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Understanding the relationship between habitats and the distribution of fishes is critical to effective survey design and spatial management. Determining reef fish habitat utilization patterns from passive acoustic arrays is challenging for the following reasons: (i) habitat classifications must be meaningful to the species, (ii) the array must contain the species' home range, and (iii) the probability of detection may differ among habitats within the array. We conducted a multi-year tracking study in the marine protected areas (MPAs) of Dry Tortugas, Florida, using a calibrated passive acoustic array deployed over habitats classified by type (reef, rubble, sand), rugosity (high, medium, low relief), and patchiness (contiguous, spur-and-groove, isolated). Our design controlled for differences between individuals, diel and edge effects, and detection gaps resulting from the nonlinear relationship between acoustic tag detection probabilities as a function of distance from the receiver. We found red and black groupers preferred high-relief reef habitats, whereas mutton and yellowtail snappers preferred low-relief contiguous reef habitats. By identifying critical habitats for exploited species, our analysis may facilitate more efficient fishery-independent sampling and MPA designs. La comprehension de la relation entre les habitats et la repartition des poissons est d'importance cle pour la conception des campagnes d'evaluation et la gestion spatiale efficaces. La determination des motifs d'utilisation des habitats par les poissons de recifs a l'aide de reseaux acoustiques passifs pose un defi pour les raisons suivantes : (i) la classification des habitats doit etre pertinente pour l'espece, (ii) le reseau doit englober le domaine vital de l'espece et (iii) la probabilite de detection pourrait varier entre habitats a l'interieur du reseau. Nous avons mene une etude de suivi sur plusieurs annees dans les aires marines protegees (AMP) des Tortues-Seches (Floride), en utilisant un reseau acoustique passif etalonne deploye sur des habitats classes selon le type (recif, blocaille, sable), la rugosite (relief fort, moyen, faible) et la forme des parcelles (contigue, eperons et sillons, isolee). Le schema tenait compte des differences entre individus, des effets nycthemeraux et de bordure et des lacunes de detection decoulant de la relation non lineaire entre la probabilite de detection des etiquettes acoustiques en fonction de la distance par rapport au recepteur. Nous avons constate que les merous rouges et les serrans noirs preferaient les habitats recifaux de fort relief, alors que les vivaneaux sobres et les vivaneaux rouges preferaient les habitats recifaux contigus de faible relief. En cernant les habitats critiques d'especes exploitees, notre analyse pourrait accroitre l'efficacite de l'echantillonnage independant de la peche et de la conception d'AMP. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Technological advances in acoustic and satellite telemetry, data assimilation, and computational methods have evolved to the point where the dynamic spatial relationships between fishes and their environments are now [...]

Objective: Ocean planning provides opportunities for managers to evaluate tradeoffs among environmental, social, economic, cultural, and management considerations in the development of place‐based activities. Early integration of mobile protected species considerations into ocean planning reduces the likelihood of future resource conflict. Transparency and problem solving with potential conflicts in mind during the early planning stages can help to minimize contention and increase efficiency in permitting and may also minimize litigation challenges during project design and implementation. Starting with a large area, such as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) initial 12.1‐million‐ha call area in federal waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, provided substantial geographic scope for identifying suitable areas for eventual offshore wind lease sales that also aim to minimize conflict across multiple resources and uses. Methods: To support ocean planning for this large‐scale activity, a generalized scoring system for protected species status and trends that facilitates relative comparison between species was developed. Spatial data for species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act or the Marine Mammal Protection Act were assembled. Species layers were scored based on species status and trend. The cumulative vulnerability for 23 species groups whose distributions overlap suitable areas proposed for eventual lease sales, termed wind energy areas (WEAs) by BOEM, was calculated. Result: Integrating this combined protected species data layer into the broader Gulf of Mexico WEA ocean planning process helped to reduce potential protected species conflicts by 70%. Conclusion: This generalized approach is directly applicable to other WEAs under consideration within the United States and is transferable to a variety of ocean spatial planning applications. Impact statementThis collaborative work provides a foundation for early engagement and strategic marine spatial planning for offshore wind energy to reduce potential adverse effects to protected species. It also provides a reference for work conducted to inform this process and a template for other regions as these efforts expand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a derby fishery, anglers race to catch as many fish as possible during a limited season. To meet legal mandates to prevent overfishing, forecasting accuracy is paramount. Red Snapper is among the most prized species in the US Gulf of Mexico and represents a politically charged derby fishery case study. We describe the management considerations, data, methods, and specialized statistical forecasting approaches used to estimate recreational component season lengths to maximize fishing opportunities while meeting mandates to constrain catch below legal limits. Retrospective analysis of model predictions for 2013–2017 indicated mean prediction error of 2626 ± 13 231, 3014 ± 15 744, and 42 975 ± 132 032 pounds whole weight per open day for charter, headboat, and private mode catch rates, respectively. Forecasting results using generalized linear models indicated that the annual harvest for 2017 would be caught in 2 d for the private angling component with an 18% probability of exceeding the component quota. The federal for-hire (charter and headboat) component season was estimated to be 48 d, with a 5% probability of exceeding the component quota. There is a broad scientific and management interest in identifying strategies to continue rebuilding the stock while increasing stakeholder access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding large‐scale migratory behaviours, local movement patterns and population connectivity are critical to determining the natural processes and anthropogenic stressors that influence population dynamics and for developing effective conservation plans. Atlantic tarpon occur over a broad geographic range in the Atlantic Ocean where they support valuable subsistence, commercial and recreational fisheries. From 2001 through 2018, we deployed 292 satellite telemetry tags on Atlantic tarpon in coastal waters off three continents to document: (a) seasonal migrations and regional population connectivity; (b) freshwater and estuarine habitat utilization; (c) spawning locations; and (d) shark predation across the south‐eastern United States, Gulf of Mexico and northern Caribbean Sea. These results showed that some mature tarpon make long seasonal migrations over thousands of kilometres crossing state and national jurisdictional borders. Others showed more local movements and habitat use. The tag data also revealed potential spawning locations consistent with those inferred in other studies from observations of early life stage tarpon leptocephalus larvae. Our analyses indicated that shark predation mortality on released tarpon is higher than previously estimated, especially at ocean passes, river mouths and inlets to bays. To date, there has been no formal stock assessment of Atlantic tarpon, and regional fishery management plans do not exist. Our findings will provide critical input to these important efforts and assist the multinational community in the development of a stock‐wide management information system to support informed decision‐making for sustaining Atlantic tarpon fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panama City, Florida is considered a notorious 'hot spot' in the southeastern United States for chronic illegal feeding and harassment of bottlenose dolphins. The nature and extent of these interactions was evaluated by Samuels and Bejder (2004); they concluded that food provisioning was the basis for human interactions with wild dolphins, and that these encounters were likely harmful to dolphins. A follow-up study was conducted in 2014 to reassess the current state of human interactions with wild dolphins. The number of conditioned dolphins (n = 21) tripled compared to the previous study. Both studies found conditioned dolphins engaged in human interaction events during approximately 75% of observable time points when vessels or swimmers were present. In this study, conditioned dolphins spent as much as 81% of their time begging or patrolling and significantly decreased their distance moved while doing so. Nested multinomial regression analysis revealed conditioned dolphins engaged in resting or foraging (i.e. natural) behaviour were extremely likely to switch to begging or patrolling (i.e. interaction) behaviours when vessels or swimmers were present. Numerous high risk situations were observed for both conditioned dolphins and humans during these interactions. The latest development in illegal feeding was documented: bait boats feeding dolphins to lure the animals into interactions with tour vessels and swimmers. Our observations indicate that the problem in Panama City has escalated: dolphins are being actively provisioned, often for long periods of time; the proportion of conditioned dolphins has increased; interacting dolphins and humans are both at increased risk for injury, illness, or death; and conditioned dolphin activity budgets and movement patterns continue to be negatively impacted by human behaviour. We recommend a more aggressive management strategy, such as targeted and sustained enforcement of existing regulations as well as additional restrictions that prohibit close approaches and in-water interactions for Panama City in order to curtail continued harassment of dolphins and reduce the risk of injury for both humans and dolphins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]