Pedro Afonso, Ricardo Serrão Santos and the Biotelemetry WGroup FCT / Laboratórios Associados – Gulbenkian, 30 July 2009 Technologies for biotelemetry in the Azores and the wider Atlantic
Marine resource stewardship Ecosystem-based management Identification of critical habitats and habitat “hot spots” Knowledge of movements and interactions w/ environment. Application and development of novel biotelemetry technologies
Marine reserves can help conservation & fisheries sustainability if properly designed habitat use & movements Coastal spatial management: the usual suspect Where is the kl fish?
Size, location & spacing of reserves: habitat use & movements Acoustic tags Fixed receivers
4 km N=5 4 km
Development of GIS modeling framework for MPA design: Integrating movements, abundance & habitat information
...in support of decision-making processes Development of GIS modeling framework for MPA design: Integrating movements, abundance & habitat information
Connectivity scenarios Seamount fisheries: moving deeper Goraz: Adults in seamounts seeded by nurseries (EFH) inshore Boca-negra: Adult populations seeded by common pool
Seamount fisheries: moving deeper ? acoustic tagging of seamount species deepwater ( m) acoustic stations w/ acoustic releases Testing the island – seamount hypothesis
Benthic habitat mapping Seamount fisheries: moving deeper Integrating movements with synoptic information Deep scatering layer echo-soundingROV video
The wider, integrative scale: Question: role of Oceanic Ridges for pan-oceanic top predators? The Azores Region as critical habitat? Approach: simultaneously monitor the behaviour of diverse taxa using high-tech satellite biotelemetry
Sperm whale feeding behaviour Pan-Oceanic Migrants: why stop in the Azores? Temperature-Depth recorders + Radio telemetry
Pan-Oceanic Migrants: why stop in the Azores? Horizontal large-scale migrations of baleen whales
Pan-Oceanic Migrants: why stop in the Azores? Feeding trips of Cory’s shearwater nesting adults GPS and satellite positioning
Vertical (TDR) and horizontal satellite tracking + Acoustic telemetry Pan-Oceanic Migrants: why stop in the Azores? Mesoscale and pan-oceanic migrations of blueshark
Pan-Oceanic Migrants: why stop in the Azores? Mesoscale and pan-oceanic migrations of Loggerhead turtles Vertical (TDR) and horizontal satellite tracking
Technical Mitigation measures: Post-release behaviour of hooked turtles International longline fishery: new priorities, old problems Vertical (TDR) and horizontal satellite tracking
Biotelemetry for the sustainable management Combining different technologies to resolve the various temporal and spatial scales of behaviors
Biotelemetry for the sustainable management Submersibles, ROVs and scans for habitat mapping and surveying Synoptic description of the ocean