Document Type
Article
Publication Title
PLOS ONE
Abstract
Loss and/or degradation of nearshore habitats have led to increased efforts to restore or enhance many of these habitats, particularly those that are deemed essential for marine fishes. Copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) and lingcod (Ophiodon enlongatus) are dominant members of the typical reef fish community that inhabit rocky and high-relief substrates along the Pacific Northwest. We used acoustic telemetry to document their residency and movements in the nearshore waters of Prince William Sound, Alaska in order to assess use of created reef habitat in an individual-based manner. A total of 57 fish were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters. Forty-five fish were captured and monitored in three habitats: artificial reef, low-relief natural reef, and patchy high-relief natural reef. Within each habitat, both rockfish and lingcod exhibited long periods of residency with limited movements. Twelve rockfish were captured at the natural reefs and displaced a distance of 4.0 km to the artificial reef. Five of the 12 rockfish returned within 10 d of their release to their initial capture site. Another five of the 12 displaced fish established residency at the artificial reef through the duration of our study. Our results suggest the potential for artificial reefs to provide rockfish habitat in the event of disturbances to natural habitat.
First Page
1
Last Page
8
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0012130
Publication Date
8-13-2010
Department
Marine and Environmental Sciences
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Publisher required citation: Reynolds BF, Powers SP, Bishop MA (2010) Application of Acoustic Telemetry to Assess Residency and Movements of Rockfish and Lingcod at Created and Natural Habitats in Prince William Sound. PLoS ONE 5(8): e12130. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012130
Comments
Published by Public Library of Science (PLOS One). Must use original publisher's citation to cite this work.
© 2010 Reynolds et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.