Sex-specific spatial use of the winter foraging areas by Magellanic penguins and assessment of potential conflicts with fisheries during winter dispersal

DODINO SAMANTA; LOIS NICOLÁS; RICCIALDELLI LUCIANA; POLITO MICHAEL J.; PÜTZ KLEMENS; RAYA REY ANDREA

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2021 vol. 16 p. 1 - 19

1932-6203

Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) disperse widely during winter and are a major consumer of marine resources overthe Patagonian Shelf. Magellanic penguins were equipped with geolocatorsat Martillo Island in late February- early March 2017 and recaptured at thebeginning of the next breeding season to recover the devices and to collectblood samples for stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N)isotope analysis. We evaluated their whole winter dispersal and theirtrophic niche by sex during the last month of the winter dispersal. Also, weevaluated their spatial overlap with bottom trawl and shrimp fisheries using datafrom satellite fisheries monitoring. Penguins dispersednorthwards up to 42°S and showed latitudinal spatial segregation between sexesduring May to August (females were located further north than males). Incontrast, during the last month of the winter dispersal females were locatedmore southerly and showed lower trophic position than males. Also, females didnot dive as deep as males during winter. We foundhigh overlap between both fisheries and penguin?s spatial use in regions with documentedinteraction. However,no sex-specific statistical differences with fisheries overlap were found.Our results highlight the importance of understanding the spatial domains ofeach sex and assessment of their potential conflicts with bottom trawl fisheryand shrimp fishery during the winter period.