Zhang Yingqiu, Xu Qiang, Alós Josep, Liu Hui, Xu Qinzeng, Yang Hongsheng
Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China.
PLoS One. 2015 Aug 31;10(9):e0134381. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134381. eCollection 2015.
The recent miniaturization of acoustic tracking devices has allowed fishery managers and scientists to collect spatial and temporal data for sustainable fishery management. The spatial and temporal dimensions of fish behavior (movement and/or vertical migrations) are particularly relevant for rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) because most rockfish species are long-lived and have high site fidelity, increasing their vulnerability to overexploitation. In this study, we describe the short-term (with a tracking period of up to 46 d) spatial behavior, as determined by acoustic tracking, of the black rockfish Sebastes schlegelii, a species subject to overexploitation in the Yellow Sea of China. The average residence index (the ratio of detected days to the total period from release to the last detection) in the study area was 0.92 ± 0.13, and most of the tagged fish were detected by only one region of the acoustic receiver array, suggesting relatively high site fidelity to the study area. Acoustic tracking also suggested that this species is more frequently detected during the day than at night in our study area. However, the diel detection periodicity (24 h) was only evident for certain periods of the tracking time, as revealed by a continuous wavelet transform. The habitat selection index of tagged S. schlegelii suggested that S. schlegelii preferred natural reefs, mixed sand/artificial reef bottoms and mixed bottoms of boulder, cobble, gravel and artificial reefs. The preference of this species for the artificial reefs that were recently deployed in the study area suggests that artificial seascapes may be effective management tools to attract individuals. The vertical movement of tagged S. schlegelii was mostly characterized by bottom dwelling behavior, and there was high individual variability in the vertical migration pattern. Our results have important implications for S. schlegelii catchability, the implementation of marine protected areas, and the identification of key species habitats, and our study provides novel information for future studies on the sustainability of this important marine resource in eastern China.
声学跟踪设备最近的小型化使渔业管理人员和科学家能够收集空间和时间数据，以实现可持续渔业管理。鱼类行为（移动和/或垂直洄游）的空间和时间维度对于岩鱼（Sebastes spp.）尤为重要，因为大多数岩鱼种类寿命长且具有较高的位点忠诚度，这增加了它们被过度捕捞的脆弱性。在本研究中，我们描述了通过声学跟踪确定的黑鲪Sebastes schlegelii的短期（跟踪期长达46天）空间行为，黑鲪是中国黄海中一种面临过度捕捞的物种。研究区域内的平均居留指数（检测天数与从放流到最后一次检测的总时长之比）为0.92±0.13，并且大多数标记鱼仅在声学接收器阵列的一个区域被检测到，这表明对研究区域具有相对较高的位点忠诚度。声学跟踪还表明，在我们的研究区域，该物种在白天比夜间更频繁地被检测到。然而，如连续小波变换所示，日检测周期（24小时）仅在跟踪时间的某些时段明显。标记的黑鲪的栖息地选择指数表明，黑鲪更喜欢天然礁石、混合砂/人工礁底部以及巨石、鹅卵石、砾石和人工礁的混合底部。该物种对研究区域最近部署的人工礁的偏好表明，人工海洋景观可能是吸引个体的有效管理工具。标记的黑鲪的垂直移动主要表现为底栖行为，并且垂直洄游模式存在高度个体差异。我们的结果对黑鲪的可捕性、海洋保护区的实施以及关键物种栖息地的识别具有重要意义，并且我们的研究为未来关于中国东部这一重要海洋资源可持续性的研究提供了新信息。
