 10.52% of the total population was found to fish for recreation across the industrialised world (N = 27 countries), amounting to an estimated 118 million (95% confidence interval 81–154 million) people in North America, Europe and Oceania. Participation rates declined with population density and gross domestic product, indicating a negative effect of urbanisation and post-modernisation on fishing interest. Participation rates also declined with increasing median age, average household size and unemployment rate, suggesting resource limitation to constrain participation in fishing. By contrast, two indicators of the cultural importance of fish (fish landings and per capita fish consumption) and an indicator of perceived need for leisure (weekly working hours) were positively correlated with fishing participation. Based on these findings, which explained 60% of the variance in fishing participation across the industrialised world, reduced fishing interest is to be expected with post-industrialisation. Dedicated management and marketing intervention is needed to reverse the track of diminishing fishing interest in industrialised countries

Recreational angler satisfaction: What drives it?

Satisfaction is the reward that recreational anglers receive from their experiences, and it constitutes a relevant management target. Angler satisfaction also shapes preferences for regulations, compliance with rules and general angler behaviours. Because of its central role in recreational fisheries management, it is important to understand what drives angler satisfaction. Our objective was to study the catch and non-catch-related determinants of recreational angler satisfaction using a standardized literature search and synthesizing the literature using meta-analytical techniques. After identifying and screening 279 papers, we obtained K = 172 effect sizes extracted from N = 23 studies that met our inclusion criteria. A three-level random-effects model on Pearson's R, derived from studies relating component satisfaction to overall satisfaction assuming a sum-of-satisfaction model, was fitted. The aggregated effect sizes revealed that catch-related (i.e. catch rate, size of caught fish, fish harvest) and two non-catch-related components (i.e. access to fishing sites and crowding) were most related to angler satisfaction. Other non-catch components (e.g. environmental quality, facilities, perception of relaxation quality) also contributed to angler satisfaction but were of less importance, more variable across studies and in some cases not significant (e.g. perceived water quality, quality of social experience). We conclude changes to access to fishing sites, crowding and a reduction in catch qualities, will in many cases produce dissatisfied anglers. In the absence of local studies, focusing management attention on these components can be recommended if the aim is to satisfy anglers or avoid managerial or social issues that emerge from dissatisfied anglers.European Marine and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)Ministry for Agriculture and Environment Mecklenburg‐Western PomeraniaBundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347Peer Reviewe

Solstice: An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/1/00CoverSolsticeXXVINo2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/2/01AustinSolsticeXXVINo2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/3/02ArlinghausArlinghausKerskiSolsticeXXVINo2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/4/03FavroSolsticeXXVINo2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/10/Ani_iphone.gifhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/11/AniIMaGe.gifhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116297/12/QRcover.gifDescription of 00CoverSolsticeXXVINo2.pdf : 2015: Cover, Solstice Vol. XXVI, No. 2Description of 01AustinSolsticeXXVINo2.pdf : 2015: Austin ArticleDescription of 02ArlinghausArlinghausKerskiSolsticeXXVINo2.pdf : 2015: Arlinghaus, Arlinghaus, Kerski, ArticleDescription of 03FavroSolsticeXXVINo2.pdf : 2015: Favro ArticleDescription of Ani_iphone.gif : Animation for Cover, iPhone AppDescription of AniIMaGe.gif : QR cover animationDescription of QRcover.gif : Cover animation, QR, hexagon sea

Evolution of boldness and life-history in response to selective harvesting

Whether intensive harvesting alters the behavioural repertoire of exploited fishes is currently unknown, but plausible. We extend a fish life-history model to account for boldness as a personality trait that affects foraging intensity, which affects energy intake and risk from predation and fishing gear. We systematically investigate life-history and behavioral trait evolution along the boldness-timidity axis in response to the full range of common selectivity and exploitation patterns in fisheries. In agreement with previous studies we find that any type of harvesting selects for fast life histories and that merely elevated, yet unselective, fishing mortality favors boldness. We also find that timid-selective fishing (which can be expected in selected species targeted by active gear types) selects for increased boldness. By contrast, increased timidity is predicted when fishing targets bolder individuals common to passive gears, whether in combination with selection on size or not. Altered behavior caused by intensive harvesting should be commonplace in nature, which can have far-reaching ecological, evolutionary and managerial impacts. Evolution of timidity is expected to strongly erode catchability, which will negatively affect human well-being and influence the reliability of stock assessments that rely on fishery-dependent data.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Saving large fish through harvest slots outperforms the classical minimum‐length limit when the aim is to achieve multiple harvest and catch‐related fisheries objectives

We address the problem of optimal size-selective exploitation in an age-structured fish population model by systematically examining how density and size dependency in growth, mortality and fecundity affect optimal harvesting patterns when judged against a set of fisheries objectives. The study offers five key insights. First, while minimum-length limits often maximize the biomass yield, exploitation using harvest slots (i.e. regulations that protect both immature and very large individuals) can generate within 95% of maximum yield; harvest slots also generally maximize the number of fish that are harvested. Second, density dependence in growth and size-dependent mortality predict more liberal optimal size limits than those derived under assumptions of no density and size dependence. Third, strong density dependence in growth maximizes the catch of trophy fish only when modest harvest is introduced; the same holds for numbers harvested, when the stock–recruitment function follows the Ricker type. Fourth, the inclusion of size-dependent maternal effects on fecundity or egg viability has only limited effects on optimal size limits, unless the increase in fecundity with mass (“hyperallometry”) is very large. However, large hyperallometry in fecundity shifts the optimal size limit for biomass yield from the traditional minimum-length limit to a harvest slot. Fifth, harvest slots generally provide the best compromises among multiple objectives. We conclude that harvest slots, or more generally dome-shaped selectivity to harvest, can outperform the standard minimum-length selectivity. The exact configuration of optimal size limits crucially depends on objectives, local fishing pressure, the stock–recruitment function, and the density and size dependency of growth, mortality and fecundity.European Maritime Fisheries Fund and State of Mecklenburg‐VorpommernPeer Reviewe

Reviving the unique potential of recreational fishers as environmental stewards of aquatic ecosystems

Recreational anglers have been key players in aquatic conservation, but this role is increasingly obscured. Other environmental sectors are now more visible stakeholders engaged with biodiversity. Recreational fishing has relevant environmental and moral implications, but these can be resolved via improved governance and management. More difficult is replacing the stewardship capacity provided by anglers. When analysed against a novel environmental stewardship framework based on place and identity, care, knowledge and agency, we find that marginalizing anglers could diminish aquatic biodiversity conservation. This outcome is likely because excellence in recreational fishing involves habituation of skills and ethical imperatives associated with sustainable and responsible use of fish populations. These dimensions are probably not so pertinent and correspondingly less developed in other nature stakeholders. Importantly, catching and killing wild animals catapults anglers into a food web and associated ecological conscience that most other outdoor activities cannot generate. As a result, recreational fishing often engenders feelings of care and responsibility for aquatic systems that support personal well‐being, bridging the stewardship value‐action gap through development of local assessment, management and evaluative competencies and associated agency. Transdisciplinary cooperation with scientists, managers and policymakers can unleash the stewardship potential of recreational anglers and engage their capacity for the common good.Peer Reviewe

Bayesian state-space modelling of conventional acoustic tracking provides accurate descriptors of home range behavior in a small-bodied coastal fish species

State-space models (SSM) are increasingly applied in studies involving biotelemetry-generated positional data because they are able to estimate movement parameters from positions that are unobserved or have been observed with non-negligible observational error. Popular telemetry systems in marine coastal fish consist of arrays of omnidirectional acoustic receivers, which generate a multivariate time-series of detection events across the tracking period. Here we report a novel Bayesian fitting of a SSM application that couples mechanistic movement properties within a home range (a specific case of random walk weighted by an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process) with a model of observational error typical for data obtained from acoustic receiver arrays. We explored the performance and accuracy of the approach through simulation modelling and extensive sensitivity analyses of the effects of various configurations of movement properties and time-steps among positions. Model results show an accurate and unbiased estimation of the movement parameters, and in most cases the simulated movement parameters were properly retrieved. Only in extreme situations (when fast swimming speeds are combined with pooling the number of detections over long time-steps) the model produced some bias that needs to be accounted for in field applications. Our method was subsequently applied to real acoustic tracking data collected from a small marine coastal fish species, the pearly razorfish, Xyrichtys novacula. The Bayesian SSM we present here constitutes an alternative for those used to the Bayesian way of reasoning. Our Bayesian SSM can be easily adapted and generalized to any species, thereby allowing studies in freely roaming animals on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of home ranges and territory establishment, both in fishes and in other taxa.This study was funded through a Marie Curie Post-Doc grant (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, grant no. 327160). MP received additional funding from the research project REC2 (grant no. CTM2011-23835) and the research project CONFLICT (grant no. CGL2008-00958) and JA from a Juan de la Cierva Post-doc grant (grant no. FJCI-2014-21239), all of them funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness. The project also received additional funding from the B-Types project funded through Leibniz Competition (grant no. SAW-2013-IGB-2) to RA. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer Reviewe