The Role of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in Juvenile Fish Dispersal along the North-Western Coast of Sicily

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

Thank you for the opportunity to review your manuscript The Role of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in Juvenile Fish Dispersal along the North-Western Coast of Sicily. I appreciate the authors acknowledgement of fishermen. For this manuscript draft, page and line numbers would assist in tracking the location of my edits and suggestions. The abstract needs some rewording. Introduction is very well written, clear objectives, and hypothesized effects of FADs on fish. I love seeing the application of field work to test hypotheses, in this case with tagging and cameras. Please thoroughly review the manuscript for consistent use of measurement units, font styles, and make sure that each reference is in a consistent format. I would recommend this manuscript for publication with minor edits. Please see suggested changes below.

 

Abstract

Line 3 of the Abstract “FADs placed at long distances from the shore could lead the young associated fish towards the coastal habitat.” This statement seems contradictory. Are these long distances within coastal habitat? Or farther offshore? Where do the juveniles originate? Maybe change to “FADs in coastal/offshore habitats placed at long distances from the shore could lead the young associated fish to move from_______habitats_ towards the coastal habitat.”

Line 6 Abstract: (b) coastal FADs favour the transition of fishes from the pelagic to the benthic domain. Are these floating FADs or benthic FADs?

Line 8 Abstract Remove the extra space between “pattens of” and “the YOY” and before and after the two species names.

Line 10 Abstract remove the extra space between “showed” and different” and Line 12 between “affect” and the dispersal”.

Introduction

Page 3 line 7, should 10 miles be given in km? for consistency throughout the manuscript.

Page 2: Line 4 Are palm fronds the same as palm leaves (Figure 1)? If so then I would use one term consistently throughout the manuscript.

Materials and Methods

Page 2 last paragraph, line 4. Here you use nm whereas you use km and miles in other places. I would pick one type of unit measure and use throughout the manuscript. Can you find out what type of measurement units the journal prefers.

Figure 1 and 3. If possible please increase font sizes.

Page 3 Section 2.1 Change dumerii, Tachurus to “dumerii, and Tachurus”.

Page 3 Last line. Should gis be GIS?

 

Reference section

Please review the citations and use consistent format throughout. For example, journal names are not italicized in reference 2, 6, 37, and 38, and difference fonts are used in Reference 22 and 33.  

Author Response

Reviewer 1

Thank you for the opportunity to review your manuscript The Role of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in Juvenile Fish Dispersal along the North-Western Coast of Sicily. I appreciate the authors acknowledgement of fishermen. For this manuscript draft, page and line numbers would assist in tracking the location of my edits and suggestions. The abstract needs some rewording. Introduction is very well written, clear objectives, and hypothesized effects of FADs on fish. I love seeing the application of field work to test hypotheses, in this case with tagging and cameras. Please thoroughly review the manuscript for consistent use of measurement units, font styles, and make sure that each reference is in a consistent format. I would recommend this manuscript for publication with minor edits. Please see suggested changes below.

We thank reviewer 1 for taking the time to review our manuscript. We are glad to hear that he/she liked it. We agree with the reviewer's comment and, as always, we thank the fishermen who are very valuable to our work.

 

Abstract

Line 3 of the Abstract “FADs placed at long distances from the shore could lead the young associated fish towards the coastal habitat.” This statement seems contradictory. Are these long distances within coastal habitat? Or farther offshore? Where do the juveniles originate? Maybe change to “FADs in coastal/offshore habitats placed at long distances from the shore could lead the young associated fish to move from habitats_ towards the coastal habitat.”

Ok, done

Line 6 Abstract: (b) coastal FADs favour the transition of fishes from the pelagic to the benthic domain. Are these floating FADs or benthic FADs?

Usually in the literature the term FAD refers to floating objects, while artificial reefs are referred to as "benthic FADs." The first part of the introduction specifies that the FADs in our study are floating.

 

Line 8 Abstract Remove the extra space between “pattens of” and “the YOY” and before and after the two species names.

 Ok, the space was removed

Line 10 Abstract remove the extra space between “showed” and different” and Line 12 between “affect” and the dispersal”.

Ok, the spaces were removed

 

Introduction

Page 3 line 7, should 10 miles be given in km? for consistency throughout the manuscript.

Ok, we replaced the miles into kilometres

Page 2: Line 4 Are palm fronds the same as palm leaves (Figure 1)? If so then I would use one term consistently throughout the manuscript.

Ok, we substituted leaves for fronds

Materials and Methods

Page 2 last paragraph, line 4. Here you use nm whereas you use km and miles in other places. I would pick one type of unit measure and use throughout the manuscript. Can you find out what type of measurement units the journal prefers.

Many thank for this suggestion, the journal prefers the International System of Units so we will convert all measures accordingly

Figure 1 and 3. If possible please increase font sizes.

Font sizes of figure 1 and 3 were increased

Page 3 Section 2.1 Change dumerii, Tachurus to “dumerii, and Tachurus”.

Ok, done

Page 3 Last line. Should gis be GIS?

Ok, done

Reference section

Please review the citations and use consistent format throughout. For example, journal names are not italicized in reference 2, 6, 37, and 38, and difference fonts are used in Reference 22 and 33.  

Ok, done

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I carefully read the important article – ‘The Role of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in Juvenile Fish Dispersal along the North-Western Coast of Sicily’. I think the idea for this research is interesting and important and may have implications for recreational fishing and others. This manuscript is well written, only minor suggestions added. below are my comments.

 

Abstract:

1.     change towards to toward.

2.     Change census to censuses.

Introduction:

1.     The introduction section is very short, maybe it can be improved by adding more data on ‘Fish Aggregating Devices’ since the lack of knowledge and the need to increase the coastal fish resources.

2.     Another subject worthy of reference is whether these man-made facilities do not harm or reduce the settlement of fish in their natural places.

Materials and Methods:

1.     The map should come with coordinates, and maybe a regional map could help to better understand the Gulf of Castellammare location.

Results and discussion:

1.     The results of this study suggest that a more rational use of FADs could play an important role in the effective management of some species in areas easily accessible by fishermen. Again, some references for a possible reduction of wild populations of these fish are needed.

2.     I think that such a method of attracting fish has advantages mainly for amateur fishermen and small businesses. Show that it is less suitable for large-scale commercial fishing. Addressing this issue could be an interesting addition.

 

Author Response

Reviewer 2

I carefully read the important article – ‘The Role of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in Juvenile Fish Dispersal along the North-Western Coast of Sicily’. I think the idea for this research is interesting and important and may have implications for recreational fishing and others. This manuscript is well written, only minor suggestions added. below are my comments.

 

We thank reviewer 2 for taking the time to review our manuscript and for the words of  appreciation.

 

Abstract:

1. change towards to toward.
2. Change census to censuses.

 

Ok, Both changes were made

 

Introduction:

1. The introduction section is very short, maybe it can be improved by adding more data on ‘Fish Aggregating Devices’ since the lack of knowledge and the need to increase the coastal fish resources.

We agree with the reviewer comment and a new paragraph including more information and data  about the use of FADs in Sicily has now been added in the introduction

 

2. Another subject worthy of reference is whether these man-made facilities do not harm or reduce the settlement of fish in their natural places.

 

We thank the reviewer for this suggestion. Sicilian floating FADs are designed to attract both pelagic (e.g. C. hyppurus) and reef associated species (e.g. S. dumerilii). For pelagic species  no harmful effects can be assumed in terms of reduced settlement of fish in their natural places while for reef associated species the delay in reaching more suitable coastal areas caused by Offshore FAD is evident in our results. Whether or not this delay has harmful effects on these species remains to be established.This has now been better specified in the introduction

 

Materials and Methods:

1. The map should come with coordinates, and maybe a regional map could help to better understand the Gulf of Castellammare location.

Thank you for this suggestion. Both the regional map and  the coordinate were added in the map

 

Results and discussion:

1. The results of this study suggest that a more rational use of FADs could play an important role in the effective management of some species in areas easily accessible by fishermen. Again, some references for a possible reduction of wild populations of these fish are needed.

We agree with the reviewer's comments and as a consequence we added new paragraphs to the discussion also citing new references ( Cabral, R. B., Alin˜o, P. M., and Lim, M. T. Modelling the impacts of fish aggregating devices (FADs) and fish enhancing devices (FEDs) and their implications for managing small-scale fishery. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 1750–1759.

Dagorn, L., Holland, K.N., Restrepo, V. and Moreno, G. (2013), Is it good or bad to fish with FADs? What are the real impacts of the use of drifting FADs on pelagic marine ecosystems?. Fish Fish, 14: 391-415. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2012.00478.x)

 

2. I think that such a method of attracting fish has advantages mainly for amateur fishermen and small businesses. Show that it is less suitable for large-scale commercial fishing. Addressing this issue could be an interesting addition.

We agree, a paragraph containing these considerations has been added in the discussions.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf