On Ignorance Regions and Spatial Aspects for South American sea lion (Otaria byronia) Operational Interaction with the Artisan Gillnet Fishery in Chile

Abstract

The South Pacific Hake (Merluccius gayi) is the main artisan gillnet fishery in central Chile and the South American sea lion (SASL, Otaria byronia) has a strong operational interaction with this fishery. This was analyzed in paper [2] and several issues, like ignorance regions and spatial variation of such conflicts have not been studied in detail. In this paper we provide such analyses in order to complement the study. In particular, we show that construction of ignorance regions and its boundaries in the parameter space for SASL, dist, season4 and depth variables of interest could play an important role in order to characterize and possibly to eliminate the inaccuracies in the results and decisions that could be made. We also checked Ripley’s K and Moran’s I in order to conduct spatial analysis using GIS tools. This may help to determine areas of conflict and how these vary in time and space. The interactions with sea lions are not a determining factor in the variation of artisan fishery catches and such observations are important for managing fisheries interactions and protection of marine species.