Movement patterns of white seabass Atractoscion nobilis tagged along the coast of Baja California, Mexico

Abstract

This study outfitted wild-caught white seabass (Atractoscion nobilis) with electronic data storage tags (DSTs) to evaluate subsequent movements of adult fish captured along Baja California, Mexico (BC). Cefas G5 DSTs were surgically implanted into 89 wild-caught white seabass ranging in size from 66 to 152 cm TL between La Salina (32.11°N/116.90°W) and San Quintin (30.25°N/115.83°W), BC. Twenty-four tagged individuals (27%) were recaptured between April, 2010 and May, 2017, following a mean time at liberty of 608 days (range = 18–1424 days) and a mean displacement of approximately 125 km (± 173 km; range = 3–720 km) between the point of release and recapture. Tagged white seabass were recaptured between Santa Rosalillita, BC (28.66° N/114.27°W) and Monterey Bay, California (36.65°N/121.86°W), with four individuals reported above the U.S-Mexico border. Collectively, 8547 days of archived data revealed that white seabass spent 95% of the time at depths <60 m, with a maximum depth of 158 m. Ambient water temperature ranged from 10.2 to 24.1 °C, with a mean (± SD) of 15.2 ± 0.4 °C. Seasonal shifts in depth profiles to deeper waters during the winter months were comparable with findings from previous tagging studies performed off California. Relatively high recapture rates reaffirm the economic importance of this resource in both the U.S. and Mexico, while tag recoveries within close proximity to particular deployment sites suggest seasonal site fidelity to specific geographic areas. White seabass movements between BC and California further support the transboundary nature of the stock and suggest that future management would benefit from international fishery policies.