Regional growth rates and growth synchronicity between two populations of Arctica islandica in the western Mid-Atlantic (US)

Abstract

Arctica islandica supports an important fishery in the US Mid-Atlantic. This species is extremely slow growing and long-lived, characteristics that may make this species particularly vulnerable to fishing pressure and climate change. Understanding regional growth dynamics over time and growth responses to changing environments will improve current fishery assessments to maintain the sustainability of this stock. Two populations of A. islandica from Georges Bank and off Long Island on the US continental shelf with observed ages between 17 and 310 y were evaluated for age-at-length relationships and growth trends over time. Growth rates have been increasing at Georges Bank and Long Island since the 1700s. Growth rates at Long Island have been accelerating and have exceeded those at Georges Bank since the 1980s. Growth rates from this study support previous research that this species is sexually dimorphic, and females grow faster than males within a population post-maturation. Positive growth index periods at both sites may be synchronous with 32-y harmonics of the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation. A modification to the traditional Tanaka growth model that included a growth term to further increase growth at old age proved the best-fit growth model to not only each population, but also to birth-year cohorts. Both the classic and modified Tanaka models used in this study are vast improvements over the von Bertalanffy models currently applied to this species in assessment models and population dynamics models. Increasing growth rates over time resulted in fewer years of reproduction prior to recruiting to the fishery as A. islandica are reaching fishery size in an increasingly short period of time. The impact that reduced years of reproduction has on A. islandica population resiliency is yet unknown.