The designation of an area of ocean as a marine protected area will be a cause of celebration for most conservationists; restricting fishing activity within a certain area takes pressure off fish stocks and benefits the ecosystem. However, many marine protected areas (MPAs) are created with a certain goal - often to protect coral reefs or specific resident species. Highly migratory species such as sharks would only benefit from the protection an MPA offers when they are residing within the MPA zone. A team of researchers at University of Miami have been investigating how much time 3 key shark species spend within the MPA designated zones around Florida and the Bahamas in order to ascertain the true level of protection these species enjoy.
Over the course of 4 years the researchers satellite tagged tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), bull (Carcharhinus leucas) and great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) sharks within the study area. The study area contained a mixture of national parks, economic exclusion zones (EEZ) and a national marine sanctuary which included a no-take zone. In addition to this, shark harvesting has been entirely prohibited in the Bahamas since 2011, when a shark sanctuary was created. Within Florida state waters it is not permitted to take tiger, great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) or smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena) sharks and the maximum catch for all other shark species is one shark per person per day. This study also included parts of the US EEZ which has more relaxed laws than Florida state waters and allows up to 36 large sharks per boat per day to be removed.
The researchers discovered that none of the core habitat use by the bull sharks tagged in this study overlapped with any of the areas which would have afforded them complete protection. For the great hammerhead, 27% of their core habitat range fell within protected, no-take regions and for tiger sharks it was 34.74%. These figures show that, despite there being several regions where shark fishing is completely prohibited around Florida and the Bahamas, the sharks are not staying within those regions. However, the researchers did discover that these shark species spent quite a bit of time within the U.S. EEZ and if the same protection which is afforded sharks in the waters around Florida state were extended to include U.S. federal waters then the practical level of shark protection would increase.
Owing to the fact that bull sharks are classified as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List, tiger sharks as Threatened and great hammerheads as Endangered these species require immediate and urgent implementation of regulations which will afford them complete protection from fishing. Studies such as this can be used to inform policy makers and prove that extended protection zones are mandatory if the future of these species is to be assured.
Graham, F., Rynne, P., Estevanez, M., Luo, J., Ault, J. and Hammerschlag, N. (2016) Use of marine protected areas and exclusive economic zones in the subtropical western North Atlantic Ocean by large highly mobile sharks http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.12425/full
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 March 2016
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
New global strategy to protect sharks and rays released
Working together, several of the most influential conservation organisations have published a new global strategy to conserve sharks and rays. The report, published in January 2016, is a partnership of IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Shark Specialist Group (SSG), Shark Advocates International, The Shark Trust, TRAFFIC, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and is the product of an intensive 18 month planning process.
The primary goal of the global strategy is to halt the decline of shark and ray populations globally and to improve the conservation status of the worlds shark and ray species. This main goal will be driven by three further goals which are to have been achieved by 2025:
"2025 Sustainable Fisheries Goal: Fisheries driven overexploitation and waste of sharks and rays are substantially reduced through increased adoption and implementation of sound, science-based fisheries management measures in at least 40 priority countries and in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)"
"2025 Responsible Trade Goal: Effective trade controls are in place to ensure international trade in sharks and rays, and the products derived from them, is legal, sustainable and traceable."
"2025 Responsible Consumption Goal: The demand for (largely unsustainable) shark and ray meat, fins, squalene, manta and devil ray gill plates, and freshwater stingrays is significantly reduced in the most important global markets, while markets increasingly demand that any shark and ray products are sustainably produced and traceable."
This global management strategy comes at a critical time for the worlds sharks and rays. Not only are populations being exponentially reduced by the practise of shark finning, but unsustainable fishing practices mean that shark populations are being depleted at a faster rate than they can restock. in addition to this a general paucity of data on global shark populations and fisheries means many species are hard to assess and thus protect. Whilst 181 of the 1,038 known shark and ray species are listed in one of the three threatened categories in the IUCN Red List, almost half of the total number are listed as Data Deficient, meaning that we do not yet have enough information on the particular species in order to make an assessment of its conservation status.
Urgent attention will be given to the most threatened species first which includes the sawfishes, angel sharks, guitarfishes and wedgefishes; these families all contain species which have been classified as Critically Endangered or Endangered by the IUCN Red List.
Implementation of this global strategy will require extensive engagement with the public and governments in the primary target countries as well as continued research to bridge the gaps in current data. However, ambitious as this strategy is it is entirely necessary if shark and ray populations are to be protected; more heartening perhaps is the commitment that these large conservation organisation have promised towards protecting the worlds sharks and rays by releasing this strategy.
Bräutigam, A., Callow, M., Campbell, I.R., Camhi, M.D., Cornish, A.S., Dulvy, N.K., Fordham, S.V., Fowler, S.L., Hood, A.R., McClennen, C., Reuter, E.L., Sant, G., Simpfendorfer, C.A. and Welch, D.J. (2015). Global Priorities for Conserving Sharks and Rays: A 2015–2025 Strategy.
The primary goal of the global strategy is to halt the decline of shark and ray populations globally and to improve the conservation status of the worlds shark and ray species. This main goal will be driven by three further goals which are to have been achieved by 2025:
"2025 Sustainable Fisheries Goal: Fisheries driven overexploitation and waste of sharks and rays are substantially reduced through increased adoption and implementation of sound, science-based fisheries management measures in at least 40 priority countries and in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)"
"2025 Responsible Trade Goal: Effective trade controls are in place to ensure international trade in sharks and rays, and the products derived from them, is legal, sustainable and traceable."
"2025 Responsible Consumption Goal: The demand for (largely unsustainable) shark and ray meat, fins, squalene, manta and devil ray gill plates, and freshwater stingrays is significantly reduced in the most important global markets, while markets increasingly demand that any shark and ray products are sustainably produced and traceable."
This global management strategy comes at a critical time for the worlds sharks and rays. Not only are populations being exponentially reduced by the practise of shark finning, but unsustainable fishing practices mean that shark populations are being depleted at a faster rate than they can restock. in addition to this a general paucity of data on global shark populations and fisheries means many species are hard to assess and thus protect. Whilst 181 of the 1,038 known shark and ray species are listed in one of the three threatened categories in the IUCN Red List, almost half of the total number are listed as Data Deficient, meaning that we do not yet have enough information on the particular species in order to make an assessment of its conservation status.
Urgent attention will be given to the most threatened species first which includes the sawfishes, angel sharks, guitarfishes and wedgefishes; these families all contain species which have been classified as Critically Endangered or Endangered by the IUCN Red List.
Implementation of this global strategy will require extensive engagement with the public and governments in the primary target countries as well as continued research to bridge the gaps in current data. However, ambitious as this strategy is it is entirely necessary if shark and ray populations are to be protected; more heartening perhaps is the commitment that these large conservation organisation have promised towards protecting the worlds sharks and rays by releasing this strategy.
Bräutigam, A., Callow, M., Campbell, I.R., Camhi, M.D., Cornish, A.S., Dulvy, N.K., Fordham, S.V., Fowler, S.L., Hood, A.R., McClennen, C., Reuter, E.L., Sant, G., Simpfendorfer, C.A. and Welch, D.J. (2015). Global Priorities for Conserving Sharks and Rays: A 2015–2025 Strategy.
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