The status of host fish populations and fish species richness in European freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) streams

• 1. The status of host fish populations and fish species richness was investigated at 36 sites of 20 extant freshwater pearl mussel populations, including the drainages of the Elbe, Danube, Rhine, Weser, Aulne, Kemijoki and Tuuloma in Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Finland, by carrying out comparative electrofishings.
• 2. Brown trout (Salmo trutta f. fario) were found to be the available host fish for pearl mussels in all except one of the streams investigated with mean densities of 2861 ha^?1 (range 0–8710 ha^?1) and a mean biomass of 119 kg ha^?1 (range 0–478 kg ha^?1). Streams that had been frequently stocked with brown trout had higher trout biomass and densities of host fish than natural populations, but trout stocking had no positive effect in two of the streams investigated.
• 3. Fish species richness ranged from 2 to 16 species per stream and showed a negative correlation with host fish biomass and host fish densities. Undisturbed oligotrophic pearl mussel headwater streams usually only yielded a low number of fish species. Habitat degradation can reduce competitiveness of specialized trout and result in an increased abundance of ubiquitous or atypical species.
• 4. A link between the lack of juvenile pearl mussels and a lack of suitable host fish was only rarely observed. Functional pearl mussel populations with relatively high numbers of juveniles had significantly lower densities and biomass of host fish than pearl mussel populations without recent recruitment.
• 5. This study suggests that 0+ host fish are not necessarily required to sustain functional pearl mussel populations. Low densities of host fish can be compensated by the higher glochidia carrying capacity of older host fish with limited previous contact with pearl mussel glochidia, by the long reproductive period of mussels, and by low mortality rates of juvenile mussels during their post‐parasitic phase.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coral reef fish communities in management systems with unregulated fishing and small fisheries closures compared with lightly fished reefs – Maldives vs. Kenya

• 1. This study presents a comparison of the benthic cover and fish communities in three widely different management systems: (1) a heavily utilized subsistence fishery (yields >5 Mg km^?2 yr^?1); (2) moderately sized and well enforced fisheries closures (～9% of the nearshore area) surrounded by heavy fishing; and (3) a more lightly used management system (yields <5 Mg km^?2 yr^?1).
• 2. The objective was to compare management systems of small to moderate‐sized closures surrounded by heavy use in Kenya with a large‐scale light‐use management system in the Maldives.
• 3. Gross level attributes of the fish community suggest that the Maldives reefs had higher numbers of individuals (30%) and species (15%) than the Kenyan closures.
• 4. Maldivian reefs had higher abundance of some carnivores such as emperors (Lethrinidae), jacks (Carangidae), triggerfish (Balistidae), and trumpetfishes (Aulostomidae). Half the biomass of fish in the Maldives was, however, composed of surgeonfish (Acanthuridae), which resulted in a higher abundance of herbivores/detritivores than found in Kenyan closures.
• 5. Apex predator species were not a large portion of the biomass (<10%) in any system and, if remote reefs of the Pacific are examples of undisturbed ecosystems, then neither management system has fully protected apex species.

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of effective marine protected areas in Hawaiʻi

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Changes in a coral reef fishery along a gradient of fishing pressure in an Indonesian marine protected area

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Kittiwake breeding success in the southern North Sea correlates with prior sandeel fishing mortality

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Status of the hammerhead shark (Carcharhiniformes: Sphyrnidae) fishery in Indian waters with observations on the biology of scalloped hammerhead Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, 1834)

1. Hammerhead sharks are represented by four species in India's marine fishery – Sphyrna lewini, Sphyrna mokarran, Sphyrna zygaena and Eusphyra blochii. This paper describes the hammerhead shark fishery in India during 2007–2018 and summarizes observations on the biology of S. lewini exploited along the Indian coast.
2. Hammerhead sharks are caught by trawl nets, gillnets, seines and line gear, mostly as bycatch. Annual average landing of hammerhead sharks during 2007–18 was 639 t, with a low of 290 t in 2018, of which S, lewini was the dominant species, comprising 95% of landings. Hammerhead sharks formed nearly 1.31% of the total elasmobranch landings. About 54% of hammerhead sharks were landed by trawlers.
3. Length range of S. lewini in regular landings was 36–300 cm total length (TL). The dominant size class was 30–100 cm TL; 79.5% of males and 83.2% of females measured between 40 and 100 cm TL. Length–weight relationship was derived as W = 0.0218*(L)^2.634 and W = 0.0131*(L)^2.769 for males and females, respectively.
4. Overall sex ratio (F: M) was 1.3:1; below 100 cm TL, the sex ratio was skewed in favour of females. The length at first maturity of males was estimated as 168 cm. The length at first maturity of females was estimated at 239.6 cm. Fecundity ranged from 12–40, size at birth was 36–45 cm TL. Bony fishes were the preferred prey, followed by cephalopods.
5. The S. lewini landings in India are dominated by juveniles and threatens sustainability of the stock. Capture of juvenile sharks can be excluded to a considerable extent through strict implementation of minimum legal size of capture, and a conservative minimum legal size of 220 cm is suggested for this species in Indian waters. Identification of recurring juvenile aggregation grounds, their spatio-temporal closures, gear restrictions and greater stakeholder awareness could lead to conservation of the resource and a sustainable fishery.

     

Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) interaction with fish farms in the Gulf of Ambracia,western Greece

1. Marine aquaculture, and its fast-growing development, has the potential for wider environmental, ecosystem, and biodiversity impacts. This study assesses the impact of fish farming on a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population within the Gulf of Ambracia (western Greece) between 2007 and 2018. Two different study areas were defined in order to investigate differences on occurrence, abundance, behaviour, and seasonal fluctuations between them: a ‘control area’, in the north-western side of the Gulf; and a ‘fish farm area’, in the south west, where the highest density of fish farm cages is found.
2. A total of 169 daily surveys were dedicated to the control area and 74 days were dedicated to the fish farm area, yielding 104 and 37 sightings, respectively. Both the probability of detecting dolphins (U = 6,763.000, P = 0.002) and the group sizes (U = 578.000, P < 0.001) were smaller around fish farms.
3. Seasonality analyses were restricted to 2007–2008, as this was the period with year-round effort. Results revealed that dolphins were more frequently seen around fish farms in the winter (Kruskal–Wallis test, P = 0.036).
4. From the 40 identified individuals that were re-sighted at least 10 times during the study period, 21 used the fish farm area less than expected according to sampling effort, and 10 of them were never observed in that area (binomial test, P < 0.05).
5. The results revealed an impact of fish farms on the distribution of bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Ambracia. This information should be taken into consideration when defining ecosystem-based management measures within the management plan, which is currently in preparation for this Natura 2000 site.

     

Performance of common carp,Cyprinus carpio L. and Nile tilapia,Oreochromis niloticus (L.) in integrated rice–fish culture in Bangladesh

Irrigated rice fields have enormous potential for expanding the aquaculture production in rice producing countries. Two field experiments were carried out at the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, to optimize the productivity of integrated rice–fish systems using Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), and common carp, Cyprinus carpio L. Both experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates per treatment and regular rice monoculture as control. In the first trial, carp and tilapia were tested in single culture and in mixed culture with supplementary feeding at 2× maintenance level. The highest fish yield was obtained in the carp/tilapia mixed culture (586 ± 125 kg ha^− 1), followed by tilapia alone (540 ± 65 kg ha^− 1), and carp alone (257 ± 95 kg ha^− 1). Carp had significantly lower yield than the other two fish groups (p < 0.05) due to high mortality and inefficient feed utilization. As the carp/tilapia combination performed the best in the first experiment, it was tested with different inputs in the second trial, i.e. regular urea fertilization and two different feeding levels. The feeding levels were: continuous feeding at 2× maintenance level (feed level I) and a declining feeding schedule from 4× to 2× maintenance level (feed level II). The highest fish yield was obtained in feed level II (935 ± 29 kg ha^− 1), followed by feed level I (776 ± 22 kg ha^− 1), and the non-fed group (515 ± 85 kg ha^− 1). Yield differences between the treatments were significant at p < 0.05. Rice yields showed controversial effects between the rice–fish treatments and were dependent on the inputs provided. The highest rice production (4.2 t ha^− 1) was obtained from rice–fish plots with regular urea fertilization. Various significant effects of fish on water quality parameters were observed. Fish decreased the dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH value compared to rice only, especially when supplementary feed was provided. Moreover, fish stimulated the growth of phytoplankton and increased chlorophyll-a concentration. In conclusion, carp/tilapia mixed culture with supplementary feeding was found to be optimal for maximizing the output from rice–fish culture.     

Fishery benefits from behavioural modification of fishes in periodically harvested fisheries closures

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Human‐induced gradients of reef fish declines in the Hawaiian Archipelago viewed through the lens of traditional management boundaries

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Effects of isolation and fishing on the marine ecosystems of Easter Island and Salas y Gómez,Chile

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Sustainability of a tropical,multispecies, multigear,coral-reef-associated fishery system is efficiently inferred with the direct use of long-term port biosampling length records and life-history traits,US Virgin Islands

1. The fisheries system of the US Virgin Islands (USVI) provided the opportunity to examine decision-making and to advise comparable fisheries throughout the tropics; it is well studied, thoroughly managed, and small in economic impact.
2. To assess (multilevel modelling), evaluate (historical baselines and comparison of size frequency distributions), and explain (regression) the fisheries status synoptically, indicators of life history, ecological, and fishery traits were applied to a 26 year long and 104 species large port biosampling database.
3. The fishery consists of stable, truncated, and overfished populations of exclusively K-selected fish species. In particular, 45 (46.9%) of 96 species show significant but not biologically meaningful trends in mean standardized length of fish caught during a period of 30 years. Yet, 93 (90.2%) of 103 species are subject to persistent growth and/or recruitment overfishing. Also, both biological and economic overfishing are positively, significantly, and largely related with the K-selected nature of these species.
4. The results are corroborated by available contextual studies that demonstrate in synthesis the buffering effect of fisheries management. This employs various monitoring, regulatory, and enhancement tools to face its major challenges of data collection and quality improvement, local and regional environmental degradation from multiple anthropogenic and natural stressors, and non-compliance. Yet, there have been increasing trends in human population size, fishing effort, and total commercial landings, decreasing trends in the catch per unit of effort, changes in the relative composition of the catch during the last 40 years, and collapsed or on the verge of collapse fished species since the 1970s have not yet recovered.
5. The USVI fisheries system would benefit from redesigning regulation of input and output controls and upgrading the environmental baseline using the ecosystem-based management approach.

     

Essential fish habitats and hotspots of nekto‐benthic diversity and density in the western Mediterranean

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Factors driving spatial variation in egg survival of an ecologically and culturally important forage fish

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Comparison of spatial distribution models to predict subtidal burying habitat of the forage fish Ammodytes personatus in the Strait of Georgia,British Columbia,Canada

1. The Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes personatus) is a key forage species for many commercially important fish (e.g. salmon and groundfish), marine birds, and whales found in nearshore coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada.
2. Sand lance lack a swim bladder and have a requirement for low-silt, medium-coarse sandy sea-bed habitat for burying. Little information is available describing the distribution of burying habitat, partly because there are no commercial fisheries for A. personatus in British Columbia.
3. This information is required by habitat and wildlife managers to identify and protect uncommon patches of burying habitats from detrimental activities, including dredging, infilling, and oil spills.
4. In this study, habitat distribution results from five suitability modelling algorithms were evaluated: maximum entropy, generalized linear model, generalized additive model, random forest, and an ensemble model of the latter three.
5. The maximum entropy model had the highest performance score (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 0.78) and was selected as the model that most accurately identified the presence of suitable A. personatus burying habitat.
6. Model results indicate that suitable burying habitat is primarily influenced by derived sea-bed substrate, distance to estuary, distance to sand-gravel beaches, and bottom sea temperature.
7. Overall, the spatial modelling identified only 105 km² of highly suitable sand lance burying habitat, or 2.6% of the study area (0–150 m), primarily in Haro Strait, along the east coast of Vancouver Island, and in northern regions of the strait near Cortes, Savary, and Harwood islands.
8. Identification of this uncommon and patchy burying habitat will contribute to the ongoing conservation of an important coastal prey species.

     

The awakening of invertebrates: The daily dynamics of fishes and mobile invertebrates at Rapa Nui's multiple use marine protected area

• 1. On shallow reefs, day-night activity patterns between fishes and invertebrates are presumed to reflect trade-offs between feeding and predation; however, quantitative data on daily community dynamics are scarce. Moreover, night surveys may contribute important information for biodiversity inventories or baselines that normally are not considered.
• 2. This study used standardized day–night visual surveys of fishes and mobile invertebrates on the same transect lines in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and investigated how diel patterns vary between taxonomic and trophic groups.
• 3. Distinct differences between taxonomic groups were observed, with fishes being more abundant during the day (>twice), whilst invertebrate abundance and richness showed an opposite trend with higher numbers at night (>three times).
• 4. Analysis of trophic groups showed that herbivorous and planktivorous fishes were more abundant during the day. Carnivorous fishes did not show any trends. Top predators (Apex) were observed only at very low abundances. However, a replacement amongst carnivorous fish species between day and night was found, where labridae fishes were practically absent during nights.
• 5. Most of the mobile invertebrates remained concealed during the day, probably due to the influence of predation risk (labrid fishes). The results emphasize the need for consideration of nocturnally active invertebrates in biodiversity inventories or baselines of reefs, which focus heavily only on diurnal surveys.
• 6. Day–night reef surveys should be included in marine protected area planning and monitoring as this provides a better understanding of shallow benthic communities and helps inform proper management decisions.

     

Abundance estimates of three cetacean species in the coastal waters of Matang,Perak, Peninsular Malaysia

1. The paucity of baseline data on coastal cetaceans due to a lack of research in developing countries frequently precludes assessment of their status and informed management actions for conservation.
2. This study provides the first abundance estimates of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Irrawaddy dolphins, and Indo-Pacific finless porpoises in the coastal waters of Matang, Peninsular Malaysia.
3. Boat-based surveys covering 1,152 km² of coastal waters with 4,108 km of survey effort were conducted between 2013 and 2016 to collect data for line transect analysis of Irrawaddy dolphins and finless porpoises. Photo-identification data of humpback dolphins were concurrently collected for mark–recapture analysis.
4. Estimates of abundance from four sampling strata totalled 763 Irrawaddy dolphins (CV = 13%, 95% confidence interval (CI) [588, 990]) and 600 Indo-Pacific finless porpoises (CV = 27%, 95% CI [354, 1,016]).
5. The annual abundance estimates of humpback dolphins ranged between 171 (95% CI [148, 208]) in 2014–2015 and 81 (95% CI [67, 98]) in 2015–2016, likely due to the presence of offshore individuals that moved in and out of the study area. The estuarine strata were inhabited by 68 (95% CI [63, 73]) inshore humpback dolphins in 2013–2014 to 87 (95% CI [78, 97]) dolphins in 2014–2015.
6. As an International Union for Conservation of Nature important marine mammal area, the productive coastal waters of Matang are shown to support a high density of small coastal cetaceans, and the results serve as an important baseline for future studies to identify population trends for conservation management plans.

     

Fish exclosures versus intensive fishing to restore charophytes in a shallow New Zealand lake

• 1. Disturbance by alien, herbivorous and benthivorous fish species has previously been found to limit the colonization of native charophytes in Lake Rotoroa, Hamilton. This paper compares two methods to reduce the impact of fish on charophyte establishment in this water body.
• 2. A 1 ha compartment of the lake was partitioned off and intensively fished by conventional netting methods. A total of 5115 fish, total weight 451 kg, was removed from the compartment over 17 months. Allowing for growth and reproduction within the sampling period, intensive netting reduced the original fish biomass by 86% from about 200 to 28 kg ha^?1.
• 3. Catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus Le Sueur) comprised 74% of the fish numbers and 57% of the fish biomass. Perch (Perca fluviatilis L.), shortfinned eel (Anguilla australis Richardson), rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus L.), tench (Tinca tinca L.), and goldfish (Carassius auratus L.) were present, in order of reducing abundance. These species are alien to New Zealand, with the exception of shortfinned eel.
• 4. Charophytes were transplanted inside and outside of the fished 1 ha compartment and their subsequent survival and establishment was monitored. Despite the extensive fish removal from the 1 ha compartment, repeat transplants inside it did not establish in the long term.
• 5. Outside of the 1 ha compartment, charophytes were also transplanted into nine 6.25‐m² fish exclosures with netting sides to establish ‘founder colonies’ of charophytes. Within these small exclosures, charophytes established (?75% cover) within 1 yr; when five of the exclosures were removed, these unprotected plants survived and expanded over the next year.
• 6. This study shows that small exclosures can be used to establish founder colonies of charophytes in the presence of herbivorous and benthivorous fish, and that intensive fish removal is likely to be a less successful and more costly method to restore charophytes in lakes.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Air-breathing ecology of Arapaima sp.: Conservation implications for an imperilled fish

1. Arapaima (Arapaima sp.) are highly overexploited fish endemic to the Amazon basin. Because the fish are obligate air-breathers, it is possible to use surface-breathing events to count individuals visually for population censuses important for conservation, yet uncertainties remain about body size and environmental influences on air-breathing intervals, and thus count accuracy.
2. This study examined relationships between breathing intervals and environmental parameters (e.g. water temperature and transparency) and body size for radio-tagged arapaima (n = 12) in an upland river-floodplain (Lake Ayapuá, Amazonas, Brazil). Generalized additive mixed models were used to evaluate environmental, size, and behavioural correlates of breathing intervals.
3. Temperature was the most influential predictor of air-breathing intervals, followed by body size. The shortest breathing intervals were associated with consecutive ‘aggressive’ breaths while the longest breathing intervals had consecutive ‘calm’ breaths. Type of breath, size, and temperature predictors revealed that breathing intervals ranged from 4 to 46 min and were not significantly different among life stages (  = 15.9 min for sub-adults and adults (>1 m);  = 14.8 min for juveniles (<1 m)).
4. Whereas the current population census method uses fish counts in 20-min intervals, this study found that 15% of observed breaths, and two thirds of fish, took longer than 20 min to breathe. These findings were obtained in relatively cool-water environments, so it is recommended that future population census methods consider water temperature (e.g. extend intervals used for counts in cooler waters), which may improve the accuracy of census counts and thus further enhance arapaima conservation efforts.
5. This study demonstrated an effective method in which fundamental biological information is used to inform and improve population census methods for an imperilled fish in a region where traditional stock assessment is ineffective. Similar approaches for adaptive stock assessments could be applied to improve conservation of other air-breathing fishes (e.g. lungfishes) globally.

     

Effect of varying closes of organic and inorganic fertilizers on plankton production and fish biomass in brackish water fish ponds

The effects of four different doses of organic (cowdung) and inorganic fertilizers (single super phosphate: SSP) in combination were studied on plankton production, species diversity and fish biomass in saline and freshwater fish ponds. Physico-chemical factors of pond waters were also monitored. Alkalinity and nutrients increased with increase in the dose of fertilizers. Dissolved oxygen (DO) also remained sufficiently high up to the third treatment; however, levels declined significantly in the ponds receiving the fourth treatment (20 000 kg ha^-1 year^-1 of cowdung and 3000 kg ha^-1 year^-1 of SSP). The highest plankton population, species diversity and higher fish biomass was also observed in ponds which received the third dose of fertilizers (10 000 kg ha^-1 year^-1 of cowdung and 1500 kg ha^-1 year^-1 of SSP). However, a decline in these parameters was observed in ponds which received the highest (fourth treatment) dose of fertilizers. Nutrients remained slightly lower in brackish-water fish ponds. When species diversity values were compared, it was observed that, although values werte higher in freshwater ponds, their abundance (no. 1¹) remained lower than in brackish-water fish ponds. Similarly, fish biomass also remained significantly higher in brackish-water ponds than in freshwater ponds. From these studies, it can be concluded that a combination of 10 000 kg of cowdung + 1500 kg ha^-1 year^-1 of SSP appears to be the optimum dose.