7 research outputs found
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) observed during land-based surveys in The Minch, north-west Scotland
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Widespread Use of Migratory Megafauna for Aquatic Wild Meat in the Tropics and Subtropics
Wild animals are captured or taken opportunistically, and the meat, body parts, and/or eggs are consumed for local subsistence or used for traditional purposes to some extent across most of the world, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. The consumption of aquatic animals is widespread, in some places has been sustained for millennia, and can be an important source of nutrition, income, and cultural identity to communities. Yet, economic opportunities to exploit wildlife at higher levels have led to unsustainable exploitation of some species. In the literature, there has been limited focus on the exploitation of aquatic non-fish animals for food and other purposes. Understanding the scope and potential threat of aquatic wild meat exploitation is an important first step toward appropriate inclusion on the international policy and conservation management agenda. Here, we conduct a review of the literature, and present an overview of the contemporary use of aquatic megafauna (cetaceans, sirenians, chelonians, and crocodylians) in the global tropics and subtropics, for species listed on the Appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). We find that consumption of aquatic megafauna is widespread in coastal regions, although to varying degrees, and that some species are likely to be at risk from overexploitation, particularly riverine megafauna. Finally, we provide recommendations for CMS in the context of the mandate of the Aquatic Wild Meat Working Group.Additional co-authors: Jeffrey W. Lang, Sigrid Lüber, Charlie Manolis, Grahame J. W. Webb and Lindsay Porte
Widespread use of migratory megafauna for aquatic wild meat in the tropics and subtropics
Wild animals are captured or taken opportunistically, and the meat, body parts, and/or eggs are consumed for local subsistence or used for traditional purposes to some extent across most of the world, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. The consumption of aquatic animals is widespread, in some places has been sustained for millennia, and can be an important source of nutrition, income, and cultural identity to communities. Yet, economic opportunities to exploit wildlife at higher levels have led to unsustainable exploitation of some species. In the literature, there has been limited focus on the exploitation of aquatic non-fish animals for food and other purposes. Understanding the scope and potential threat of aquatic wild meat exploitation is an important first step toward appropriate inclusion on the international policy and conservation management agenda. Here, we conduct a review of the literature, and present an overview of the contemporary use of aquatic megafauna (cetaceans, sirenians, chelonians, and crocodylians) in the global tropics and subtropics, for species listed on the Appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). We find that consumption of aquatic megafauna is widespread in coastal regions, although to varying degrees, and that some species are likely to be at risk from overexploitation, particularly riverine megafauna. Finally, we provide recommendations for CMS in the context of the mandate of the Aquatic Wild Meat Working Group
Widespread Use of Migratory Megafauna for Aquatic Wild Meat in the Tropics and Subtropics
Wild animals are captured or taken opportunistically, and the meat, body parts, and/or eggs are consumed for local subsistence or used for traditional purposes to some extent across most of the world, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. The consumption of aquatic animals is widespread, in some places has been sustained for millennia, and can be an important source of nutrition, income, and cultural identity to communities. Yet, economic opportunities to exploit wildlife at higher levels have led to unsustainable exploitation of some species. In the literature, there has been limited focus on the exploitation of aquatic non-fish animals for food and other purposes. Understanding the scope and potential threat of aquatic wild meat exploitation is an important first step toward appropriate inclusion on the international policy and conservation management agenda. Here, we conduct a review of the literature, and present an overview of the contemporary use of aquatic megafauna (cetaceans, sirenians, chelonians, and crocodylians) in the global tropics and subtropics, for species listed on the Appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). We find that consumption of aquatic megafauna is widespread in coastal regions, although to varying degrees, and that some species are likely to be at risk from overexploitation, particularly riverine megafauna. Finally, we provide recommendations for CMS in the context of the mandate of the Aquatic Wild Meat Working Group
The Role of Climate, Oceanography, and Prey in Driving Decadal Spatio-Temporal Patterns of a Highly Mobile Top Predator
Marine mammals have been proposed as ecosystem sentinels due to their conspicuous
nature, wide ranging distribution, and capacity to respond to changes in ecosystem
structure and functioning. In southern European Atlantic waters, their response to
climate variability has been little explored, partly because of the inherent difficulty of
investigating higher trophic levels and long lifespan animals. Here, we analyzed spatiotemporal
patterns from 1994 to 2018 of one of the most abundant cetaceans in
the area, the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), in order to (1) explore changes
in its abundance and distribution, and (2) identify the underlying drivers. For that, we
estimated the density of the species and the center of gravity of its distribution in the
Bay of Biscay (BoB) and tested the effect of three sets of potential drivers (climate
indices, oceanographic conditions, and prey biomasses) with a Vector Autoregressive
Spatio Temporal (VAST) model that accounts for changes in sampling effort resulting
from the combination of multiple datasets. Our results showed that the common dolphin
significantly increased in abundance in the BoB during the study period. These changes
were best explained by climate indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and
by prey species biomass. Oceanographic variables such as chlorophyll a concentration
and temperature were less useful or not related. In addition, we found high variability
in the geographic center of gravity of the species within the study region, with shifts
between the inner (southeast) and the outer (northwest) part of the BoB, although the
majority of this variability could not be attributed to the drivers considered in the study.
Overall, these findings indicate that considering temperature alone for projecting spatiotemporal
patterns of highly mobile predators is insufficient in this region and suggest
important influences from prey and climate indices that integrate multiple ecological
influences. Further integration of existing observational datasets to understand the
causes of past shifts will be important for making accurate projections into the future.En prens