Prey composition in stomachs of Black-browed Albatross and White-chinned petrels incidentally hooked in the Argentine longline fishery

GANDINI, P.; COPELLO S.; FRERE, E.; QUINTANA, F.

Conferencia; III International Albatross and Petrel Conference; 2004

The stomach contents of Black-browed albatross (BBA) and White-chinned petrels (WCP) incidentally caught in longline hooks were analyzed. Birds were caught between September 2000 to December 2003, frozen at –20 </span><span lang="en" style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol">°</span></span><span lang="en" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">C and dissected at laboratory. The fish components of the diet were identified from the presence of otoliths and bones using keys and our own collection as well as Cephalopod beaks. When possible, otoliths ‘ length and width for fishes and lower rostral length of cephalopod beaks was measured to estimate mass. Fish were present in 45% of the stomachs (N = 101) with a total of 6 species identified (<i>Merluccius hubbsi</i>, <i>Macruronus magellanicus</i>, <i>Genypterus</i> <i>blacodes</i>, <i>Salilota australis</i>, <i>Helicolenus lahillei</i>, and <i>Sprattus fuegensis</i>), Cephalopods were presents in 65% of the stomachs with four species (<i>Mototeuthis </i>sp. <i>Illex</i> sp., <i>Loligo</i> <i>gahi</i>. and <i>Gonathus</i> <i>antarticus)</i>, 3 Orders of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>crustacean 16%, and 3% had garbage in the BBA stomachs. For the WCP, Cephalopods were present in 99 % of the stomachs (N = 73) with four species identified (<i>Illex</i> sp, <i>Kondakovia sp</i>., <i>Loligo gahi</i>, and <i>Gonatus</i> sp), while fish was present in 36% of the stomachs with 6 species identified (Argentine hake, Kingclip, blackbelly rosefish, hoki, <i>Raneya brasiliensis</i> and <i>Tachurus lathami</i>), two Orders of crustaceans with a frequency of 3% and other items as garbage and stones being present in 11% and 7% of the stomachs respectively.   <p></p></span></p>  <p></p>  <p></p>  <p></p>  <p></p>  <p></p>  <p></p>  <p></p>  <p></p><span lang="en" style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: ES; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Stomach contents in both bird species showed the high risk they are exposed to incidental capture being a high proportion of the identified preys target, bait or by-catch species for this fishery</span>