This study highlights the importance of long-term monitoring to be able to detect change, particularly in these highly remote and important areas. The JSDM approach is very powerful and provides information at the species assemblage level.

Photo: Henry Wilson / AFMS

Most surprisingly, was the increase in species richness over the study period. The average number of species caught in a research trawl more than double over the two decades.

It is difficult to know what has driven this increase but it is likely a combination of the removal of IUU fishing, changes in fishing practices to reduce bycatch, the establishment of a marine reserve, and possibly climate-driven increases in ocean productivity.

We used a joint species distribution modelling, specifically HMSC, approach to model the entire demersal fish assemblage to provide new insights into how each species responds to climate, temperature, depth, marine reserve status.

Couldn’t agree more!