When swordfish conservation biologists eat swordfish

I wrote a short essay that was accepted as an Editorial in the renown scientific journal Conservation Biology.

This article is now in press and its published version should be out in February 2009. I would like to share it with Mediterranean Conservation readers ahead of print.

The essay is meant to be food for thought -- for people including myself.

Giovanni Bearzi

---

Bearzi G. In press. When swordfish conservation biologists eat swordfish. Conservation Biology (scheduled February 2009). (84 Kb)

New monk seal breeding colony in the Aegean Sea

An island previously reserved for military use turned out to be a safe heaven for the endangered Mediterranean monk seal. Three out of the eight caves are suitable for pupping and in 2004 ten pups were identified, four in 2005 and seven in 2007.

Being off limits for all but the military, the beaches of this island provided a safe place for mothers and pups to rest, a behavior that has not been observed in this species in the Mediterranean Sea recently.

This newly discovered colony, with relatively high natality compared to other breeding sites in the Mediterranean Sea and the rare use of open beaches, is of outstanding conservation value and is in urgent need of effective protection.

(Illustration: distribution of Med monk seal, Monachus Guardian)

---
For more information:
Dendrinos, D., A.A. Karamanlidis, S. Kotomatas, V. Paravas, S. Adamantopoulou. 2008. Report of a New Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) Breeding Colony in the Aegean Sea, Greece. Aquatic Mammals 34(3): 355-361

EU halts bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean

The European Commission closed the industrial tuna fishing season early (June 16th as opposed to end of month), provoking a wave of protest from Europe's leading fishing nations. With quotas nearly full, and substantial illegal fishing reported again this year, the EU executive said that fishing in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic needed to be halted early to protect the species.

The move targets fishing by purse seiners, which account for 70% of all bluefin tuna hauls. Spanish ships are allowed to fish until June 23rd.

The commission said an early closure was all the more necessary this year because the purse seiner fleet had grown substantially since 2007 despite tougher international quotas and EU funds available for reducing fleets. "The commission is determined to use all necessary means to prevent a recurrence of the substantial overfishing seen in 2007" it said.

Illegal fishing for bluefin tuna is still rampant in the Med. Last week WWF and Greenpeace caught Italian planes spotting tuna schools from the air in the central Mediterranean. Spotter planes are illegal in the area, as they give too strong an advantage to a massive hi-tech fleet that is already far larger than the capacity recommended by scientists for the survival of the species and the fishery.

Since the Mediterranean tuna fishing season opened at the beginning of May, WWF calculated that over 10,000 breeding bluefin tunas were caught every day by the industrial fishing fleet.

---
For more information:
- EU tightens controls over BFT fisheries
- WWF report on BFT overfishing in the Med

Turtles in trouble

The Marine Conservation Society together with the Travel Foundation and design company Juniperblue have recently produced an entertaining and educational cartoon called Turtles in Trouble.

The 8 minutes long animation is for everybody planning holidays in the Mediterranean, but it includes valuable advice relevant to all destinations where marine turtles may lay eggs.

The video effectively shows how simple changes in our behaviour while on holidays can make a big difference. As the video points out: “Turtles are in danger of extinction, and extinction is forever. But doing your bit, you can give this spectacular animals the chance to survive for generations to come”.

Silvia Bonizzoni

---
To watch the video: Turtles in Trouble

Where have all the sharks gone?

Several species of sharks in the Med have almost disappeared, their numbers 97% below what they were 200 years ago.

This is the scary figure that emerges from a new research (Loss of large predatory sharks in the Mediterranean), founded in part by the Lenfest Ocean Program, just published on Conservation Biology.

Fishing (both direct and by catch), coastal degradation and lack of management, coupled with the life history of sharks (who grow slowly, mature late and produce few young) caused this massive loss.

Blue, thresher, mako, porbeagle and hammerhead sharks have almost totally vanished in catch records from all sorts of different sources (tuna traps records, coast guard, fishing market, recreational fishing tournaments data) over the years, the authors found.

The consequences on the ecosystem of losing these key players is still poorly understood, as populations of other fish and invertebrates shift in unpredictable ways. But the extent of this collapse "may hold serious implications for the entire marine ecosystem, greatly affecting food webs throughout this region,” said the lead author of the study, Francesco Ferretti, a doctoral student in marine biology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

Better management of shark fisheries is clearly needed to reverse this trend.

---
For more information:
- The press release
- The Lenfest Report "Shark Declines in the Mediterranean sea: a summary of a new scientific analysis"
- Ferretti et al. 2008. Loss of large predatory sharks from the Mediterranean Sea. Conservation Biology.

New publication on the Pelagos Sanctuary

Back in 1990, the Tethys Research Institute proposed to the “European Association Rotary for the Environment” a project for the establishment of a marine protected area, a Biosphere Reserve, in the high seas encompassing the most important habitat for cetaceans in the region.

The rationale behind the proposal, which was named “Project Pelagos”, included the ecological representativeness of the area, its high species diversity, its intense biological activity, the presence of critical habitat for a number of pelagic species including cetaceans, and the opportunities that the area offered to baseline research.

Now, almost 20 years later, the pioneer of Pelagos Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara and other four authors published a comprehensive review on the Cetacean Sanctuary.

‘The Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals’ provides a description of the rationale behind the initial proposal and an overview of the challenging process leading to the creation of the Sanctuary, a unique area that contains habitat suitable for the breeding and feeding needs of the entire complement of cetacean species regularly found in the Mediterranean Sea.

---
To download the article:
Notarbartolo di Sciara G., Agardy T., Hyrenbach D., Scovazzi T., Van Klaveren P. 2008. The Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 18:367-391.

For more information:
www.cetaceanalliance.org
www.tethys.org

Tuna conservationists attacked by Turkish fishermen

Three Turkish tuna fishing vessels surrounded the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise while the crew of one of the vessels attacked the ship in the Cypriot Channel.

Earlier, Greenpeace flew its helicopter to document the activities of tuna fishing vessels. One of the three, the Cinar Ibrahim, collided with the Arctic Sunrise. The tuna ship’s crew then started hurling lead fishing weights at the Greenpeace ship. Gunfire was also heard. No one was injured but the Greenpeace helicopter was damaged and is now inoperable.

The Arctic Sunrise was sailing between Turkey and Cyprus to draw attention to tuna illegal overfishing.

Photo: © Greenpeace / Gavin Parsons

---
For more information:
Greenpeace press release
Video of the incident
Artic Sunrise in Italian waters

MPAs export fish

MPAs export adult fish, egg and larvae to adjacent areas, as results of BIOMEX project (Assessment of BIOMass EXport from Marine Protected Areas and its impact on Fisheries in the western Mediterranean Sea) prove.

Depending on the MPA, the effect is on some species or groups of species. Fish biomass export varies greatly in space and intensity according to fish species, and is restricted to a small distance from MPA border, but it is likely to have positive effects on adjacent fisheries.

Photo: © Photo Pablo Sanchez / Biomex

---
For more information:
- MedPan, the Network of Managers of Marine Protected Areas of the Mediterranean
- Full Programme report and Biomex website

Fishing out the pirates of the Mediterranean

Greenpeace campaign "Defending Our Mediterranean" had barely begun when activists confronted Italian fishing “pirates” in the Ionian Sea and confiscated almost two kilometres of illegal driftnet containing dead undersized bluefin tuna and a small sea turtle that was later released alive.

The Greenpeace crew came across the Italian fishing vessel Diomede II, fishing with 8-10 km of driftnet in international waters approximately 50 kilometres off the coast of Sicily, Italy.

Diomede II - which is licensed only to fish with longline or anchored nets within 15 kilometres from the coast - was met at her home port by officials, alerted by the NGO, that confiscated its illegal driftnets.
---
For more information read the whole story on the Greenpeace web site

The most dangerous species in the Mediterranean

Campaign for the Government of Catalunya by Klas Ernflo to keep the Mediterranean sea clean (2005).

Made with copywriter Fran Segarra, Creative directors Xavi Hidalgo & Fernando Planelles for the agency Small in Barcelona.

EU tightens control on bluefin tuna fisheries

The European Commission launched a major control campaign aimed at preventing a repeat of last year's overfishing of Mediterranean bluefin tuna by a number of EU Member States.

The plan will bring together the resources of the seven main Member States involved in the fishery – Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain – and will cover all stages in the market chain, including controls at sea, onshore, and at fattening farms.

The control campaign marks an unprecedented effort, in terms of both the scale of operations, and the technical means deployed. The Community Fisheries Control Agency will coordinate joint inspection and control activities involving 13 large patrol vessels, 36 coastal patrol vessels and 16 aircraft. There will be 14 campaigns at sea involving in all 30 inspectors, representing overall 160 patrol days. 25 joint inspections involving 50 inspectors are planned in the ports concerned. Commission inspectors will also be involved in 32 inspection visits both at sea and in ports.

As illustrated by a report published by the WWF, the whole fishery is plagued by overfishing by a fleet that keeps growing in size and efficiency - thanks also to 16 million Euro of EU fundings, as Oceana recently underlined.

---
For more information:
European Commission press release
EU funding for tuna overexploitation
Crazy race for last Mediterranean tuna

Contaminants and marine megavertebrates - a workshop

'Contaminants and pathology in marine megavertebrates as environmental assessment tools' is the title of a workshop organized by University of Bologna on May, 8th, in Cesenatico, Italy. The meeting is organized in conjunction with Gruppo di Ricerca sui Grandi Vertebrati Pelagici.

Aim of the workshop is to focus on potential effects of pollutants on the health of marine megavertebrates. It will focus on different aspects of natural and anothropogenic pollutants and on suspected or proved connections with specific pathologies. Proceedings will be published on Endangered Species Research.

The workshop is open to students as well. Registration deadline is April, 30th.

---
For more information:
http://www.eulasmo.org/content.asp?did=30233

EU funding for tuna overexploitation

Oceana – the international ocean conservation organisation – reports that millions of Euros have been allocated for the overexploitation of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, calls for the immediate closure of the Balearic fishing grounds, and criticises the contradictory measures adopted by implicated states.

According to Oceana, overcapacity in Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery denounced by a WWF report (see 12 March post), has been financed by the EU with more than 16 million Euros. The EU purse seine fleets involved in this fishery are from Spain, France and Italy.

Oceana also stressed that management measures and actions by the governments participating in this kind of fishery do not correspond to the reality of the fleet and the state of bluefin tuna stocks.

Once again, scientific recommendations are being ignored. Excessive quotas are established, the fleets continue to fish in spawning grounds, undersized tunas are being caught, illegal vessels catch and land bluefin tuna in unauthorised ports, the fleets continue to ignore the assigned quotas and do not declare the catches.

Silvia Bonizzoni

(Photo by Oceana)

---
For more information:
Oceana press release
Oceana website
WWF report
Mediterranean Conservation News - 12 March post

Ships dumping waste: illegal as of 2009

Dumping of waste by ships in the Mediterranean Sea will become illegal as of May 1, 2009, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said.

The new rules prohibit the ditching of "all plastics, including but not limited to synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets and plastic garbage bags and all other garbage, including paper products, rags, glass, metal, bottles, crockery, dunnage (loose material used in ship storage), lining and packing materials".

The application of International Maritime Organization measures had been suspended for years, until adequate garbage collection facilities were established in ports around the sea's coasts.

---
For more information:
UNEP News

Trawling near the coasts of Greece

Bottom trawling, a fishing method that drags a large net across the sea floor, is a known threat to the marine environment.

Due to the disruptive nature of this method, the European Regulation currently in force across the Mediterranean forbids trawling closer than 1.5 nautical miles from the seashore.

The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research has also demonstrated that trawling is the least selective of all fishing gears, with an annual bycatch rate up to 44%. The Greek Ministry for Rural Development and Food, in its National Operational Plan for Fisheries 2007-2013, acknowledges that “most benthopelagic species are in a state of relative overfishing or overfishing”.

Despite the European regulation and scientific evidence the Greek Ministry for Rural Development and Food, itself, has recently decided to allow the use of trawling nets at a distance of only 1 nautical mile from the coast.

A coalition of Greek conservation organizations, including Archelon, Mediterranean SOS Network, MOM, Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, Greenpeace and WWF Greece, is calling for the immediate reversal of this decision, to prevent the destruction of coastal ecosystems and ensure sustainability of fishing in the long term.

Silvia Bonizzoni

---
For more information:
www.panda.org

Dolphins in a bottle

Giovanni Bearzi and other four researchers from the Tethys Research Institute recently published a paper reporting the work done in the Gulf of Amvrakikos during 2002-2005, resulting in the individual identification of 148 bottlenose dolphins.

This work shows that dolphin density and levels of site fidelity are high, and this was related primarily to prey availability, particularly of epipelagic schooling fish.

The importance of this semi-closed basin for bottlenose dolphins and other threatened species such as marine turtles and endangered birds supports the adoption of measures aimed to conserve its valuable ecosystems and raise the naturalistic profile of the area, while promoting environment-conscious development.

Paraphrasing the famous song by The Police, Dolphins in a Bottle sends a S.O.S. to the world to protect these unique animals and their environment, and we hope that someone gets it :-)

Silvia Bonizzoni

---
Bearzi G, Agazzi S., Bonizzoni S., Costa M., Azzellino A. 2008. Dolphins in a bottle: abundance, residency patterns and conservation of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in the semi-closed eutrophic Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 18(2):130-146. (502 Kb)

Rocky deserts at sea: causes and solutions

Many vegetated systems in temperate regions throughout the world may face dramatic ecosystems shifts to unvegetated states. So, flourishing kelp forests may become desolated bare rocky substrates void of the rich floras and faunas usually associated to forests.

In the Mediterranean there are no kelp forests, but rocky bottoms can be covered by macroalgae (e.g. Cystoseira spp) that host juvenile and adult stages of many invertebrate and fish species. The persistence of these macroalgal beds, that greatly contribute to maintain coastal biodiversity and productivity, is the result of a delicate equilibrium among environmental conditions, interactions among species and human disturbance.

In recent years it has been demonstrated that in Mediterranean rocky reefs where fishing is particularly intense fish predators may decrease in abundance and size. Their decreased predation impact on preys, including sea urchins (the most important grazers in such systems), may reflect in a dramatic increase of prey abundance.

The ultimate consequence of the fishing impact may thus be an increased grazing impact of sea urchins that causes the transition from macroalgal beds to the so-called ‘barrens’, that is bare rocks partially covered by encrusting coralline algae. They are a sort of rocky deserts.

How to cope with this? Management of complex natural systems is not easy because many processes may interact. Formation of barrens, for instance, can be also a consequence of other processes like water warming or sedimentation. However, fishing restrictions and fish predator recovery may be useful to reverse this phenomenon.

From this perspective, there is increasing evidence that the creation of effective Marine Protected Areas (and not paper parks) can allow fish predators to recover along with their potential in controlling sea urchin populations and their effects on macroalgae.

At the MPA of Torre Guaceto (SE Italy), in the same rocky reefs where in the past (before the establishment of the MPA) there were barrens, there are at present (after about 7-8 years of effective protection) more fish predators, less sea urchins and lower barren covers than outside the MPA, which is the proof that properly managed MPAs can allow the entire ecosystems to recover.

Paolo Guidetti

---
For more information:
Guidetti P. 2006. Marine reserves reestablish lost predatory interactions and cause community changes in rocky reefs. Ecological Applications 16(3):963–976.

How climate influences the deep sea

Picture the Grand Canyon in Arizona - then place it under the sea: the Mediterranean seafloor is criss-crossed with deep submarine canyons that in sheer size put their land counterpart to shame. Rivers of dense waters flow through these canyons, their capacity varying depending on climate-induced phonomena.

During such an event, the amount of water transported in 4 months from the Gulf of Lion to the deep Western Mediterranean via the Cap de Creus canyon equalled 2 years of input from all rivers draining in the Mediterranean.

How these dense shelf water cascading in the Gulf de Lion affect the population of the deep sea shrimp Aristeus antennatus, the most valuable deep-sea living resource in the Mediterranean Sea, was recently discovered by Spanish researchers. Initially, the strong currents (up to 80 cm/sec) displace shrimp populations from the normal fishing grounds, producing a temporary fishing collapse. However, the food provided by the currents soon leads to a large increase in recruitment - which results in plentiful landings of large shrimps 3-5 years after major cascading events.

These new findings resolve the paradox of a long-overexploited fishery that has not collapsed after 70 years of intense deep-sea trawling. But climate change is expected to cause a decrease of winter deep water formation in the Gulf de Lion, which in turn could decrease the frequency and intensity of dense shelf water cascading events. Without this regenerative mechanism, fishery pressure could quickly deplete the stock of Aristeus antennatus and other valuable deep-sea living resources in the area.

---
For more information:
Company et al (2008) Climate influence on deep sea populations. PLoS ONE 3(1): e1431.
Eureka alert press release (Jan 15th 2008)

Global MPA database

MPA Global Database is a project that aims to create a database on the existing Marine Protected Areas, worldwide.

Based largely on information in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), the project has two main goals: to develop a more robust global MPA baseline than currently exists, and to develop alternative scenarios of global MPA networks using spatial modelling techniques.

MPA Global Database contains a great variety of information such as: names of MPAs for each country, area covered and year of designation, mean area of MPAs, percentage of MPAs located in a specific latitude etc.

This database shows that 4435 MPAs exist worldwide and they cover an area of 2.35 million km2. These numbers sound misleadinly big, but the fact is: only 0.65% of the world oceans is covered by MPAs!

Even more impressive is the estimate of global no-take areas (areas where fishing is banned). The percentage of world oceans subject to this specific regulation is only 0.08% !

This database is a new tool for the marine conservation and shows how much still needs to be done to protect marine biodiversity.

Silvia Bonizzoni

---
For more information:
http://mpaglobal.org
http://depts.washington.edu

Bycaught dolphins washing up dead on British coasts

A scaring number of dolphins and porpoises are washing up dead on British coasts.

Since the beginning of the year, 29 animals have been found on the beaches of south-west England. Experts suspect that most have drowned after being caught up in fishing nets.

Some dolphins have their tails or beaks amputated probably due to a useless attempt to free them from the nets, in other individuals bellies have been sliced open after death to try to make them sink.

Mark Simmonds, science director at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "It is a horrid way for these dolphins to die and you can see that when they come ashore. Fishermen are getting more adept at hiding the evidence and what we see on land is only a proportion of the problem."

On the other hand, Andy Wheeler, from the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation, said: "Every reasonable effort is made by fishermen to avoid bycatch of dolphins. The jury is still out on whether the level of bycatch is a threat to the population."

Considering that the fishing effort is increasing worldwide, it’s time to increase also our effort to eliminate bycaught animals, whether cetaceans, birds, marine turtles, sharks or others.

Silvia Bonizzoni

Photo: WDCS

---
For more information:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth
http://www.wdcs.org/news

French driftnets killed by the European Court of Justice

Oceana, an international organization that works to protect and recover the oceans in the world, has announced that the European Court of Justice has refused to grant France exemption from the prohibition of the use of driftnets in the Mediterranean.

Driftnets used to catch bluefin tuna and swordfish were outlawed in the European Union from 2002 because they constitute a threat to the conservation of cetaceans, sea turtles and sharks. However, years after the ban entered into force, France and Italy have continued using driftnets. While operations in Italy have been downright illegal, the French fleet had taken advantage of legal loopholes to continue carrying out its activities, with full support from its government. French driftnets have caused significant mortality to striped dolphins in the waters of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean cetaceans.

The European Court of Justice ruled that the French driftnet fleet should not have a temporary exemption from the ban as requested by its government. As such, France cannot offer the driftnet fleet its protection in 2008. Any fishing vessel using this gear to catch bluefin tuna must be sanctioned by French authorities.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

---
For more information:
Oceana's press release, 17 March 2008

Mediterranean forecast

A great information tool for scientists working in our inland sea is the Mediterranean Ocean Forecasting System (MFS) created by GNOO, the Italian National Applied Oceanography Group.

Daily temperature, salinity, height, anomalies at the surface or in the depths; a forecast for the next 10 days and an analysis of the past 7 days are available.

Other regional forecasting systems, amongst others:

• the Adriatic Sea
• the Sicilian Channel
• the North-West Mediterranean

(image: MFS)

Crazy race for the last Mediterranean tuna

A new WWF report, 126 pages long, provides the first real estimate of the actual catch capability of the Mediterranean purse seine fleet targeting bluefin tuna.

The results are discouraging: few tuna stocks left are driven by unregulated and unsustainable fisheries to a tragic end point.

Without considering the potential catch from other fleets, such as pelagic trawlers, longliners etc., the Mediterranean purse seine fleet has a calculated yearly catch potential of 54,783 metric tonnes. This amount is twice the fishing capacity of current quotas and more than 3.5 times the catch levels recommended by scientists to avoid stock collapse.

How could we ever get to this point? Systematic upward adjustment of quotas, under-reporting of catches, uncontrolled increase in fishing capacity, illegal fishing, ever-increasing market demand ever-expanding fleet size and efficiency... these are some ingredients of the foolish management that brought the tuna stocks to nearly collapse.

Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean, has a clear view of the situation: “The fishery is unsustainable in every way – economically, socially, and ecologically. The time to act is now – while there are still bluefin tuna to save in the Mediterranean”.

Silvia Bonizzoni

---
For more information
http://www.panda.org
To download the report
http://assets.panda.org

Ocean deserts

The world oceans are deeply affected by human activities, from pollution to resource overexploitation, but now there is a new problem.

The least biologically productive areas of the oceans are expanding much faster than predicted. This is the result of a new study conducted by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Hawaii.

The evidence of this expansion comes from data collected by a visual satellite sensor that reads reflective colour to measure the density of chlorophyll in phytoplankton, the microscopic organisms that are the base of the marine food web. Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are characterized by huge 'black' spots, which indicate zones of very low productivity. These zones, likened to deserts, now cover an estimated 51 million square kilometres in the two oceans and are replacing very fast adjacent prolific areas.

This change in ocean biology, probably linked to the warming of sea surface waters, can have deep consequences to all marine ecosystems. It may negatively affect all the marine food web from plankton to fishes, turtle and cetaceans.

Silvia Bonizzoni

(The image by NOAA shows black areas considered the least biologically productive)

---
For more information:
www.noaanews.noaa.gov

"Protected" marine protected areas are better than "just" marine protected areas

An obvious statement? Not so, as it seems. Many Mediterranean coastal states have established marine protected areas (MPAs), however more than 50% of these have no management plans and their regulations, particularly as far as fisheries are concerned, are not enforced. As a result, fish assemblages in these "paper parks" often cannot be distinguished from those found in non-protected waters.

Paolo Guidetti (University of Lecce, Italy) and colleagues have recently published (Biological Conservation, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.12.013) results from research on fish assemblages simultaneously conducted across 15 Italian rocky shore MPAs within the framework of the "Sistema Afrodite" programme.

The authors discovered that only three of the marine reserves investigated had adequate enforcement, and that the degree of recovery of target fish species was tightly linked to the level of surveillance conducted in the MPAs. The study demonstrates the importance of including compliance among the factors considered in evaluating the conservation effectiveness of marine reserves, and warns that in careless analyses positive ecological responses in properly managed reserves can be masked by neutral or even negative results in paper parks.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara
(photograph by Tundi Agardy)

Guidetti P., Milazzo M., Bussotti S., Molinari A., Murenu M., Pais A., Spanò N., Balzano R., Agardy T., Boero F., Carrada G., Cattaneo-Vietti R., Cau A., Chemello R., Greco S., Manganaro A., Notarbartolo di Sciara G., Russo G.F., Tunesi L. 2008. Italian marine protected area effectiveness: does enforcement matter? Biological Conservation 141:699-709.

Rare monk seal sighted in Sardinia?

The sighting of a monk seal in the waters of the National Park of the Maddalena Archipelago (Sardinia, Italy), made two days ago, was reported in today's issue of La Nuova Sardegna, a local newspaper.

The seal, a young specimen only about 1.5 m long, was reportedly seen cavorting underwater around two skin divers without any trace of fear. One of them, Fannino Curreli - an experienced local diver - expressed no doubts about the identification of the species.

Monk seals, frequent in Sardinia until about 50 years ago, today have almost completely disappeared from the entire western Mediterranean, and sightings in Sardinia are now an extremely rare occurrence. If confirmed, the appearance of a monk seal off La Maddalena is encouraging because it indicates that these rare mammals could one day make a comeback if undisturbed.

Mediterranean monk seals were exterminated by direct killings, excessive fishing and pervasive human disturbance, and have now become one of the most endangered of the planet's mammals. It is thought that only 350-400 specimens of the species still exist in the entire Mediterranean Sea, mostly in Greek and Turkish waters.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

Mediterranean shark fisheries

Few elasmobranchs are subject to directed fisheries in the Mediterranean, but the region has the highest percentage of threatened sharks and rays in the world (42%).
Bycatch is the main cause of decline. Catsharks, dogfish and skates have a greater commercial value; other species may be discarded. In Italy elasmobranchs represent less than the 2% of reported total catches.

Bottom trawl fisheries catch various elasmobranchs such as catsharks and skates. Trammel nets may also catch larger species, including even basking and white sharks. Many shark species are taken as bycatch of Mediterranean deep-water fisheries. Migratory oceanic sharks constitute a large component of the bycatch in tuna and swordfish fisheries using longlines, driftnets and purse seines. Large driftnet fisheries are prohibited by the EU but the gear is still used by both EU and non EU boats.

Finning is not known to be practiced in the Mediterranean basin, but recently the Italian Coast Guard stopped a Spanish fishing boat finning in international waters just off the Calabrian coast (13 nautical miles out of Italy).

Eleonora de Sabata

---
For more information:
Hareide et al. 2007. European Shark Fisheries: a preliminary investigation into fisheries, conversion factors, trade products, markets and management measures European Elasmobranch Association

Individual recognition of dolphins reported by Pliny the Elder 1931 years ago

Cetacean research pioneers David and Melba Caldwell wrote in their 1972 book “The world of the bottlenosed dolphin” that the earliest example of the practice of prolonged observation of cetaceans based on the recognition of individuals over extended time was that of Pelorus Jack - a Risso’s dolphin observed between 1888 and 1912 swimming near ships crossing Cook Strait, between the northern and southern portions of New Zealand.

Recently my attention was pointed to a writing by Pliny the Elder which moves back the clock of such scientific method by 1,811 years!

In the 9th book of his Naturalis Historia, published in 77 A.D., the ancient naturalist wrote about dolphins: “They grow fast, and it is believed that they reach their maximum size at 10 years of age. They can reach the age of 30, as discovered through the experimental cutting of nicks on their tails” (Adolescunt celeriter, X annis putantur ad summam magnitudinem pervenire. Vivunt et tricenis, quod cognitum praecisa cauda in experimentum).

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

Using satellite images to protect the Ocean

Not everyone knows that satellite images can be used to support marine conservation.

The concept is simple. Satellites have global reach and can repeatedly capture images of any area, they can reveal the land/seascape disruption and habitat degradation caused by anthropogenic activities. They can be used to monitor industrial sites, logging operations, environmentally sensitive areas, urban sprawl, shipping traffic, fisheries, and resource-management practices, no matter where in the world they occur.

Also, they can be used to monitor fishing activities. Daniel Pauly, a world-renowned fisheries scientist, is the pioneer of this innovative idea. Pauly was inspired by a satellite image of a fleet of trawlers at work in the ocean. Looking at the image, he realized that trawlers could be seen so clearly that it would in theory be possible to monitor fishing from satellites and assess their impact. With historical and global archives, it is also possible to compare images to show changes over time. This kind of data could lead to restrictions on industrial fishing methods.

In addition to being a source of scientific data to document environmental change, satellite images may also represent a powerful communication tool. Using satellite photographs, we can document and communicate the impact of anthropogenic activities and promote a sustainable use of resources.

Silvia Bonizzoni

(The satellite photo shows mud trails made by shrimp trawlers off the mouth of the Yangtze River www.digitalglobe.com)
---
For more information:
www.theglobeandmail.com
www.eurekalert.org
www.iht.com

An Alliance for Mediterranean whales and dolphins

Cetacean Alliance is a newly-born not-for-profit network of non-governmental organizations committed to preserving marine biodiversity and reducing human impact on cetacean populations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Its aim is to develop synergies and create opportunities for collaboration among individuals and organizations sharing a determination to protect these magnificent and vulnerable animals.

The network includes NGOs with bases in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, the UK and the US.

Visit the Cetacean Alliance web site

How sharks find their next meal

Ever wondered how marine animals find their next meal?

Apparently, the same way we do our shopping: we don't wander aimlessly but go down the road and, if we don't find what we want, make a couple of longer trips downtown. This special type of random motion is known as a Levy walk.

Ecologist David Sims of the Marine Biological Association laboratory in Plymouth, U.K., and collegues have found evidence of Levy walks analyzing more than a million dives of 31 large marine predators - including sharks, fish, sea turtles and penguins - as they apparently hunted for food.

The team also conducted computer simulations showing that if prey is scattered in the ocean, but concentrated in clumps, repeated short dives with an occasional much longer plunge would be the best strategy to find it.

This research was published today on Nature.
Sims D.W. et al. 2008. Scaling laws of marine predator search behaviour. Nature 451:1098-1103. doi:10.1038/nature06518

Eleonora de Sabata

Save the Mediterranean tuna

Tuna are vanishing, worldwide, due to unsustainable fishing pressure and short-sighted environmental management.

That tuna are collapsing is now perfectly clear. It has been repeated by a number of scientists and experts, and even by fishermen. So, it’s time for us to act. If you want to change the situation, there is something you can do.

If you don’t buy tuna, you give to this amazing species a chance of survival. Take action now: stop consuming tuna, and recommend to your friends to do the same.

Silvia Bonizzoni / Tethys Research Institute
(Drawing by Massimo Demma)

---
For more information:
www.wildlifeextra.com
www.panda.org
environment.newscientist.com

All About Dolphins

A booklet providing information about dolphins, their daily lives and the threats they face. For school children, teachers and parents.

Information is delivered through interactive exercises and games, making the manual suitable for use in the classroom and during leisure time.

Produced in eight languages (Arabic / English / Italian / French / German / Greek / Spanish / Turkish) and available for free download.

Go to the booklet's web page

Our Friends the Dolphins

An educational colouring book for children featuring dolphins, the threats affecting them, and ways to protect them.

The booklet can be viewed online at different sizes and can be freely downloaded.

Available in five languages (English / Italian / French / German / Greek).

Go to the booklet's web site

Sanctuaries of the Sea

Sanctuaries of the Sea - Are Marine Protected Areas for Cetaceans a Solution? explores whether whales, dolphins and porpoises can be the catalyst in protecting marine biodiversity in this ancient sea.

earthOCEAN interviews Erich Hoyt of WDCS, and Ana Canadas and Ric Sagarminaga of Alnitak.

Disappearing Dolphins

Disappearing Dolphins features the efforts of Tethys researchers to study and protect dolphins in western Greece. Common dolphins were once abundant throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

Today they are declining rapidly, surviving only in portions of their former range. In western Greece, the sea around the island of Kalamos is their last stronghold, or at least it used to be...

Fishy Business

Fishy Business documents the illegal driftnet fishery. Despite a world-wide ban by the United Nations in 1992 and by the European Union in 2002, the driftnet fishery continues illegally throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

Driftnets are banned because they take large quantities of unwanted catch, called bycatch, putting populations of migratory fish, sea turtles and cetaceans at risk.

The Sperm Whales of Greece

The Sperm Whales of Greece - Life in the Trenches documents a scientific expedition through Greece in search of the elusive and endangered Mediterranean sperm whale.

earthOCEAN joins Alexandros Frantzis of Pelagos on a journey into the deepest trenches of the Mediterranean.

Victoria, a rehabilitated monk seal pup, released back into the Aegean Sea

MOm, the Hellenic Society for the Study and the Protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, is celebrating its 20th year of activities with the release today of Victoria, the 16th seal pup the organisation has rehabilitated since it began operating. With only 300-400 monk seals still existing in the Mediterranean, most of which in Greek waters, the survival of each individual is of greatest conservation importance.

Victoria was named after a lady who in October 2007 braved the rough seas near the Greek island of Tinos to rescue the seal pup, hours after she was born. When found, Victoria weighed just 15 kg, was malnourished and suffered from serious injuries. Having been treated for four months at MOm’s monk seal hospital, located on the island of Alonissos, she fully recovered and was taught the skills needed to survive on her own in the open sea.

At the time of her release in the waters of the National Marine Park of Alonissos - the world’s largest and most important Mediterranean monk seal sanctuary - Victoria now weighs more than 50 kg and is quite capable to hunt for her prey. To keep track of her movements and conditions, Victoria carries with her a special transmitter developed in cooperation with scientists from the Sea Mammal Research Unit in Scotland. This will transmit to MOm via SMS constant information on the seal’s whereabouts, depth of dives, time spent in and out of the water and swimming speed.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

---
Photograph by Vangelis Paravas, MOm

For more information
MOm, the Hellenic Society for the Study and the Protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal

Cetacean Investigation

Cetacean Investigation is a series of documentary programmes produced by earthOCEAN combining the collective wisdom of scientists and conservationists with a remarkable range of expertise and perspectives.

Cetacean Investigation includes the series Whales of the Mediterranean Sea - five documentaries that examine the ecology of cetaceans in the region, while exploring the causes of increasing pressures on their populations and habitats.

Four marine protected areas added to the SPAMI List

During their last meeting in Almeria, Spain (15-18 Jan. 2008), the Parties to the Barcelona Convention adopted the inclusion of four marine protected areas (MPAs) from Italy in the List of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI): Miramare, Plemmirio, Tavolara–Punta Coda Cavallo, and Torre Guaceto. These four now join the Pelagos Sanctuary and 16 coastal MPAs from France, Italy, Spain and Tunisia, bringing to a total of 21 the SPAMI List, and significantly contributing to a greater geographical balance for the protected area system within the Barcelona network. Hopefully this development will provide a further stimulus to eastern and southern Mediterranean nations to establish MPAs in their waters to be proposed as further SPAMIs in the near future, thus completing the geographical balancing process.

(photograph: Tavolara, from www.parks.it)

---
For more information: www.rac-spa.org

How does one become a cetacean researcher?

My suggestion is to come up with reasonably clear ideas about what you want to do, where and how. Ideally, one should aim to something felt as important, and also feasible based on one’s skills and existing opportunities.

I started working on cetaceans by volunteering on board oceanographic research vessels - looking for dorsal fins and flukes during the day and working in the wet lab during the night. Then I used my father’s small inflatable boat to start a study on dolphins around Losinj, Croatia. Eventually, this became the longest-running study of bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean.

Don’t miss opportunities to make experience. You may try to participate in some field or lab activity, doing work as close to your interests as possible to gain practical experience on that particular subject. Find out what is the area where you do particularly well (this may include lab work, photography, statistics or even management, environmental policy, public awareness). If you ‘feel good’ doing something and have a sense of being ‘at home’ whenever you do that, then you may have found your own specialty. Go for it, and try to develop a specific project or an interesting proposal to motivate other people and attract funding.

Do not rely too much on letters and CVs. Try to meet the relevant people in person, at their offices or even in the field. Attend marine mammal and marine conservation conferences, visit various institutes and NGOs. Show that your choice of working with a person or organization is motivated and based on some kind of ‘affinity’.

Courses organized by the Tethys Research Institute can be a reasonable first step for gaining basic experience, knowing how you feel on a boat or at a field station, chat with researchers and possibly identify your areas of interest. You may consider trying different experiences and research groups before deciding what works best for you. In any case, do not put everything in somebody else’s hands: the choice should be yours.

As a general rule, you have better chances of success if you do something based on enthusiasm and passion, and you do not lose sight of your goals along the way.

Giovanni Bearzi

---
Useful link:
SMM - Strategies for Pursuing a Career in Marine Mammal Science

One day of dolphin research in the field

In a recent interview for a Swiss magazine, I was asked to describe a typical day of a dolphin researcher on site.

In my experience, this involves waking up early in the morning, rushing to the research boat after having checked and set up all the equipment, spending hours scanning the sea surface in search for dorsal fins. Sometimes dolphins will be found and sometimes not, but you know that you will come back with useful data that help explaining what is going on out there.

And then spending the rest of the day entering data, lecturing to volunteers, training the assistants, discussing and solving personal issues that are inevitable when one shares the same roof with colleagues and students, fixing boats, engines and computers that never stop making trouble, refilling the fuel tanks, buying stuff at the supermarket (if one exists), running, running, running.

On some days you will have a good time over dinner, but on other occasions you may be forced to share the table with people who have little in common with you. Ups and downs, moments of glory and moments of deep frustration. Now enjoying a moment of peace with dolphins all around the boat, and then fixing a leaking toilet in a hell-like summer heat. But always having a sense of living your life at full speed, not wasting a minute, and being fully engaged in something that has a meaning.

To me, what gives a sense to this kind of hectic life in the field is the feeling that you are contributing to an attempt to preserve wildlife. If one loses track of this fundamental goal, life as a field researcher does no longer make sense. You are paid little money to work a lot and take care of a number of logistical, relational and other problems that do not look like research at all.

Therefore, it is important to realize that conservation-oriented research needs people who are equally determined and capable of recording good behavioural data during a dolphin sighting, talking to the mechanic about that weird noise made by the engine, transcribing the contract for the renting of the field station, or moping the floor. All that is equally important, and nobody is allowed to sign off the most miserable of duties.

Giovanni Bearzi

Marine Conservation on Paper? An urgent call for action to protect cetaceans

(a statement presented at the 3rd Meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS, October 25th, 2007)


We, the undersigned institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), note that despite the positive intent of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and the commitment of ACCOBAMS Parties demonstrated through many Resolutions, Recommendations at previous and in particular at this 3rd Meeting of the Parties, an equivalent degree of essential, tangible conservation activity has not yet taken place.

We are conscious and appreciative of the significant depth of work that has been developed for the Parties by the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS in order for them to mitigate threats to cetaceans. We also recognise that several Parties have made progress in implementing Resolutions and some ambitious decisions have been made and Resolutions adopted at this MOP3 of which we highly appreciate. However, although recognizing the overall will by Parties to improve the protection and conservation status of cetaceans in the Agreement area, we wish to express a strong call for action, recognizing that a slow response in implementing decisions and conservation measures would mean the objectives of the Agreement will not be reached.

We note in particular the following concerns:

1. the critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable status of most cetacean populations in the Mediterranean and Black Seas (as recognized in Resolution 3.9)

2. the continued use of driftnets in part of the Agreement area, causing an unacceptable level of cetacean bycatch and a destructive impact on marine ecosystems in general, including in the PELAGOS Sanctuary

3. the continuation of the employment of non-selective fishing methods, the growing intensity of fishing, and the widespread impact of over-fishing leading to ecosystem damage and depletion of cetacean prey

4. the continued lack of implementation of appropriate mitigation measures to reduce underwater noise.

We therefore urge all Parties to take immediate and concrete action to fully meet their commitments under ACCOBAMS and thereby ensure the survival of cetacean populations within the Agreement area.

Signed on October 25th, 2007, by:

WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
OceanCare
Delphis
Oceana Europe
Morigenos – Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Society
Animal Friends, Croatia
Blue World Marine Institute for Research and Conservation
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
WWF Med PO

Mediterranean Coastal Dolphins

A short video on the decline of coastal dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea, produced in 2004.

Watch the video online

DolphinPeople

A story featuring the work of three enthusiastic and dedicated researchers who study coastal dolphins in western Greece.

The video highlights the importance of personal commitment to protect endangered marine mammal populations.

DolphinPeople was filmed in western Greece between 2001-2003.

Watch the video online

The Story of Stuff

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls for a more sustainable and just world.

This video is not related to Mediterranean conservation... or is it? Aren't many of the problems affecting the oceans also a result of our patterns of consumption and unsustainable daily habits?

In any case, The Story of Stuff is likely to teach you something, and it may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life.

Watch The Story of Stuff

What can be done, so that Mediterranean common dolphins will survive?

(This is a portion of an interview on the decline of Mediterranean common dolphins)


A number of management actions are likely to benefit dolphins and the marine environment. Marine Protected Areas, fishery reserves (areas closed to fishing), strict enforcement of the existing laws (much of the fishing out there is illegal), to name just a few.

However, we should avoid just blaming the governments and seeing ecosystem destruction exclusively as the result of somebody else’s choices and activities.

We are partly responsible, too. As voters, in the first place. At the last political elections have we voted ‘with our wallet’, or have we attempted to shift the centre of gravity towards a more sensible environmental policy? Have we ever tried to reduce our own consumption rates, recycle, and make our lives a little more sustainable? Ultimately, the ongoing lack of respect towards the marine environment results from our collective desires and demands. People who never consider taking a train instead of an airplane, or walking instead of driving, should consider that a link might exist between their own behaviour and air pollution, or even climate change. Those who enjoy eating swordfish and tuna may want to think about the implications for the marine environment.

Whilst there are practical and feasible actions that could stop the decline of coastal dolphins in some areas, I think that we should realize that damage to the marine environment is also - at least in part - a result of our life styles and habits. Changing our own behaviour and giving up something felt as desirable can be as pleasant, and even more fulfilling, than increasing our consumption rates. The reward consists in knowing that we are part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. We do not only blame others for declining biodiversity and beauty all around us. We are actually doing our best to protect the things we treasure, and we enact consistent behaviour. Our choices might even influence those of others and eventually develop into new behavioural trends.

Giovanni Bearzi

The decline of common dolphins around Kalamos, Greece

Seeing common dolphins bowriding and surrounding our research boat from all sides was a frequent event around the island of Kalamos. When I first moved to study dolphins in western Greece, back in 1996, these magnificent marine mammals were so abundant that one could frequently spot them from the coast, or even from the patio of our field station. 



Tuna and swordfish were equally abundant, and from a distance it was sometimes difficult to tell a school of foraging tuna from a group of foraging common dolphins, as both animals performed a similar behaviour when catching anchovies and sardines near the surface. The sea was full of life, and navigating those waters was an endless source of wonder and excitement for pleasure boaters and researchers alike. The situation was so special that the area, one of the few in the central Mediterranean containing key common dolphin habitat, was declared a EC Site of Community Importance. This designation was expected to result in a commitment to protect the local resources and prevent habitat degradation. 



However, only a few years later common dolphins around Kalamos had become a rare sight. Tuna and swordfish also vanished. What caused such a quick decline of high-order marine predators in this portion of the eastern Ionian Sea? 

Was it pollution? Collisions with speedboats? Intentional killings? Interactions with fisheries? Pathogens? 



More than a decade of intensive research at sea and much data analyses done by personnel from the Tethys Research Institute suggest that the main cause of common dolphin decline is overfishing of their prey. Purse seine nets, in particular, seem to be responsible for the local overexploitation and depletion of epipelagic stocks of sardines, anchovies and other fish that make the daily diet of common dolphins, tuna and swordfish.

Prey depletion has been so intensive and continuous that large marine predators such as common dolphins can no longer find easy prey. 

To face scarcity of food, common dolphins started dispersing and roving. Their formerly large groups broke up into smaller units, which became increasingly sparse. Between 1997 and 2007, common dolphins declined from about 150 to only 15 animals, possibly as a result of reduced reproductive success and increased mortality in an area that - as far as prey availability was concerned - had turned from paradise to hell. 



Problems caused by prey scarcity summed up to entanglement and mortality in fishing gear, as documented by dead dolphins found stranded or adrift and showing amputations. Today, only a few common dolphins can still be found in the area, and this brings a feeling of sadness to those who have seen them thriving until only a few years ago. 



The decline of common dolphins in the area of Kalamos flashes a red light for the conservation of the Mediterranean population. Once one of the most common cetacean species in the Mediterranean, common dolphins have declined throughout the region during the last 30-40 years. Conservation problems for the species have been recognised since the 1970s, but at that time there was little information about cause-effect relationships, as few were recording information at sea about population status and threats. After the turn of the century, however, threats affecting the animals became progressively clear. These basically included incidental mortality in fishing gear (also known as “bycatch”), habitat degradation and prey depletion caused by overfishing. 



In 2003 the Mediterranean population of common dolphins was classified as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. In 2004, ACCOBAMS - the UNEP's Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area - presented a comprehensive 90-page Conservation Plan for Mediterranean common dolphins, providing a detailed description of actions needed to protect the animals. Finally, in 2005 the Mediterranean population of common dolphins was included in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) as a consequence of their threatened status.



Have all these institutional steps contributed to making life easier for Mediterranean common dolphins? So far, they apparently haven’t. Despite all the expressions of concern, recommendations, strategic planning and scientific background produced, no relevant action has been taken that may result in common dolphin recovery in the region. Sadly, the threats which are thought to be causing decline are continuing to jeopardise the survival of relict groups such as those found around Kalamos, and the Mediterranean population at large.



Scientific research, conservation action plans and declarations of intents by the concerned Governments do not seem to suffice to reverse the present trends. Much public awareness actions, and attempts to define and communicate practical solutions to local problems are also essential. 



Giovanni Bearzi
 / Tethys Research Institute

More about the decline of common dolphins around Kalamos, Greece