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Size, growth, temperature and the natural mortality of marine fish
Author(s) -
Gislason Henrik,
Daan Niels,
Rice Jake C,
Pope John G
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
fish and fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.747
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1467-2979
pISSN - 1467-2960
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-2979.2009.00350.x
Subject(s) - brackish water , fish <actinopterygii> , marine fish , population , mathematics , fishery , statistics , environmental science , zoology , ecology , biology , salinity , demography , sociology
Abstract The natural mortality of exploited fish populations is often assumed to be a species‐specific constant independent of body size. This assumption has important implications for size‐based fish population models and for predicting the outcome of size‐dependent fisheries management measures such as mesh‐size regulations. To test the assumption, we critically review the empirical estimates of the natural mortality, M (year −1 ), of marine and brackish water fish stocks and model them as a function of von Bertalanffy growth parameters, L (cm) and K (year −1 ), temperature (Kelvin) and length, L (cm). Using the Arrhenius equation to describe the relationship between M and temperature, we find M to be significantly related to length, L and K , but not to temperature ( R 2 = 0.62, P < 0.0001, n = 168). Temperature and K are significantly correlated and when K is removed from the model the temperature term becomes significant, but the resulting model explains less of the total variance ( R 2 = 0.42, P < 0.0001, n = 168). The relationships between M , L , L , K and temperature are shown to be in general accordance with previous theoretical and empirical investigations. We conclude that natural mortality is significantly related to length and growth characteristics and recommend to use the empirical formula: ln( M ) = 0.55 − 1.61ln( L ) + 1.44ln( L ) + ln( K ), for estimating the natural mortality of marine and brackish water fish.