Geolocation of free-ranging fish on the European continental shelf as determined from environmental variables

Abstract

Demersal fish cannot readily be tracked using satellite-based or light-based geolocation techniques. As an alternative, we describe the tidal location method, which uses tidal data recorded by electronic data storage tags (DSTs), to determine geoposition. Times of high water (H) and tidal ranges (R) recorded by DSTs moored at known locations, and from free-swimming tagged plaice, Pleuronectes platessa, were compared with a North Sea tidal database to identify all positions with matching values of H and R. Within the recording precision of the tag (±0.2 m, ±10 min) and the predicted accuracy of the model generated tidal data (±0.15 m, ±20 min), geolocations over much of the North Sea and eastern English Channel were predicted to be accurate to within 40 km, sometimes to within 10 km. Positional estimates of the moored tags were within 15.7±3.5 km of the actual locations. Geolocations made from tagged plaice within 5 days of release and 5 days pre-recapture were within 35±24 km and 37±23 km of release and recapture positions respectively. Our results demonstrate the ability of this method to accurately describe the migrations of North Sea plaice throughout their geographical range with a level of accuracy unattainable using light-based geolocation. The method could equally be applied to any shelf-dwelling demersal fish that periodically rests on the sea-bed for the duration of a tidal cycle. In fisheries management, the method has clear potential application in defining the movements and migrations of other commercial species.