Tursiops truncatus in the Mediterranean and black...

Tursiops truncatus in the Mediterranean and Black Seas

Second Natura 2000 seminar

for the Baltic, Atlantic, Macaronesian, Mediterranean & Black Sea

marine biogeographical regions

Palma, Mallorca

13-15 November 2018

Simone Panigada, Hélène Labach – with inputs from numerous colleagus

Reeves, R. & Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., 2006. The status and distribution of cetaceans in the Black sea and Mediterranean sea. IUCN Workshop report.

No overall estimate of the Mediterranean sub-population, isolated from the Atlantic and Black sea ones, and supposed to be in its low 10,000s;

Scarce information on the distribution and abundance in the Eastern and Southern part of the Mediterranean basin;

Overall decline of the Mediterranean sub-population, resulting from a decrease in number of dolphins sighted and a decrease in their range;

The Mediterranean subpopulation have been and is still currently subject to a number of threats that can result in direct mortality;

Trends, distribution, behaviour and genetic data suggest the existence of more than one sub-population, claiming a complex Mediterranean population structure.

CONSERVATION STATUS – Med Sea

No overall estimate of the Black Sea sub-population, isolated from Mediterranean Sea one, and supposed to be not less than several 1000s of animals;

Large directed takes occurred before the ban on small cetacean hunting was declared in Turkey in 1983. There are indications of some recent intentional killing and harassment in Ukraine;

Regionally dispersed incidental mortality in bottom-set gillnets (some 100s per year). This mortality increased in the 1990s-2000s due to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the Black Sea;

Live-capture for captivity is roughly estimated at 1,000-2,000 since the early 1960s. Live-captures continue in the Russian Federation, with 10-20 animals per year;

A mass stranding/mortality event of unknown cause occurred in 1990; Ongoing degradation of the Black Sea environment and declines in many of its indigenous animal populations

since the 1970s, with a likely peak in the devastation caused by overfishing and habitat deterioration.

CONSERVATION STATUS – Black Sea

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Tursiops truncatus ponticus

ACCOBAMS – 24 Parties in Nov. 2018

Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area

ACCOBAMS SURVEY INITIATIVE - ASI

THE FIRST CETACEAN MACRO REGIONAL SURVEY

ASI – transects covered by aerial surveys

Different colors of transects correspond to the different teams. Areas appearing white are covered by boats. For reasons of logistical or technical constraints, a few areas could not be surveyed.

ASI – bottlenose dolphin sightings

Bottlenose dolphins (blu circles) appear to be very common in the northern portion of the Adriatic Sea, in the Strait of Sicily, in the Aegean and along the coast, with some sighting more offshore.

ASI – transects covered by vessel surveys

ASI – bottlenose dolphin sightings

Conservation and Management Plan - CMP

Conservation and Management Plan - CMP

COORDINATION

CENTER

Case studies

Local coastal populations in the Black Sea

Romania – Romulus-Marian Paiu, Mare Nostrum

Estimated abundance for Bulgarian territorial waters (12 mile zone) from dedicated line transect distance sampling vessel surveys is as follows: 1370 (501-3750, CV = 50.64%) in June 2017 and 369 (105-1300, CV = 66.5%) in June 2018.

Estimated abundance for pSCI Strandzha from vessel transect survey in April 2016: 389 (140-1079, CV=49.20%).

Photo-identification survey was made in 2012 and since then few more animals added to catalogue but no recaptures

Bulgaria - Dimitar Popov, Greenbalkans

Regular feeding among trawlers observed in February, April and October with largest detected group being in April 2016, with estimated size of more than 30 animals including juveniles.

Number of stranded bottlenose dolphins in the period 2010 - 2017 is 90 with peak numbers being in 2013 (22) and 2012 (20). Largest stranded idividual was almost 3 m long. In 11 cases most probable reason was bycatch - identified by missing flukes, remaining of nets, ropes, etc.

EEA project executed by NOAH (2014-15) defined conservation status according to art. 17 of EU Habitats Directive as Unfavourable - bad for overall evaluataion and for different criteria is: Range - favourable; Population - Unfavourable-bad; Habitat - unfavourable-bad; Threat and impacts - unfavourable – inadequate.

Bulgaria - Dimitar Popov, Greenbalkans

Bottlenose dolphins playing with a jellyfish

Turkey - Ayaka Amaha Ozturk, Arda M. Tonay

No detailed information on habitats of this species in Turkish waters -rare in the eastern coast. The area close to the Istanbul Strait is important for bottlenose dolphins.

Found in the western and central Turkish Black Sea coast.

The bottlenose dolphin is the least common cetacean species (15% in April and in July) in the Turkish coast (Çelikkale et al. 1989). Dede and Tonay (2010) reported the bottlenose dolphin was the second most commonly observed species (44%) in the western Black Sea in autumn.

(after Çelikkale et al. 1989)


During 2003-2016, in total, 1243 stranded cetaceans (bottlenose dolphins 10%) were recorded in western Black Sea (Tonay et al. 2017).

Number of bycaught bottlenose dolphin were estimated 168 (CV: 0.93) in 2007 during legal and illegal periods of turbot fishing season (Tonay 2016).

Gönener and Özdemir (2012) carried out a study in Sinop Bay (centre of Turkish Black Sea coast) where intensive red mullet (Mullus barbatus) fishing activities were conducted with bottom gill nets. Average loss was calculated for each fishing boat throughout the season due to depredation by bottlenose dolphins.

(©)Tonay


The Sea of Marmara constitutes an important migration pathway between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea and called as Turkish Straits System (TSS).

Dolphins use the area as a natural trap for feeding on migratory pelagic fishes and migrate through then TSS in April-May for feeding (Öztürk and Öztürk 1996).

A long term passive acoustic monitoring survey in the Istanbul Strait by Dede et al. (2014) and Kameyama et al. (2014), and surveys on bottlenose dolphin behaviours in relation to marine traffic by Akkaya Baş et al. (2015) have been conducted in the İstanbul Strait (ACCOBAMS CCH).

(©)Tonay


bottlenose

dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins foraging near trawlers

Italy – Giancarlo Lauriano, ISPRA

MSFD 2012 – Initial assesment (ISPRA 2012)

Several data sets analyzed from 1994 to 2011:

Overall distribution and encounter rate

Local abundances

Lampedusa Island (Pulcini et al. 2012 ) (1998) – Ň 100 (CV=24%; LF 95%=87-128)

(2005) – Ň 176 (CV=26%; LF 95%=120-280)

Pelagos Sanctuary (Gnone et al. 2011 ) (2006) Ň 1.023 (CV=14%; LF 95%=848-1.234)

Overall abundance Adriatic Sea 2010

Ň = 5.722 (CV=26%; LF 95% 3.467-9.444) Tyrrhenian Sea

Ň= 1676 (CV= 38%; 95% CI ¼ 804 - 3492) Corrected for avaibility bias Ň = 2095

(CV=38.25%)


Third report article 17 Habitat Directive (92/43/CE) – distribution map

IT 1349 Tursiops truncatus IT: no data for offshore sites. In the Adriatic the population is small and beyond the 12nm IT only has jurisdiction over the sea bottom. No evidence of this dolphin on Tiber estuary. Expert: expand the site IT6000010 to cover Tiber river mouth; area near Ischia Island: connect the sites IT6000016, IT6000017, IT6000018 (Isole Pontine) and IT8030010 (Procida); expand the terrestrial SCI IT51A0023 (Isola del Giglio). In NW: Gulf of La Spezia, Tuscany Archipelago and along the northern Sardinia.

IN MOD/SR

IN MOD inshore/SR offshore

MARINE MEDITERRANEAN BIOGEOGRAPHICAL REGION

Marine species listed in Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive

92/43/EEC SEMINAR CONCLUSIONS, MALTA, 27-29 September 2016


France – Hélène Labach

GDEGeM project 2013-2015: collaborative standardised data and photo-id collected all along the French Med coast at all seasons during two years

Distribution: frequenting all the continental shelf

Population structure: 1 genetic population, at least 5 social units 3 geographic monitoring units have been proposed:

Corsican, Provençal and Golfe of Lion

First abundance estimates of French Med continental population and geographical units based on photo-ID reference value for population monitoring in French Med

waters


Main threats: acoustic and water pollution, disturbance by nautical activities as whale-watching (~40 companies) & bycatch (26% of stranded dolphins)

French Mediterranean population IUCN status updated in 2017: « Vulnerable » -> « nearly threatened » related to better knowledge

Management:

• MFSD monitoring program of French Med resident bottlenose dolphins population through photo-identification should be implemented in 2019

• The French biodiversity agency (Agence française pour la biodiversité) and GIS3M started in 2018 a program on bottlenose dolphin monitoring and management in the French Med MPAs’ network (TURSMED)

o Strengthening the network providing a coordination at the French Med level

o Standardization of monitoring protocols and staff training

o Data centralization and integrated analysis to evaluate regional indicators


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Tursiops truncatus ponticus

Adriatic Sea – Drasko Holcer

A recent paper by Fortuna and colleagues (2018) has assessed the coherence of the European Union Marine Natura 2000 network for wide-ranging charismatic species, presenting the Mediterranean Sea as a case study.

The paper assesses the appropriateness of the current Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) in the Adriatic Sea and the relevance of the existing marine Natura 2000 network for the conservation of the target species, which include common bottlenose dolphins.

The authors provide new considerations on the different approaches used to evaluate SCI designations, describing how the system may be triggered to consider and include threat identification before SCI designation, and stressing the importance of size of selected areas, particularly when dealing with management commitments for mobile species such as cetaceans.


The authors conclude by suggesting that socio-economic data and stakeholder use patterns should be combined, to facilitate and enable that conservation measures are suggested to match the existing regulatory context, following a shared procedure with other EU instruments that are active within the Black Sea region, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) (MSFD), and the Marine Spatial Planning Directive (2014/89/EU) (MSP).

Fortuna CM, Cañadas A, Holcer D, Brecciaroli B, Donovan GP, Lazar B, Mo G, Tunesi L and Mackelworth PC (2018) The Coherence of the European Union Marine Natura 2000 Network for Wide-Ranging Charismatic Species: A Mediterranean Case Study. Front. Mar. Sci. 5:356. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00356

TursioMed project – Guido Gnone

A project funded by Blue Planet - Virgina Böger Stiftung X.X.


TursioMed aims to assess the conservation status of the bottlenose dolphin on a Mediterranean scale, expanding the research collaboration network.

Consolidate and enlarge the research network

Sharing data on the Intercet platform

Integrated analysis of the shared data to investigate: • the presence and distribution of the species on a Mediterranean level • home range analysis • connectivity and numerical size of populations or subpopulations • trends of abundance of the bottlenose dolphin subpopulations and Mediterranean metapopulation

Simone Panigada, Michael J. Tetley, Caterina Lanfredi, Margherita Zanardelli, Erich Hoyt, Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

IUCN Joint SSC WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force

IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force and the Important Marine

Mammal Area (IMMA) Process

Identified using an expert-based

bio-centric identification process in open

consultation with the wider marine

mammal knowledge community

Criterion A - Species or Population Vulnerability

Criterion B – Distribution and Abundance Sub-criterion Bi – Small an Resident

Populations Sub-criterion Bii – Aggregations

Criterion C – Key Life Cycle Areas Sub-criterion Ci – Reproductive Sub-criterion Cii – Feeding Sub-criterion Cii – Migration

Criterion D – Special Attributes Sub-criterion Di – Distinctiveness Sub-criterion Dii – Diversity

Thank you very much! I think we should

improve networking and

cooperation! I agree!

Tursiops truncatus in the Mediterranean and black...

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