title: Acoustic telemetry and fisheries management.
abstract: This paper reviews the use of acoustic telemetry as a tool for addressing issues in fisheries management, and serves as the lead to the special Feature Issue of Ecological Applications titled Acoustic Telemetry and Fisheries Management. Specifically, we provide an overview of the ways in which acoustic telemetry can be used to inform issues central to the ecology, conservation, and management of exploited and/or imperiled fish species. Despite great strides in this area in recent years, there are comparatively few examples where data have been applied directly to influence fisheries management and policy. We review the literature on this issue, identify the strengths and weaknesses of work done to date, and highlight knowledge gaps and difficulties in applying empirical fish telemetry studies to fisheries policy and practice. We then highlight the key areas of management and policy addressed, as well as the challenges that needed to be overcome to do this. We conclude with a set of recommendations about how researchers can, in consultation with stock assessment scientists and managers, formulate testable scientific questions to address and design future studies to generate data that can be used in a meaningful way by fisheries management and conservation practitioners. We also urge the involvement of relevant stakeholders (managers, fishers, conservation societies, etc.) early on in the process (i.e., in the co-creation of research projects), so that all priority questions and issues can be addressed effectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B4H 4R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Glenn T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Crossin
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville, Queensland, 4810, Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Heupel
authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Hammond Bay Biological Station, 11188 Ray Road, Millersburg, Michigan, 49759, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Holbrook
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Nigel E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Hussey
authors.affiliation: Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, 100 8th Avenue SE, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33701, USA.|Fisheries and Aquatic Science Program, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, 7922 North West 71st Street, Gainesville, Florida, 32653, USA.
authors.forename: Susan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lowerre-Barbieri
authors.affiliation: Fish Ecology & Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada.
authors.forename: Vivian M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Graham D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Raby
authors.affiliation: Fish Ecology & Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Cooke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: acoustic telemetry; applied science; conservation; fish tracking; fisheries biology; policy; resource management