Hydrological attributes and rheophilic freshwater fish: stock assessment

• Published in: Reviews in fish biology and fisheries Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 375 - 394
• Main Authors: Alves, Diego Corrêa, Minte-Vera, Carolina Viviana, Agostinho, Angelo Antonio, Okada, Edson Kiyoshi, Vasconcelos, Lilian Paula
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal migration; Aquatic ecology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brycon hilarii; Dams; Ecosystems; Fish; Fisheries; Fisheries management; Floodplains; Freshwater; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Freshwater fish; Hydrologic cycle; Hydrologic regime; Hydrology; Life Sciences; Population; Population dynamics; Population ecology; Research Paper; River ecology; Spawning; Studies; Water levels; Zoology; Brazil; Bolivia, Santa Cruz, Puerto Suarez, Pantanal; South America; Fisheries; Inland fisheries; Cuiabá River; Migratory fish; Floodplain
• ISSN: 0960-3166; 1573-5184
• DOI: 10.1007/s11160-012-9298-y

The mathematical and statistical advances in fitting stock assessment models enabled the emergence of the paradigm of “integrated analysis”, which fits all available data to a single model of population dynamics that traditionally has total catch as the only forcing function of the system. This approach, however, allowed us to include, in a flexible way, the effect of hydrological regime as an additional forcing function. We tried to achieve this flexibility by making the annual recruitment rates and spawning biomass adjustable to the attributes of the hydrological cycle data. Our models showed that these attributes are influential in the population dynamics of
Brycon hilarii
of the Northern Pantanal, and their inclusion in the models allowed best partial fits (which considered fits only to the data components length- and age-compositions, CPUE of juveniles and adults) than the Base-case (without hydrological attributes). The best partial fits where obtained when the attributes “delay of floods” and “intensity of floods” were forcing the spawning biomass and the annual recruitment respectively, indicating that these characteristics of the population may be influenced by specific attributes of the water level. The use of integrated modeling contributed with the advancement of population ecology knowledge of rheophilic fish. It is recommended that freshwater fisheries management be integrated into the hydrology management.