Mapping The Fish Highways We Should Be Protecting

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/08/09/mapping-the-fish-highways-we-should-be-protecting/ 4/9 Large Paci c sh return to their own hatching sites when they produce offspring. A new map of their migration routes could mean better protection for them. Mapping The Fish Highways We Should Be Protecting By CodeBlue | 9 August 2022 (https://codeblue.galencentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/sudah-tiba-masanya.jpg)

Large Paci c sh return to their own hatching sites when they produce offspring.A new map of their migration routes could mean better protection for them.
Mapping The Fish Highways We Should Be Protecting Understanding the migration cycles of large Paci c sh is important for commercial and artisanal sheries, indigenous cultures and marine conservation.
Traditionally, scientists have used tagging, satellite tracking and examining genetic links between populations to map migration routes, but these have produced an incomplete understanding of where the sh go.
Large Paci c species tend to return to the places they were born (their natal sites) when they produce offspring, so the researchers of a recent study made a deductive leap: the sh migrations must involve a loop that completes an annual cycle.Focusing on 11 species with high catch rates (http://www.seaaroundus.org/),such as skipjack tuna and striped marlin, the researchers proposed migration routes based on ndings from traditional research and the tendency of Paci c sh to return to their natal sites.
The researchers' hunch was right: when they compared their proposed routes with a map (https://www.seaaroundus.org/data/#/spatial-catch)showing reconstructed catch data from 1950 to 2016, similarities emerged.
The catch data showed where the sh were caught, and this matched up with the researchers' deduction about where the sh would be based on previous research ndings and the idea the sh would return to their natal sites.Areas with "very high priority" have nine or more of the studied species.
In blue corridors, industrial shing of large species would ideally be banned or reduced, rebuilding stocks and boosting sheries.The recommended blue corridors would cover at least the "very high priority areas" for conservation (in red on the map) and better still the "high priority areas" (in orange on the map) as well.

Large
Paci c species tend to return to the places they were born.(Gordon Firestein, Wikimedia Commons) Highways We Should Be Protecting -CodeBlue https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/08/09/mapping-the-fish-highways-we-should-be-protecting/6/9 The new map below shows areas of the Paci c used as a habitat by the 11 species and highlights the areas of high and very high priority for conservation based on how many species are present.codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/08/09/mapping-the-fish-highways-we-should-be-protecting/7/9 The best-case scenario consists of two large bands in the North Paci c and South Paci c.In the North Paci c a protected blue corridor would run from Baja California to the Federated States of Micronesia all the way down and along the equator.The South Paci c a blue corridor would run roughly from the Pitcairn Islands to eastern Australia and then all the way up to and along the equator.Highways We Should Be Protecting -CodeBlue https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/08/09/mapping-the-fish-highways-we-should-be-protecting/8/9 Blue corridors may change over time in response to climate change, but they could be managed with the same principles driving the most effective marine protected areas (https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v13/n3/p203-218/).International (https://cites.org/eng/disc/text.php)cooperation (https://www.cms.int/) and development efforts have done a lot to protect marine resources.But national and commercial interests (shipping routes, shing and military operations, deep-sea mining plans and the like) create complex challenges for ocean management.Polynesians and other Paci c Islanders have a long history of resilience to environmental variations and unpredictability (https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3464)because of their traditional shing methods and management of their environment.Commercial activities and climate change are now threatening this resilience, leaving Paci c communities vulnerable to food insecurity.Agreements within blue corridors may include stricter regulations or partial bans of industrial shing, while artisanal and subsistence shing could be encouraged in the 12nautical-mile territorial seas (https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf)around islands.Many remote areas in the Paci c are not well studied, so management of marine resources will bene t from more research on historically and culturally grounded conservation efforts.The researchers' proposed migration routes suggest possible areas for effective conservation of large Paci c sh. Their ndings are a way to begin a conversation about large-scale conservation of marine ecosystems -and in future the conversation would ideally also be a platform for Paci c peoples to share their local and traditional knowledge.Stronger governance and cooperation will support the recovery of tuna, marlin and other large Paci c species -all essential to the undersea world and vital resources on which so many people rely.Veronica Relano is a researcher at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at University of British Columbia.