Staff involved:

Nick Dulvy, Nicholas Polunin, John Reynolds and others

Funding:

NERC

Such large, slow growing, late maturing fishes tend to have little capacity to replace those killed by fishers

Detecting fish extinctions

Project

Terrestrial ecologists can track the decline and disappearance of individual birds and mammals with relative ease. However, in the sea it is harder to find and count animals. Consequently scientists may be unable to detect declines of rare fish or detect extinctions. We have been determining the suitability of census methods for detecting declines of rare species. We have also been testing indirect methods of detecting disappearances, such as questionnaires. In Fiji we have been questioning fishers on the presence or absence of key fishes and correlating this to abundance indices.

This augments previous work, which has sought to determine correlates of extinction vulnerability, in order to provide rapid means of assessing large numbers of fishes for conservation prioritisation.

Significance

To develop suitable methods for detecting declines and disappearances of exploited fishes.

References

Dulvy NK, Metcalfe JD, Glanville J, Pawson MG, Reynolds JD (2000). Fishery stability, local extinctions and shifts in community structure in skates. Conservation Biology 14:283-293.
Reynolds JD, Jennings S, Dulvy NK (2001). Life histories of fishes and population responses to exploitation. In: JD Reynolds, GM Mace, KH Redford, JG Robinson (editors). Conservation of Exploited Species. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Stevens JD, Bonfil R, Dulvy NK, Walker P (2000). The effects of fishing on sharks, rays and chimaeras (chondrichthyans), and the implications for marine ecosystems. International Council for Exploration of the Seas, Journal of Marine Science 57:476-494.
Dulvy NK, Reynolds JD (submitted). Predicting vulnerability to extinction in skates (Rajidae).