Zhenlin Liang

Significant Effects of Fishing Gear Selectivity on Fish Life History

Over the past few decades, extreme changes have occurred in the characters of exploited fish populations. The majority of these changes have affected the growth traits of fish life history, which include a smaller size-at-age, an earlier age-at-maturation and among others. Currently, the causes of these life history traits changes still require systematic analyses and empirical studies. The explanations that have been cited are merely expressed in terms of fish phenotypic adaptation. It has been claimed that the original traits of fish can be recovered once the intensity of exploitation of the fish is controlled. Sustained environmental and fishing pressure will change the life history traits of most fish species, so the fish individual’s traits are still in small size-at-age and at earlier age-at-maturation in exploited fish populations. In this paper, we expressed our view of points that fishing gear has imposed selectivity on fish populations and individuals as various other environmental factors have done and such changes are unrecoverable. According to the existing tend of exploited fish individual’s life history traits, we suggested further researches in this field and provided better methods of fishery management and thereby fishery resources protection than those available early.

Particle image velocimetry and numerical simulations of the hydrodynamic characteristics of an artificial reef

This article reports a particle image velocimetry study and the comparative results of a numerical simulation into the hydrodynamic characteristics around an artificial reef. We reveal the process of flow separation and vortex evolution, and compare the force terms generated by our artificial reef model. The numerical simulation agrees well with experimental results, showing the applicability of computational fluid dynamics to the hydrodynamics of an artificial reef. Furthermore, we numerically simulate the hydrodynamics of the reef model for seven velocities. The results show that the drag coefficient is approximately 1.21 in a self-modeling region for Reynolds numbers between 2.123×104 and 9×104. Therefore, the upwelling height and current width of the flow field do not change significantly when the inflow velocity increases. Our study indicates that computational fluid dynamics can be applied to study the hydrodynamics of an artificial reef and offer clues to its construction.

Seasonal variation in community structure and body length of dominant copepods around artificial reefs in Xiaoshi Island, China

This study aims to investigate the seasonal variations in copepod community structure and prosome length of dominant species from March 2009 to January 2010 around artificial reefs in Xiaoshi Island, Yellow Sea, Weihai, China. Samples were collected using two types of plankton net (Model I and Model II) for different-sized copepods. The number of taxon was calculated from the data of both the net types, while the copepod abundance was done using the samples from Model II only. Sixteen species of planktonic copepods, including 5 dominant species, were recorded. Results reveal that Oithona similis was the first dominant species from March to June, and was replaced by Paracalanus parvus in September; both dominated the copepod community in January. Acartia hongi was the second dominant species from March to September. Centropages abdominalis was the third dominant species from March to June, and was replaced by O. similis in September and Corycaeus affinis in January. C. affinis was the fourth dominant species in September. Population density of the dominant copepods was compared with that of other similar regions. We found that the dominant species were mostly small copepods (<1 mm) except for adult Centrapages abdominalis. Seasonal variation in prosome length of O. similis, C. abdominalis, and C. affinis, and their copepodites were studied for the first time in China. For P. parvus and A. hongi, seasonal trends in prosome length variation were similar with those in Jiaozhou Bay, Yellow Sea, Qingdao, China, in a similar temperate domain. The results are helpful for future calculation of copepod biomass and production, and for investigation of the relationship between copepods and fish resources.

Characteristics from a hydrodynamic model of a trapezoidal artificial reef

Flume experiments and numerical simulation were conducted to characterize the hydrodynamics of a trapezoid artificial reef. Measurements in particle image velocimetry were conducted to observe the formation of upwelling and vortices; and forces for the reef model were measured by load cell. The results of flume experiments agree well with the numerical data. In addition, the flow structure around a reef combining trapezoidal and cubic blocks was simulated numerically under two deployment schemes, showing a more complicated flow structure than that of a stand-alone reef. Relationship between drag coefficient and Reynolds number suggest that the degree of turbulence can be assessed from the value of drag coefficient downstream from the reef. The role of the reef in water flow is to reduce flow velocity and generate turbulence.

Relationship between trawl selectivity and fish body size in a simulated population

Trawl is a main fishing gear in Chinese fishery, capturing large fish and letting small ones at large. However, long-term use of trawl would result in changes of phenotypic traits of the fish stocks, such as smaller size-at-age and earlier age-at-maturation. In this study, we simulated a fish population with size characteristics of trawl fishing and the population produces one generation of offspring and lives for one year, used trawl to exploit the simulated fish population, and captured individuals by body size. We evaluated the impact of the changes on selectivity parameters, such as selective range and the length at 50% retention. Under fishing pressure, we specified the selectivity parameters, and determined that smaller selection rates and greater length at 50% retention were associated with an increased tendency towards miniaturization.