Synchronous Variations in Abundance and Distribution of Ommastrephes bartramii and Dosidicus gigas in the Pacific Ocean

Abstract

An analysis was performed in this study to investigate synchronous fluctuations in abundance and distribution of Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and Dosidicus gigas in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. The impacts of two Niño indices and regional water surface temperature on the two squids during 2006–2015 were evaluated, which possibly can explain the observed synchronicity. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) and the latitudinal gravity centers (LATG) of fishing effort were used to indicate squid abundance and distribution, respectively. The results indicated that both the CPUE and LATG showed highly interannual variations and synchronous fluctuation with significant negative associations between the two squid species from September to November. Strong positive cross-correlations with 2-month lag was found between sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in the Niño 3.4 and Niño 1+2 regions, which have significant linkage with the SST on the fishing ground of O. bartramii and D. gigas , respectively. Moreover, the proportion of favorable-SST area (PFSST) and the latitudinal location of the optimal SST for O. bartramii and D. gigas were positively correlated with the CPUE and LATG, respectively. Increased O. bartramii PFSST clearly corresponded to decreased D. gigas PFSST in phase as well as the latitudinal location of the optimal SST from September to November over 2006–2015. Our findings suggest that synchronous changes in abundance and distribution of the two squids were due to simultaneous variations in the PFSST and the latitudinal location of the optimal SST front which were affected by the SSTA changes in the Niño 3.4 and Niño 1+2 regions.