Issue |
Aquat. Living Resour.
Volume 25, Number 4, October-December 2012
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 341 - 355 | |
Section | Review article | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/alr/2012036 | |
Published online | 17 December 2012 |
Insight on population structure of the Chilean jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi)
1
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR212 EME
IFREMER/IRD/UM2, LMI DISCOH, Av.
Jean Monnet, BP
171, 34203
Sète Cedex,
France
2
Current address : Le Corfou, A1 rue de Clairval, 34170
Castelnau-le-Lez,
France
3
Universidad Nacional Federico Villareal, Facultad de Oceanografía,
Pesquerías y Ciencias Alimentarias, Calle Francia 726, Miraflores, Lima,
Perú
a Corresponding author:
francois.gerlotto@ird.fr
Received:
29
June
2012
Accepted:
30
October
2012
The Chilean jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) is one of the most important exploited fish populations in the world. Its area of distribution covers the sub-tropical waters of the South Pacific Ocean, from South America up to New Zealand and even Australia. It is subject to high variations in biomass, with annual world catches varying from less than 0.5 to almost 5 million tonnes. Management of this species and its fishery requires a correct understanding of the population structure. Although several hypotheses have been proposed, suggesting that there are up to four independent populations, genetic analysis indicates only a single population in the South Pacific Ocean. We consider the two most probable structures for this population: a “patchy population”, where all the fish belong to a single population that expands and contracts depending on the biomass; and a metapopulation, where a source population creates several subpopulations that can remain independent during prolonged periods, depending on the environmental conditions. We studied the conditions for these hypotheses to represent reality, especially the demographic structure and existence of different spawning areas. Using knowledge obtained from fisheries and acoustic surveys, we show that if we apply their definitions strictly, neither of the two hypotheses can be fully rejected. Nevertheless, some particular spatial characteristics observed recently between the Peruvian and Centre-South Chilean parts of the distribution lead us to conclude that the metapopulation definition is likely to better describe the stock. The consequences of each population structure for fisheries management are listed, showing that the metapopulation hypothesis represents a safer definition for stock assessment. We conclude that T. murphyi can be described as a metapopulation, but also that the definitions proposed in the literature on metapopulations are not fully adapted to pelagic fish populations with a basin-scale distribution range, and suggests specific research that could be done in this field.
Key words: Metapopulation / Patchy population / Fishery management / Trachurus murphyi / Southern Pacific Ocean
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2012
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.