Home site fidelity in Black Rockfish, <em>Sebastes melanops</em>, reintroduced into a fjord environment

Abstract

Between December 2004 and January 2007, we studied the movements of six Black Rockfish (Sebastes melanops) that had been fitted with acoustic transmitters and reintroduced into a fjord environment at the edge of Vancouver Harbour, British Columbia. The Black Rockfish were released in December 2004 and April 2005 at a reef characterized by complex rocky structures and steep slopes; bottom depths at the site dropped from 10 to 55 m within a horizontal distance of only 30 m. The reef, however, is small (approximately 4500 m2) and is surrounded by soft bottom habitats used infrequently by Black Rockfish. VEMCO VR2 receivers were deployed at the release site and at outlying reefs located 1 and 4 km away. Acoustic data suggest that one individual emigrated from the reef after 11 months of residency and a second individual disappeared abruptly after 6 weeks on the reef, possibly due to fishing mortality or emigration. The four remaining individuals appear to have confined their movements to the release site, using an area 6 to 10 times smaller than the home ranges reported for populations in low-gradient coastlines in California and Oregon.

Seasonal monitoring of deep-sea megabenthos in Barkley Canyon cold seep by internet operated vehicle (IOV)

“…The NMDS indicated that their abundances were affected by the same environmental factors that influenced buccinid abundances. Although rockfish has often observed to be resident at fixed locations [ 60 – 62 ], our findings suggest that at least some individuals move into this area to avoid enhanced currents in a similar strategy to the buccinids. This hypothesis needs to be confirmed with further studies.…”

Ancient DNA analysis of Indigenous rockfish use on the Pacific Coast: Implications for marine conservation areas and fisheries management

“…These no-take reserves reflect an effort to restore and sustain a variety of rockfish populations wherein large numbers of juvenile rockfish can recruit to areas of productive habitat, disperse, and recruit to nearby habitat [ 14 , 15 ]. Because many rockfish species have small home ranges [ 16 , 17 ] and spatially overlapping habitats, implementation of no-take conservation areas have the potential to protect multiple rockfish species simultaneously [ 13 ]. Current trends indicate that the implementation of a network of small conservation areas have not significantly influenced the recovery of rockfish [ 18 ] and violations of fishing within conservation area boundaries persist [ 19 , 20 ].…”

The use of new multiparametric observatory platforms for the remote monitoring and exploration of deep-sea ecosystems at day-night and seasonal temporal scales

“…The NMDS indicated that their abundances were affected by the same environmental factors that influenced buccinid abundances. Although rockfish has often observed to be resident at fixed locations (Marliave et al 2013,Reynolds et al 2010, Yoshiyama et al 1992, our findings suggest that at least some individuals move into this area to avoid enhanced currents in a similar strategy to the buccinids. This hypothesis needs to be confirmed with further studies.…”