Better the devil you know: towards sustainable management of devil rays in the Indian Ocean

更好地了解魔鬼鱼：印度洋魔鬼鱼的可持续管理

• 批准号: 2284959
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Newcastle University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2284959
• 关键词: Better; devil; know; towards; sustainable

"Devil rays (Mobula sp.) are large, planktivorous and highly mobile species, with a circumglobal distribution in tropical and warm temperate waters.Six out of the eight described species are found within the Indian Ocean classified as endangered (M. mobular), data deficient (M. kuhlii), vulnerable (M. alfredi, M. birostris, and M. tarapacana) and near threatened (M. thurstoni) by the IUCN redlist. The growing wildlife trade for their gill plates, used for food and traditional medicine in East Asia, is driving the expansion of targeted devil ray fisheries (O'Malley et al., 2017) but it is unknown if populations can sustain growing exploitation levels. The limited information on the life history of devil rays suggests they display extreme k-selected traits, including extremely low fecundity, producing a single pup annually or biannually. This makes it unlikely that current exploitation is sustainable. Devil rays are common in small-scale fisheries (SSF), which provide an important source of protein and income for coastal communities worldwide (Béné et al., 2007). SSF fisheries are prevalent but poorly documented and largely unregulated in the Indian Ocean (e.g. Temple et al., 2018). Ensuring SSF sustainability is vital in protecting the livelihoods of these coastal communities, with declines in high value species, such as devil rays, likely having negative implications on these peoples. Evidence-based assessment of devil rays is inhibited by the lack of available data, with knowledge gaps across all species for abundance and population trends; distribution and migratory patterns; life history; spatial and temporal ecology; and fisheries catch rates, composition and trade. Given the global threat, the IUCN Species Survival Commission and Shark Specialist Group have produced a Global Devil and Manta Ray Conservation Strategy, where the Indo-Pacific is listed as a priority region (Lawson et al., 2017). This project aims to address current data gaps to work towards regional assessment of devil ray species in the Indian Ocean, in line with this strategy. The genetic population structure of devil rays in the Indian Ocean will be investigated, defining management units and informing trans-national management actions where shared stocks of devil ray species exist. Age and growth will be determined for each species sampled to inform future fisheries management. Further life history data (e.g. maturity and fecundity) will be collected to determine parameters (e.g. age-at-maturity and rebound potentials) vital for future stock assessment. The methods and outputs of this work will be applicable to other devil ray species and regions globally."

“魔鬼鱼(Mobula sp.)在描述的8种物种中，有6种在印度洋发现，被世界自然保护联盟红色名录列为濒危物种(M.moular)、数据缺乏(M.kuhlii)、脆弱物种(M.alfredi、M.birostris和M.tarapacana)和濒临威胁物种(M.thurstoni)。在东亚，用于食品和传统医药的野生动物鳃盘子的贸易不断增长，推动了目标魔鬼鱼渔业的扩张(O‘Malley等人，2017年)，但尚不清楚种群能否维持不断增长的开发水平。关于魔鬼鱼生活史的有限信息表明，它们表现出极端的k-选择特征，包括极低的繁殖力，一年或两年生一只幼崽。这使得目前的开采不太可能是可持续的。魔鬼鱼在小型渔业中很常见，这是全世界沿海社区蛋白质和收入的重要来源(Bénéet al.，2007年)。印度洋的SSF渔业很普遍，但记录很少，而且基本上不受监管(例如Temple等人，2018年)。确保SSF的可持续性对于保护这些沿海社区的生计至关重要，高价值物种，如魔鬼鱼的数量下降，可能对这些人民产生负面影响。由于缺乏现有数据，对魔鬼鱼的循证评估受到阻碍，所有物种在丰度和种群趋势、分布和迁徙模式、生活史、空间和时间生态学以及渔业渔获率、组成和贸易方面的知识差距。鉴于全球威胁，世界自然保护联盟物种生存委员会和鲨鱼专家小组制定了一项全球魔鬼和螳螂射线保护战略，其中印度-太平洋地区被列为优先区域(Lawson等人，2017年)。该项目旨在填补目前的数据空白，按照这一战略，努力对印度洋的魔鬼鱼物种进行区域评估。将调查印度洋魔鬼鱼的遗传种群结构，确定管理单位，并向存在共享魔鬼鱼种群的跨国管理行动提供信息。将确定每个抽样物种的年龄和生长情况，以便为今后的渔业管理提供信息。将进一步收集生活史数据(例如成熟度和繁殖力)，以确定对未来种群评估至关重要的参数(例如成熟期年龄和反弹潜力)。这项工作的方法和成果将适用于全球其他魔鬼鱼物种和地区。