LeiaNH/NWAfrica-Bird-Vessel-Interactions-Main

Code supporting 'Seabird-vessel interactions in industrial fisheries of Northwest Africa: implications for international bycatch management' (Navarro-Herrero, et al. 2025) # NWAfrica-Bird-Vessel-Interactions-Main This repository includes the data and R scripts used to reproduce the Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) models and main figures from the study "Seabird–vessel interactions in industrial fisheries of Northwest Africa: implications for international bycatch management" (Navarro-Herrero et al., 2025). In this study, we combined high-resolution seabird tracking data with AIS vessel tracking data from industrial fishing and non-fishing vessels to investigate how nine seabird species interact with fisheries in Northwest African waters. The scripts provided here focus on modelling interactions for three seabird species that frequently attend fishing vessels. The dataset includes seabird–vessel interactions (both encounters and attendances), along with all the covariates required for the models and figures. ### Sample datasets The sample datasets are available in the `data/input` folder and follow the structure outlined below: input folder | Description ----------------------- | ------------------- CALBOR_inputBRT_L1.rds | This dataset records seabird-vessel interactions (encounters/attendances) of Cory's shearwater used for BRT and derived figures. CALEDW_inputBRT_L1.rds | This dataset records seabird-vessel interactions (encounters/attendances) of Cape Verde shearwater used for BRT and derived figures. LARAUD_inputBRT_L1.rds | This dataset records seabird-vessel interactions (encounters/attendances) of Audoui'ns gull used for BRT and derived figures. events.rds | This dataset records seabird–vessel interactions (encounter/attendance) used for figure 3 and 6. `Data` folder (with the input folder and the output folder derived from this repository), can be downloaded using the following link: dropbox.com ### Code To run the full modeling workflow—including data exploration, model tuning, fitting, and …