Common, rare or extirpated? Shifting baselines for common angelshark, Squatina squatina (Elasmobranchii: Squatinidae), in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)
Fortibuoni, T.; Borme, D.; Franceschini, G.; Giovanardi, O.; Raicevich, S. (2016). Common, rare or extirpated? Shifting baselines for common angelshark, Squatina squatina (Elasmobranchii: Squatinidae), in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea). Hydrobiologia 772(1): 247-259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2671-4 In: Hydrobiologia. Springer: The Hague. ISSN 0018-8158; e-ISSN 1573-5117, more |  |
| Keywords | Endangered species
Squatina squatina (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal | | Author keywords | Naturalists’ accounts; Landings; Scientific survey; histological ecology; Fishers’ ecological knowledge |
| Authors | | Top | Datasets | - Fortibuoni, T.
- Borme, D.
- Franceschini, G.
| - Giovanardi, O.
- Raicevich, S.
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| Abstract | Historical baselines are needed to reconstruct long-term changes in marine animal populations and enhance our ability to articulate management recommendations. We reconstructed common angelshark (Squatina squatina) abundance in the Northern Adriatic Sea over the last two centuries by integrating different sources of formal and informal information. The wide amount of information collected helped assessing if the species is actually extirpated from the area, as stated in previous studies. According to naturalists’ accounts and historical documents, in the nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries the species was so abundant to sustain targeted fisheries, and large quantities of S. squatina were sold in the main fish markets. In the 1960s, the species collapsed and got economically extinct. Even if it was never caught in the area through scientific surveys during the period 1948–2014, from fishermen interviews emerged that the species is not extirpated. However, only 50% of interviewees caught S. squatina at least once and they were significantly older than the fishermen that never caught it (shifting baseline syndrome). Moreover, the size of the fish caught significantly decreased through time, indicating the depletion of larger individuals. Our integrated approach can be applied to any poorly assessed species so that appropriate international conservation measures can be prioritized. |
| Datasets (4) | - National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS), Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Italy; (2016): Early naturalists’ accounts (1818-1936) on the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) fish fauna, more
- National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS), Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Italy; (2017): Trawl-survey data from the Pipeta programme in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean) collected in 1988 and 1991, more
- National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS), Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Italy; (2017): Trawl-survey data in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean) collected in 1972, 1975 and 1981, more
- National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS); Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Italy; (2017): Trawl-survey data from the “expedition Hvar” in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean) collected in 1948-1949., more
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