Association dynamics of tuna and purse seine bycatch species with drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Several pelagic fish species are known to regularly associate with floating objects in the open ocean, including commercially valuable species. The tuna purse seine industry takes advantage of this associative behavior and has been increasingly deploying free-drifting man-made floating objects, also known as fish aggregating devices (FADs). Using passive acoustic telemetry, this study describes the associative dynamics of the main targeted tropical tuna species (Thunnus albacares, T. obesus and Katsuwonus pelamis), as well as three major bycatch species, silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulata) and oceanic triggerfish (Canthidermis maculata). Short-term excursions away from the FADs were frequently performed by all tuna species as well by silky sharks. These excursions were characterized by a marked diel pattern, mainly occurring during nighttime. Rainbow runners and oceanic triggerfish were much more present at the FADs and rarely performed excursions. Average continuous residence times (CRTs) ranged from 6 days, for silky shark, up to 25 days for bigeye tuna. Similar to silky shark, average CRTs for skipjack tuna and oceanic triggerfish were less than 10 days. For yellowfin tuna and rainbow runner, CRTs averaged 19 and 16 days, respectively. Bigeye and yellowfin tuna remained associated to a single drifting FAD for a record of 55 days and 607 km traveled.