showing 4 related works from this author
An insight into the status of the striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, of the southern Tyrrenian Sea
2007
Drift-nets are known to result in high incidental catches of some cetacean species. Despite a UN moratorium on their use in the high seas and a ban in the Mediterranean by all European Union countries, including Italy (EC Reg. 1239/98), some fisheries continue to operate illegally. In 2002 and 2003 three line-transect surveys were conducted in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea around the Aeolian archipelago. These transects were designed to assess the presence, distribution and population size of cetacean species likely to be affected by accidental captures in this area. Data were only sufficient to estimate abundance for the striped dolphin. The best estimate (and first such estimate for this ar…
By-catch of cetaceans and other species of conservation concern during pair trawl fishing operations in the Adriatic Sea (Italy)
2010
By-catch is one of the main sources of anthropogenic mortality in marine species of conservation concern worldwide. Between 2006 and 2008, the Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare (CoNISMa) coordinated a monitoring programme of cetacean by-catch in Italian pelagic trawlers, funded in compliance with European Regulation 812/2004. Sixteen independent observers monitored a total of 3141 hauls. The observation coverage ranged between 0.9 and 6.3% of the regional fishing effort. Almost all by-catch events were recorded in the northern Adriatic Sea. By-catch rates of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) were 0.0006 and 0.0255 …
The challenge of habitat modelling for threatened low density species using heterogeneous data: The case of Cuvier’s beaked whales in the Mediterrane…
2018
We are grateful to the ACCOBAMS Secretariat for their support in this work, including a small grant for the analysis. The Mediterranean population of Cuvieŕs beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), a deep-diving cetacean, is genetically distinct from the Atlantic, and subject to a number of conservation threats, in particular underwater noise. It is also cryptic at the surface and relatively rare, so obtain robust knowledge on distribution and abundance presents unique challenges. Here we use multiplatform and multiyear survey data to analyse the distribution and abundance of this species across the Mediterranean Sea. We use a novel approach combining heterogeneous data gathered with different …
Assessing cetacean surveys throughout the Mediterranean Sea: a gap analysis in environmental space
2018
Heterogeneous data collection in the marine environment has led to large gaps in our knowledge of marine species distributions. To fill these gaps, models calibrated on existing data may be used to predict species distributions in unsampled areas, given that available data are sufficiently representative. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility of mapping cetacean densities across the entire Mediterranean Sea using models calibrated on available survey data and various environmental covariates. We aggregated 302,481 km of line transect survey effort conducted in the Mediterranean Sea within the past 20 years by many organisations. Survey coverage was highly heterogeneous geographicall…