Shellfisheries, seabed habitats and interactions in Northumberland

PhD ThesisA push for a more evidence based approach to management has resulted in the need for robust evidence of fisheries impacts (or lack thereof), including further research into fine-scale impacts of potting for which little evidence is available. The present work focusses on the inshore pot fishery in Northumberland, UK. Potting effort distribution maps - a combination of fishing vessel sightings recorded during routine patrols and fishing effort by the Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (NIFCA) – showed changes in potting effort across large sections of the study area between years (2004 – 2014). Temporal changes in fishers’ habitat selection were investigated using recently collected habitat data. Space-time clustering suggested fishers were actively targeting habitats of interest. Compositional analysis of habitat, showed that fishers preferred rocky habitats over sediment habitats when using both EUNIS level 3 and 6 habitat maps. Information on habitat use and fishing pressure provided the basis for investigation of long-term impacts of parlour potting on epibenthos and habitat within the Berwickshire & North Northumberland Coast European Marine Site (BNNC EMS) through analysis of historical videographic monitoring data between 2002 – 2011. Analysis of biotope change between years (a method recommended for monitoring purposes) showed that at the scales investigated here, change had not occurred. Weaknesses of this analysis for the use in robust ecological research are discussed. A more detailed analysis of community composition and diversity change between years showed that there was little evidence of change. However, changes in species composition and richness of ‘Faunal and algal crusts on exposed to moderately wave-exposed circalittoral rock’ were observed between years, in most models and between fishing pressures. Finally, quantification of direct impacts through in-situ experimental fishing was investigated using a BACI design. The high experimental fishing intensity, in small experimental areas, coupled with high levels of sampling and replication, provided iii robust evidence that current levels of potting are unlikely to have a direct physical impact on epibenthos in Faunal and algal crust, and Laminaria spp dominated habitats in Northumberland.Natural Englan

Warmer temperature decreases the maximum length of six species of marine fishes, crustacean, and squid in New Zealand

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Where marine protected areas would best represent 30% of ocean biodiversity

Author's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Biological Conservation on 02/04/2020.Available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719312182?via%3DihubThe IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress called for the full protection of 30% of each marine habitat globally andat least 30% of all the ocean. Thus, we quantitatively prioritized the top 30% areas for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) globally using global scale measures ofbiodiversity from the species to ecosystem level. The analysis used (a) Ecosystems mapped based on 20 environmental variables, (b) four Biomes (seagrass, kelp,mangrove, and shallow water coral reefs) plus seabed rugosity as a proxy for habitat, and (c) species richness within each biogeographic Realm (indicating areas ofspecies endemicity), so as to maximise representivity of biodiversity overall.We found that the 30% prioritized areas were mainly on continental coasts, island arcs, oceanic islands, the southwest Indian Ridge, the northern Mid-AtlanticRidge, the Coral Triangle, Caribbean Sea, and Arctic Archipelago. They generally covered 30% of the Ecosystems and over 80% of the Biomes. Although 58% of theareas were within countries Exclusive EconomicZones(EEZ), only 10% were in MPAs, and < 1% in no-take MPAs (IUCN category Ia). These prioritized areas indicatewhere it would be optimal to locate MPAs for recovery of marine biodiversity within and outside country's EEZ. Our results thus provide a map that will aid bothnational and international planning of where to protect marine biodiversity as a whole.acceptedVersio

Warm and cold temperatures limit the maximum body length of teleost fishes across a latitudinal gradient in Norwegian waters

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Old Tools, New Ways of Using Them: Harnessing Expert Opinions to Plan for Surprise in Marine Socio-Ecological Systems

Copyright © 2019 Gladstone-Gallagher, Hope, Bulmer, Clark, Stephenson, Mangan, Rullens, Siwicka, Thomas, Pilditch, Savage and Thrush. With globally accelerating rates of environmental disturbance, coastal marine ecosystems are increasingly prone to non-linear regime shifts that result in a loss of ecosystem function and services. A lack of early-detection methods, and an over reliance on limits-based approaches means that these tipping points manifest as surprises. Consequently, marine ecosystems are notoriously difficult to manage, and scientists, managers, and policy makers are paralyzed in a spiral of ecosystem degradation. This paralysis is caused by the inherent need to quantify the risk and uncertainty that surrounds every decision. While progress toward forecasting tipping points is ongoing and important, an interim approach is desperately needed to enable scientists to make recommendations that are credible and defensible in the face of deep uncertainty. We discuss how current tools for developing risk assessments and scenario planning, coupled with expert opinions, can be adapted to bridge gaps in quantitative data, enabling scientists and managers to prepare for many plausible futures. We argue that these tools are currently underutilized in a marine cumulative effects context but offer a way to inform decisions in the interim while predictive models and early warning signals remain imperfect. This approach will require redefining the way we think about managing for ecological surprise to include actions that not only limit drivers of tipping points but increase socio-ecological resilience to yield satisfactory outcomes under multiple possible futures that are inherently uncertain

Assessing Benthic Responses to Fishing Disturbance Over Broad Spatial Scales That Incorporate High Environmental Variation

Marine benthic habitats are modified by a number of human-related disturbances. When these disturbances occur at large scales over areas of high environmental variability, it is difficult to assess impacts using metrics such as species richness or individual species distributions because of varying species-specific responses to environmental drivers (e.g., exposure, sediment, temperature). Impact assessment can also be problematic when assessed at broad spatial scales because of regional heterogeneity of species pools. Even when effects on individual species can be detected, it is difficult to upscale from individual species to ecosystem scale effects. Here, we use a functional group approach to assess broad scale patterns in ecological processes with respect to fishing and environmental drivers. We used data from field surveys of benthic communities from two large, widely separated areas in New Zealand’s EEZ (Chatham Rise and Challenger Plateau). We assigned 828 taxonomic units (most identified to species) into functional groups related to important ecosystem processes and likely sensitivity to, and recovery from, fishing disturbance to the seafloor. These included: opportunistic early colonists; substrate stabilisers (e.g., tube mat formers); substrate destabilisers; shell hash-creating species; emergent epifauna; burrowers; and predators and scavengers. Effects of fishing disturbance on benthic functional composition were observed, even at this broad spatial scale. Responses varied between functional groups, with some being tolerant of fishing impacts and others showing rapid declines with minimal fishing effort. The use of a functional group approach facilitates assessment of impacts across regions and species, allowing for improved generalisations of impacts to inform management and decision making

Implications for the Conservation of Deep-Water Corals in the Face of Multiple Stressors: A Case Study from the New Zealand Region

The waters around New Zealand are a global hotspot of biodiversity for deep-water corals; approximately one sixth of the known deep-water coral species of the world have been recorded in the region. Deep-water corals are vulnerable to climate-related stressors and from the damaging effects of commercial fisheries. Current protection measures do not account for the vulnerability of deep-water corals to future climatic conditions, which are predicted to alter the distribution of suitable habitat for them. Using recently developed habitat suitability models for 12 taxa of deep-water corals fitted to current and future seafloor environmental conditions (under different future climatic conditions: SSP2 – 4.5 and SSP3-7.0) we explore possible levels of spatial protection using the decision-support tool Zonation. Specifically, we assess the impact of bottom trawling on predictions of current distributions of deep-water corals, and then assess the effectiveness of possible protection for deep-water corals, while accounting for habitat refugia under future climatic conditions. The cumulative impact of bottom trawling was predicted to impact all taxa, but particularly the reef-forming corals. Core areas of suitable habitat were predicted to decrease under future climatic conditions for many taxa. We found that designing protection using current day predictions alone, having accounted for the impacts of historic fishing impacts, was unlikely to provide adequate conservation for deep water-corals under future climate change. Accounting for future distributions in spatial planning identified areas which may provide climate refugia whilst still providing efficient protection for current distributions. These gains in conservation value may be particularly important given the predicted reduction in suitable habitat for deep-water corals due to bottom fishing and climate change. Finally, the possible impact that protection measures may have on deep-water fisheries was assessed using a measure of current fishing value (kg km-2 fish) and future fishing value (predicted under future climate change scenarios)

Data quality influences the predicted distribution and habitat of four southern-hemisphere albatross species

Few studies have assessed the influence of data quality on the predicted probability of occurrence and preferred habitat of marine predators. We compared results from four species distribution models (SDMs) for four southern-hemisphere albatross species, Buller’s (Thalassarche bulleri), Campbell (T. impavida), grey-headed (T. chrysostoma), and white-capped (T. steadi), based on datasets of differing quality, ranging from no location data to twice-daily locations of individual birds collected by geolocation devices. Two relative environmental suitability (RES) models were fit using minimum and maximum preferred and absolute values for each environmental variable based on (1) monthly 50% kernel density contours and background environmental data, and (2) primary literature or expert opinion. Additionally, two boosted regression tree (BRT) models were fit using (1) opportunistic sightings data, and (2) geolocation data from bird-borne electronic tags. Using model-specific threshold values, habitat was quantified for each species and model. Model variables included distance from land, bathymetry, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll-a concentration. Results from both RES models and the BRT model fit with opportunistic sightings were compared to those from the BRT model fit using geolocation data to assess the influence of data quality on predicted occupancy and habitat. For all species, BRT models outperformed RES models. BRT models offer a predictive advantage over RES models by being able to identify relevant variables, incorporate environmental interactions, and provide spatially explicit estimates of model uncertainty. RES models resulted in larger, less refined areas of predicted habitat for all species. Our study highlights the importance of data quality in predicting the distribution and habitat of albatrosses and emphasises the need to consider the pros and cons associated with different levels of data quality when using SDMs to inform management decisions. Furthermore, we examine the overlap in preferred habitat predicted by each SDM with fishing effort. We discuss the influence of data quality on predicting the wide-scale distributions of pelagic seabirds and how these impacts could result in different protection measures