Abstract:
Dolphin, Coryphaena hippurus, is a highly migratory cosmopolitan pelagic fish
that is found seasonally in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and along the Atlantic coast of
the United States. Dolphin are considered as one unit stock throughout the study area.
This study used release-recapture data from a long-term tagging project to investigate
baseline environmental preferences, habitat suitability based on dynamic ecogeographical
variables, spatio-temporal movement through marine cadastral zones, and
related policy implications. The data was collected from hundreds of recreational
fishermen that tagged dolphin and also recaptured dolphin. A combination of in situ
observations from recreational taggers and remotely sampled physical and biological
variables (depth, bathymetric slope, distance to shore, distance to continental shelf, sea
surface temperature, and sea surface chlorophyll-a) were used to establish an updated and
novel baseline of environmental characteristics. A presence-only spatially explicit
multivariate modeling approach was used to reveal the bio-physical seasonal preferences
of dolphin that define the ecological niche. The results of the models show strong spatial
sensitivity to sea surface temperature and surface chlorophyll-a concentration. The tagrecapture
analysis showed that dolphin are capable of crossing multiple national and
international marine jurisdictional zones throughout their lives. These movements bring
the current management insufficiencies to light. Recommendations based on this
multifaceted analysis focus on horizontal domestic and international fisheries integration.
