G¡¯day Marmamers,
My co-authors and I are
pleased to have had the following paper published in Scientific Reports: ¡°Preliminary estimates of the abundance and fidelity of
dolphins associating with a demersal trawl fishery¡±. The authors are Allen SJ,
Pollock KH, Bouchet PJ, Kobryn HT, McElligott DB, Nicholson KE, Smith JN and Loneragan NR, and the abstract reads as follows:
The incidental capture of wildlife
in fishing gear presents a global conservation challenge. As a baseline to inform
assessments of the impact of bycatch on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) interacting with an
Australian trawl fishery, we conducted an aerial survey to estimate dolphin
abundance across the fishery. Concurrently, we carried out boat-based dolphin
photo-identification to assess short-term fidelity to foraging around trawlers,
and used photographic and genetic data to infer longer-term fidelity to the
fishery. We estimated abundance at ¡Ö 2,300 dolphins (95% CI = 1,247?C4,214) over
the ¡Ö 25,880-km2 fishery. Mark-recapture estimates yielded 226 (SE =
38.5) dolphins associating with one trawler and some individuals photographed
up to seven times over 12 capture periods. Moreover, photographic and genetic
re-sampling over three years confirmed that some individuals show long-term
fidelity to trawler-associated foraging. Our study presents the first abundance
estimate for any Australian pelagic dolphin community and documents individuals
associating with trawlers over days, months and years. Without trend data or
correction factors for dolphin availability, the impact of bycatch on this
dolphin population¡¯s conservation status remains unknown. These results should
be taken into account by management agencies assessing the impact of
fisheries-related mortality on this protected species.
This dolphin-fishery
interaction research follows on from:
Allen et al. 2014. Patterns of dolphin bycatch in a North-Western
Australian trawl fishery. PLoS ONE 9:
e93178, and
Allen et al. 2016. Genetic isolation between coastal
and offshore, fishery-impacted bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops spp.) populations. Molecular
Ecology 25: 2735-2753. doi: 10.1111/mec.13622.
The full citation is: Allen et al.
2017. Preliminary estimates of the abundance and fidelity of dolphins in a
demersal trawl fishery. Scientific
Reports 7: 4995. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05189-0
Go ahead and treat yourself to
your very own PDF at http://rdcu.be/t5Y2
All the best and hope to
cross paths with many in Halifax.
Kind regards, Simon