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Indo-Pacific sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) is an important apex predator in neritic and oceanic pelagic ecosystems. The species is also a primary target of valuable catch and release sport fisheries in many developing countries that sustain local economies. However, commercial purse-seine fisheries that target tunas in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) incidentally catch and discard large numbers of sailfish raising concern over their long-term sustainability and potential impacts on local sport fisheries and the ecosystem function. Sailfish bycatch data recorded by scientific observers in the Mexican tuna purse-seine fleet in the EPO between1998-2007 was used in Generalized Additive Models (GAMs), to predict environmental and spatial preferences that may be used as a fisheries management tool to reduce sailfish bycatch in the EPO. The model predicted the highest sailfish catches in coastal waters during El Niño events with warm temperatures (> 26 °C) and low sea surface chlorophyll-a concentration (<0.25 mg m3). GAM predictions showed that the catch probability of sailfish increased 1.8 fold during El Niño events in coastal waters and 1.5 fold under La Niña conditions. However, the spatial distribution of sailfish remained largely unchanged during these three scenarios.

Palabras clave: Eastern Pacific Ocean; Sailfish; generalized additive models; habitat preferences

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