New publication titled "Long-Term Passive Acoustic Monitoring to Support Adaptive Management in a Sciaenid Fishery (Tagus Estuary, Portugal)" has been published in the nternational journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.
Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is useful for monitoring vocal fish but has had so far limited application in fisheries management. In this new study, four years (2016–2019) of concurrent daily catch and effort fishery data in Portugal and species-specific vocal activity in the Tagus estuary are compared to describe biological and small-scale fishery dynamics for a large sciaenid fish, the meagre (Argyrosomus regius). Consistent patterns in seasonality of acoustic and fisheries variables were found, indicating that most fishing takes place within the Tagus estuary in spring and summer months, when higher vocal activity related to spawning aggregations was detected. Good fit of statistical models also showed that PAM (sound pressure level in the third-octave band with centre frequency at 500 kHz during dusk) and PAM-supported variables (mean weekly catch per first sale transaction) can provide useful surveillance indicators to improve local management. Signs of overexploitation and hyperstability are detected and communicated to the estuarine fishing communities with the aim to initiate an adaptive local management cycle. This approach can be relevant for fisheries targeting other vocal fish that seasonally aggregate and face similar threats of overexploitation.
