About
85
Publications
24,949
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,525
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2018 - May 2019
Publications
Publications (85)
Fishers in the United States pelagic longline fishery are required to self-report all fishing interactions (captures) on a per-set basis to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to quantify catch, increase conservation efforts, and allow for an accounting of international quota-managed species. Additionally, trained fisheries o...
Understanding the mechanisms of parasite community assembly can be confounded by phylogenetic distance among host species. Addressing this requires focusing on parasite communities within closely related taxa. Thus, we took a macroecological approach to examining parasite community structure within Killifish species in the genus Fundulus to disenta...
The pelagic stingray, Pteroplatytrygon violacea , is commonly encountered as bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries targeting Swordfish, Xiphias gladius , and tunas; however, very little is known about its habitat use. To better assess the utility of the technology and attachment method, four pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) with short, 13-day...
Two of the main drivers of speciation among aquatic vertebrates are physical isolation (e.g., lakes and streams) and micro-niche availability (e.g., tropical reefs). In both regards, the mesopelagic domain of the open ocean, Earth’s second largest cumulative ecosystem (behind only the bathypelagic domain), would seem retardant. Ocean circulation ma...
Urobatis jamaicensis is a coastal batoid species affected by habitat loss and small‐scale exploitation from fisheries and the aquarium trade, yet the life‐history information available is limited. This is the first study to assess the vertebral centra from 195 stingrays to estimate age and growth patterns, and compare them with the biannual reprodu...
The use of circle hooks in pelagic longline fisheries has often been proposed as a minimally disruptive means to minimize bycatch mortality. However, most studies have been in large scale fisheries, not the small-vessel fleets seen in many Caribbean countries. Size 16/0 circle hooks and 9/0 J hooks were alternated over 26 sets to assess the perform...
The choice of bait is one of the fisheries tactics used to increase selectivity for particular target species. The performance of three bait types (mackerel, sardine, squid) was evaluated with a commercial vessel operating in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean using the deep-set pelagic longline deployment method to target large yellowfin and bigeye tun...
One of the best studied global “hot spots” for ecological mercury (Hg) contamination is south Florida (USA), where elevated Hg concentrations in environmental media and regional wildlife were first described over thirty years ago. While Hg contamination has lessened in this region, it is still critical to monitor Hg uptake and potential risks in so...
We assessed δ13C and δ15N profiles and endoparasite community composition in Great Egrets (Ardea alba), Great Blue Herons (A. herodias), and White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) from four wildlife rescue centers (two mainland, two on islands in the Florida Keys) in south Florida, USA to elucidate feeding ecology. We detected among-species differences for δ...
The hogfish Lachnolaimus maximus , an economically important, reef-associated protogynous teleost, has gained additional interest from fisheries managers due to evidence of overfishing in the southeastern United States. This study collected data on age and growth of hogfish in southeast Florida (SEFL), an understudied part of the species’ range. Ho...
Artificial reefs may enhance the biological production of reef-associated flora and fauna, but their trophic structure relative to that of natural reefs remains understudied. We assessed trophic relationships by 1) comparing reef fish communities and 2) comparing δ13C and δ15N in 43 fish species from both artificial reef sites and adjacent natural...
Sampson, Madelynn; LeVine, Hailey; and Kerstetter, David W., "Grey Triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) Neurocranium" (2021). All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series. 62.
Swordfish Xiphias gladius inhabit the Florida Straits year-round and provide a significant role in the food web as top-level predators. However, little is known about the diet composition and thus ecological role of swordfish in Florida. This study investigated swordfish diet by analyzing stomach contents of 131 swordfish in the Florida Straits fro...
Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois spp.) have become established throughout the Caribbean and the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina to central Brazil. Lionfish may also invade estuaries, as they tolerate salinities down to 4‰. We hypothesize that the functional characteristics of their visual system (w...
The most abundant fishes on Earth live in the meso- and bathypelagic (deep-pelagic, collectively) zones of the open ocean, where they play a key role in deep-sea food webs by mediating energy flow from surface waters to great depth. Of these fishes, the most speciose taxon is the family Stomiidae (dragonfishes). Despite being the numerically domina...
Six species of wading birds collected from wildlife centers throughout South Florida were dissected for parasites. Twenty-six species of parasites represent new host records and five parasite species represent new geographic range extensions.
The 6th International Billfish Symposium (IBS) was held in September 2016 at the headquarters of the International Game Fish Association in Dania Beach, Florida (USA). In addition to providing a venue for presenting new research on istiophorid and xiphiid billfishes, the IBS’s objective was to highlight known uncertainties about the biology and fis...
Temperature influences the geographic range, physiology, and behavior of many ectothermic species, including the invasive lionfish Pterois sp. Thermal parameters were experimentally determined for wild-caught lionfish at different acclimation temperatures (13, 20, 25 and 32 °C). Preferences and avoidance were evaluated using a videographic shuttleb...
Aquatic invasive species (AIS) are biological pollutants that cause detrimental ecological, economic, and human-health effects in their introduced communities. With increasing globalization through maritime trade, ports are vulnerable to AIS exposure via commercial vessels. The Cuban Port of Mariel is poised to become a competitive transshipment hu...
Bio-economic model of cetacean watching in southern Tanon Strait, Philippines.
The understanding of trophic relationships is vital for correctly modeling ecosystems and ecosystem effects of fisheries removals. The pelagic stingray is found in epipelagic sub-tropical and tropical waters worldwide and is a common bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. Between August 2008 and November 2011, 156 specimens (81 males; 75 females) w...
In aquatic environments, what one observes during the day can differ substantially by night. The species composition and associated ecological processes that occur during the day are often different than night. In polar seas and at great depths, " night " can span, months, years, and beyond. Teleosts and elasmobranchs have evolved unique sensory an...
Swordfish (Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758) are increasingly sought after by recreational anglers globally. The Florida Straits in particular is an important breeding and nursery area for North Atlantic swordfish, as well as the historical fishing grounds for both recreational and commercial swordfish fisheries. The traditional nighttime recreationa...
Pop-up satellite archival tag (PSAT) technology that records depth, temperature, and light-level data has expanded the understanding of free-swimming behavior for numerous pelagic animals. Astronomical algorithms using these light-level data have allowed geolocation estimates of daily longitude and latitude. However, many pelagic animals have a cre...
Commercial fisheries are
recognized as one of the greatest
threats to shark populations worldwide,
but factors affecting the likelihood
of shark mortality during fishery
capture are poorly understood.
We used the U.S. pelagic fishery logbook
data from 1992 through 2008 to
quantify the effects of several variables
(fisheries regulatory periods,
geog...
Large, mesopelagic teleost fishes have a potentially keystone position in the ecology of the pelagic water column, yet remain relatively unstudied when compared with large, commercially important, epipelagic fishes. Here, the ecological roles of four, large, vertically migrating teleosts were examined. Stomach content analyses were performed on 48...
Twenty-nine voluntary directed swordfish (Xiphias gladius) pelagic longline sets were conducted in the Windward Passage (n=4) and the southern Gulf of Mexico (n=25) during February-April 2004 aboard the F/V Carol Ann, a U.S.-registered commercial pelagic longline vessel. The goal of this project was to assess differences in catch rate and hooking l...
Short-duration (9.5–, 18-, and 28.5-day) deployments of pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) on blackfin tuna, Thunnus atlanticus Lesson 1831, were used to evaluate the applicability of external electronic tags on small tunas. Ten tunas (71.1-86.4 cm FL) were tagged in the northern Gulf of Mexico in April 2012 after being caught on typical recrea...
Understanding the life history of a species is essential for fully understanding its role within an ecosystem. However, many of the fish species of high ecological value have not been studied due to their less prominent roles in local recreational and commercial fisheries in comparison to other targeted species. These valuable fishes are also impor...
Many marine fishes use the mangrove ecosystem for foraging, protection, spawning and as a nursery habitat. To develop a better understanding of energy flow between the local mangrove and coral reef ecosystems, the ontogentic migration and trophic connectivity of reef fishes were examined through the use of stable isotope ratios. Juvenile and adult...
Invasive species are becoming more common as human interactions within
coastal waters and the aquarium trade continues to increase. The establishment of the
invasive lionfish complex Pterois volitans and P. miles from the Indo-Pacific to the
Western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea has had significant negative
effects on reef fish bi...
Oilfish, escolar, snake mackerel (order Aulopiformes, family Gempylidae), and longnose lancetfish (order Perciformes, family Alepisauridae) sampled from the western North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico were analyzed for length–weight and length–length relationships. These species are encountered as occasional bycatch of pelagic longline fisheries....
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the cont...
Abstract
The vertical movement patterns of eight Swordfish Xiphias gladius from 109- to 249-cm lower jaw fork length in the western North Atlantic were studied utilizing pop-up archival transmitting tags. Deployments ranged from 120 to 151 d. Swordfish demonstrated significant differences in depth and temperature distributions between daytime and n...
The Hawaii-based deep-set longline fleet targets bigeye tuna [Thunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839)] and infrequently takes false killer whales [FKW, Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846)] as bycatch. From 2004 to 2008 with 20%-26% observer coverage, nine mortalities of and serious injuries to FKW were documented in the deep-set fishery in the Hawaii EEZ, yieldi...
An emerging body of literature has demonstrated the benefits of the use of circle hooks relative to standard J-hooks in commercial and recreational fisheries. In the pelagic longline fishery for tunas (Thunnus spp.) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758), the use of circle hooks has resulted in greater catch rates of some target species, lo...
Rainbow parrotfish Scarus guacamaia is a coral-reef herbivore that requires both mangrove and coral-reef habitat to complete its life cycle. This species is listed as 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The present study used a long-term visual survey of mangrove fishes to develop a predictive habitat model for juven...
Pop‐up satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on 19 sailfish Istiophorus platypterus captured in the southern Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits between 2005 and 2007 on commercial pelagic longline gear ( n = 18) and recreational rod‐and‐reel gear ( n = 1). The data from three tags indicated mortality events and were excluded from subsequent...
One of the biggest challenges of fisheries research is reducing the bycatch of unwanted species. The incidental fishing mortality of species with low reproductive rates, such as elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays), is recognized as a key threat for their populations. In the present study, gear modifications related to the type of hook and posi...
The pelagic longline fishery off Cape Hattaras in the western North Atlantic Ocean, which
targets swordfish (Xiphias gladius, Linnaeus 1758) and tunas (Thunnus spp.), has a high frequency of
interactions with marine mammals, particularly pilot whales (Globicephala spp.). The typical hooks used
in the this fishery are size 16/0 ‘‘strong’’ hooks that...
A total of 19 pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on sailfish in the southern
Gulf of Mexico between 2005 and 2007 aboard a commercial pelagic longline vessel (n = 18)
and a recreational rod-and-reel vessel (n = 1). All PSATs were programmed to collect pressure
(depth), temperature, and light-level data for 10 days at approximat...
The longbill spearfish Tetrapturus pfleugeri Robins and de Sylva, 1963, is a small istiophorid billfish found in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas that occurs as an infrequent by-catch in recreational and commercial pelagic fisheries. Although some data exist on diet and reproduction based on dead specimens, little is known of the species' habit...
We performed a quantitative review to evaluate circle hook use in recreational and commercial hook-and-line fisheries that interact with billfishes (Family: Istiophoridae). Specifically, we scrutinized the findings of 11 recent empirical studies that reported, on a species-specific basis, side-by-side measures of circle vs. J-hook fishing performan...
Although occasionally sighted by manned and unmanned submersibles (see Benfield et al., 2008), large deep-water sharks are rarely captured in part due to the inability of hook-and-line fishing gear to effectively target deep mesopelagic (200-1000 m) and bathypelagic (1000-4000 m) depths. To date, less than 15 bigeye sand tigers Odontaspis noronhai...
The biomass levels of several target species of the Atlantic pelagic longline fishery, including various tunas of the genus Thunnus and swordfish Xiphias gladius, are estimated to be close to those required to support the maximum sustainable yield. In contrast, several species captured incidentally are severely depleted. Live release of incidental...
In June 2003, fisheries research was conducted in the Windward Passage using a chartered commercial pelagic longline vessel (Rice and Snodgrass 2003). This paper describes the habitat use by an escolar in this location tagged with a pop-up satellite archival tag (PSAT) that remained attached to the fish for 14 d. Data recovered from the PSAT were u...
Ontogenetic shifts in habitat utilization from mangroves to coral reefs are known to occur in several species of tropical fishes. While this has been generally agreed upon, the link between these two habitats in terms of specific corridors has not been fully explored. A corridor in this case is defined as an area of specific bathymetry and salinity...
Catch per unit effort (CPUE) is the fishing effort multiplied by the stock abundance over the area fished, which is a useful metric in longline fisheries. Longline fisheries are those that deploy fishing lines up to several miles long with multiple sets of hooks on the same line. With the inherent drift in the ocean waters, the area traversed by th...
Recent U.S. federal fisheries management actions aimed at reducing bycatch have established or proposed limits on the length of a pelagic longline set. However, such management measures are unenforceable if the criteria for measuring the length of a pelagic longline set have not been defined. Differences in the physical gear and deployment strategi...
Researchers have applied numerous techniques to improve billfish stock assessments, including habitat-based models that incorporate behavioral and oceanographic parameters to standardize historical catch-per-unit-effort time-series data. These methods have allowed researchers to account for significant changes in the depths of pelagic longline (PLL...
The U.S. Atlantic coastal pelagic longline fishery that targets tunas and swordfish also interacts with a wide range of non-target species including billfishes and sea turtles. Preliminary studies indicate that a change in terminal gear from J-style hooks to circle hooks may reduce bycatch mortality, but the effects of this change on catch rates of...
Pelagic longline gear had several independent evolutions, but the most widespread form appears to have been originally developed by the Japanese as early as the mid-19th century. Technological developments such as polyamide monofilament line and modern fishing vessel construction have resulted in the evolution and expansion of this gear type as the...
To estimate postrelease survival of white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) caught incidentally in regular commercial pelagic longline fishing operations targeting sword-fish and tunas, short-duration pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on captured animals for periods of 5-43 days. Twenty (71.4%) of 28 tags transmitted data at the prepr...
Over the past few years, pop-up sat-ellite archival tags (PSATs) have been used to investigate the behav-ior, movements, thermal biolog y, and postrelease mortality of a wide range of large, highly migratory spe-cies including bluefin tuna (Block et al., 2001), swordfish (Sedberry and Loefer, 2001), blue marlin (Graves et al., 2002), striped marlin...
Habitat standardization for billfish CPUE offers a potentially useful alternative to the statistical procedures used in the past. However, most of the assumptions of the current habitat standardization-methodology remain untested and some are not consistent with current knowledge about the behavior of billfish. This paper outlines research required...
SUMMARY The Japanese pelagic longline fishery, which has a broad temporal and spatial coverage in the Atlantic Ocean, provides an important time series used in assessments of istiophorid billfishes. Past assessments of Atlantic blue marlin and white marlin by the ICCAT SCRS indicate a pronounced decrease in stock abundance of both species over the...
Typescript (photocopy). Thesis (M. Sc.)--College of William and Mary. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-104).
SUMMARY To improve billfish assessments, researchers have applied habitat-based models that incorporate behavioral and oceanographic parameters to standardize historical catch-per-unit- effort time -series data, accounting for significant gear changes over time. However, there has been little behavioral data from Atlantic billfishes to support thes...
SUMMARY To estimate post-release survival of sailfish caught incidentally to regular commercial pelagic longline fishing operations in the southern Gulf of Mexico targeting mixed swordfish and tunas, ten pop-up satellite archival tags were deployed for ten days on incidentally captured animals. All ten tags transmitted following the full deployment...
SUMMARY A joint research project between Brazilian and U.S. scientists was initiated in 2004 to investigate the interaction of istiophorid billfishes with pelagic longline fisheries in the western equatorial South Atlantic Ocean. This project incorporates two general themes (1) an investigation into several aspects of pelagic longline operations by...
