CEFAS00549e3e-156d-4a0f-b619-4c35836b82f9 English dataset Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk pointOfContact 2026-09-23T03:02:44 EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2022-01-07 revision WGS 84 Horizontal and vertical movements of Atlantic bluefin tuna tagged with satellite transmitting tags in the South West of the UK 2026-09-01 publication 2026-09-23 revision 2024-11-29 creation CEFAS22088 https://data.cefas.co.uk This dataset is derived from the deployments of 63 pop-up satellite archival tags on Atlantic bluefin tuna (*Thunnus thynnus*) in the western English Channel, off the coast of Wales and in Jersey waters. The tuna were at liberty for up to 730 days before the tags detached. The dataset comprises a number of different files: (i) a summary table giving the deployment details of each tag in the dataset, (ii) the estimated migration paths of each tuna, the ocean region and EEZ within which each daily location falls, plus the average and maximum depth; (iii) the terminal two weeks of the time-series archive from a tuna that was predated by a supposed orca (*Orcinus orca*). The data were collected as part of the Thunnus UK programme, a collaboration between Cefas and the University of Exeter UK which was funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (MF1247) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (ENG2395), Welsh Government (C7986), and the Government of Jersey. Some of the tags used in this study were provided by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) and deployed using Thunnus UK funding. Stanford University (USA) and the TAG A Giant programme provided training and support for fieldwork. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk originator Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk custodian Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk distributor Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) data.manager@cefas.co.uk owner Marine Management Organisation (MMO) info@marinemanagement.org.uk owner Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk owner Welsh Government (Marine Policy Branch) marineplanning@gov.wales owner Government of Jersey fisheries@gov.je owner notPlanned Fish behaviour SeaDataNet P02 parameter discovery vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Ecology Conservation GEMET, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Species distribution Habitats and biotopes GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Unknown Mesopelagic Water column SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2010-05-18 revision Marine Environmental Data and Information Network MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication data.gov.uk MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication otherRestrictions noLimitations otherRestrictions Publicly available data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ( `https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`_ ) – Please note the applicable attribution statement is as follows: ‘includes Crown copyright, Cefas 2024' .. _`https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ English biota environment -60.00 25.00 20.00 59.00 2018-08-01 2026-09-23 Binary Delimited Geographic Information System https://data.cefas.co.uk/view/22088 Cefas Data Portal download The Cefas Data Portal contains metadata records and data sets available to download and connect to in support of our commitment to open science. Data is available in the following formats: Binary download, CSV, ESRI Shapefile. The data can also be accessed via the WFS and WMS protocols. dataset INSPIRE Data Specification on Species Distribution – Technical Guidelines 2013-12-10 publication false See the referenced specification INSPIRE Data Specification on Habitats and Biotopes – Technical Guidelines 2013-12-10 publication false See the referenced specification Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication true See the referenced specification ABT were captured in waters off England, Wales, and the Channel Islands between 2018 and 2022 by licenced vessels and anglers using heavy tackle, either with trolled lures and J-hooks or dead baits with circle hooks, and brought to the boat as quickly as possible. ABT were brought aboard the fishing vessel, and tags were secured externally using tethers that anchored into the dorsal musculature. Tags were programmed to record data for up to 730 days before detaching and transmitting data to a low earth orbiting satellite system (Argos). A proportion of the tags were either recovered at sea, or were washed ashore and found by beachcombers, and their full data archives downloaded. Tags archived data (depth, temperature, light, and acceleration) at either 5 or 15 second frequency. Movements of tagged animals were reconstructed using light based geolocation software, Wildlife Computers’ Global Position Estimator 3 (GPE3). GPE3 is a space-time discretised Hidden Markov model that uses tag derived observations of ambient light (daily light curves), SST and maximum daily depth. These data are cross referenced with NOAA high resolution SST ( `http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd`_) and the ETOPO1 bedrock bathymetric model. The user defined movement speed used for all track reconstructions in GPE3 was 2.5 m.sec-1. Movements reconstructed by the GPE3 provide multiple locations per day, which were averaged (geodesic mean) to provide single daily location estimates for each tag. A detailed description of tag type, fish capture, tag attachment and data analysis can be found in Rudd et al. (2024, freely available at `High-resolution biologging of an Atlantic bluefin tuna captured and eaten by a supposed orca | Scientific Reports`_) and in Horton et al. (2024, freely available at `Annual migrations, vertical habitat use and fidelity of Atlantic bluefin tuna tracked from waters off the United Kingdom | Scientific Reports`_). .. _`http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd`: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd .. _`high-resolution biologging of an atlantic bluefin tuna captured and eaten by a supposed orca | scientific reports`: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-80744-0 .. _`annual migrations, vertical habitat use and fidelity of atlantic bluefin tuna tracked from waters off the united kingdom | scientific reports`: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-80861-w MEDIN 3.1.2