@article{tharp_hostetter_paxton_taylor_buckel_2024, title={Artificial structure selection by economically important reef fishes at North Carolina artificial reefs}, volume={11}, ISSN={["2296-7745"]}, DOI={10.3389/fmars.2024.1373494}, abstractNote={Artificial reefs can play an important role in marine fisheries management by supplementing or enhancing natural habitats. Despite their increased use in recent years, the choice of structures used at artificial reefs remains largely haphazard due to the lack of information on reef structure performance. Few studies have examined the use of different artificial reef structures by individual fish. From 2021-2022, we acoustically tagged 72 black sea bass ( Centropristis striata ), 34 gag ( Mycteroperca mircrolepis ), 27 greater amberjack ( Seriola dumerili ), nine almaco jack ( S. rivoliana ), and eight red snapper ( Lutjanus campechanus ) on four artificial reef complexes near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, U.S. Available artificial reef structures consisted of materials of various sizes and heights made of concrete and metal. We tracked tagged fish using a fine-scale positioning system for ~100 days. Black sea bass exhibited high site fidelity to the artificial structure where we caught them, rarely moving away from that structure. The limited movement resulted in low transition probabilities; we conclude that black sea bass do not select for particular artificial structures. Gag and red snapper moved greater distances away from artificial structures and routinely moved between them. Greater amberjack and almaco jack moved the most within the complexes displaying circling behavior around individual structures and were the only species that regularly moved off the artificial reef complexes. Greater amberjack movements away from artificial sites were most commonly directed to surrounding shipwrecks. Whereas gag, red snapper, almaco jack, and greater amberjack used all available structures, they consistently selected for high relief structures, such as vessels, more than other structures. These results will be useful to managers charged with decisions on what types of structures to place at artificial reef complexes to supplement or enhance habitat for economically important fishes.}, journal={FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE}, author={Tharp, Ryan M. and Hostetter, Nathan J. and Paxton, Avery B. and Taylor, J. Christopher and Buckel, Jeffrey A.}, year={2024}, month={Apr} }
 @article{gilliland_fessler_paxton_ebert_tharp_runde_bacheler_buckel_taylor_2023, title={Spatial extent and isolation of marine artificial structures mediate fish density}, volume={10}, ISSN={2296-7745}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1240344}, DOI={10.3389/fmars.2023.1240344}, abstractNote={Installations of artificial structures in coastal oceans create de facto habitat for marine life. These structures encompass wide varieties of physical characteristics, reflecting their multiple, diverse purposes and creating a need to understand which characteristics maximize fish habitat. Here, we test how physical characteristics – horizontal area, vertical relief, and spatial isolation – relate to fish density from echosounder surveys over artificial structures like concrete pipes, train boxcars, and ships purposely sunk to function as reefs. Echosounder mapping of 31 artificial reef structures and associated fish across a 200 km linear length of the continental shelf of North Carolina, USA, revealed that structures with greater horizontal area and vertical relief host higher fish densities than smaller, shorter structures. Artificial structure spatial arrangement also relates to fish density, as isolated structures are generally associated with greater localized fish densities than structures closer to one another. Patterns in the relationships between fish density and reef characteristics differed for schooling fish, as there was some evidence that reefs of intermediate area exhibited higher schooling fish density. These results suggest that intentional design and spatial arrangement of marine built structures like artificial reefs relates to and can be deliberately incorporated into siting and deployment decisions to enhance their role as fish habitat.}, journal={Frontiers in Marine Science}, publisher={Frontiers Media SA}, author={Gilliland, Virginia A. and Fessler, Avery E. and Paxton, Avery B. and Ebert, Erik F. and Tharp, Ryan M. and Runde, Brendan J. and Bacheler, Nathan M. and Buckel, Jeffrey A. and Taylor, J. Christopher}, year={2023}, month={Sep} }
 @article{runde_rudershausen_bacheler_tharp_buckel_2022, title={Depredation of Demersal Reef Fishes Released with Descender Devices Is Uncommon off North Carolina, <scp>USA}, volume={42}, ISSN={0275-5947 1548-8675}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10815}, DOI={10.1002/nafm.10815}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={5}, journal={North American Journal of Fisheries Management}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Runde, Brendan J. and Rudershausen, Paul J. and Bacheler, Nathan M. and Tharp, Ryan M. and Buckel, Jeffrey A.}, year={2022}, month={Aug}, pages={1196–1201} }
 @article{runde_buckel_bacheler_tharp_rudershausen_harms_ben‐horin_2022, title={Evaluation of six methods for external attachment of electronic tags to fish: assessment of tag retention, growth and fish welfare}, volume={101}, ISSN={0022-1112 1095-8649}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.14989}, DOI={10.1111/jfb.14989}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={3}, journal={Journal of Fish Biology}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Runde, Brendan J. and Buckel, Jeffrey A. and Bacheler, Nathan M. and Tharp, Ryan M. and Rudershausen, Paul J. and Harms, Craig A. and Ben‐Horin, Tal}, year={2022}, month={Jan}, pages={419–430} }