Cruise report for the LAPE ecosystem survey on RV Celtic Explorer (CE0607)

FAO;Fishery and Aquaculture Economics and Policy Division

Cruise report for the LAPE ecosystem survey on RV Celtic Explorer (CE0607)

Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management in the Lesser Antilles Including Interactions with Marine Mammals and Other Top Predators (LAPE)

Year of publication 2006

Pages 55

Author FAO;Fishery and Aquaculture Economics and Policy Division

Product type Project

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) The LAPE project has completed an ecosystem survey using the research vessel R/V Celtic Explorer, operated from Galway, Ireland by the Marine Institute. The survey collected information on the abundance, biomass and distribution information for pelagic forage species, as well as sampling for trophic relationships and physical and biological environmental sampling. This includes samples from numerous species rarely or never observed when sampling from fisheries catches. Acoustic bioma ss estimates have not been completed however the greatest biomass of forage species detected, both acoustically and by trawling, is predominantly mesopelagic fish, squids and crustaceans. The catches of epipelagic species were mostly juveniles of oceanic pelagic, coastal pelagic and reef species. This survey did not target, and did not catch, the commercially important pelagic species of the region. Flyingfish (Exocetidae) and dolphin (Coryphaena hippurus) are known to occur only w ithin a few meters of the surface, above both the acoustic transducers and the minimum fishing depth of the trawls. In addition, these and the adults of the other large pelagic species (Istiophoridae, Scombridae, Xiphiidae) are too fast and agile to be easily caught using pelagic trawls. The ecosystem survey also provided in-situ measures of biological oceanographic parameters to calibrate satellite estimates of primary productivity as well as information on key physical parameters of the water masses in the region. Preliminary inspection of the cruise results are all largely consistent with expected conditions in oligotrophic tropical oceanic waters (Longhurst, 1999). The primary production is limited to deep chlorophyll layers with essentially no chlorophyll or fluorescence measurable in near-surface waters. A cetacean sighting survey was conducted during daylight along the same transects. Although previous surveys have shown that the region does not have high concentrations of cetaceans the cetacean results are still surprisingly low. Since data are too few for a statistical analysis, a careful review of the cetacean survey is required to understand these extremely low results.

Cite this content as:

Scientific Basis For Ecosystem-Based Management In The Lesser Antilles Including Interactions With Marine Mammals And Other Top Predators: Cruise Report For The LAPE Ecosystem Survey On RV Celtic Explorer (CE0607), based on the work of Paul Fanning, FAO, Barbados, 2006. viii + 55 pp. FI:GCP/RLA/140/JPN. Technical Document No. 4

Language English

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Derivation of diet compositions in the Lesser Antilles Pelagic Ecosystem
Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management in the Lesser Antilles Including Interactions with Marine Mammals and Other Top Predators (LAPE)
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One of the medium-term objectives of the LAPE project is to enable fishery institutions in the Lesser Antilles to implement ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) management of the pelagic fisheries. An immediate objective of LAPE is the formulation of a food web model of the ecosystem to better understand the effects of fisheries on predator–prey relationships, and of the effects of food web dynamics on fisheries. This report presents average diet compositions of the 29 predator func tional groups, which include seabirds, marine mammals, turtles, fish, squid and zooplankton, in the LAPE model. The data were obtained through field sampling and analysis of stomach contents of a number of species of large and medium sized pelagic fish and marine mammals, as well as through a comprehensive search of published and unpublished literature. Data from 131 studies, of which about 8 percent were from the LAPE area, were used to derive the average diet compositions presented in this report. Despite the scarcity of data from within the LAPE area itself, a reasonable amount of data on same or similar species was available from adjacent areas in the Western Atlantic, including the Caribbean, and other areas mainly in the Atlantic. As expected, the availability of diet information was directly related to the commercial importance of the species. The analysis presented here does not consider differences in diet compositions arising from predator ontogenic changes and size, or seasonal changes in diets. A major problem encountered in a number of the studies was the low level of taxonomic disaggregation of the prey and relatively high proportion of unidentified prey items. Further studies are needed to better quantify diet compositions of the species in the LAPE ecosystem, including non-commercial species that might play an important ecological role.
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The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries in Practice 2009

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The purpose of the EAF is to manage fisheries in a manner that addresses the multiple needs and desires of societies, without jeopardizing the options for future generations to benefit from the full range of goods and services provided by aquatic ecosystems.
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Cetacean surveys in the Lesser Antilles - 2000-2006
Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management in the Lesser Antilles Including Interactions with Marine Mammals and Other Top Predators (LAPE)
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Sighting surveys are the principal means of obtaining information about the species, abundance, distribution and movements of marine mammals and other air-breathing groups. During the course of the project a number of cetacean sighting surveys were conducted in both near-shore (small-scale) and offshore (large-scale) waters of the Lesser Antilles Pelagic Ecosystem (LAPE). In addition, the results from additional surveys, conducted in the same area for the period 2000-2003, were compi led and incorporated into the present analysis. With one exception, statistical analysis of the surveys was not possible due to small numbers of sightings. In the one case where an analysis was completed it was based on species aggregated into groups of similar behaviour (for sighting purposes). Estimates of the abundance of the aggregate groups had high coefficients of variation, ranging from 0.34 to 0.89. The species identified in the surveys were all known to be present in the reg ion although one important group of cetaceans reported to be in the region, the killer whales (e.g. Orcinus orca, Pseudorca crassidens, Feresa attenuate), was not observed during any of the LAPE project surveys.