Advancing the understanding of spearfisher-fish behavioral interactions and its management implications

Fish behavior is intimately linked to fishing catchability. Measurements of fish behavior may provide quantitative indicators that inform about the impact of fishing pressure and help design effective management strategies. The implications of spearfishing pressure on fish behavior have been mainly characterized using single quantitative indicators such as flight initiation distance (FID), which provide incomplete views of spearfisher-fish behavioral interactions. We used an integrative approach to advance the understanding of spearfisher-fish behavioral interactions by complementing FID estimates with post-flight responses (i.e., individual fish behavior after fleeing), and the decreasing probability to catch a fish at increasing distance from a speargun. We first collected empirical observations of white seabream (Diplodus sargus) FID and post-flight behavior in response to an approaching human (spearfisher or snorkeler) inside and outside marine protected areas. We then combined thes...,
Measurement of flight-initiation distance, post-flight behavior and estimated size of the fish were collected during underwater observations

We measured FID and post-flight behavioral response to four treatments: two areas with different levels of harvesting protection status (protected/unprotected from spearfishing) and two diver configurations (potentially threatening spearfishing with a speargun and non-threatening snorkeling without a speargun). All observations were conducted at a minimum distance of 750 m from the borders of marine protected areas. All sites were surveyed by the same operator. The spearfisher was equipped with a speargun (100 cm long, slings were removed and substituted with PVC tubes to not violate regulations of the MPAs) and with the typical spearfishing equipment (black wetsuit, long black fins and black mask). The snorkeler equipment consisted of a short blue wetsuit, short blue fins and a colored mask. The different diver configurations (spearfisher/snorke..., , # Advancing the understanding of spearfisher-fish behavioral interactions and its management implications

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qbzkh18sk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qbzkh18sk)

## Description of the data and file structure

* Measurement of flight-initiation distance, post-flight behavior and estimated size of the fish were collected during underwater observations (\"pf.behavior.xlsx\")
* We measured FID and post-flight behavioral response to four treatments: two areas with different levels of harvesting protection status (protected/unprotected from spearfishing) and two diver configurations (potentially threatening spearfishing with a speargun and non-threatening snorkeling without a speargun). All observations were conducted at a minimum distance of 750 m from the borders of marine protected areas. All sites were surveyed by the same operator. The spearfisher was equipped with a speargun (100 cm long, slings were removed and substituted with PVC tubes to not violate regula...