Modeling the distribution of tuna fleets

Abstract

Fisheries The purse-seine tuna fishery in the eastern Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of the Americas, is fished by vessels with thousand-ton capacities that range over an area the size of Canada. The large size of the fishery means that vessel distribution is patchy. Sun et al. developed a model to predict vessel distribution on the basis of decisions that skippers make before and after going to sea. The model accounts for environmental factors such as chlorophyll content and dissolved oxygen concentration, as well as weather conditions. Modeling the far-flung fishery can inform regulatory decisions aimed at ensuring a sustainable tuna fishery while minimizing dolphin mortality. PLOS ONE 10.1371/journal. pone.0159626 (2016).