Light-level geolocators reveal spatial variations in interactions between northern fulmars and fisheries

Benjamin Dupuis, Françoise Amélineau, Arnaud Tarroux, Oskar Bjørnstad, Vegard Sandøy Bråthen, Jóhannis Danielsen, Sébastien Descamps, Per Fauchald, Gunnar Thor Hallgrimsson, Erpur Snær Hansen, Morten Helberg, Hálfdán Helgi Helgason, Jón Einar Jónsson, Yann Kolbeinsson, Erlend Lorentzen, Paul Thompson, Thorkell L. Thórarinsson, Hallvard Strøm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)159-172
Number of pages14
JournalMarine Ecology Progress Series
Volume676
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Oct 2021

Keywords

  • Seabird-fishery interactions
  • Global location sensor
  • GLS
  • Fulmarus glacialis
  • Activity budget
  • Discards
  • Management policy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Light-level geolocators reveal spatial variations in interactions between northern fulmars and fisheries'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this