Growth parameter k and location affect body size responses to spatial protection by exploited rockfishes.

ABSTRACT: For many fish taxa, trophic position and relative fecundity increase with body size, yet fisheries remove the largest individuals, altering food webs and reducing population productivity. Marine reserves and other forms of spatial protection can help mitigate this problem, but the effectiveness of these management tools may vary interspecifically and spatially. Using visual survey data collected on the Central Coast of British Columbia, for 12 species of exploited rockfish we found that body size responses to spatial fishery closures depended on interspecific variation in growth parameter k (the rate at which the asymptotic body size is approached) and on location. For two closures, relative body sizes were larger at protected than at adjacent fished sites, and these differences wer

SUBMITTER: McGreer M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7456528 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature