About This Project

Nearshore deepwater fisheries are expanding in the Caribbean as coastal fisheries decline. Because deepwater snappers and groupers grow more slowly and mature later than their shallow-water counterparts, they are more vulnerable to overexploitation. We know very little about the biology of these deep-dwelling fishes. We will use a novel camera and hydrophone to study spawning of these species in Belize and Honduras to determine when and where spawning takes place.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The decline of coastal fisheries in MesoAmerica has led many fishers into deeper waters (>100 m) as a primary or alternative source of income and/or protein. This is placing additional pressures on deep sea fishes which are already especially vulnerable to overexploitation due to their conservative life history strategies, such as slow growth, late maturity, low natural mortality, and long life expectancies. Expanding on ongoing research, this project aims to focus on the reproductive activity of deepwater groupers and snappers to identify potential spawning aggregations in Belize and Honduras using novel and low costs methods and materials, inlcuding a hand-deployed baited remote underwater video (BRUV) and hydrophone.

What is the significance of this project?

This project will be the first to identify spawning activity in the deepwater (100-500 m) ecosystem of the region. Preliminary results of this project from capture-dependent methods indicate that spawning of several species of deepwater snappers is not highly predictable by moon phase, but is largely limited to the fall months. Targeted work with the deep camera has demonstrated potential for observing behavior, and is especially useful for monitoring long-lived grouper species in a nonlethal (capture-free) manner. The addition of a hydrophone will pinpoint spawning activity and timing nonlethally by identifying the acoustics associated with spawning. Critical times/areas will be shared directly via established partnerships with stakeholders and comangers in the region.

What are the goals of the project?

The general objective for this project is the expanded monitoring of sites where spawning aggregations of deepwater fishes are thought to occur, along with the timing of these events using standardized methods. As we have found spawning may occur over a long period of time each month, increasing monitoring will allow for adequate simple sizes and for more camera deployments, which have previously been limited due to technical issues. The addition of a hydrophone to the camera installation has the potential to identify spawning activity when fish are not susceptible to capture and/or are not seen on the camera by detecting the acoustics associated with spawning. Cameras and hydrophones will be deployed at two sites in Belize and Honduras where spawning has been documented.