Biomasa de los principales recursos pesqueros a finales de otoño 1999. Crucero BIC Jose Olaya Balandra y BIC Humboldt de Paita a Punta Infiernillios

Presenta la biomasa de los principales recursos hallados en esta evaluación hidroacústica: anchoveta (Engraulis ringens), sardina (Sardinops sagax), jurel (Trachurus picturatus murphyi), caballa (Scomber japonicus), samasa (Anchoa nasus), vinciguerria (Vinciguerria lucetia), bagre (Galeichthys peruvianus), falso volador (Prionutus stephanophrys), pez cinta (Trichiurus lepturus), camotillo (Normanichthys crokeri), pota (Dosidicus gigas) y múnida (Pleuroncodes monodon).

Distribución y biomasa de algunos recursos pelágicos peruanos en primavera 2003

Las especies pelágicas más abundantes que se observaron en el crucero de evaluación hidroacústica BIC Humboldt y Olaya 0310-12 fueron: anchoveta, Engraulis ringens; jurel,Trachurus murphyi; bagre, Galeichthys peruvianus; vinciguerria, Vinciguerria lucetia; múnida, Pleuroncodes monodon; pota, Dosidicus gigas; mictófidos (varias especies) y eufáusidos (Euphausia sp.)

Distribución y biomasa de algunos recursos pelágicos peruanos en primavera 2005

Se ha estudiado ocho especies: anchoveta, Engraulisringens; jurel, Trachurus murphyi; caballa, Scomber japonicus; bagre, Galeichthys peruvianus; camotillo, Normanichthys crockeri; vinciguerria, Vinciguerria lucetia; múnida, Pleuroncodes monodon y calamar gigante, Dosidicus gigas. El crucero 0511-12 se realizó desde Paita (5°05´S) a Tambo de Mora (13°20´S), en los BICs Olaya y SNP2 del 25 noviembre al 24 diciembre del 2005.

Aspectos biológicos de tres invertebrados marinos de valor comercial. Crucero BIC Olaya 0305-06

Se trata sobre el calamar gigante, Dosidicus gigas; el calamar común, Loligo gahi y el camaroncito rojo o múnida, Pleuroncodes monodon. De los 76 lances de pesca, 12 fueron positivos para calamar gigante, con 716 kg, y utilizando la pinta se capturaron 95 kg; el rango de tallas o longitud del manto (LM) fue de 27 a 96 cm; se separaron en dos grupos: (1) <70 cm de LM y (2) >70 cm LM; predominaron los estadios reproductivos madurante para hembras y desovante para machos activos; la merluza peruana constituyó la presa principal. El calamar común presentó tallas con diferencia latitudinal; de mayor tamaño hacia el sur, con predominio de ejemplares pequeños e inmaduros en los 3° y 4°S. Del camaroncito rojo o múnida se hallaron individuos >35 mm de longitud de cefalotórax a partir de los 7°S.

Invertebrados marinos acompañantes de la merluza peruana en verano 2004: Crucero BIC Olaya 0401-02

Se capturaron tres invertebrados como parte de la fauna acompañante de la merluza Merluccius gayi peruanus: (1) el calamar gigante o pota Dosidicus gigas, cuya talla o longitud del manto (LM) tuvo rango de 39 a 108 cm; su principal presa fue la merluza peruana; en relación al proceso de reproducción, predominó el estadio madurante en hembras y el de evacuación en machos; (2) el calamar común Loligo gahi, que presentó una gradación latitudinal de tallas, fue mayor hacia el sur y con predominio de ejemplares pequeños e inmaduros en 3 y 4°S; (3) el camaroncito rojo o múnida Pleuroncodes monodon, en cuya población predominaron los machos cuya longitud del cefalotórax fue superior a 26 mm.

Bancos naturales entre Punta Herradura y Playa Chica, Huacho. Junio 2002

En junio del 2002 se realizó el estudio de bancos naturales entre Punta Herradura-Playa Chica (11°15’17,6”S a 11°11’10,7”S) dentro de una franja costera de 1mn. Se encontraron aguas costeras frías (ACF), con salinidad entre 35,1 y 34,8 ups y TSM entre 14,8 °C y 15,4 °C; substratos mayormente de arena fina compacta, fondos algosos y duros de roca volcánica. Entre 3,5 y 22 m de profundidad, la fauna bentónica estuvo compuesta por crustáceos: Platyxanthus orbignyi, Romaleon polyodon, Hepatus chiliensis y Pleuroncodes monodon; moluscos: Loligo gahi y Octopus mimus; peces: Odontesthes regia regia y equinodermos.

Trophic dynamics in the northern Humboldt Current system: insights from stable isotopes and stomach content analyses

The northern Humboldt Current system (NHCS) off Peru is one of the most productive world marine regions. It represents less than 0.1% of the world ocean surface but presently sustains about 10% of the world fish catch, with the Peruvian anchovy or anchoveta Engraulis ringens as emblematic fish resource. Compared with other eastern boundary upwelling systems, the higher fish productivity of the NHCS cannot be explained by a corresponding higher primary productivity. On another hand, the NHCS is the region where El Niño, and climate variability in general, is most notable. Also, surface oxygenated waters overlie an intense and extremely shallow Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ). In this context, the main objective of this study is to better understand the trophic flows in the NHCS using both stomach content and stable isotope analyses. The study focuses on a variety of organisms from low trophic levels such as zooplankton to top predators (seabirds and fur seals). The approach combines both long-term and specific studies on emblematic species such as anchoveta, and sardine Sardinops sagax and a more inclusive analysis considering the 'global' food web in the recent years (2008 – 2012) using stable isotope analysis. Revisiting anchovy and sardine we show that whereas phytoplankton largely dominated anchoveta and sardine diets in terms of numerical abundance, the carbon content of prey items indicated that zooplankton was by far the most important dietary component. Indeed for anchovy euphausiids contributed 67.5% of dietary carbon, followed by copepods (26.3%). Selecting the largest prey, the euphausiids, provide an energetic advantage for anchoveta in its ecosystem where oxygen depletion imposes strong metabolic constrain to pelagic fish. Sardine feed on smaller zooplankton than do anchoveta, with sardine diet consisting of smaller copepods and fewer euphausiids than anchoveta diet. Hence, trophic competition between sardine and anchovy in the northern Humboldt Current system is minimized by their partitioning of the zooplankton food resource based on prey size, as has been reported in other systems. These results suggest an ecological role for pelagic fish that challenges previous understanding of their position in the foodweb (zooplanktophagous instead of phytophagous), the functioning and the trophic models of the NHCS. Finally to obtain a more comprehensive vision of the relative trophic position of NHCS main components we used stable isotope analyses. For that purpose we analyzed the δ13C and δ15N stable isotope values of thirteen taxonomic categories collected off Peru from 2008 - 2011, i.e., zooplankton, fish, squids and air-breathing top predators. The δ15N isotope signature was strongly impacted by the species, the body length and the latitude. Along the Peruvian coast, the OMZ get more intense and shallow south of ~7.5ºS impacting the baseline nitrogen stable isotopes. Employing a linear mixed-effects modelling approach taking into account the latitudinal and body length effects, we provide a new vision of the relative trophic position of key ecosystem components. Also we confirm stomach content-based results on anchoveta Engraulis ringens and highlight the potential remarkable importance of an often neglected ecosystem component, the squat lobster Pleuroncodes monodon. Indeed, our results support the hypothesis according to which this species forage to some extent on fish eggs and larvae and can thus predate on the first life stages of exploited species. However, the δ13C values of these two species suggest that anchoveta and squat lobster do not exactly share the same habitat. This would potentially reduce some direct competition and/or predation.

Trophic ecology of jumbo squid and predatory fishes in the Northern Humboldt Current System

This work provides a contribution to a better understanding of the trophic ecology of important predators in the Northern Humboldt Current System, the jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi), the chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) and the jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) by the characterization of the highly variable feeding patterns of these species at different spatiotemporal scales. We provided new knowledge on the comparative trophic behaviour of these species, defined as opportunistic in previous investigations. For that purpose we applied a variety of statistical methods to an extensive dataset of 27,188 non-empty stomachs. We defined the spatial organization of the forage fauna of these predators and documented changes in prey composition according to predators’ size and spatiotemporal features of environment. Our results highligh the key role played by the dissolved oxygen. We also deciphered an important paradox on the jumbo squid diet: why do they hardly forage on the huge anchovy (Engraulis ringens) biomass distributed of coastal Peru? We showed that the shallow oxygen minimum zone present off coastal Peru could hamper the co-occurrence of jumbo squids and anchovies. In addition, we proposed a conceptual model on jumbo squid trophic ecology including the ontogenetic cycle, oxygen and prey availability. Moreover we showed that the trophic behaviour of jack mackerel and chub mackerel is adapted to forage on more accessible species such as for example the squat lobster Pleurocondes monodon and Zoea larvae. Besides, both predators present a trophic overlap. But jack mackerel was not as oracious as chub mackerel, contradictorily to what was observed by others authors. Fish diet presented a high spatiotemporal variability, and the shelf break appeared as a strong biogeographical frontier. Diet composition of our fish predators was not necessarily a consistent indicator of changes in prey biomass. El Niño events had a weak effect on the stomach fullness and diet composition of chub mackerel and jack mackerel. Moreover, decadal changes in diet diversity challenged the classic paradigm of positive correlation between species richness and temperature. Finally, the global patterns that we described in this work, illustrated the opportunistic foraging behaviour, life strategies and the high degree of plasticity of these species. Such behaviour allows adaptation to changes in the environment.

Análisis de la captura incidental en la pesquería industrial de cerco anchovetera en el litoral peruano durante el período 2003-2011

En el Perú, la pesquería más importante está dirigida al recurso anchoveta (Engraulis ringens), el cual es extraído con red de cerco, sin embargo, este arte de pesca no es 100% selectivo, generando así capturas incidentales. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo analizar cuantitativamente el efecto de la pesquería de anchoveta sobre los recursos de la fauna acompañante mediante el estudio de diferencias espacio-temporales en términos de captura y composición específica de la ictiofauna que conformó la captura incidental en todo el litoral peruano proveniente de la flota industrial durante el periodo 2003-2011. Los resultados muestran valores de captura incidental significativamente mayores en la región sur del litoral peruano a comparación de la región norte y centro, principalmente durante los años 2003 y 2006, aunque la mayor riqueza de especies fue encontrada en la región norte. Por otro lado, dentro de la composición de la captura incidental a nivel especifico destacó la presencia constante de la Caballa (Scomber japonicus), Bagre (Galeichthys peruvianus) y Múnida (Pleuroncodes monodon) en la región norte, Lorna (Sciaena deliciosa), Pejerrey (Odontesthes regia regia), y Múnida (Pleuroncodes monodon) en la región centro y Jurel (Trachurus picturatus murphyi), Caballa (Scomber japonicus), Lorna (Sciaena deliciosa), Pejerrey (Odontesthes regia regia), Múnida (Pleuroncodes monodon), Camotillo (Diplectrum conceptione) y Pampanito (Trachinotus paitensis) en la región sur. Sin embargo, los mayores volúmenes capturados se debieron a recursos costeros y fueron capturados por la flota industrial de acero en la región sur del litoral peruano.