A comparative analysis of marine fish species susceptibilities to discard mortality: effects of environmental factors, individual traits, and phylogeny

Determining the sustainability of fishing mortality for discards requires information on discard amounts as well as capture and release mortality rates. Formal estimates of these rates are costly and only available for a limited number of species and fisheries. In their absence, proxies for discard mortality could inform risk assessments of fishing mortality sustainability for discarded species. Here, time-to-mortality (TM) was assessed for 48 marine fish species exposed to air following capture during an annual multi-species bottom-trawl survey. Species-specific estimates of TM were related qualitatively to more formal estimates of discard mortality from commercial fisheries, confirming the use of TM as a proxy. The effects on TM of species and individual traits, phylogenetic similarity (proxy for traits not explicitly included in the analysis) and environmental factors related to capture were also assessed. Much of the observed individual variability was explained by intraspecific and interspecific positive relationships between body size and TM. Sedentary species and those lacking a gas bladder or deciduous scales had greater TM. Effects of phylogeny and capture depth and temperature were also found. This study demonstrates how reliable proxies of discard mortality rate can be readily obtained in the field or estimated from relevant covariates.