Conservation is never an easy task, but it’s even harder in a battleground. Mohammed works with fishing communities in Gaza to find out how to protect mobula rays during their visits to the east Mediterranean Sea.
This project aims to undertake an assessment of the scale of the seasonal mobulid fishery in Gaza, Palestine. This will include the collection of biological, ecological and socio-economic data.
Recent images and reports have revealed a targeted fishery for the giant devil ray, an endangered species, in Gaza. We need to collect data now before this ray is pushed to the point of collapse.
The giant devil ray occurs in deep, offshore waters and occasionally in shallow waters throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Until now there were not thought to be any direct fisheries for giant devil rays, although high mortality rates have been reported for this species when its caught accidentally in pelagic driftnets targeting swordfish in the Mediterranean. Giant devil rays are also accidentally captured in long-lines, purse seine nets, trawl nets and fixed traditional tuna traps. They are also occasionally caught as by-catch in the western central Ligurian Sea, where long-line catches have been monitored since 1999.
The giant devil ray is included in Annex II of the ‘List of endangered or threatened species’ to the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean of the Barcelona Convention, which came into force in 2001. Recent regional legislation has introduced new basin-wide bans of pelagic driftnets; if implemented, this would eliminate one of the most severe threats to the species.
The aims and objectives of this project are to:
To find out which shark species occur in Puerto Rican waters, Glorimar is using genetics and getting samples from fish markets. She also relies on the assistance of local fishers. Filling this fundamental knowledge gap will help to assess local consumption of sharks and build up the community’s understanding of how sharks function in the marine ecosystem.
Shark fishing is becoming increasingly important in St Vincent, but little is known about the shark populations there. Catherine is figuring out which sharks live there and how they are utilised by local communities. She’s working with fishermen to achieve sustainable management of these fisheries.
At the northern extent of the hugely productive waters of the Benguela Ecosystem, Angola’s rich waters support a huge artisanal fishing fleet. Ana is unlocking information about sharks and rays in the region, building the baseline for managing and protecting these species in West African waters.