Long-term change in a meso-predator community in response to prolonged and heterogeneous human impact

Ferretti, Francesco; Osio, Giacomo Chato; Jenkins, Chris; Rosenberg, Andrew A.; Lotze, Heike K.

doi:10.1038/srep01057

Cited by 108 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…At the beginning of the twentieth century, considerable quantities of S. squatina were still landed in Venice and Trieste (Fortibuoni et al, 2016). However, during five basin-wide scientific trawl surveys carried out to assess benthic fish stocks between 1948 and 2005, the species was last recorded in 1958 (Ferretti et al, 2013). Consequently, at present it is considered rare (Jardas et al, 2008;Fortibuoni et al, 2016), as is the case throughout the whole Mediterranean (Capapé et al, 2006;Kabasakal & Kabasakal, 2014;Ferretti et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). However, Ferretti et al (2013) hypothesized its extirpation from the entire Adriatic Sea as it was not caught in scientific trawl surveys for over half a century. In this paper we present new records of S. squatina and discuss the status of angelsharks in the in the Adriatic Sea based upon new data and analysis of available data from literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New data on the occurrence of the critically endangered common angelshark, Squatina squatina, in the Croatian Adriatic Sea

Holcer

Lazar

2017

Nat. Croat.

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Two out of three critically endangered species of angelsharks (genus Squatina (Dumeril, 1806)) inhabiting the Mediterranean have been recorded in the Adriatic Sea, namely smoothback angelshark S. oculata Bonaparte, 1840 and common angelshark S. squatina (Linnaeus, 1758). While S. oculata has been extirpated from the Adriatic Sea due to overfishing, the presence of S. squatina remained questionable and some authors propose the species is regionally extinct since the 1980s. We present new data on the occurrence of S. squatina in the Croatian Adriatic Sea based upon inspection of collections from natural history museums and literature sources as well as three new records resulting from bycatch in commercial bottom trawls in 2016 and 2017. A low overall number of records and the complete absence of the species in scientific trawl surveys conducted since 1958, indicate its low abundance and question the effectiveness of scientific surveying in detecting rare species. Our analysis showed that this formerly abundant species is still present in the Adriatic Sea, emphasizing the importance of implementing novel approaches, such as citizen-science programmes, in studying its current distribution. Although the legal framework for angelshark conservation already exists, poor implementation and lack of any species-specific conservation measures will most probably result in further population declines and extinction of S. squatina from the Adriatic Sea. U Jadranu su zabilježene dvije od tri kritično ugrožene vrste sklatova koje žive u Sredozemnom moru (rod Squatina (Dumeril, 1806)), sklat žutan S. oculata Bonaparte, 1840 i sklat sivac S. squatina (Linnaeus, 1758). Dok je S. oculata nestala iz Jadrana zbog prevelikog izlova, prisutnost vrste S. squatina je upitna i neki autori predlažu da se vrsta proglasi regionalno izumrlom od 1980. godine. U radu donosimo nove podatke o pojavljivanju vrste S. squatina u hrvatskom dijelu Jadrana na temelju pregleda zbirki prirodoslovnih muzeja i literaturnih izvora te tri nova nalaza kao posljedice slučajnog ulova komercijalnim pridnenim koćaricama iz 2016 i 2017. Ukupni mali broj nalaza i potpuna odsutnost vrste u znanstvenim istraživanjima koćarenjem od 1958. ukazuju na njenu nisku brojnost i na upitni učinak znanstvenih istraživanja u pronalasku rijetkih vrsta. Naša analiza pokazuje da je ova nekad brojna vrsta još uvijek prisutna u Jadranu, uz naglasak na važnost primjene novih metoda za utvrđivanje njene trenutne rasprostranjenosti kao što su programi znanosti za građane. Iako pravni okvir za zaštitu sklata već postoji, njeno 314 Holcer, D. & Lazar, B.: New data on the occurrence of the critically endangered common angelshark... loše provođenje i nepostojanje bilo kakvih mjera zaštite specifičnih za tu vrstu vjerojatno će rezultirati daljnjim padom brojnosti populacije i izumiranjem sklata sivca u Jadranu.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New data on the occurrence of the critically endangered common angelshark, Squatina squatina, in the Croatian Adriatic Sea

Holcer

Lazar

2017

Nat. Croat.

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“…Most of the studies of changes through time have focused on decline of exploited fish populations or top predators (Barausse et al, 2011;Ferretti et al, 2013;Mazzoldi et al, 2014). More limited historical information is available for non-target species, such as benthic invertebrates caught as bycatch.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local Ecological Knowledge Indicates Temporal Trends of Benthic Invertebrates Species of the Adriatic Sea

et al. 2017

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In the Adriatic Sea, shifts in benthic community structure have been attributed to multiple stressors, from the effects of climate change to the impacts of commercial fishing. Some fishing practices, such as bottom trawling, have caused a widespread decline in exploited fish stocks. Bottom trawling is also expected to have negative impacts on benthic habitats, usually structured by and hosting a large array of invertebrate species, which provide important ecological services to fish and commercial invertebrate stocks. However, in contrast to commercial species for which long-term time series of the abundance exist, data on these habitat-forming invertebrates are scarce, as they are usually caught as bycatch and discarded. Therefore, there is great uncertainty about their long-term trends, and if these populations are stable or declining. Here we used interview surveys conducted with bottom-trawling fishers of the central Adriatic Sea to gather local ecological knowledge on megabenthos abundance occurring in their fishing domain, as an alternative source of information to conventional fisheries data. We interviewed 44 fishers, from the most important ports of the Marche region of Italy, to understand how megabenthic species have changed in abundance within the area since the 1980s. Specifically, we asked fishers to provide qualitative abundance scores for 18 invertebrate species in five phyla (Porifera, Cnidaria, Bryozoa, Mollusca, and Echinodermata) based on their recollection of these species' presence in bycatch. We stratified responses in homogeneous temporal periods and geographic sectors of the study area, and analyzed their response with mixed effect ordered logistic regression models in order to evaluate spatiotemporal changes in the perceived abundance of each species. Our analysis suggests that the abundance of the sponge Geodia cydonium, the molluscs Pecten jacobaeus, Atrina fragilis, Neopycnodonte cochlear, and the group of holothurians, have declined. From fishers' perceptions, only the bryozoan Amathia semiconvoluta has increased. Local ecological knowledge can provide important information on environmental change and can highlight species and ecosystems at risk when conventional scientific data are scarce or absent. This approach can be expanded to other regions of the Adriatic and broader Mediterranean Sea to reconstruct change of this heavily exploited marine region.

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“…The area also includes important populations of endangered marine mammals, turtles and elasmobranchs [34][35][36]. The common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is the most frequently recorded mammal of the Northern Adriatic cetacean fauna, while the short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is nowadays very rare [35].…”

Section: Environment and Biotamentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosting Blue Growth in a Mild Sea: Analysis of the Synergies Produced by a Multi-Purpose Offshore Installation in the Northern Adriatic, Italy

et al. 2015

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Abstract:In the near future, the oceans will be subjected to a massive development of marine infrastructures, including offshore wind, tidal and wave energy farms and constructions for marine aquaculture. The development of these facilities will unavoidably exert environmental pressures on marine ecosystems. It is therefore crucial that the economic costs, the use of marine space and the environmental impacts of these activities remain within acceptable limits. Moreover, the installation of arrays of wave energy devices is still far from being economically feasible due to many combined aspects, such as immature technologies for energy conversion, local energy storage and moorings. Therefore, multi-purpose solutions combining renewable energy from the sea (wind, wave, tide), aquaculture and transportation facilities can be considered as a challenging, yet advantageous, way to boost blue growth. This would be due to the sharing of the costs of installation and using the produced energy locally to feed the different functionalities and optimizing marine spatial planning. This paper focuses on the synergies that may be produced by a multi-purpose offshore installation in a relatively calm sea, i.e., the Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy, and specifically offshore Venice. It analyzes the combination of aquaculture, energy production from wind and waves, and energy storage or transfer. Alternative solutions are evaluated based on specific criteria, including the maturity of the technology, the environmental impact, the induced risks and the costs. Based on expert judgment, the alternatives are ranked and a preliminary layout of the selected multi-purpose installation for the case study is proposed, to further allow the exploitation of the synergies among different functionalities.

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Long-term change in a meso-predator community in response to prolonged and heterogeneous human impact

Cited by 108 publications

References 48 publications

New data on the occurrence of the critically endangered common angelshark, Squatina squatina, in the Croatian Adriatic Sea

New data on the occurrence of the critically endangered common angelshark, Squatina squatina, in the Croatian Adriatic Sea

Local Ecological Knowledge Indicates Temporal Trends of Benthic Invertebrates Species of the Adriatic Sea

Boosting Blue Growth in a Mild Sea: Analysis of the Synergies Produced by a Multi-Purpose Offshore Installation in the Northern Adriatic, Italy

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