Fidelity of red snapper to petroleum platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

From the Abstract: “We evaluated the habiat value of petroleum platforms by monitoring the fidelity of red snapper to these strucdtrues with acoustic telemetry. In May 2003, 125 red snapper were captured with hook and line at several platforms in a 35-km2 portion of the South Timbalier oil and gas lease blocks, 50 km south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana….After a short recovery period fish were released at five platforms in the study area. Presence of individual snapper was recorded with omnidirectional acoustic receivers attached to eight platforms. Red snapper exhibited little movement among platforms in the study area; however, logistic regression showed a high initial fidelity to release location which subsequently decreased over time. Therefore site fidelity was estimated to be high in the short-term, but much lower in the long-term. However, study results were confound by tag detection issues that may have resulted in long-term site fidelity being underestimated…”