Assessing Anthropogenic Impacts on Tunas, Sharks and Billfishes with Direct Observations of Human Fishers on the High Seas
Abstract
Anthropogenic impacts on marine predators have been examined within exclusive economic zones, but few data sets have enabled assessing human fishing impacts on the high seas. By combining large electronic tagging databases archiving mobile predator movements (e.g. Tagging of Pacific Pelagics, TAG A Giant, Animal Telemetry Network) with the global fishing catch and fishing effort data, from satellite tracks of vessels on the high seas (AIS), a better understanding of human use and exploitation at a global scale can be obtained. This capacity to combine the movements of mobile ocean predators (tunas, sharks, billfishes) with analyses of their human predator's behaviors, via examination of the global fishing fleet activities is unprecedented due to the new access researchers are garnering to these big satellite derived AIS databases. Global Fishing Watch is one example of such a data provider, that now makes accessible, the AIS data from the global community of maritime vessels, and has developed along with researchers new algorithms that delineate distinct types of fishing vessel behaviors (longline, purse seiner) and effort. When combined with satellite tagging data of mobile apex predators, oceanographic preferences, records of fishing fleets catches, targeted species and economic drivers of fisheries, new quantitative insights can be gained about the catch reporting of fleets, and the pelagic species targeted at a global scale. Research communities can now also examine how humans behave on the high seas, and potentially improve how fish stocks, such as tunas, billfishes, and sharks are exploited. The capacity to gather information on diverse human fishing fleets and behaviors remotely, should provide a wealth of new tools that can potentially be applied toward the resource management efforts surrounding these global fishing fleets. This type of information is essential for prioritizing regions of conservation concern for megaufauna swimming in our oceans.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMOS14A..01B
- Keywords:
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- 1834 Human impacts;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 4815 Ecosystems;
- structure;
- dynamics;
- and modeling;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICALDE: 4262 Ocean observing systems;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERALDE: 6309 Decision making under uncertainty;
- POLICY SCIENCES