Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine
I received a 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant to work alongside commercial fishermen on the New Hampshire coastline. Declining populations of traditional groundfish species, such as Atlantic cod, have forced New Hampshire commercial fishermen to target different species. On...
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ftuninhampshire:oai:scholars.unh.edu:inquiry_2017-1014 2023-05-15T15:27:34+02:00 Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine Gallo, Benjamin 2017-04-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2017/15 https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=inquiry_2017 unknown University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2017/15 https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=inquiry_2017 Inquiry Journal 2017 text 2017 ftuninhampshire 2023-01-30T21:47:02Z I received a 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant to work alongside commercial fishermen on the New Hampshire coastline. Declining populations of traditional groundfish species, such as Atlantic cod, have forced New Hampshire commercial fishermen to target different species. One of their new targets, the spiny dogfish, is a species of shark that migrates along the eastern seaboard over the course of the year. The mechanism behind this migration is still unknown, but typically dogfish are seen in New Hampshire waters from June to August. With the increase in ocean water temperatures in recent years, some fishermen have begun noting unusual catch patterns concerning spiny dogfish. My project sought to relate benthic water temperature to the presence of dogfish at popular commercial fishing locations offthe coast of New Hampshire. I predicted that dogfish would be more abundant at higher benthic water temperatures. Our findings refute this hypothesis, as water temperatures continued to rise through the end of August despite declining catches of spiny dogfish. These findings indicate that other variables, such as dogfish prey abundance, play a critical role in the movement patterns of spiny dogfish in New Hampshire waters. Text atlantic cod spiny dogfish University of New Hampshire: Scholars Repository |
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University of New Hampshire: Scholars Repository |
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I received a 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant to work alongside commercial fishermen on the New Hampshire coastline. Declining populations of traditional groundfish species, such as Atlantic cod, have forced New Hampshire commercial fishermen to target different species. One of their new targets, the spiny dogfish, is a species of shark that migrates along the eastern seaboard over the course of the year. The mechanism behind this migration is still unknown, but typically dogfish are seen in New Hampshire waters from June to August. With the increase in ocean water temperatures in recent years, some fishermen have begun noting unusual catch patterns concerning spiny dogfish. My project sought to relate benthic water temperature to the presence of dogfish at popular commercial fishing locations offthe coast of New Hampshire. I predicted that dogfish would be more abundant at higher benthic water temperatures. Our findings refute this hypothesis, as water temperatures continued to rise through the end of August despite declining catches of spiny dogfish. These findings indicate that other variables, such as dogfish prey abundance, play a critical role in the movement patterns of spiny dogfish in New Hampshire waters. |
format |
Text |
author |
Gallo, Benjamin |
spellingShingle |
Gallo, Benjamin Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine |
author_facet |
Gallo, Benjamin |
author_sort |
Gallo, Benjamin |
title |
Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine |
title_short |
Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine |
title_full |
Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine |
title_fullStr |
Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exploring the Recent Abundance of Spiny Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine |
title_sort |
exploring the recent abundance of spiny dogfish in the gulf of maine |
publisher |
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2017/15 https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=inquiry_2017 |
genre |
atlantic cod spiny dogfish |
genre_facet |
atlantic cod spiny dogfish |
op_source |
Inquiry Journal 2017 |
op_relation |
https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2017/15 https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=inquiry_2017 |
_version_ |
1766357985615937536 |