Status and challenges for sustainable billfish fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean

Can the delayed effects of climatic oscillations have a greater influence on global fisheries compared to their immediate effects?

Climatic oscillations affect fish population dynamics, ecological processes, and fishing operations in maritime habitats. This study examined how climatic oscillations affect catch rates for striped, blue, and silver marlins in the Atlantic Ocean. These oscillations are regarded as the primary factor influencing the abundance and accessibility of specific resources utilized by fishers. Logbook data were obtained from Taiwanese large-scale fishing vessels for climatic oscillations during the period 2005-2016. The results indicated that the effect of the Subtropical Indian Ocean Dipole on marlin catch rates did not have a lag, whereas those of the North Atlantic Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Indian Ocean Dipole had various lags. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted to examine the correlations between atmospheric oscillation indices and marlin catch rates, and wavelet analysis was employed to describe the influences of the most relevant lags. The results indicated that annual atmospheric fluctuations and their lags affected the abundance and catchability of striped, blue, and silver marlins in the study region. This, in turn, may affect the presence of these species in the market and lead to fluctuations in their prices in accordance with supply and demand. Overall, understanding the effects of climatic oscillations on fish species are essential for policymakers and coastal communities seeking to manage marine resources, predict changes in marine ecosystems, and establish appropriate methods for controlling the effects of climate variability.

Impact of climatic oscillations on marlin catch rates of Taiwanese long-line vessels in the Indian Ocean

This study explored the influence of climatic oscillations on the striped, blue, and silver marlin catch rates in the Indian Ocean by using logbook data from Taiwanese large-scale fishing vessels and climate records from 1994 to 2016. Only the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) and the subtropical Indian Ocean dipole (SIOD) had immediate effects on the striped and silver marlin catch rates. The positive and negative phases of the IOD at the lags of 7 and 3 years corresponded to increased and decreased catch rates, respectively, for both the striped and blue marlin, contrasting to the reverse pattern for the silver marlin. Similarly, all three marlin species experienced decreased and increased catch rates respectively during the positive and negative phases of the Pacific decadal oscillation. The striped and blue marlin catch rates decreased and increased during the positive and negative phases, respectively, of the SIOD and MJO with various lags. Our results suggest that the impacts of climatic oscillations on fish species are crucial for policymakers and coastal communities for managing marine resources, forecasting changes in marine ecosystems, and developing strategies to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate variability.