Most adult reef fish show site fidelity thus dispersal is limited to the mobile larval stage of the fish, and effective management of such species requires an understanding of the patterns of larval dispersal. In this study, we assess larval reef fish distributions in the waters west of the Big Island of Hawai'i using both in situ and model data. Catches from Cobb midwater trawls off west Hawai...

Large sardinella (Sardinella maderensis and Sardinella aurita) in warm waters off the coast of Africa are known to be a challenge for pelagic trawl sampling, for example during acoustic surveys for abundance estimation. We observed the swimming behaviour of sardinella mixed with other pelagic species, mainly Cunene horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae), during sampling with a pelagic trawl in the c...

Beach seines are widely used to estimate the density and species richness of fishes in estuaries. We evaluated the causes and extent of bias in estimates from seines using a series of field experiments in small estuaries in southern California, USA. Seining in spatially paired areas that were either enclosed by block nets or not, revealed that seines used without block nets underestimated densi...

Every night a massive migration takes place in ocean waters. Zooplankton and micronekton, a diverse group of organisms <1 mm to 10 cm in size, swim up from midwater depths (200–700 m) to the surface ocean to feed and return down to resting depths before daybreak. The importance of this diel vertical migration to marine biogeochemical cycles has been recognized for some time. Research has primar...

We analysed relationships between demersal fish species richness, environment and trawl characteristics using an extensive collection of trawl data from the oceans around New Zealand. Analyses were carried out using both generalised additive models and boosted regression trees (sometimes referred to as ‘stochastic gradient boosting’). Depth was the single most important environmental predictor ...

We analysed relationships between demersal fish species richness, environment and trawl characteristics using an extensive collection of trawl data from the oceans around New Zealand. Analyses were carried out using both generalised additive models and boosted regression trees (sometimes referred to as “stochastic gradient boosting”). Depth was the single most important environmental predictor ...

For prawn trawling systems, drag reduction is a high priority as the trawling process is energy intensive. Large benefits have occurred through the use of multiple-net rigs and thin twine in the netting. An additional positive effect of these successful twine-area reduction strategies is the reduced amount of otter board area required to spread the trawl systems, which leads to further drag red...