Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Demersal fish assemblages on seamounts potentially explored by fishing in the northeastern Atlantic

2019; Frontiers Media; Volume: 6; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00002

2296-7745

Régis Santos, Wendell Medeiros–Leal, Ana Novoa‐Pabon, Hélder Silva, Mário Pinho,

Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

Event Abstract Back to Event Demersal fish assemblages on seamounts potentially explored by fishing in the northeastern Atlantic Régis V. Santos1, 2, 3*, Wendell M. Silva1, 2, 3, Ana M. Novoa-Pabon2, 4, Hélder M. Silva1, 2, 3, 4 and Mário R. Pinho1, 2, 3, 4 1 Instituto de Investigação Marinha (IMAR), Portugal 2 Independent researcher, Portugal 3 Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Portugal 4 University of the Azores, Portugal Several seamounts around the world have been evidenced as hotspots of biodiversity, where many fish species form dense aggregations for spawning or feeding. Fishing is considered the most important human activity taking place in these areas. It has been demonstrated that associated fish populations are highly vulnerable to over-exploitation, especially demersal fish communities because of the species life-histories. The Azores is a deep-water ecosystem in the NE Atlantic and it is considered an “oceanic seamount ecosystem area” because seamount density is relatively high when compared with other areas. Demersal fish assemblages from three seamounts (Açores, Princesa Alice and Mar da Prata) potentially explored by fishing off the Azores region were analyzed aiming to evaluate their community structure and fishery impacts, and whether these are spatially homogeneous. For this, a time series about 25 years of scientific data from bottom longline surveys were examined. Multivariate analyses were used to test the difference among seamounts and temporal trends in the assemblages. Discriminant species were selected for detailed investigations on abundance and size distribution. Annual landing data (catch, effort, and length composition) from the Azorean commercial longline fleet (European Commission’s Data Collection Framework - DCF and fish auction databases) were examined for each selected species. The results presented in this study describe the structure and zonation of seamount demersal fish assemblages, evaluate the impact of fisheries on the stocks they are exploiting, and discuss what is required for effective management and sustainability of both fisheries and the seamount habitats. Acknowledgements This study was funded by the Regional Government of the Azores under the DEMERSAIS project. RS was funded by the IMAR Instituto do Mar, through a Post-doc fellowship (ref. IMAR/DEMERSAIS/001-2018). WS was funded by the IMAR Instituto do Mar, through a scholarship (ref. IMAR/UNI/MAR/04292/2019 MARE/001-2019). AN-P was funded by an FCT Ph.D. fellowship (ref. SFRH/BD/124720/2016). The authors thank all who participated in field surveys and sampling processing onboard the R/V "Arquipélago". Keywords: ichthyofauna, Submarine features, deep-sea, Azores, Mid-Atlantic Ridge Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Topic: ECOLOGY AND LIFE CYCLES Citation: Santos RV, Silva WM, Novoa-Pabon AM, Silva HM and Pinho MR (2019). Demersal fish assemblages on seamounts potentially explored by fishing in the northeastern Atlantic. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00002 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 07 May 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Régis V Santos, Instituto de Investigação Marinha (IMAR), Horta, Portugal, regisvinicius@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Régis V Santos Wendell M Silva Ana M Novoa-Pabon Hélder M Silva Mário R Pinho Google Régis V Santos Wendell M Silva Ana M Novoa-Pabon Hélder M Silva Mário R Pinho Google Scholar Régis V Santos Wendell M Silva Ana M Novoa-Pabon Hélder M Silva Mário R Pinho PubMed Régis V Santos Wendell M Silva Ana M Novoa-Pabon Hélder M Silva Mário R Pinho Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.