Mesoscale activity drives the habitat suitability of yellowfin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico.

ABSTRACT: Yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, represents an important component of commercial and recreational fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). We investigated the influence of environmental conditions on the spatiotemporal distribution of yellowfin tuna using fisheries' catch data spanning 2012-2019 within Mexican waters. We implemented hierarchical Bayesian regression models with spatial and temporal random effects and fixed effects of several environmental covariates to predict habitat suitability (HS) for the species. The best model included spatial and interannual anomalies of the absolute dynamic topography of the ocean surface (ADT_SA and ADT_IA, respectively), bottom depth, and a seasonal cyclical random effect. High catches occurred mainly towards anticyclonic featu

SUBMITTER: Ramirez-Mendoza Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11001853 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature