Evaluating the effect of predation mortality on forage species population dynamics in the Northeast US continental shelf ecosystem using multispecies virtual population analysis

Abstract

AbstractTyrrell, M. C., Link, J. S., Moustahfid, H., and Overholtz, W. J. 2008. Evaluating the effect of predation mortality on forage species population dynamics in the Northeast US continental shelf ecosystem using multispecies virtual population analysis. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1689–1700. An expanded version of multispecies virtual population analysis (MSVPA) is used to analyse the effects of predation by 14 key predators on Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel in the Northwest Atlantic ecosystem for the period 1982–2002. For herring, MSVPA produced greater abundance estimates than single-species assessments, especially for the youngest age classes. The average rate of predation mortality for herring aged 0 and 1 was also higher than the standard total natural mortality rate (0.2) for the 21-year time frame (0.84–3.2). The same was true for mackerel in this MSVPA (0.37–1.6). Consumptive removals of herring and mackerel generally increased over time. From 1999 to 2001, the biomass removed by predators exceeded each species' commercial landings. The sum of consumption and landings notably exceeded the multispecies maximum sustainable yield for herring for the years 1995–2002 and for mackerel for the period 1999–2002. We highlight the importance of accounting for predation on forage species in the context of changes to the fish community that have taken place in the Northwest Atlantic over the past few decades.