Abstract
Electronic tags that archive or transmit stored data to satellites have advanced the mapping of habitats used by highly migratory fish in pelagic ecosystems1,2,3,4,5,6. Here we report on the electronic tagging of 772 Atlantic bluefin tuna in the western Atlantic Ocean in an effort to identify population structure. Reporting electronic tags provided accurate location data7,8,9 that show the extensive migrations of individual fish (n = 330). Geoposition data delineate two populations, one using spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and another from the Mediterranean Sea. Transatlantic movements of western-tagged bluefin tuna reveal site fidelity to known spawning areas in the Mediterranean Sea. Bluefin tuna that occupy western spawning grounds move to central and eastern Atlantic foraging grounds. Our results are consistent with two populations of bluefin tuna with distinct spawning areas that overlap on North Atlantic foraging grounds. Electronic tagging locations, when combined with US pelagic longline observer and logbook catch data, identify hot spots for spawning bluefin tuna in the northern slope waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Restrictions on the time and area where longlining occurs would reduce incidental catch mortalities on western spawning grounds.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Metcalfe, J. D. & Arnold, G. P. Tracking fish with electronic tags. Nature 12, 665–666 (1997)
Block, B. A., Dewar, H., Farwell, C. & Prince, E. A new satellite technology for tracking the movements of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 95, 9384–9389 (1998)
Block, B. A. et al. Archival tagging of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus thynnus). Mar. Tech. Soc. J. 32, 37–46 (1998)
Lutcavage, M. E., Brill, R. W., Skomal, G. B., Chase, B. C. & Howey, P. W. Results of pop-up satellite tagging on spawning size class fish in the Gulf of Maine: Do North Atlantic bluefin tuna spawn in the mid-Atlantic? Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 56, 173–177 (1999)
Block, B. A. et al. Migratory movements, depth preferences, and thermal biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Science 293, 1310–1314 (2001)
Stokesbury, M. J. W., Teo, S. L. H., Seitz, A., O'Dor, R. K. & Block, B. A. Movement of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) as determined by satellite tagging experiments initiated off New England. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 61, 1976–1987 (2004)
Hill, R. D. & Braun, M. J. in Electronic Tagging and Tracking in Marine Fisheries (eds Sibert, J. R. & Nielsen, J. L.) 315–330 (Kluwer, Boston, Massachusetts, 2001)
Ekstrom, P. A. An advance in geolocation by light. Mem. Natl Inst. Polar Res. 58, 210–226 (2004)
Teo, S. L. H. et al. Validation of geolocation estimates based on light level and sea surface temperature from electronic tags. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 283, 81–98 (2004)
National Research Council, An Assessment of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1994)
ICCAT. Report of the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics 2002–2003 (ICCAT, Madrid, 2003)
Carey, F. G. & Lawson, K. D. Temperature regulation in free-swimming bluefin tuna. Comp. Biochem. Phys. A 44, 375–392 (1973)
Blank, J. M. et al. In situ cardiac performance of Pacific bluefin tuna hearts in response to acute temperature change. J. Exp. Biol. 207, 881–890 (2004)
Myers, R. A. & Worm, B. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature 423, 280–283 (2003)
Fromentin, J. The East Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock management: uncertainties and alternatives. Sci. Mar. 67, 51–62 (2003)
Rivas, L. R. A preliminary report on the spawning of the western north Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Straits of Florida. Bull. Mar. Sci. Gulf Carib. 4, 302–321 (1954)
Baglin, R. E. Reproductive biology of western Atlantic bluefin tuna. Fish. Bull. 80, 121–134 (1982)
Mather, F. J., Mason, J. M. & Jones, A. C. Historical Document: Life History and Fisheries of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (NOAA Tech. Memo. 370, NOAA, Miami, 1995)
Schaefer, K. M. in Tuna: Physiology, Ecology, and Evolution (eds Block, B. A. & Stevens, E. D.) 225–270 (Academic, San Diego, 2001)
Turner, S. C. & Restrepo, V. R. A review of the growth rate of west Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, estimated from marked and recaptured fish. ICCAT Coll. Vol. Sci. Pap. 42, 170–172 (1994)
Nemerson, D., Berkeley, S. & Safina, C. Spawning site fidelity in Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus: The use of size–frequency analysis to test for the presence of migrant east Atlantic bluefin tuna on Gulf of Mexico spawning grounds. Fish. Bull. 98, 118–126 (2000)
Medina, A., Abascal, F. J., Megina, C. & Garcia, A. Stereological assessment of the reproductive status of female Atlantic northern bluefin tuna during migration to Mediterranean spawning ground through the Strait of Gibraltar. J. Fish Biol. 60, 203–217 (2002)
Landeira-Fernandez, A. M., Morrissette, J. M., Blank, J. M. & Block, B. A. Temperature dependence of the Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA2) in the ventricles of tuna and mackerel. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 286, R398–R404 (2004)
Cort, J. L. Age and growth of the bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus (L.) of the northeast Atlantic. ICCAT Coll. Vol. Sci. Pap. 35, 213–230 (1991)
McGowan, M. F. & Richards, W. J. Bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, larvae in the Gulf Stream off the Southeastern United States: satellite and shipboard observations of their environment. Fish. Bull. 87, 615–631 (1989)
Rooker, J. R., Secor, D. H., Zdanowicz, V. S., De Metrio, G. & Relini, L. O. Identification of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) stocks from putative nurseries using otolith chemistry. Fish. Oceanogr. 12, 75–84 (2003)
Carlsson, J. et al. Microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analyses of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus thynnus) population structure in the Mediterranean Sea. Mol. Ecol. 13, 3345–3356 (2004)
Apostolaki, P., Babcock, E. & McAllister, M. Further investigation of the effects of stock mixing on estimates of the size of North Atlantic bluefin tuna population using the six-area population dynamics model presented in SCRS/2002/088. ICCAT Coll. Vol. Sci. Pap. 56, 1121–1133 (2004)
Worton, B. J. Kernel methods for estimating the utilization distribution in home-range studies. Ecology 70, 164–168 (1989)
Atwood, T. C. & Weeks, H. P. Spatial home-range overlap and temporal interaction in eastern coyotes: the influence of pair types and fragmentation. Can. J. Zool. 81, 1589–1597 (2003)
Acknowledgements
We thank R. Rinaldo, E. Prince, A. Seitz, T. Sippel, R. Schallert, N. Tulloch, G. Rosenwaks, S. Beemer, G. Shillinger, C. Perle, S. Vermillion, J. Bonaventura, D. Barber, M. Orbach, J. Jenkins, G. Stuve, P. Wright, D. Britt, B. Eakes, C. Perry, D. Brower, W. Whippen, R. Whorley, R. Jansenius, G. Sharp, R. Hill, T. Lindstrom, P. Ekstrom, P. Manuel, R. Ruais and S. Loga. We are indebted to the late Richard Novak for his contributions and sacrifice on behalf of the Tag-A-Giant programme. We thank the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for providing access to the GOM scientific observer data and US pelagic longline logbook data. The Tag-A-Giant programme was supported by grants and donations from the Packard, Pew, MacArthur, Disney, Marine Ventures, Gordon and Betty Moore, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundations. This research was supported in part by the NOAA NMFS, the NSF and the National Fish and Wildlife Federation. We acknowledge the extensive cooperation of the commercial and recreational captains and crews of fishing vessels in North Carolina, New England, Nova Scotia, Louisiana and Texas. We thank N. Miyabe of the National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, ICCAT, A. Dinatale, G. DeMetrio, M. de la Serna and the EU COPEMED programme for return of electronic tags.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Figure S1
Comparison of geoposition data from two types of electronic tags showing different spatio-temporal coverages obtained. (PDF 3750 kb)
Supplementary Figure S2
Movements of an individual western tagged Atlantic bluefin tuna (705) showing four years of subsequent fidelity to a spawning site in the Mediterranean Sea. (PDF 8603 kb)
Supplementary Figure S3
Figures showing distribution of Yellowfin tuna catch per unit effort (CPUE) in the Gulf of Mexico. (PDF 1266 kb)
Supplementary Figure Legends
Legends to accompany the above Supplementary Figures. (DOC 20 kb)
Supplementary Methods
This file contains supplementary information about methods for fishing operations, electronic tags and mixing. (DOC 33 kb)
Supplementary Table S1
Catch per unit effort (CPUE) and mortality per unit effort (MPUE) during scientific longline cruises in the Gulf of Mexico from 1998 to 2002. (DOC 42 kb)
Supplementary Table S2
Probability of Atlantic bluefin tuna being located in the western management unit after being tagged in the western Atlantic. (DOC 27 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Block, B., Teo, S., Walli, A. et al. Electronic tagging and population structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Nature 434, 1121–1127 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03463
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03463
This article is cited by
-
Maximising the value of transmitted data from PSATs tracking marine fish: a case study on Atlantic bluefin tuna
Animal Biotelemetry (2024)
-
Site fidelity of migratory shorebirds facing habitat deterioration: insights from satellite tracking and mark-resighting
Movement Ecology (2023)
-
Thermal sensitivity of field metabolic rate predicts differential futures for bluefin tuna juveniles across the Atlantic Ocean
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Pre-spawning habitat use of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) inferred from stable isotope analysis
Marine Biology (2023)
-
Are tunas relevant bioindicators of mercury concentrations in the global ocean?
Ecotoxicology (2023)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.