Department of Fisheries Oceanography Seminar-Tammy Silva
When: Wednesday,
November 13, 2019
2:30 PM
-
3:30 PM
Where: > See description for location
Description: The School for Marine Science and Technology
Department of Fisheries Oceanography
Seminar Announcement
"A sand lance story: links with predators and implications for conservation and management"
Tammy Silva
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
2:30 pm to 3:30 pm
SMAST East Rooms 101/102
836 S. Rodney French Blvd, New Bedford
Abstract:
The abundance and distribution of forage fishes influences the abundance, distribution and reproductive success of top predators. Sand lance (Ammodytes spp.) are key forage fishes across the Gulf of Maine. Their dependence on sand banks for burrowing and spawning may aggregate predators, increasing predator exposure to anthropogenic activities and predator and prey vulnerability to habitat degradation. Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, an important foraging area for marine mammals, seabirds, and commercial fishes and a hot-spot for human activity and accelerated ocean warming, often hosts high abundances of sand lance making it an ideal study area for understanding impacts of sand lance on predators. In 2013, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary researchers initiated a multi-year project aimed at understanding sand lance biology and ecology, including spatial and
temporal relationships between sand lance and predator groups. We used standardized sampling, visual surveys and SMAST video trawl surveys to quantify spatial overlap between sand lance, two protected species (humpback whales and great shearwaters) and commercially important fishes. Results show strong regional overlap between sand lance and predators. We combine these findings with satellite telemetry data from great shearwaters and 3-D motion tag data from humpback whales to suggest that movements, behavior and exposure of both species to fisheries interactions in the Gulf of Maine is largely driven by sand lance abundance, distribution and behavior. Our work suggests that identification of sand lance habitat could aid in locating and managing areas of potential anthropogenic impacts on protected species and that degradation of sand lance habitat from climate change or sediment extraction could
have significant ecosystem impacts in the Gulf of Maine.
***********************************************************************************
To access the live broadcasting, go to https://echo360.org/directLogin and click on "Alternate login". You will have to login as "smast@umassd.edu" with the password: smastumassd. After login you will have to click on ALL CLASSES (MAR 700-01 - DEOS Seminar or MAR 700-02 - DFO Seminar) and click on the green LIVE streaming.
To view a video of an SMAST seminar (post-October 1, 2014), go to https://www.umassd.edu/smast/events/seminar-series/ and click on a highlighted title.
For additional information, please contact Sue Silva at s1silva@umassd.edu.
Department of Fisheries Oceanography
Seminar Announcement
"A sand lance story: links with predators and implications for conservation and management"
Tammy Silva
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
2:30 pm to 3:30 pm
SMAST East Rooms 101/102
836 S. Rodney French Blvd, New Bedford
Abstract:
The abundance and distribution of forage fishes influences the abundance, distribution and reproductive success of top predators. Sand lance (Ammodytes spp.) are key forage fishes across the Gulf of Maine. Their dependence on sand banks for burrowing and spawning may aggregate predators, increasing predator exposure to anthropogenic activities and predator and prey vulnerability to habitat degradation. Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, an important foraging area for marine mammals, seabirds, and commercial fishes and a hot-spot for human activity and accelerated ocean warming, often hosts high abundances of sand lance making it an ideal study area for understanding impacts of sand lance on predators. In 2013, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary researchers initiated a multi-year project aimed at understanding sand lance biology and ecology, including spatial and
temporal relationships between sand lance and predator groups. We used standardized sampling, visual surveys and SMAST video trawl surveys to quantify spatial overlap between sand lance, two protected species (humpback whales and great shearwaters) and commercially important fishes. Results show strong regional overlap between sand lance and predators. We combine these findings with satellite telemetry data from great shearwaters and 3-D motion tag data from humpback whales to suggest that movements, behavior and exposure of both species to fisheries interactions in the Gulf of Maine is largely driven by sand lance abundance, distribution and behavior. Our work suggests that identification of sand lance habitat could aid in locating and managing areas of potential anthropogenic impacts on protected species and that degradation of sand lance habitat from climate change or sediment extraction could
have significant ecosystem impacts in the Gulf of Maine.
***********************************************************************************
To access the live broadcasting, go to https://echo360.org/directLogin and click on "Alternate login". You will have to login as "smast@umassd.edu" with the password: smastumassd. After login you will have to click on ALL CLASSES (MAR 700-01 - DEOS Seminar or MAR 700-02 - DFO Seminar) and click on the green LIVE streaming.
To view a video of an SMAST seminar (post-October 1, 2014), go to https://www.umassd.edu/smast/events/seminar-series/ and click on a highlighted title.
For additional information, please contact Sue Silva at s1silva@umassd.edu.
Contact: > See Description for contact information
Topical Areas: School for Marine Sciences and Technology, SMAST Seminar Series