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McGeady R, Loca SL, McGonigle C. Spatio‐temporal dynamics of the common skate species complex: Evidence of increasing abundance. DIVERS DISTRIB 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan McGeady
- School of Geography and Environmental Sciences Ulster University Coleraine UK
| | - Sophie L. Loca
- School of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UK
| | - Chris McGonigle
- School of Geography and Environmental Sciences Ulster University Coleraine UK
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Mérillet L, Pavoine S, Kopp D, Robert M, Mouchet M. Biomass of slow life history species increases as local bottom trawl effort decreases in the Celtic sea. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 290:112634. [PMID: 33895454 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Due to its selective removal, fishing pressure has long influenced the dynamics of species based on their life history traits. Sensitivity to fishing increases along a "fast-to-slow" gradient of life history strategies, and the "slow" species (large, long-lived, late-maturing, giving birth to few large offspring) require the most time to recover from fishing. In the North East Atlantic, after having reached extreme levels, fishing pressure has decreased since the 1980's due to management measures such as total allowable catch (TAC) or area closure. An effect on the distribution of species as well as a potential recovery could be expected. However, temporal patterns of life history strategies are rarely linked to management measures. In addition, a larger emphasis is often put on exploited or emblematic sensitive species but rarely on assembly processes at the ecosystem scale (both commercial and non-commercial species). Based on a 17-year time series of 101 taxa (fishes, elasmobranchs, bivalves, cephalopods and crustaceans), we observed a negative relationship between the biomass of taxa sensitive to fishing and bottom trawling pressure, as well as an increase in their total biomass in the Celtic Sea. Over the whole area, stochasticity appeared as the dominant assembly process. Deterministic assembly processes were at play in the centre of the area where significant overdispersion (caused by the presence of both slow and fast taxa) were observed. The absence of sensitive taxa from the rest of the Celtic Sea appeared to be caused mainly by a historical effect of environmental filtering when fishing was high. At the local scale, we related the decrease in fishing pressure to the increase in biomass of five of the most sensitive taxa. This local decrease in fishing pressure, resulting from the implementation of an area closure, highlights the positive effect of such management measures in less than two decades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurène Mérillet
- UMR 7204 MNHN-UPMC-CNRS Centre d'Ecologie et de Sciences de la COnservation, 43 Rue Buffon, CP135, 75005, Paris, France; Ifremer, Unité de Sciences et Technologies Halieutiques, Laboratoire de Technologie et Biologie Halieutique, 8 Rue François Toullec, 56100, Lorient, France; Institute of Marine Research (Havforskningsinstituttet), Ecosystem Processes Team, Nordnesgaten 33, 5005, Bergen, Norway.
| | - Sandrine Pavoine
- UMR 7204 MNHN-UPMC-CNRS Centre d'Ecologie et de Sciences de la COnservation, 43 Rue Buffon, CP135, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Dorothée Kopp
- Ifremer, Unité de Sciences et Technologies Halieutiques, Laboratoire de Technologie et Biologie Halieutique, 8 Rue François Toullec, 56100, Lorient, France
| | - Marianne Robert
- Ifremer, Unité de Sciences et Technologies Halieutiques, Laboratoire de Technologie et Biologie Halieutique, 8 Rue François Toullec, 56100, Lorient, France
| | - Maud Mouchet
- UMR 7204 MNHN-UPMC-CNRS Centre d'Ecologie et de Sciences de la COnservation, 43 Rue Buffon, CP135, 75005, Paris, France
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Rindorf A, Gislason H, Burns F, Ellis JR, Reid D. Are fish sensitive to trawling recovering in the Northeast Atlantic? J Appl Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Rindorf
- National Institute of Aquatic Resources Danish Technical University Lyngby Denmark
| | - Henrik Gislason
- National Institute of Aquatic Resources Danish Technical University Lyngby Denmark
| | | | - Jim R. Ellis
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft UK
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Shephard S, Wögerbauer C, Green P, Ellis JR, Roche WK. Angling records track the near extirpation of angel shark Squatina squatina from two Irish hotspots. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2019. [DOI: 10.3354/esr00943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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6
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Sguotti C, Lynam CP, García-Carreras B, Ellis JR, Engelhard GH. Distribution of skates and sharks in the North Sea: 112 years of change. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2016; 22:2729-2743. [PMID: 27082729 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2015] [Revised: 03/10/2016] [Accepted: 03/11/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
How have North Sea skate and shark assemblages changed since the early 20th century when bottom trawling became widespread, whilst their environment became increasingly impacted by fishing, climate change, habitat degradation and other anthropogenic pressures? This article examines long-term changes in the distribution and occurrence of the elasmobranch assemblage of the southern North Sea, based on extensive historical time series (1902-2013) of fishery-independent survey data. In general, larger species (thornback ray, tope, spurdog) exhibited long-term declines, and the largest (common skate complex) became locally extirpated (as did angelshark). Smaller species increased (spotted and starry ray, lesser-spotted dogfish) as did smooth-hound, likely benefiting from greater resilience to fishing and/or climate change. This indicates a fundamental shift from historical dominance of larger, commercially valuable species to current prevalence of smaller, more productive species often of low commercial value. In recent years, however, some trends have reversed, with the (cold-water associated) starry ray now declining and thornback ray increasing. This shift may be attributed to (i) fishing, including mechanised beam trawling introduced in the 1960s-1970s, and historical target fisheries for elasmobranchs; (ii) climate change, currently favouring warm-water above cold-water species; and (iii) habitat loss, including potential degradation of coastal and outer estuarine nursery habitats. The same anthropogenic pressures, here documented to have impacted North Sea elasmobranchs over the past century, are likewise impacting shelf seas worldwide and may increase in the future; therefore, parallel changes in elasmobranch communities in other regions are to be expected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Sguotti
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK
- Biology Department, University of Padova, Via U. Bassi, 58/B, 35121, Padova, Italy
- Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science, University of Hamburg, Grosse Elbstrasse 133, 22767, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christopher P Lynam
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK
| | - Bernardo García-Carreras
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK
- Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Jim R Ellis
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK
| | - Georg H Engelhard
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
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Stirling DA, Boulcott P, Scott BE, Wright PJ. Using verified species distribution models to inform the conservation of a rare marine species. DIVERS DISTRIB 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- David A. Stirling
- Marine Laboratory; Marine Scotland Science; 375 Victoria Road Aberdeen AB11 9DB UK
- University of Aberdeen; Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue Aberdeen AB24 2TZ UK
| | - Philip Boulcott
- Marine Laboratory; Marine Scotland Science; 375 Victoria Road Aberdeen AB11 9DB UK
| | - Beth E. Scott
- University of Aberdeen; Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue Aberdeen AB24 2TZ UK
| | - Peter J. Wright
- Marine Laboratory; Marine Scotland Science; 375 Victoria Road Aberdeen AB11 9DB UK
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Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea. Sci Rep 2015; 5:13245. [PMID: 26272502 PMCID: PMC4536484 DOI: 10.1038/srep13245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2015] [Accepted: 07/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Commercial fisheries have dramatically impacted elasmobranch populations worldwide. With high capture and bycatch rates, the abundance of many species is rapidly declining and around a quarter of the world's sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. At a regional scale this negative trend has also been evidenced in the central Mediterranean Sea, where bottom-trawl fisheries have affected the biomass of certain rays (e.g. Raja clavata) and sharks (e.g. Mustelus spp.). Detailed knowledge of elasmobranch habitat requirements is essential for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, but this is often hampered by a poor understanding of their spatial ecology. Habitat suitability models were used to investigate the habitat preference of nine elasmobranch species and their overall diversity (number of species) in relation to five environmental predictors (i.e. depth, sea surface temperature, surface salinity, slope and rugosity) in the central Mediterranean Sea. Results showed that depth, seafloor morphology and sea surface temperature were the main drivers for elasmobranch habitat suitability. Predictive distribution maps revealed different species-specific patterns of suitable habitat while high assemblage diversity was predicted in deeper offshore waters (400-800 m depth). This study helps to identify priority conservation areas and diversity hot-spots for rare and endangered elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Fock HO. Patterns of extirpation. I. Changes in habitat use by thornback rays Raja clavata in the German Bight for 1902-1908, 1930-1932, and 1991-2009. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2014. [DOI: 10.3354/esr00582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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