Blue shark vertical movement patterns in the Central Mediterranean: bycatch mitigation windows revealed from pop-up satellite archival tag data

Abstract

In the Mediterranean Sea, pelagic longline fisheries, targeting tuna and swordfish, have contributed significantly to the bycatch of threatened chondrichthyan species, such as blue shark (Prionace glauca). The Mediterranean blue shark population is assessed as critically endangered, making a timely implementation of mitigation measures crucial. A comprehensive understanding of blue shark habitat use dynamics is essential for deriving appropriate mitigation measures. This study aimed at evaluating vertical movement behaviour and investigating factors potentially influencing the movements of blue sharks in the Mediterranean Sea. Twenty-six blue sharks, bycaught in a longline fishery in the southern Adriatic, were tagged with pop-up satellite archival tags. Analysis of data from thirteen recovered tags revealed a distinctive diel movement pattern. Blue sharks used shallower waters during the night and deeper waters during the day, characterised by steep ascents and descents during sunset and sunrise, respectively. In addition, lunar phases were also influencing the depth of blue shark movements, with sharks using deeper waters right before and during full-moon. Shark size, salinity, currents, spatial location and time of the year were additional factors influencing blue shark depth use. The observed tendency of blue sharks to use deeper areas at daytime and prior and during the full moon period offers possibilities to develop and test bycatch mitigation strategies. Aligning longline fishing schedules and fishing depths with blue shark behaviour during the fishing seasons could hold promise to effectively reduce spatio-temporal overlap between fishing and blue shark distribution and may ultimately decrease the bycatch impact of the fishery.