193 
Prey preference of lingcod 
( Ophiodon elongatus), a top marine predator: 
implications for ecosystem-based 
fisheries management 
Craig A. Tinus 
Email address for contact author: craiq.tinus@oreaonstate.edu 
Oregon State University 
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife 
104 Nash Hall 
Corvallis, Oregon 97331-3803 
Present address: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 
Corvallis Research Lab 
28655 Hwy 34 
Corvallis, Oregon 97330 
Abstract — Many highly exploited eco- 
systems are managed on the basis of 
single-species demographic informa- 
tion. This management approach can 
exacerbate tensions among stakehold- 
ers with competing interests who in 
turn rely on data with notoriously 
high variance. In this case study, an 
application of diet and dive survey 
data was used to describe the prey 
preference of lingcod ( Ophiodon elon- 
gatus) in a predictive framework on 
nearshore reefs off Oregon. The ling- 
cod is a large, fast-growing generalist 
predator of invertebrates and fishes. 
In response to concerns that lingcod 
may significantly reduce diminished 
populations of rockfishes ( Sebastes 
spp. ), the diets of 375 lingcod on near- 
shore reefs along the Oregon Coast 
were compared with estimates of 
relative prey availability from dive 
surveys. In contrast to the transient 
pelagic fishes that comprised 46% of 
lingcod diet by number, rockfishes 
comprised at most 4.7% of prey items. 
Rockfishes were the most abundant 
potential prey observed in dive sur- 
veys, yet they were the least preferred. 
Ecosystem-based fisheries manage- 
ment (EBFM) requires information 
about primary trophic relationships, 
as well as relative abundance and dis- 
tribution data for multiple species. 
This study shows that, at a minimum, 
predation relative to prey availability 
must be considered before predator 
effects can be understood in a man- 
agement context. 
Manuscript submitted 2 February 2011. 
Manuscript accepted 28 November 2011. 
Fish. Bull. 110:193-204 (2012). 
The views and opinions expressed 
or implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Ecosystem-based fisheries manage- 
ment (EBFM) has generated consider- 
able interest over the last decade as 
a way of better managing depressed 
fisheries stocks (Pikitch et ah, 2004; 
Gaichas et ah, 2010). This interest 
has been in large part a reaction to 
the perceived failure of traditional 
single-species fisheries management 
to prevent the collapse of exploited 
and ancillary populations in many 
systems worldwide (Dulvy et ah, 2003; 
Hutchings and Baum, 2005; Myers 
and Worm, 2005). One implication 
of EBFM is the capacity to forecast 
changes in managed populations in 
reaction to fluctuations in linked 
predator and prey populations. This 
requires understanding what species 
of interest consume in a given tempo- 
ral and spatial context. An additional 
consideration is that many exploited 
fishes are generalist consumers and 
shifts in densities and distributions 
may produce complex top-down effects 
(Bruno and O’Connor, 2005). These 
are among numerous challenges in 
gathering the information required to 
describe even a subset of primary tro- 
phic relationships in a dynamic system. 
Prey preference is the differential 
consumption of some prey types over 
others given equal availability. It is 
considered a fixed behavioral char- 
acteristic and, as a way of forecast- 
ing predation intensity on managed 
stocks, has received little attention. 
However, preference models may be 
both useful and efficient as an exten- 
sion of food web models to aid man- 
agement of exploited stocks (Gaichas 
et al., 2010). In this study I used an 
analysis of dive survey data with 
consumption data in a prey prefer- 
ence model to better understand the 
likely effects of a rapidly increas- 
ing predator population on managed 
prey. Consumption rates for gener- 
alist consumers like lingcod ( Ophi- 
odon elongatus Girard) may be either 
positively or negatively correlated 
among different prey types, or they 
may be uncorrelated, and these ef- 
fects can be important in actively 
managed systems (Dill et ah, 2003). 
If spatially and temporally transient 
prey species predominate in the diet 
of a resident predator, they may con- 
stitute subsidies to the local preda- 
tor population (Anderson and Polis, 
1998). When subsidies occur there 
may be a concomitant suppression of 
local prey species through apparent 
competition among prey types with a 
common predator (Holt, 1977; Chan- 
eton and Bonsall, 2000). Especially in 
marine systems where trophic webs 
may be poorly defined (Thompson 
et ah, 2007), initial consideration of 
predator-prey relationships requires 
dietary analysis (Heithaus et ah, 
2008). Diets of targeted fishery spe- 
cies provide necessary information 
for understanding food web structure, 
which is an important requirement 
for ecosystem-based fisheries science 
