Examining fish movement in terms of advection or diffusion: a case study of northeastern Atlantic cod

• Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• Main Authors: Lundgreen, Regitze B. C., Nielsen, Anders, Krüger-Johnsen, Marie, Righton, David, Mion, Monica, Radtke, Krzysztof, Plikshs, Maris, Leskelä, Ari J., Raitaniemi, Jari, Griffiths, Christopher A., Casini, Michele, Krumme, Uwe, Hüssy, Karin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Atlantic cod; Movement; Advection-diffusion; Mark-recapture; Baltic sea; North sea; atlantic cod
• Online Access: https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/b80ce905-fda2-4a46-9993-d23ebfe34ed1; https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14065

Advection (directional movement) and diffusion (dispersed movement) were applied for the first time to describe movement patterns in Atlantic cod in the North Sea and Baltic Sea between 1955 and 2020. The advection-diffusion approach provided more detailed estimates of movement that corresponded to previously observed patterns using different analytical techniques. Spatial patterns were evident with greater movement distances in cod from the North Sea and eastern Baltic Sea compared to the western Baltic and Kattegat-Skagerrak. Furthermore, comparative case studies on different ecotypes in the western and eastern Baltic suggested that inshore cod were more resident compared to offshore cod. This preliminary study highlights the usefulness of the advection-diffusion method to describe movements in fish populations, and can be further expanded by incorporating information on environment and mortality and providing information to spatially explicit population models.