Thesis
SITE FIDELITY AND MOVEMENT OF REEF FISHES TAGGED AT UNREPORTED ARTIFICIAL REEF SITES OFF NORTHWEST FLORIDA
University of West Florida
Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida
2009
Abstract
A reef fish tagging study was conducted at unpublished artificial reef sites (n = 9) located between 15 and 20 miles south of Pensacola, Florida. A total of 3,110 fish was tagged with internal anchor tags on quarterly tagging trips from March 2005 to December 2007 to determine species-specific site fidelity and movement. The most frequently tagged species were red snapper (n = 2,114), red porgy (n = 422), gray triggerfish (n = 267), and gag (n = 96). Eighty-six fish were recaptured at tagging reefs on subsequent tagging trips and fishers reported a total of 225 fish caught away from tagging sites. Results from joint-recapture models indicate that red snapper displayed the lowest site fidelity (11 - 21% y-1), while higher site fidelity was observed but not quantified for groupers and gray triggerfish. Red snapper displayed the greatest magnitude of movement with a mean distance (SD) moved of 24.2 km (3.85). It appears higher movement observed in red snapper made that species vulnerable to high fishing mortality at artificial and natural reefs in the region. Therefore, unreported artificial reef sites may not serve as effective no-harvest refugia for species that display low site fidelity and move between fished and unfished areas.
Details
- Title
- SITE FIDELITY AND MOVEMENT OF REEF FISHES TAGGED AT UNREPORTED ARTIFICIAL REEF SITES OFF NORTHWEST FLORIDA
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Publisher
- University of West Florida
- Format
- text
- Identifiers
- 99380090857106600
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Science (MS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida