Understanding the behavior, including movement, of red snapper (Lutjanus
campechanus), around and among the many oil and gas platforms in the northern Gulf of
Mexico (GOM) is crucial to the management of this important commercial and
recreational species. What role oil and gas production platforms play in the attraction vs.
production continuum for red snapper is unknown, but it is certain these large structures
have a role at some life history stage. We used the VRAP acoustic telemetry system to
track red snapper around two platforms in the GOM in 2005 and 2006. Fish detections
per hour generally decreased over the course of each experiment, and detections also
fluctuated with strong periodicity. Spectral analysis revealed that red snapper had a 24-
hour periodicity to their movements. Probability of presence of fish likewise fluctuated
within a day, perhaps indicating foraging away from the platforms. Red snapper in this
study showed much lower site fidelity than in previous studies of red snapper on artificial
reefs. These results appear to support the hypothesis that platforms function largely as
attracting devices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01162009-170305 |
| Date | 20 January 2009 |
| Creators | McDonough, Michael |
| Contributors | Cowan, James Howard Jr., Benfield, Mark C., Rouse, Lawrence J. Jr. |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01162009-170305/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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