Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
One of my visions for the future is my wife and I enjoying full-bodied French and Italian wines in our villa overlooking the Mediterranean. In contrast, if you are shark or ray the Mediterranean is more like hell. Globally, many elasmobranch species are endangered due to anthropogenic effects. In the Mediterranean, the IUCN reports that 30 of 71 species are close to extinction from over-fishing and habitat loss. This and low reproductive output (a few pups a year), slow growth, and late maturity, combine to doom most species. Only the Portuguese dogfish, a deep-sea shark, is doing better in the Mediterranean potentially benefiting from a 2005 ban on fishing below 1,000m and low commercially interest. Note however that the species is still listed as Near Threatened (NT) by the IUCN. Below is table of the results from the IUCN assessment (click for full size).
The Mediterranean list:
Critically Endangered
Oxynotus centrina Angular roughshark
Squatina aculeata Sawback angelshark
Squatina oculata Smoothback angelshark
Squatina squatina Angelshark
Pristis pectinata Smalltooth sawfish
Pristis pristis Common sawfish
Dipturus batis Common skate
Leucoraja melitensis Maltese skate
Rostroraja alba White skate
Gymnura altavela Spiny butterfly ray
Carcharias taurus Sand tiger shark
Isurus oxyrinchus Shortfin mako
Lamna nasus Porbeagle shark
Endangered
Squalus acanthias Spiny dogfish
Rhinobatos cemiculus Blackchin guitarfish
Rhinobatos rhinobatos Common guitarfish
Leucoraja circularis Sandy skate
Mobula mobular Giant devilray
Odontaspis ferox Smalltooth sand tiger
Carcharodon carcharias Great white shark
Carcharhinus plumbeus Sandbar shark
Vulnerable
Heptranchias perlo Sharpnose sevengill shark
Centrophorus granulosus Gulper shark
Alopias vulpinus Thresher shark
Cetorhinus maximus Basking shark
Galeorhinus galeus Tope shark
Mustelus asterias Starry smoothhound
Mustelus mustelus Smoothhound
Prionace glauca Blue shark
Sphyrna zygaena Smooth hammerhead
Neat Threatened
Chimaera monstrosa Rabbitfish
Hexanchus griseus Bluntnose sixgill shark
Dipturus oxyrhynchus Sharpnose skate
Leucoraja naevus Cuckoo skate
Raja clavata Thornback skate
Raja polystigma Speckled skate
Dasyatis centroura Roughtail stingray
Dasyatis pastinaca Common stingray
Pteroplatytrygon violacea Pelagic stingray
Myliobatis aquila Common eagle ray
Rhinoptera marginata Lusitanian cownose ray
Galeus atlanticus Atlantic catshark
Scyliorhinus stellaris Nursehound
Life Science
Environment
Comments
Having seen first-hand what's happened to bluefin tuna in the Med, it's not at all surprising to see these results for even more K-selected species like elasmobranchs. You didn't, but I would caution others against blaming JUST the Europeans, however: one, there's more than enough guilt to go around, and two, countries including Turkey, Morocco, and Libya are still developing commercial fisheries in the Med. Their arguments for why they're doing so in a critically-depleted marine region? Because they can, because they need to (feed their domestic populations), and -- more emotionally -- because the Europeans did, so why shouldn't they. As the international Atlantic tunas management organization noted in 1999, the world community of the future is much more likely to be arguing about the shares of the pie, unfortunately, than the shrinking size of the pie itself.
Happy Sunday thoughts! Thanks for the post, Craig.
Posted by: FishGuyDave | November 18, 2007 5:24 AM