Research Publications: UM-SG-RS-2019-03

Title:

Estimation of movement and mortality of Atlantic menhaden during 1966-1969 using a Bayesian multi-state mark-recovery model

Year:

2019

Authors:

Liljestrand, EM; Wilberg, MJ; Schueller, AM

DOI:

10.1016/j.fishres.2018.10.015

Abstract:

Atlantic Menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus is an economically and ecologically important forage fish targeted by large-scale commercial reduction and bait fisheries. In the late 1960s, the National Marine Fisheries Service conducted a mark-recovery study in which they tagged over one million adult Atlantic Menhaden. Mark-recapture models at the time did not allow for estimation of movement rates. Our objective was to reanalyze these data to simultaneously estimate natural mortality, fishing mortality, and movement probability during 1966-1969. We developed a Bayesian version of the Brownie model that incorporated fishing mortality, natural mortality, and movement among four regions of the northwest Atlantic continental shelf ecosystem at a monthly time step. The model also accounted for both tag loss and tag detection probability. During May-June, an estimated 91% of Atlantic Menhaden from North and South Carolina moved northwards. Atlantic Menhaden largely remained within the same coastal region from June to October. In the winter, an estimated 55% of the tagged sample north of the Chesapeake Bay moved southward to the Chesapeake Bay and North and South Carolina. However, the fraction of the tagged sample undertaking these movements was substantially smaller than previously described. The estimated instantaneous natural mortality rate, 1.17 yr(-1) (1.09-1.23 yr(-1), 95% CI), was greater than previously reported. Instantaneous fishing mortality was spatially and temporally variable and as high as 1.74 yr(-1) in North and South Carolina during 1967. Understanding the historical seasonal spatial dynamics of this stock will improve contemporary survey design and management, as these dynamics may persist today.

Related Research Project(s) Funded by Maryland Sea Grant:

Maryland Sea Grant Topic(s):