Comparative influence of ocean conditions on yellowfin and Atlantic bluefin tuna catch from longlines in the Gulf of Mexico
Open accessAbstract
Directed fishing effort for Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), their primary spawning grounds in the western Atlantic, has been prohibited since the 1980s due to a precipitous decline of the spawning stock biomass. However, pelagic longlines targeted at other species, primarily yellowfin tuna and swordfish, continue to catch Atlantic bluefin tuna in the GOM as bycatch. Spatial and temporal management measures minimizing bluefin tuna bycatch in the GOM will likely become important in rebuilding the western Atlantic bluefin stock. In order to help inform management policy and understand the relative distribution of target and bycatch species in the GOM, we compared the spatiotemporal variability and environmental influences on the catch per unit effort (CPUE) of yellowfin (target) and bluefin tuna (bycatch). Catch and effort data from pelagic longline fisheries observers (1993-2005) and scientific tagging cruises (1998-2002) were coupled with environmental and biological data. Negative binomial models were used to fit the data for both species and Akaike's Information Criterion (corrected for small sample size) was used to determine the best model. Our results indicate that bluefin CPUE had higher spatiotemporal variability as compared to yellowfin CPUE. Bluefin CPUE increased substantially during the breeding months (March-June) and peaked in April and May, while yellowfin CPUE remained relatively high throughout the year. In addition, bluefin CPUE was significantly higher in areas with negative sea surface height anomalies and cooler sea surface temperatures, which are characteristic of mesoscale cyclonic eddies. In contrast, yellowfin CPUE was less sensitive to environmental variability. These differences in seasonal variability and sensitivity to environmental influences suggest that bluefin tuna bycatch in the GOM can be reduced substantially by managing the spatial and temporal distribution of the pelagic longline effort without substantially impacting yellowfin tuna catches.
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Atlantic bluefin tuna prefer negative SSH characteristic of mesoscale cyclonic eddies.
“Results with respect to SSH were consistent with other finer scale studies suggesting Atlantic bluefin preference for negative SSH characteristic of mesoscale cyclonic eddies (Teo and Block, 2010)”
From Global habitat preferences of commercially valuable tuna (2015) · cites this paper as Teo and Block, 2010
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Electronic tagging and population structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna
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Global habitat preferences of commercially valuable tuna
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Varying mesoscale structures influence larval fish distribution in the northern Gulf of Mexico
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Reproduction and larval biology in tunas, and the importance of restricted area spawning grounds
Muhling, B. A., Lamkin, J. T., Alemany, F., García, A., Farley, J., Ingram, G. W., Berastegui, D. A., Reglero, P., & Carrion, R. L. (2017) · Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries · doi:10.1007/s11160-017-9471-4 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
- Authors
- Teo, S. L. H., & Block, B. A.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Hopkins Marine Station (US)
- Corresponding author
- Teo, Steven L. H.
- ORCID
- Block, Barbara A.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2010-05-28
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e10756
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2878315
- OpenAlex
- W1993634114
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 5.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Disney Conservation Fund
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ichthyology and Marine Biology
- Keywords
- Thunnus thynnus, yellowfin tuna, bycatch, pelagic longline fishery, Gulf of Mexico, catch per unit effort, spatiotemporal variation, sea level anomalies, sea surface temperature, spawning season, fisheries management, swordfish
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Fisheries, Geography, Mexico, Models, Theoretical, Oceans and Seas, Tuna, Ecosystem
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