FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Frank Paladino, Jack W. Schrey professor and department chair in Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne's (IPFW) Department of Biological Sciences, is co-author of an article titled, "Predicting bycatch hotspots for endangered leatherback turtles on longlines in the Pacific Ocean." The article confirms that fisheries bycatch is a critical source of mortality for rapidly declining populations of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea. The article will be published in the February 22, 2014 print edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the Royal Society’s flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews, and comment and reply papers. The article is available now online at the Royal Society website.
Paladino is an expert known worldwide for his research on giant animals, including pandas and leatherback turtles. Paladino's areas of interest include comparative vertebrate physiology, marine sea turtle physiology and ecology, avian ecophysiology, vertebrate physiological ecology, vertebrate locomotion bioenergetics, and aquatic toxicology.
Fisheries bycatch is a critical source of mortality for rapidly declining populations of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea. We integrated use-intensity distributions for 135 satellite-tracked adult turtles with longline fishing effort to estimate predicted bycatch risk over space and time in the Pacific Ocean. Areas of predicted bycatch risk did not overlap for eastern and western Pacific nesting populations, warranting their consideration as distinct management units with respect to fisheries bycatch. For western Pacific nesting populations, we identified several areas of high risk in the north and central Pacific, but greatest risk was adjacent to primary nesting beaches in tropical seas of Indo-Pacific islands, largely confined to several exclusive economic zones under the jurisdiction of national authorities. For eastern Pacific nesting populations, we identified moderate risk associated with migrations to nesting beaches, but the greatest risk was in the South Pacific Gyre, a broad pelagic zone outside national waters where management is currently lacking and may prove difficult to implement. Efforts should focus on these predicted hotspots to develop more targeted management approaches to alleviate leatherback bycatch.
For more information contact Paladino at email@example.com.