Abstract
The Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) is known to be a highly migratory endangered species that occurs in Delaware waters throughout the calendar year. An acoustic telemetry study was done by the University of Delaware and Delaware State University for the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) to analyze Atlantic sturgeon occurrence in the Delaware Wind Energy Lease Area (DE WEA). From this study, the 2020 BOEM report concluded that bottom temperature was the most ecologically interpretable variable for Atlantic sturgeon occurrence in the DE WEA. It was also interpreted that the construction of the DE WEA should happen in the summer months, where Atlantic sturgeon occurrence is low. This conclusion was based on minimizing sturgeon mortality. This thesis utilized and based the hypotheses on the acoustic telemetry dataset collected for the 2020 report.
The purpose of this thesis was to find ecological drivers for the arrival and residency time of the Atlantic sturgeon in the DE WEA. In R Studio, multiple calculations and statistical tests were done to draw conclusions for the five main hypotheses. It was found that the sex of the Atlantic sturgeon was the only ecological variable to show statistical significance from the Watson Wheeler test (P = 0.03635) (P < 0.05). The females arrived earlier in the calendar year, having a median day of 304. While the males arrived later and had a median arrival on day 322. Individuals females were also found to have a longer residency period in the DE WEA, indicating more exposure to potential harm. This conclusion of sex being an ecological interpretable factor should be further used to explain predictors of Atlantic sturgeon in Delaware waters.