Distance from the shoreline to the 7 m isobath (D7)

According to various authors, NECOs have a preference for areas near the coast [30], where they feed in shallow waters close to the shoreline [35, 49, 58]. In Costa Verde, the number of NECOs on pole-cables could be associated with a preference for shallow marine areas, which are more extensive at a greater distance from the shoreline to the isobaths.

The isobaths of the marine area of Costa Verde were obtained from the digitized nautical chart No. 2237, corresponding to the Miraflores Bay [59]. The minimum distance from the shoreline (in front of each pole-cable) to the 7 m isobath was measured in ArcGIS. The choice of this isobath was based on records of the preference of NECOs to feed in waters with depths less than 7 m on average [36, 60, 61].