Data from: Effects of seal predation on a modelled marine fish community and consequences for a commercial fishery ...
We constructed a size- and trait-based dynamic marine community model of the Celtic Sea/Biologically Sensitive Area, including grey seals Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius 1791) and harbour seals Phoca vitulina vitulina (Linnaeus 1758) to examine potential resource conflict between seals and commercial...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Dryad
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.r55m2 https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.r55m2 |
| Summary: | We constructed a size- and trait-based dynamic marine community model of the Celtic Sea/Biologically Sensitive Area, including grey seals Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius 1791) and harbour seals Phoca vitulina vitulina (Linnaeus 1758) to examine potential resource conflict between seals and commercial trawl fisheries. The model incorporates seal diet preference, population size and commercial fishery catch, with survey data to quantify ecological interactions between seals and fisheries. Total annual consumption by seals was an order of magnitude less than the catch of the modelled trawl fishery. Increasing fishing pressure reduced fish spawning stock biomass (SSB) much more than a proportionally equivalent increase in seal predation. For most fish species, quadrupling seal predation showed little effect on the predicted fishery catch. These results arise from relatively low seal abundance and partial niche partitioning. The fishery harvested a wider range of fish lengths and species than seals consumed. The ... : Houle_etal_ScriptsMatlab code for the simulation model. The main model file is food_mul.m ... |
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