| This paper discusses the hypothesis that small tunas and the various species found in association with drifting fads (such as "mahi-mahi", rainbow runner, wahoo, etc.) may be biologically trapped by such a strong association. Massive seeding of drifting artificial fads was observed worldwide during recent years. In this hypothesis, we suggest that fads may alter some biological characteristics of epipelagic populations associated with them: migration, growth, condition factors, predation and natural mortality. As fads are most often used in the equatorial currents, they tend to exhibit zonal drift. Therefore, the associated populations would be artificially transferred from one part of the ocean to another, when they would show different movement patterns... |
