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Full-Text Articles in Aquaculture and Fisheries

Variability In The Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Larval Scombrid Abundance In The Gulf Of Mexico, Sennai Y. Habtes Nov 2014

Variability In The Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Larval Scombrid Abundance In The Gulf Of Mexico, Sennai Y. Habtes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurate fishery-independent methods for assessing the abundance of marine fish stocks are important tools for proper pelagic fisheries management. The review and improvement of standardized sampling methods used in fisheries-independent sampling, and the establishment of improved models of abundance and population dynamics utilizing novel statistical techniques for fisheries management will further improve our understanding of the way in which marine fish stocks vary spatially and temporally. One of the most important and longest running surveys of fisheries-independent data in the Southeastern United States is the spring ichthyoplankton survey conducted through the Southeast Area Mapping and Assessment Program (SEAMAP).

These surveys …


Use Of A Towed Camera System For Estimating Reef Fish Populations Densities On The West Florida Shelf, Sarah Elizabeth Grasty Nov 2014

Use Of A Towed Camera System For Estimating Reef Fish Populations Densities On The West Florida Shelf, Sarah Elizabeth Grasty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reef fish species tend to reside over high relief habitat which makes them difficult to sample with traditional gears such as nets and trawls. Therefore, implementing and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of new approaches which incorporate acoustic and optical methods has become a priority for reef fish stock assessment. Beginning in June of 2013, a towed camera system known as the Camera-Based Assessment Survey System (C-BASS) has been used to visualize over 500 kilometers of transect and record more than 80 hours of video over several habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. Surveys have been completed on the West …


Ontogenetic Diet Shifts And Prey Preference Of A Generalist Predatory Fish, Brittany Jalene Scharf Jul 2014

Ontogenetic Diet Shifts And Prey Preference Of A Generalist Predatory Fish, Brittany Jalene Scharf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine ecosystems are highly dynamic and contain a diverse faunal assemblage that are subject to various natural and anthropogenic variability. Globally, seagrass ecosystems are located adjacent to coastal areas that are heavily impacted by human development and urbanization potentially altering the community structure within these ecosystem. Complex food webs connect many components of these systems, often in unexpected ways, and are ultimately based on one of two pathways: benthic (i.e., seagrass, epiphytes, microalgae, detritus) and planktonic (i.e., phytoplankton). Understanding the pathway which the food web is based gives further insight regarding the biological balance of the ecosystem; thus it is …


Using Otolith Elemental Composition To Track The Habitat Use, Movements, And Life History Patterns Of Common Snook (Centropomus Undecimalis) And Red Drum (Sciaenops Ocellatus) In The Tampa Bay Estuary, Holly Jacqueline Rolls Jun 2014

Using Otolith Elemental Composition To Track The Habitat Use, Movements, And Life History Patterns Of Common Snook (Centropomus Undecimalis) And Red Drum (Sciaenops Ocellatus) In The Tampa Bay Estuary, Holly Jacqueline Rolls

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of fish habitat use and connectivity is critical for understanding the structure and dynamics of fish populations and, therefore, necessary for the implementation of successful fisheries management strategies. Tagging is an effective means of providing such information, and the elemental composition contained within fish otoliths is increasingly being used as a natural tag. The chemical composition of otoliths reflects the incorporation of elements from different water bodies and can thus be used to understand the habitat use, movements, and life history patterns of fishes. To assess the applicability of otolith elemental composition as a tagging technique within the Tampa …


Developing An In-Season Predictor Of Commercial Landings For Quota Monitoring In The U.S. Virgin Islands, Mary Janine Vara May 2014

Developing An In-Season Predictor Of Commercial Landings For Quota Monitoring In The U.S. Virgin Islands, Mary Janine Vara

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The lack of timely reporting of commercial fisheries landings interferes with effective management of fisheries in United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Federal law requires that landings be limited to prevent annual catch limits (ACLs) from being exceeded. Previous attempts to predict total landings have used historic data from prior fishing seasons to predict future landings rather than leveraging available in-season data to provide a more real-time prediction of landings. This study presents an in-season model that predicts total landings using partial reports from the current fishing year. This estimate of total landings, including error bounds around that estimate, can then …


Karenia Brevis Harmful Algal Blooms: Their Role In Structuring The Organismal Community On The West Florida Shelf, Alisha Marie Gray Mar 2014

Karenia Brevis Harmful Algal Blooms: Their Role In Structuring The Organismal Community On The West Florida Shelf, Alisha Marie Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Karenia brevis dinoflagellate blooms off the west coast of Florida can create devastating effects on marine communities when they release a neurotoxin known as a brevetoxin. These blooms, informally referred to as red tides, can cause massive fish kills, necessitate closures of shellfish fisheries, and can even leave lingering toxins that impact shelf communities long after the bloom has dissipated. As a result, much effort has been put into studying K. brevis bloom initiation and dynamics. However, how K. brevis blooms impact Florida's fisheries is not fully understood because the relationship between K. brevis cell counts and fish mortality is …