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. 2022 Mar 4;15(3):447-458.
doi: 10.1111/eva.13357. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Genetic assignment of fisheries bycatch reveals disproportionate mortality among Alaska Northern Fulmar breeding colonies

Diana S Baetscher  1   2   3 , Jessie Beck  4 , Eric C Anderson  2 , Kristen Ruegg  5 , Andrew M Ramey  6 , Scott Hatch  7 , Hannah Nevins  4 , Shannon M Fitzgerald  8 , John Carlos Garza  1   2
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Genetic assignment of fisheries bycatch reveals disproportionate mortality among Alaska Northern Fulmar breeding colonies

Diana S Baetscher et al. Evol Appl. .

Abstract

Global fisheries kill millions of seabirds annually through bycatch, but little is known about population-level impacts, particularly in species that form metapopulations. U.S. North Pacific groundfish fisheries catch thousands of Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis rodgersii) each year, making fulmars the most frequently caught seabird in federally managed U.S. fisheries. Here, we used genetic stock identification to assign 1,536 fulmars sampled as bycatch to one of four Alaska breeding colonies and quantified the similarity of bycatch locations at sea among colonies. We found disproportionately high bycatch from the Pribilof Islands (6% of metapopulation, 23% of bycatch), and disproportionately low bycatch from Chagulak Island (34% of metapopulation, 14% of bycatch). Overlap between fisheries and colony-specific foraging areas diverge more during the summer breeding season, leading to greater differences in bycatch susceptibility. Contemporary and historical gene flow likely contributes to low genetic differentiation among colonies (FST = 0.003-0.01), yet these values may not represent present connectivity. Our findings illustrate how genetic stock identification can link at-sea threats to colonies and inform management to reduce bycatch from impacted colonies.

Keywords: Northern Fulmar; bycatch; genetic stock identification; microhaplotype; population structure; utilization distribution.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Geographic locations for the four major Pacific Northern Fulmar breeding colonies in Alaska (a) and the percent of the total metapopulation (population size) and total bycatch assigned to each colony (b). Most recent colony population estimates are as follows: Chagulak (~500,000); Semidi Islands (~440,000); St. Matthew Island (~450,000); and the Pribilof Islands (~79,700). Colony locations are indicated with open diamonds. Dominant oceanographic features are shown, including the Bering Shelf and Unimak Pass
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Fishing effort (aggregated number of hooks) for the longline fishery from 2006 to 2017 and core areas of Northern Fulmar bycatch for each of the four major Alaska breeding colonies. Fishing effort (a) and bycatch (b) are focused on the Bering Shelf for all colonies in both the nonbreeding (winter) and breeding (summer) seasons. Polygons depict 50% utilization distributions (UD). Colony locations are indicated with open diamonds and colony colors correspond to polygon color. Distributions of fulmars outside of fishery bycatch samples are not shown
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References

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