Modeling distribution of Thunnus tonggol Bleeker, 1851 in the waters of the Oman Seausing the Generalized Additive Model and Remote sensing data

This study uses data of 5 Iranian industrial purse seiners that fish on free school tuna species in the Oman Sea. The catch data from 2015 to 2019 in the Oman Sea waters were used. The essential fish habitat of Thunnus tonggol was modeled using Satellite remote sensing (HYCOM. and MODIS). Redundancy analysis (RDA) was applied to provide a preliminary view of relationships between fish presence/absence and environmental variables, followed by the application of the Generalized Additive Model (GAM). According to GAM the presence/absence of T. tonggol is related to Latitude, Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Sea surface current velocity, and sea surface salinity (SSS). EFH maps were generated using GAM model based on the probability of the presence of T. tonggol. Latitude 23N to 25N degrees and longitude 57E to 60 E degrees are the preferred habitats of T. tonggol that are distributed in high density in these areas and indicate the habitat of this species in the continental shelf and coastal waters. Based on the analysis the distribution and density of T. tonggol on the east side of the Oman Sea Iranian waters, from Beris to Gwatar Bay, could be neglectable. Based on the results of the present study, it seems that, although, the relationship between chlorophyll-a concentration, sea surface height (SSH) and distribution, of T. tonggol is statistically significant, still the Latitude, Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Sea surface current velocity, and Sea surface salinity (SSS are the most important factors affecting the abundance of this species in the region.