Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Effects Of Pre-Release Physical Stressors On Post-Release Success Of Hatchery-Reared Spotted Seatrout, Taylor Westbrook Guest

Master's Theses

Alteration of habitat associated with coastal development and increased demand for food and recreation can result in the depletion of fisheries resources such as the Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), the Gulf of Mexico’s most popular recreational fish. Stock enhancement, or the release of cultured fish to supplement wild populations, is one potential tool for managing important fisheries resources. Although much effort has gone into marine stock enhancement, the effectiveness of stocking is not well established, and techniques for ensuring success have not been developed. Although the basic biology of the Spotted Seatrout is well known, comparatively little is known about …

Relative Abundances Of The Recently Introduced Barnacles, Megabalanus Coccopoma And An Unidentified Species Of Megabalanus, In The Southeastern U.S., Jennifer L. Tyson

Honors College Theses

ABSTRACT

Megabalanus coccopoma is a prominent invasive species off the coast of Georgia. Recently, among collected samples thought to be M. coccopoma, several individuals of an unidentified species of barnacle were found. The species has been identified as a Megabalanus species, but is still unidentified to the species level. Species identification is difficult due to morphological variation, inconsistent taxonomic keys, and unknown origin. In this study I developed a method to accurately distinguish M. coccopoma from the unidentified Megabalanus sp. using sequence differences in the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene. This study will provide an accurate estimate of …

Metabolic Theory Explains Latitudinal Variation In Common Carp Populations And Predicts Responses To Climate Change, Michael J. Weber, Michael L. Brown, David H. Wahl, Daniel E. Shoup

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Climate change is expected to alter temperature regimes experienced by fishes, which may also alter life history traits. However, predicting population-level responses to climate change has been difficult. Metabolic theory of ecology has been developed to explain how metabolism controls a variety of ecological processes, including life history attributes. Thus, this theory may be a useful tool for predicting fish population responses to climate change. To understand how climate change may alter freshwater fish life history, we measured population characteristics (e.g., recruitment, growth, body size, and mortality) of 21 North American common carp Cyprinus carpio populations spanning a latitudinal gradient …

Intestinal Parasite Loads Of Minnows In Eastern Kentucky Streams, Seth H. Bromagen

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Science and Technology Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Seth H. Bromagen on April 13, 2015.

Isotopic Incorporation Rates And Discrimination Factors In Mantis Shrimp Crustaceans., Maya Devries, Carlos Del Rio, Tate Tunstall, Todd Dawson

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Stable isotope analysis has provided insights into the trophic ecology of a wide diversity of animals. Knowledge about isotopic incorporation rates and isotopic discrimination between the consumer and its diet for different tissue types is essential for interpreting stable isotope data, but these parameters remain understudied in many animal taxa and particularly in aquatic invertebrates. We performed a 292-day diet shift experiment on 92 individuals of the predatory mantis shrimp, Neogonodactylus bredini, to quantify carbon and nitrogen incorporation rates and isotope discrimination factors in muscle and hemolymph tissues. Average isotopic discrimination factors between mantis shrimp muscle and the new diet …

Magnetic Island Marine Park Zones: Effects Of Fishing Restrictions On Predatory Reef Fish Populations, Casey Wilson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past several decades industrialized fishing practices have decimated fish stocks worldwide. Top-down trophic cascades have occurred within many marine ecosystems as top predators are removed. Numerous regions world wide are being designated as marine park “no-take” zones in order to aid in the recovery of these species and with the hope that surplus population will spillover into unprotected zones..

This study aimed to determine if there were significant differences in abundances of three major families of predatory reef fish (Serranidae, Lutjanidae, and Lethrinidae) between fringing reefs located in four bays of various zones around Magnetic Island, QLD. Data …

Marine Animalia Organism Diversity And Reef Condition On Two Reef Sites At Big Creek Beach And Boca Del Drago, Bocas Del Toro, Panamá, Bri Tiffany

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ocean acidification, climate change, overfishing, and coastal development are endangering coral reefs across the globe. In Bocas del Toro, Panamá, coral reefs are especially threatened by the rapid growth in tourism and the subsequent anthropogenic effects caused by an increased human presence. To evaluate reef condition in this area, a study comparing percent coverage of live and dead coral as well as the diversity of marine Animalia organisms was conducted at one reef site in Big Creek beach and one reef site in Boca del Drago, Isla Colón, Bocas del Toro. It was predicted that dead coral cover would be …

Fisheries Management Paper No.273 - Blue Swimmer Crab Resource Of The Peel-Harvey Estuary Harvest Strategy, 2015-2020. Version 1.0, Department Of Fisheries, Western Australia

Fisheries Management Papers

Harvest strategies for aquatic resources managed by the Western Australian Department of Fisheries (the Department) are formal documents prepared to support the decision-making processes required to ensure the management of these resources are consistent with the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). The objectives of ESD are reflected in the objects of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 (FRMA), Section 3, and the draft Aquatic Resources Management Bill 2013 (ARMB), Clause 9, which will replace the FRMA once enacted.

The publication of these strategies is intended to make the decision-making considerations and processes for the management of specified aquatic resources …

Non-Compliance In Marine Reserves: Measuring The Drivers Of Behavior Among Recreational Fishermen Within The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Nick Manning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) provides outstanding ecological, cultural, social, and economic services to the number of communities that use it. Most of the park is regulated via a zoning system designed to protect its biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use of its resources (GBRMPA, 2004). Like any social institution, zoning regulations rely heavily on compliance in order to be effective. Recreational fishing on the GBRMP accounts for most of the noncompliance behavior associated with zoning (Arias and Sutton, 2013). Thus, understanding fishers compliance behavior is central to understanding how to best manage these areas. Using results from …

Fish Use Of Largely Unexplored Sub-Tidal Habitats In The Hinchinbrook Channel Estuary, Queensland, Alexandra Parisien

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the use of sub-tidal open-bottom, rocky, and seagreass habitats by the Siganus genus (herbivores), Gerres genus (benthivores), and planktivores in the Hinchinbrook Channel Estuary in Queensland, Australia. The Hinchinbrook Channel Estuary, a tropical estuary cutting between Hinchinbrook Island and the Australian mainland, is surrounded primarily by mangroves. Its sub-tidal habitats are largely unexplored due to factors such as low visibility and the presence of estuarine crocodiles. In this study, I reviewed 699 underwater videos collected by James Cook University PhD candidate Michael Bradley in order to analyze feeding and movement behavior of pre-identified fish.

The results of …

Taming The Teesta: Exploring The Holistic Effects Of Hydroelectric Dam Development On The Teesta River Through Documentary Film, Taylor Graham

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since time immemorial, the Lepcha people have called the Himalayan region that makes up the modern state of Sikkim their home and have held sacred the rivers, mountains, and forests that make up the biologically diverse region. Over the past two decades, India’s rapid development has generated a powerful thirst for electricity, and the country has increasingly looked to the cold, powerful rivers thundering from the Himalayas to supply that desired power. Hydroelectric projects have been proposed and implemented throughout the Himalayan region. Nowhere, however, are the dams as numerous or their effects as acutely felt as in India’s northwestern …

Ocean Food Systems, Barry A. Costa-Pierce

Marine Sciences Faculty Presentations

Presentation given during session on Food Justice, where Barton Seaver, Director of the Healthy and Sustainable Food Program in the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard, described a great nutrition and health crisis in America perpetuated by groups demarketing seafood and promoting meat in the American diet. Seaver noted that Americans consume about 167 lbs. of meat a year and only 14 lbs. of seafood, leading to connected public health and environmental crises, heart disease, and obesity.

According to presenter Barry Costa-Pierce:

Seafood systems in the USA are our most insane foods; America imports nearly every seafood we …

Growth Of A Deep-Water, Predatory Fish Is Influenced By The Productivity Of A Boundary Current System, Hoang Minh Nguyen, Adam N. Rountrey, Jessica J. Meeuwig, Peter G. Coulson, Ming Feng, Stephen J. Newman, Anya M. Waite, Corey B. Wakefield, Mark G. Meekan

Fisheries Research Articles

The effects of climate change on predatory fishes in deep shelf areas are difficult to predict because complex processes may govern food availability and temperature at depth. We characterised the net impact of recent environmental changes on hapuku (Polyprion oxygeneios), an apex predator found in continental slope habitats (>200 m depth) by using dendrochronology techniques to develop a multi-decadal record of growth from otoliths. Fish were sampled off temperate south-western Australia, a region strongly influenced by the Leeuwin Current, a poleward-flowing, eastern boundary current. The common variance among individual growth records was relatively low (3.4%), but the …

Shifts In Attack Behavior Of An Important Kelp Forest Predator Within Marine Reserves, J. S. Berriman, M. C. Kay, D. C. Reed, A. Rassweiler, D. A. Goldstein, William G. Wright

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Marine reserves have become increasingly valuable tools with which to manage ecosystems. These reserves consistently restore populations of top predators, often reducing availability of their favored prey. We hypothesized that such prey reduction in reserves causes protected predators to alter their attack behavior to include less palatable prey, potentially amplifying top-down effects on community structure. To test this hypothesis, we presented the relatively unpalatable sea hare Aplysia californica to freely foraging spiny lobsters Panulirus interruptus in 4 marine no-take reserves, each paired with an adjacent fished area. We found that lobsters only attacked sea hares inside reserves, where lobster density …

South Coast Crustacean Managed Fishery Draft Management Plan 2015, Western Australian Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

Four commercial fisheries currently operate using pots to target crustaceans including deep sea crabs and rock lobsters on the south coast between Cape Leeuwin and the South Australian border. The four fisheries include, two managed fisheries; the Windy Harbour-Augusta Rock Lobster Managed Fishery (WHARLF) and Esperance Rock Lobster Managed Fishery (ERLF), the Southern Rock Lobster pot licence (SRL) fishery operating under Regulation 125 of the Fish Resources Management Regulations 1995 (FRMR) and the deep sea crab fishery operating under Fishing Boat Licence (FBL) Condition 105. Noting the multiple and different management arrangements in place to manage these fisheries and the …

South Coast Crustacean Managed Fishery Draft Management Plan 2015, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

No abstract provided.

Further Investigation Into Critical Habitat For Juvenile Dhufish (Glaucosoma Hebraicum), Artificial Habitats And The Potential To Monitor Annual Juvenile Recruitment, Paul D. Lewis

Fisheries Research Reports

The West Australian dhufish is a demersal fish species that is highly sought after by commercial and recreational fishers in the West Coast Bioregion of WA. An assessment of the stock status in 2009 by the Department of Fisheries indicated the stock was overexploited with a need for a 50% reduction in the overall catch. As the species is long lived and slow growing, reaching a maximum age of 40 years of age, the recovery is likely to be slow.

Fisheries Occasional Publication 119: Australian Fisheries Management Forum - Fisheries Management Workshop, Adelaide 26 And 27 March 2014, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Occasional Publications

No abstract provided.

Changes In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Startle Responses Due To Stressors Related To Marine Bycatch, Margot Wilsterman

Biology Honors Papers

Marine bycatch is one of the most pressing issues that result from modern industrialized fishing. Scientists do not have good estimates of rates of cryptic mortality, which is the mortality of individuals that are not landed but die from interactions with fishing gear below the water surface. One of the main causes of cryptic mortality is depredation, which occurs after individuals have escaped through fishing equipment and are eaten by predators waiting close behind for an effortless meal. In this study the effects of scale loss, slime loss, and exhaustion on the startle response of zebrafish were examined. These stressors …

Population Level Responses To Direct Application Liming In Gyrinophilus Porphyriticus, Shelby Renea Timm

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Direct application liming (DAL) has been used to neutralize acidified streams to restore aquatic biota. This mitigation technique has been used globally for decades, yet little data exist on its effects on amphibian populations. My study investigated the effects of liming on amphibians by measuring variability in life histories of larval Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. I collected larvae from six streams in the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia. I examined the effects of DAL on age structure, and I failed to detect a treatment effect. I used ANCOVAs to examine differences in body condition, body size, and gape size. I observed that …

Monitoring The Land Cover Change In The Historic Range Of Cambarus Veteranus In West Virginia Using A 1973-2013 Landsat Time Series, Emma Martha Arneson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The crayfish Cambarus veteranus is near extinction in its historic range of the Upper Guyandotte River watershed. The biggest threats to C. veteranus are mining and road construction. Mining has been a continuous activity in the southern coalfields where the crayfish has historically been found, yet little is known about how much land cover change the practice has done to the region. Crayfish act as important organisms within aquatic ecosystems and without them, those systems are often degraded. Quantifying the change in land cover is important to understanding threats to C. veteranus for future protection of the crayfish and its …

Father Convict Cichlids Bite Intruders More Often In Hot Temperatures, Jesse L. Heckendorf

STAR Program Research Presentations

Convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus) have evolved to be extremely good parents by protecting their brood. Parental care leads to aggressive biting, chasing, and gill flaring to intimidate predators. In this experiment, we show that environmental factors, such as the changing of temperature in this case, affect a male convict cichlid’s aggression toward caring for his offspring when an intruder is introduced. Male convict cichlids attack more in warmer water.

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

A Tide Prediction And Tide Height Control System For Laboratory Mesocosms, Luke Miller, Jeremy Long

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Experimental mesocosm studies of rocky shore and estuarine intertidal systems may benefit from the application of natural tide cycles to better replicate variation in immersion time, water depth, and attendant fluctuations in abiotic and edaphic conditions. Here we describe a stand-alone microcontroller tide prediction open-source software program, coupled with a mechanical tidal elevation control system, which allows continuous adjustment of aquarium water depths in synchrony with local tide cycles. We used this system to monitor the growth of Spartina foliosa marsh cordgrass and scale insect herbivores at three simulated shore elevations in laboratory mesocosms. Plant growth decreased with increasing shore …

The Effect Of Silver Nanoparticles On Synaptic Responses In The Lateral Giant Escape Circuit Of The Crayfish, Samantha N. Adkins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The lateral giant neuron in the crayfish is a neuron that controls the reflexive escape response; the context and experience-dependent tuning of this response is critical for survival. Serotonin modulates synaptic responses in this neuron, and social experiences (stress) changes the modulatory role of serotonin. I investigated the mechanisms of induced synaptic response changes and serotonergic modulatory changes after silver nanoparticle exposure to ask if 1) contaminant induced stress changes serotonergic modulation in a manner consistent with social stress and 2) shed light on potential neurotoxic effects of widely used, but poorly understood nanomaterials. Our data show that stress induced …

Accuracy Or Precision: Implications Of Sample Design And Methodology On Abundance Estimation, Lucas K. Kowalewski, Christopher J. Chizinski, Larkin A. Powell, Kevin L. Pope, Mark A. Pegg

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Sampling by spatially replicated counts (point-count) is an increasingly popular method of estimating population size of organisms. Challenges exist when sampling by point-count method, and it is often impractical to sample entire area of interest and impossible to detect every individual present. Ecologists encounter logistical limitations that force them to sample either few large-sample units or many small sample-units, introducing biases to sample counts. We generated a computer environment and simulated sampling scenarios to test the role of number of samples, sample unit area, number of organisms, and distribution of organisms in the estimation of population sizes using N-mixture …

Likelihood Of Marine Pest Introduction To The Indian Ocean Territories, Justin I. Mcdonald, Samantha D. Bridgwood, Mathew Hourston

Fisheries Research Reports

The introduction of new species to environments in which they did not evolve has been widely recognised as one of the top five threats to marine ecosystem function and to biodiversity (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).

Fisheries Research Report No. 260 - Management Implications Of Climate Change Effect On Fisheries In Western Australia Part 1: Environmental Change And Risk Assessment Frdc: Project No. 2010/535, Nicolavito Caputi, Ming Feng, Alan Pearce, J Benthuysen, Ainslie M. Denham, Y Hetzel, Gary Jackson, Brett W. Molony, Lindsay M. Joll, Arani N. Chandrapavan

Fisheries Research Reports

Objectives: 1. Assess future climate change effects on Western Australia’s marine environment using a suite of IPCC model projections, downscaled to the key shelf regions and the spatial and temporal scales relevant for key fisheries 2. Examine the modeled shelf climate change scenarios on fisheries and implications of historic and future climate change effects 3. Review management arrangements to examine their robustness to possible effects of climate change

Predictions Of Future Ephemeral Springtime Waterbird Stopover Habitat Availability Under Global Change, Daniel R. Uden, Craig R. Allen, Andrew A. Bishop, Roger Grosse, Christopher F. Jorgensen, Theodore G. Lagrange, Randy G. Stutheit, Mark P. Vrtiska

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

In the present period of rapid, worldwide change in climate and landuse (i.e., global change), successful biodiversity conservation warrants proactive management responses, especially for long-distance migratory species. However, the development and implementation of management strategies can be impeded by high levels of uncertainty and low levels of control over potentially impactful future events and their effects. Scenario planning and modeling are useful tools for expanding perspectives and informing decisions under these conditions. We coupled scenario planning and statistical modeling to explain and predict playa wetland inundation (i.e., presence/absence of water) and ponded area (i.e., extent of water) in the Rainwater …

The Importance Of Scaling For Detecting Community Patterns: Success And Failure In Assemblages Of Introduced Species, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Michael P. Moulton, Crawford S. Holling

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Community saturation can help to explain why biological invasions fail. However, previous research has documented inconsistent relationships between failed invasions (i.e., an invasive species colonizes but goes extinct) and the number of species present in the invaded community. We use data from bird communities of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, which supports a community of 38 successfully established introduced birds and where 37 species were introduced but went extinct (failed invasions). We develop a modified approach to evaluate the effects of community saturation on invasion failure. Our method accounts (1) for the number of species present (NSP) when the species …