Proceedings of the international workshop on the ecology and fisheries for tunas associated with floating objects

It has long been known that tunas frequently associate with floating objects, such as trees washed out to sea during periods of heavy rainfall, and fishermen have taken advantage of this behavior to facilitate the capture of fish. In some coastal areas, such as the Philippines, artisanal fishermen construct anchored fish-aggregating devices (FADs) to attract fish. More recently, large numbers of free-floating FADs have been constructed for deployment by large purse seiners on the high seas. The FADs often can be interrogated by the seiner and located at great distances using radio telemetry and/or GPS (Global Positioning System) technologies. In some cases a fleet of fishing vessels has a tender vessel which deploys and maintains the FADs, and notifies the fishing vessels when fish are seen around them. This workshop was convened by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and sponsored by Bumble Bee Seafoods, Inc., for the purpose of bringing together scientists and fishermen who have studied the association of tunas with floating objects. Special efforts were made to get participants from all the areas in which tunas associated with floating objects are the targets of fisheries. Thus the "regional review papers" include contributions for the eastern Atlantic, the southern Caribbean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the eastern and western Pacific Oceans. Many of these reviews and other contributed papers are published in this proceedings volume. Other papers discussed in the workshop were published elsewhere; these papers are cited in the list of background documents in the Report of the Workshop.

A biogeographic assessment of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary: a review of boundary expansion concepts for NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program

The priority management goal of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program (NMSP) is to protect marine ecosystems and biodiversity. This goal requires an understanding of broad-scale ecological relationships and linkages between marine resources and physical oceanography to support an ecosystem management approach. The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) is currently reviewing its management plan and investigating boundary expansion. A management plan study area (henceforth, Study Area) was described that extends from the current boundary north to the mainland, and extends north to Point Sal and south to Point Dume. Six additional boundary concepts were developed that vary in area and include the majority of the Study Area. The NMSP and CINMS partnered with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Biogeography Team to conduct a biogeographic assessment to characterize marine resources and oceanographic patterns within and adjacent to the sanctuary. This assessment includes a suite of quantitative spatial and statistical analyses that characterize biological and oceanographic patterns in the marine region from Point Sal to the U.S.-Mexico border. These data were analyzed using an index which evaluates an ecological “cost-benefit” within the proposed boundary concepts and the Study Area. The sanctuary resides in a dynamic setting where two oceanographic regimes meet. Cold northern waters mix with warm southern waters around the Channel Islands creating an area of transition that strongly influences the regions oceanography. In turn, these processes drive the biological distributions within the region. This assessment analyzes bathymetry, benthic substrate, bathymetric life-zones, sea surface temperature, primary production, currents, submerged aquatic vegetation, and kelp in the context of broad-scale patterns and relative to the proposed boundary concepts and the Study Area. Boundary cost-benefit results for these parameters were variable due to their dynamic nature; however, when analyzed in composite the Study Area and Boundary Concept 2 were considered the most favorable. Biological data were collected from numerous resource agencies and university scientists for this assessment. Fish and invertebrate trawl data were used to characterize community structure. Habitat suitability models were developed for 15 species of macroinvertebrates and 11 species of fish that have significant ecological, commercial, or recreational importance in the region and general patterns of ichthyoplankton distribution are described. Six surveys of ship and plane at-sea surveys were used to model marine bird diversity from Point Arena to the U.S.-Mexico border. Additional surveys were utilized to estimate density and colony counts for nine bird species. Critical habitat for western snowy plover and the location of California least tern breeding pairs were also analyzed. At-sea surveys were also used to describe the distribution of 14 species of cetaceans and five species of pinnipeds. Boundary concept cost-benefit indices revealed that Boundary Concept 2 and the Study Area were most favorable for the majority of the species-specific analyses. Boundary Concept 3 was most favorable for bird diversity across the region. Inadequate spatial resolution for fish and invertebrate community data and incompatible sampling effort information for bird and mammal data precluded boundary cost-benefit analysis.

Boundary options for a research area within Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) is exploring the concept of a research area (RA) within its boundaries. The idea of a research area was first suggested in public scoping meetings held prior to the review of the Gray’s Reef Management Plan. An RA is a region specifically designed for conducting controlled scientific studies in the absence of confounding factors. As a result, a multidisciplinary group gathered by GRNMS was convened to consider the issue. This Research Area Working Group (RAWG) requested that a suite of analyses be conducted to evaluate the issue quantitatively. To meet this need, a novel selection procedure and geographic information system (GIS) was created to find the optimal location for an RA while balancing the needs of research and existing users. This report and its associated GIS files describe the results of the requested analyses and enable further quantitative investigation of this topic by the RAWG and GRNMS.

Comparisons of open boundary conditions in a barotropic model of the northern Arabian Sea

These simulations are focused on the sensitivity of the barotropic ocean non-linear model to the various open boundary conditions (OBCs). Different OBCs from gradient to radiation condition are examined to determine the best result and help to choose the most appropriate OBCs. Since the interior points are changing with time both implicit and explicit forms are applied. The simulations showed that the interior flow is sensitive to changes in the OBCs and the results are highly dependent on the bathymetry of the area. When a constant depth (100m) is used, the circulation pattern with all OBCs is same. The best boundary conditions are Orlanski Radiation and its modified form. These boundary conditions produce identical adjustment in velocity and are determined to be satisfactory for both constant depth and actual bathymetry.

Report on Saint Martin's Island ecosystem boundary, Bangladesh: final report

This report seeks to strengthen national capacity on managing Marine Protected Area (MPAs) in Bangladesh. St Martin's Island was used as the pilot ecosystem boundary delineation.