Gadoid numbers and speed, and environmental characteristics in the South Arran Marine Protected Area ...

• Main Authors: Elliott, Sophie A M, Sabatino, Alessandro D, Heath, Michael R, Turrell, William R, Bailey, David M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2017
• Subjects: Biology; atlantic cod; Gadus morhua
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.879306; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.879306

Nature conservation and fisheries management often focuses on particular seabed features that are considered vulnerable or important to commercial species. As a result, individual seabed types are protected in isolation, without any understanding of what effect the mixture of seabed types within the landscape has on ecosystem functions. Here we undertook predictive seabed modelling within a coastal marine protected area using observations from underwater stereo-video camera deployments and environmental information (depth, wave fetch, maximum tidal speeds, distance from coast and underlying geology). The effect of the predicted substratum type, extent and heterogeneity or the diversity of substrata, within a radius of 1500 m around each camera deployment of juvenile gadoid relative abundance was analysed. The predicted substratum model performed well with wave fetch and depth being the most influential predictor variables. Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) were associated with relatively more rugose substrata ...