Does Le Danois Bank (El Cachucho) influence albacore catches in the Cantabrian Sea?

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between a seamount located in the Cantabrian Sea known as Le Danois Bank (El Cachucho fishing ground), the first offshore Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Spain, and the Spanish albacore ( Thunnus alalunga) surface fishery that operates during the summer and autumn months. The geographical distribution of catch per unit effort (CPUEs), expressed by number, showed that August and September were the months with the highest catches in the El Cachucho area, however, annual variability existed. Nominal CPUE series obtained from both logbook data and fishing interviews revealed that higher CPUEs were achieved inside the MPA during some fishing seasons, but there was no consistency in the data, since spatial and temporal variability were shown. The spatial distribution of monthly CPUE data was characterized by means of geostatistical analysis. Albacore schools tended to aggregate in mesoscale patches of similar dimensions but the location of these aggregations was non-stationary both in space and time. This supports the hypothesis that albacore are not randomly spatially distributed, but that they concentrated in certain areas where they find suitable conditions of food availability.