Does coastal lagoon habitat quality affect fish growth rate and their recruitment? Insights from fishing and acoustic surveys

Type Article
Date 2013-07
Language English
Author(s) Brehmer Patrice1, Laugier ThierryORCID2, Kantoussan J.3, Galgani FrancoisORCID4, Mouillot D.5
Affiliation(s) 1 : Inst Rech Dev, UMR LEMAR, CNRS, UBO,IRD,IFREMER,ISRA CRODT,Pole Rech Hann, Dakar, Senegal.
2 : Inst Francais Rech Exploitat Mer, RBE LEAD, Unite St Vincent Ouenghi, Noumea 98846, New Caledonia.
3 : Univ Gaston Berger, St Louis, Senegal.
4 : Inst Francais Rech Exploitat Mer, PAC Corse, F-20600 Zi Furiani, Bastia, France.
5 : Univ Montpellier 2, UMR ECOSYM, CNRS, UM2,IRD,IFREMER,CC093, F-34095 Montpellier 5, France.
Source Estuarine Coastal And Shelf Science (0272-7714) (Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd), 2013-07 , Vol. 126 , P. 1-6
DOI 10.1016/j.ecss.2013.03.011
WOS© Times Cited 10
Keyword(s) fish, shallow water, ecotoxicity, lagoon, habitat quality, amphidromous
Abstract Ensuring the sustainability of fish resources necessitates understanding their interaction with coastal habitats, which is becoming ever more challenging in the context of ever increasing anthropogenic pressures. The ability of coastal lagoons, exposed to major sources of disturbance, to provide resources and suitable habitats for growth and survival of juvenile fish is especially important. We analysed three lagoons with different ecological statuses and habitat quality on the basis of their eutrophication and ecotoxicity (Trix test) levels. Fish abundances were sampled using fishing and horizontal beaming acoustic surveys with the same protocols in the same year. The relative abundance of Anguilla anguilla, Dicentrarchus labrax or the Mugilidae group was not an indicator of habitat quality, whereas Atherina boyeri and Sparus aurata appeared to be more sensitive to habitat quality. Fish abundance was higher in the two lagoons with high eutrophication and ecotoxicity levels than in the less impacted lagoon, while fish sizes were significantly higher in the two most severely impacted lagoons. This leads us to suggest low habitat quality may increase fish growth rate (by the mean of a cascading effect), but may reduce lagoon juvenile abundance by increasing larval mortality. Such a hypothesis needs to be further validated using greater investigations which take into account more influences on fish growth and recruitment in such variable environments under complex multi-stressor conditions.
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