Dr. Tim Loher will present a seminar entitled "Behavior and life history of Pacific halibut: Questions of scale and their relevance to fishery management" on November 22 at CIIMAR facilities.

Abstract: “Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) support one of the most economically-important fisheries in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, with average landed values of ~135 million Euros per year. Still, large fluctuations in total abundance over the last 50 years – including a recent 10-year decline that may have been the largest in the history of the fishery – highlight the need to better understand how the species’ life history. In particular, Pacific halibut are relatively long-lived (i.e., may live to 50 years or more) and have great potential to disperse over the course of their lifetimes. Individual movements of more than 5000 km have been observed in juveniles, and adults migrate seasonally between nearshore feeding grounds and offshore spawning sites. For a fishery that is managed both regionally and seasonally, these movements can alter the degree to which various fishing sectors affect one another and the potential for management decisions to have unintended results. Here, the dispersal of Pacific halibut at various temporal and spatial scales – investigated using a variety of research methods – will be discussed, and related to the management concerns that they most-directly affect.”