Improving abundance estimates from electrofishing removal sampling

Hedger, Richard D.; Eyto, Elvira de; Dillane, Mary; Diserud, Ola Håvard; Hindar, Kjetil; McGinnity, P.; Poole, Russell; Rogan, Ger

doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2012.09.015

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Where terms are subscripted by "species" in the text, the term is species-specific. Achleitner et al 2012;Hedger et al 2013), but our nonlethal approach is a more acceptable method, especially for native and threatened species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency of electrofishing in turbid lowland rivers: implications for measuring temporal change in fish populations

Lyon

Bird

Nicol

et al. 2014

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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To quantify how electrofishing capture probability varies over time and across physiochemical and disturbance gradients in a turbid lowland river, we tagged between 68 and 95 fish·year −1 with radio transmitters and up to 424 fish·year −1 with external and passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. We surveyed the site noninvasively using radiotelemetry to determine which of the radio-tagged fish were present (effectively closing the radio-tagged population to emigration) and then electrofished to estimate the proportion of available fish that were captured based on both this and standard mark-recapture methods. We replicated the electrofishing surveys three times over a minimum of 12 days each year, for 7 years. Electrofishing capture probability varied between 0.020 and 0.310 over the 7 years and between four different large-bodied species (Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii), trout cod (Maccullochella macquariensis), golden perch (Macquaria ambigua ambigua), and silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus)). River turbidity associated with increased river discharge negatively influenced capture probability. Increasing fish length increased detection of fish up to 500 mm for Murray cod, after which capture probability decreased. Variation in capture probability in large lowland rivers results in additional uncertainty when estimating population size or relative abundance. Research and monitoring programs using fish as an indicator should incorporate strategies to lessen potential error that might result from changes in capture probabilities.Résumé : Afin de quantifier les variations de la probabilité de prise à la pêche électrique dans le temps et le long de gradients physicochimiques et de perturbation dans une rivière turbide de basse terre, nous avons doté de 68 à 95 poissons·année -1 de radioémetteurs et jusqu'à 424 poissons·année -1 d'étiquettes externes et de transpondeurs passifs intégrés (PIT). Nous avons sondé le site de manière non intrusive par radiotélémétrie afin de déterminer lesquels des poissons radioétiquetés étaient présents (excluant du fait l'émigration pour la population radioétiquetée), puis effectué une pêche électrique pour estimer la proportion de poissons disponibles capturés selon cette méthode et des méthodes de marquage-recapture normales. Nous avons répété les levés par pêche électrique trois fois sur au moins 12 jours chaque année, pendant sept ans. La probabilité de capture par pêche électrique variait dans une fourchette de 0,020 à 0,310 sur les sept ans et pour quatre espèces de gros poissons (la morue de Murray (Maccullochella peelii), la perche Macquarie (Maccullochella macquariensis), la perche dorée (Macquaria ambigua ambigua) et la perche argentée (Bidyanus bidyanus)). La turbidité de la rivière associée à un débit accru avait une incidence négative sur la probabilité de capture. Plus la longueur des poissons était grande, plus la détection était élevée pour les poissons allant jusqu'à 500 mm en ce qui concerne la morue de Murray; au-delà de cette longueur, la probabilité diminuait. Le...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency of electrofishing in turbid lowland rivers: implications for measuring temporal change in fish populations

Lyon

Bird

Nicol

et al. 2014

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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“…; Rosenberger & Dunham ; Hedger et al . ). In a few cases (43 cases of a total of 208 = 20.6%) that account for rare species, the number of individuals for a given species was greater during the second pass than during the first one; the total number of fish captured was thus used as an estimation of the abundance for that species.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Electrofishing efficiency in low conductivity neotropical streams: towards a non‐destructive fish sampling method

Allard

Grenouillet

Khazraïe³

et al. 2014

Fisheries Management Eco

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Rotenone sampling is the most efficient method for assessing the fish assemblage structure and species abundance of low conductivity Amazonian streams. It does, however, cause fish mortality and disturb aquatic ecosystem. The aim of this study was to search for a non‐destructive alternative. The efficiency of electrofishing was compared against complete removal using rotenone. This procedure was repeated in 12 streams dispersed throughout French Guiana to test for environmental and biological effects such as water conductivity, stream depth, fish family membership and body size. This study revealed that the efficiency of electrofishing was influenced by stream conductivity and stream depth, but not by fish family or body size. The electrofishing method might constitute an efficient alternative to using rotenone in smaller streams (below 25‐cm depth and above 43 μS cm−1), whereas in deeper and/or slightly conductive streams, rotenone still remains the only method able to provide a quick and comprehensive picture of the fish assemblage.

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“…It assesses the probability of capture and uses this to estimate abundance from the number of fish captured at each pass. The method relies on a weighted maximum likelihood algorithm, which weights the likelihood function by a prior beta distribution with parameters α and β (in the absence of prior information, α = β = 1), and uses an iterative method to derive the estimate (Hedger et al ., ). The main advantage of this method over others (e.g., de Lury, ; Zippin, ) is that it allows different capture probabilities among individuals and among sampling passes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main advantage of this method over others (e.g., de Lury, 1947;Zippin, 1958) is that it allows different capture probabilities among individuals and among sampling passes. This method has been shown to perform generally better than other commonly used estimation methods (Gerdeaux, 1987;Hedger et al, 2013). The reliability of abundance estimates obtained by Carl and Strub estimator was assessed by the percentage relative precision (PRP) for each year × site combination.…”

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confidence: 99%

Hydrological drivers of brown trout population dynamics in France

Bergerot

Cattanéo

2016

Ecohydrology

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International audienceAlteration of natural river flow regimes is a major threat to freshwater biodiversity. Restoration of natural flow regimes requires an understanding of linked hydrological and ecological processes. In this study, we investigated how annual seasonal flow characteristics and physical habitat attributes could interact to explain yearly changes in brown trout population densities (for 0+ fish, corresponding to the young of the year, and for the >0+ age class) in 112 sites widespread in France. Using an information theoretic approach and general linear modeling, we identified the physical habitat attributes and seasonal hydrological variables which explained 0+ proportion, total, >0+ and 0+ brown trout density dynamics. A decrease in total and 0+ brown trout densities were mainly linked to high water levels in both high and low flows during the emergence period and to a lesser extent, to physical habitat attributes reflecting the river size. 0+ proportions were only linked to the level of low flows, and to a lesser extent to high flows, during the emergence period. Our study demonstrated that seasonality of flow is a main driver of brown trout population dynamics, especially magnitude of high and low flows for the 0+ age class, and should be considered in the definition of environmental flows

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Improving abundance estimates from electrofishing removal sampling

Abstract: 16Estimates of fish abundance from electrofishing surveys depend on accurate estimation 17 of capture probability. We examine in this paper how estimates of capture probability 18 and abundance of Atlantic salmon from multi-pass removal sampling can be improved

Cited by 24 publications

References 29 publications

Efficiency of electrofishing in turbid lowland rivers: implications for measuring temporal change in fish populations

Efficiency of electrofishing in turbid lowland rivers: implications for measuring temporal change in fish populations

Electrofishing efficiency in low conductivity neotropical streams: towards a non‐destructive fish sampling method

Hydrological drivers of brown trout population dynamics in France

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