Inferring individual fate from aquatic acoustic telemetry data

[Methods] There are three types of data: - Detection data: 1-3 files per fish - Fish information data: includes all the relevant information for each individual, e.g. when it was tagged, transmitter type, etc... - Receiver array information: includes the location of the receivers [Usage Notes] Metadata of the dataset: Villegas Ríos, David et al. (2021), Inferring individual fate from aquatic acoustic telemetry data, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2bvq83bn0 Detections data (all files starting with 9002 or 9004): Date and time: date and time of detection Receiver: name of the receiver Transmitter: ID of the transmitter Transmitter name: empty Transmitter serial: serial number of the transmitter Sensor value: depth measure Sensor units: units of the depth measure (meters) Station name: name of the station where the receiver is places Latitude: latitude of the station Longitude: longitude of the station fishinformation.csv: all the columns are self-explained except the following: MinDelaySec: minimum delay of the transmitter, in seconds. MaxDelaySec: maximum delay of the transmitter, in seconds. Release_lat_geo: release latitude, in geographic coordinates. Release_lon_geo: release longitude, in geographic coordinates. array_information.csv: all the columns are self-explained except the following: deploymentdatetime_timestamp: date of deployment of any particular receiver. recoverydatetime_timestamp: date of recovery of any particular receiver. lat_geo: latitude of the receiver location, in geographic coordinates. lon_geo: longitude of the receiver location, in geographic coordinates. lat_utm: latitude of the receiver location, in UTM. lon_utm: longitude of the receiver location, in UTMAcoustic telemetry has become a popular means of obtaining individual behavioural data from a wide array of species in marine and freshwater systems. Fate information is crucial to understand important aspects of population dynamics such as mortality, predation or dispersal rates. Here we present a method to infer individual fate from acoustic telemetry arrays of receivers with overlapping detection ranges. Our method depends exclusively on information on animal movements and the characteristics and configuration of the telemetry equipment. By answering a limited number of simple questions, our method identifies six different fates: tagging mortality, natural mortality, fishing mortality, predation, dispersal and survival. Applying the method to a cod telemetry dataset, we were able to determine fate for 97% of the individuals. We validate the results using several external sources of information, such as recaptures from fishers and control fish with known fate. The method is readily applicable to a wide array of species with minimal adjustments, expanding the range of hypotheses that can be tested using telemetry data.H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Award: 793627.Peer reviewe