TY - JOUR
T1 - Light-level geolocators reveal spatial variations in interactions between northern fulmars and fisheries
AU - Dupuis, Benjamin
AU - Amélineau, Françoise
AU - Tarroux, Arnaud
AU - Bjørnstad, Oskar
AU - Bråthen, Vegard Sandøy
AU - Danielsen, Jóhannis
AU - Descamps, Sébastien
AU - Fauchald, Per
AU - Hallgrimsson, Gunnar Thor
AU - Hansen, Erpur Snær
AU - Helberg, Morten
AU - Helgason, Hálfdán Helgi
AU - Jónsson, Jón Einar
AU - Kolbeinsson, Yann
AU - Lorentzen, Erlend
AU - Thompson, Paul
AU - Thórarinsson, Thorkell L.
AU - Strøm, Hallvard
PY - 2021/10/14
Y1 - 2021/10/14
N2 - Seabird-fishery interactions are a common phenomenon of conservation concern. Here, we highlight how light-level geolocators provide promising opportunities to study these interactions. By examining raw light data, it is possible to detect encounters with artificial lights at night, while conductivity data give insight on seabird behaviour during encounters. We used geolocator data from 336 northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis tracked from 12 colonies in the North-East Atlantic and Barents Sea during the non-breeding season to (1) confirm that detections of artificial lights correspond to encounters with fishing vessels by comparing overlap between fishing effort and both the position of detections and the activity of birds during encounters, (2) assess spatial differences in the number of encounters among wintering areas and (3) test whether some individuals forage around fishing vessels more often than others. Most (88.1%) of the tracks encountered artificial light at least once, with 9.5 ± 0.4 (SE) detections on average per 6 mo non-breeding season. Encounters occurred more frequently where fishing effort was high, and birds from some colonies had higher probabilities of encountering lights at night. During encounters, fulmars spent more time foraging and less time resting, strongly suggesting that artificial lights reflect the activity of birds around fishing vessels. Inter-individual variability in the probability of encountering light was high (range: 0-68 encounters per 6 mo non-breeding season), meaning that some individuals were more often associated with fishing vessels than others, independently of their colony of origin. Our study highlights the potential of geolocators to study seabird-fishery interactions at a large scale and a low cost.
AB - Seabird-fishery interactions are a common phenomenon of conservation concern. Here, we highlight how light-level geolocators provide promising opportunities to study these interactions. By examining raw light data, it is possible to detect encounters with artificial lights at night, while conductivity data give insight on seabird behaviour during encounters. We used geolocator data from 336 northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis tracked from 12 colonies in the North-East Atlantic and Barents Sea during the non-breeding season to (1) confirm that detections of artificial lights correspond to encounters with fishing vessels by comparing overlap between fishing effort and both the position of detections and the activity of birds during encounters, (2) assess spatial differences in the number of encounters among wintering areas and (3) test whether some individuals forage around fishing vessels more often than others. Most (88.1%) of the tracks encountered artificial light at least once, with 9.5 ± 0.4 (SE) detections on average per 6 mo non-breeding season. Encounters occurred more frequently where fishing effort was high, and birds from some colonies had higher probabilities of encountering lights at night. During encounters, fulmars spent more time foraging and less time resting, strongly suggesting that artificial lights reflect the activity of birds around fishing vessels. Inter-individual variability in the probability of encountering light was high (range: 0-68 encounters per 6 mo non-breeding season), meaning that some individuals were more often associated with fishing vessels than others, independently of their colony of origin. Our study highlights the potential of geolocators to study seabird-fishery interactions at a large scale and a low cost.
KW - Seabird-fishery interactions
KW - Global location sensor
KW - GLS
KW - Fulmarus glacialis
KW - Activity budget
KW - Discards
KW - Management policy
U2 - 10.3354/meps13673
DO - 10.3354/meps13673
M3 - Article
SN - 0171-8630
VL - 676
SP - 159
EP - 172
JO - Marine Ecology Progress Series
JF - Marine Ecology Progress Series
ER -