Multiple interannual records of young-of-the-year identify an important area for the protection of the shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus

Looking into the prevalence of bycatch juveniles of critically endangered elasmobranchs: a case study from pelagic longline and trammel net fisheries of the Asinara Gulf (western Mediterranean)

“…Current bycatch rates, as relative and absolute estimates, of shortfin mako and blue shark were found to be generally lower or at most similar to other data for these species in the pelagic longlines of the Mediterranean basin (Garibaldi, 2015;Bartolı́et al, 2017;Saidi et al, 2019;Panayiotou et al, 2020;Carbonara et al, 2023;Cattano et al, 2023a;Doherty et al, 2022). Differently, the bycatch size composition and the at-vessel mortality rate obtained were similar.…”

“…As observed during the 4-year fishery-dependent survey in the study area, the prevalence of juveniles of k-selected critically endangered large elasmobranchs in the bycatch of longlines and trammel nets is a constant feature of the bycatch size composition recently observed in other areas of the Mediterranean (Saidi et al, 2019;Panayiotou et al, 2020;Carbonara et al, 2023;Doherty et al, 2022;Cattano et al, 2023a;Mancusi et al, 2023). Aside from large elasmobranch species, coastal passive nets are also responsible for a relevant bycatch of juveniles of several small-and medium-sized endangered sharks and rays, as observed in the trammel net fishery in the southeastern Sicily (Tiralongo et al, 2018a;Tiralongo et al, 2018b).…”

“…Despite the different bioecological traits of the species, juveniles and newborns are more constrained by hydrological regimes than adults are, as the latter can take advantage of a higher swimming performance compared with former individuals. In addition to this study, the prevalence of juveniles in pelagic longline bycatch was recently observed in other potential favorable shark and ray areas, such as the Gulf of Gabes (Saidi et al, 2019), the southern Adriatic Sea (Carbonara et al, 2023), and the Pelagie Archipelago (Cattano et al, 2023a). similar bycatch size structure was also observed in coastal passive nets deployed in the Ligurian and northern Tyrrhenian Seas for several species of large elasmobranchs (Mancusi et al, 2023), as well as in Mediterranean recreational fisheries, particularly blue shark (Panayiotou et al, 2020).…”

“…The species here considered have a natural low density in the Mediterranean (Tortonese, 1956;Notarbartolo di Sciara and Bianchi, 1998), and fishery-dependent occurrence data are sparse along different fishing gear and fishing zones (Carpentieri et al, 2021). Pelagic longlines are the most threatening fishery (Bartolıé t al., 2017), as bycatch of large pelagic sharks has been reported in the Adriatic (Carbonara et al, 2023), Ligurian (Garibaldi, 2015), Ionian Sea (Megalofonou et al, 2005), Sicilian Channel (Burgess et al, 2010;Cattano et al, 2023a), Spanish (Mejuto et al, 2002), Greek (Peristeraki et al, 2008), French (Doherty et al, 2022), and southeastern (Damalas and Megalofonou, 2012) Mediterranean waters. Recreational fishery has also a relevant role, as it shows an important bycatch of many pelagic shark and ray species in the Mediterranean (Panayiotou et al, 2020).…”

Studying Chondrichthyans Using Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems: A Review

“…This is certainly due to the large availability of these animals in the waters of these countries, but in the case of Australia, it is also due to the fact that it has demonstrated the potential of this tool in its waters for a long time [18,57]. In other parts of the world, such as the Mediterranean Region, where few studies have employed the use of BRUVS to study Chondrichthyans, it has only recently begun [41,78,89], the potential of this tool has yet to be recognized. BRUVS reduce labor costs and safety risks associated with deploying divers, and they provide extensive, high-resolution footage without physically disturbing marine habitats.…”