A Stepwise Approach to Investigating the Movement Patterns and Habitat Utilization of Goliath Grouper, Epinephelus itajara, Using Conventional Tagging, Acoustic Telemetry and Satellite Tracking

Eklund, Anne-Marie; Schull, Jennifer

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1402-0_9

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The species inhabits marine and brackish waters, and it associates with complex and hard substrates such as reef/ rock ledges, rocky bottoms, mangrove shorelines and shipwrecks. Similarly to other species from the genus Mycteroperca and Epinephelus, E. itajara is extremely vulnerable to overfishing, mainly due to critical life history traits such as late sexual maturity (five years), long life (>38 years), strong site fidelity, slow growth and formation of spawning aggregations (Bullock et al, 1992;Huntsman et al, 1999;Sadovy & Eklund, 1999;Morris et al, 2000;Eklund & Schull, 2001). Therefore, there is a growing concern on this particular species in the Atlantic Ocean conservation realm (Sadovy & Eklund, 1999;Hostim-Silva et al, 2005;Ferreira et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Gerhardinger¹,

Marenzi

Bertoncini³

et al. 2006

Neotrop. ichthyol.

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The goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara is a large sized (> 400 kg) and critically endangered marine fish, which is protected in many countries, including Brazil. Through the application of semi-structured interviews, we investigated the local ecological knowledge of seven fishermen specialist on catching E. itajara from the Babitonga bay, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Local long-line fisheries for E. itajara seemed to be a disappearing tradition in the studied site, with a detailed inherent local ecological knowledge system, which is also being lost. Our study also showed that fishermen engaged in recent fisheries, such as spear-fishing, can also possess a detailed local ecological knowledge system. Through the analysis of fishermen local ecological knowledge, several aspects of E. itajara life history were registered. This species is found in the inner and outer Babitonga bay, from saline waters to areas with a large input of freshwater, and inhabits submerged wooden substrates and artificial reefs such as shipwrecks, mooring pillars and cargo containers. It is known to spawn in December and subsequent summer months in the studied area. Spawning aggregations are usually seen in December (during full moon), being also eventually observed in January and February by our informants. While lobsters, spadefishes and octopuses seem to constitute the most important food items of inner bay E. itajara, outer bay individuals may feed on catfishes, crustaceans and other fish species. The goliath grouper is regarded as pacific and curious fish, but frequently display agonistic behavior in the presence of divers. Based on the perception of well experienced spear fishermen, we hypothesize that E. itajara undertakes seasonal migrations from the inner to the outer bay during summer, and that the studied population is suffering from growth over-fishing. Our data provides a practical evidence of how joining scientific and local ecological knowledge will likely benefit E. itajara local conservation and management practices by adding important new biological data into the decision-making process.O mero Epinephelus itajara é uma espécie de peixe marinho de grandes proporções (>400 kg) e criticamente ameaçado, protegido em muitos países, incluindo o Brasil. Através da aplicação de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, investigamos o conhecimento ecológico local de pescadores de espinhel e pesca subaquática, especialistas na captura de E. itajara na baía Babitonga, Santa Catarina, Brasil. A pescaria de espinhel direcionada à E. itajara parece ser uma tradição em desaparecimento, com um detalhado sistema de conhecimento ecológico local que está também sendo perdido com o tempo. Nosso estudo mostra que pescadores envolvidos em pescarias recentes, como a pesca subaquática, podem também possuir detalhado sistema de conhecimento ecológico local. Através da análise e integração do conhecimento ecológico local dos informantes, diversos aspectos da história de vida de E. itajara foram registrados. Esta espécie é encontrada na porção interna e externa da ...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Gerhardinger¹,

Marenzi

Bertoncini³

et al. 2006

Neotrop. ichthyol.

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“…Epinephelus itajara are extremely vulnerable to overfishing (Bullock et al 1992) due to a combination of life history traits typical in large serranid fish, such as slow growth, long life (3 or 4 decades), late sexual maturity (5 yr), strong site fidelity, and formation of spawning aggregations (Bullock et al 1992, Huntsman et al 1999, Sadovy & Eklund 1999, Eklund & Schull 2001. In 1994, commercial extinction prompted inclusion on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species as critically endangered (Hudson & Mace 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies of juvenile home ranges and water quality (A. M. Eklund et al unpubl. data), and movement patterns (Eklund & Schull 2001) were conducted exclusively in southwest Florida, where lack of visibility had prevented visual underwater census and studies of habitat preferences were done using traps. No previous studies have examined mangrove habitat use for this species in the Florida Keys.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara in the Florida Keys, USA

Frias-Torres¹

2006

Endang. Species Res.

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This study reports the distribution, abundance and habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara along fringing red mangrove Rhizophora mangle shorelines of the Florida Keys, USA. The species has been protected from fishing in US waters since 1992, after reaching commercial extinction, yet juvenile habitat use remains poorly studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of underwater mangrove habitat structure and complexity in determining distribution of juvenile goliath grouper in the Florida Keys. Visual underwater surveys were used to record juvenile presence, abundance and size. Habitat characteristics as continuous variables (depth, canopy, overhang and prop root width) and nominal variables (bottom type, sun exposure, shoreline shape and shoreline type) were also recorded. Juveniles aggregated in sites with high structural complexity, soft sediment and eroded shorelines. Well-developed fringing red mangrove shorelines were the preferred juvenile goliath grouper habitat.

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“…Heupel and Heuter (2001) used a more extensive array (14 hydrophones) to track 18 juvenile blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) with near-complete coverage of a small semi-enclosed bay (Terra Ceia Bay, Florida) for up to 159 d. In another example, three separate hydrophones independently monitored the presence of 10 goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) among widely separated spawning aggregation sites over several months (Eklund and Schull 2001). Wider arrays are becoming more common due to considerable private sector technical support for telemetry studies.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The risk of marine animals carrying transmitters out of a study area decreases if the listening array covers widely spaced strategic areas (such as in Eklund and Schull 2001), or can be established regionally and cooperatively over a period long enough to monitor revisitation. The advent of estuarywide and cross-shelf, coast-wide, multiple-hydrophone arrays, such as those used for salmon by Voegeli et al (1998) or the Pacific Ocean Salmon Tracking Project (POST) (Welch et al 2003), addresses the need for wide-area synoptic telemetry.…”

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confidence: 99%

An estuarine observatory for real‐time telemetry of migrant macrofauna: Design, performance, and constraints

Grothues

Able

McDonnell

et al. 2005

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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In 2002, we began tagging macrofauna and established an array of hydrophones in the Mullica River and Great Bay estuary in southern New Jersey, USA, as part of an observatory for the study of migration. The hydrophone array differs from other model telemetry programs in several aspects. The wireless radio‐linked design provides the capability to couple observation in real time with reactive sampling schemes (including mobile tracking), provides for public interaction via frequent updates to a Worldwide Web‐based distance learning program, and saves ship time. However, the wireless design is more amenable to a turnstile‐like acoustic gate than to positioning, and strategic positioning of hydrophones at bottlenecks is favored over continuous contact of transmitters within the large study area. The hydrophone array is supplemented by infrastructure from two existing marine observatory programs focused on physical processes. These are the Long‐term Ecosystem Observatory (LEO‐15) outside the estuarine inlet and the System‐Wide Monitoring Program of the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) within the river and estuary. This article outlines considerations in the design and implementation of the array from infrastructure, predeployment survey, and biological considerations through hydrophone placement, maintenance, calibration, and data collection. Further, it presents a comprehensive description of the observatory and study area for reference in works on the biology of those organisms under study. The hydrophone array serves as a unit intended for stepwise extension into other estuaries to assist in our understanding of habitat use and of those species that use estuarine habitat during coastal migration.

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A Stepwise Approach to Investigating the Movement Patterns and Habitat Utilization of Goliath Grouper, Epinephelus itajara, Using Conventional Tagging, Acoustic Telemetry and Satellite Tracking

Cited by 26 publications

References 9 publications

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara in the Florida Keys, USA

An estuarine observatory for real‐time telemetry of migrant macrofauna: Design, performance, and constraints

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