Sympathy for the devil: a conservation strategy for devil and manta rays

Abstract

30Background. Increased interest in luxury products and Traditional Chinese Medicine, associated 31 with economic growth in China, has been linked to depletion of both terrestrial and marine 32 wildlife. Among the most rapidly emerging concerns with respect to these markets is the 33 relatively new demand for gill plates, or Peng Yu Sai ("Fish Gills"), from devil and manta rays 34 (subfamily Mobulinae). The high value of gill plates drives international trade supplied by largely 35 unmonitored and unregulated bycatch and target fisheries around the world. Devil and manta rays 36 are especially sensitive to overexploitation because of their exceptionally low productivity 37(maximum intrinsic rate of population increase). Scientific research, conservation campaigns, as 38 well as international and national protections that restrict fishing or trade have increased in recent 39 years. Many key protections, however, apply only to manta rays. 40Methods. We review the state of the development of scientific knowledge and capacity for these 41 species, and summarise the geographic ranges, fisheries and national and international protections 42 for these species. We use a conservation planning approach to develop the Global Devil and 43Manta Ray Conservation Strategy, specifying a vision, goals, objectives, and actions to advance 44 the conservation of both devil and manta rays. 45Results and Discussion. Generally, there is greater scientific attention and conservation focused 46on Manta compared to Devil Rays. We discuss how the successes in manta ray conservation can 47 be expanded to benefit devil rays. We also examine solutions for the two leading threats to both 48 devil and manta rays -bycatch and target fisheries. First, we examine how can the impact of 49 bycatch fisheries can be reduced through international measures and best-practice handling 50techniques. Second, we examine the role that responsible trade and demand can play in reducing 51 target fisheries for gill plates. Our paper suggests that given similarities in sensitivity and 52 appearance, particularly of the dried gill plate product, conservation measures may need to be 53 harmonised particularly for the larger species in this subfamily.

Seasonal aggregation and diel activity by the sicklefin devil ray Mobula tarapacana off a small, equatorial outcrop of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge

“…Mobula tarapacana is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN (Pardo et al ., ). There is a general lack of information on the life history of Mobulidae, thus several species are classified under some level of threat (Croll et al ., ; Dulvy et al ., ; Lawson et al ., ; Pardo et al ., ). In Brazil, the capture of all mobulid species is prohibited (MPA/MMA, ), but they are occasionally caught as bycatch by the Brazilian tuna fishery (Gadig & Sampaio, ; Mendonça et al ., ; Viana et al .…”

“…Mobulid rays are distributed in tropical and subtropical coastal waters and also in the oceanic realm (Bigelow & Schroeder, ; Couturier et al ., ; Lawson et al ., ; Notarbartolo‐Di‐Sciara, ). The sicklefin devil ray Mobula tarapacana (Philippi 1892) is primarily found in oceanic waters (Couturier et al ., ; Notarbartolo‐Di‐Sciara, ; Thorrold et al ., ), although they have also been recorded sporadically in coastal areas (Gadig & Sampaio, ).…”

Are guitarfishes the next sawfishes? Extinction risk and an urgent call for conservation action

“…The historic and current lack of research on sawfishes and guitarfishes, respectively, may at least partly be due to a bias in elasmobranch research that favours a tiny minority of fearsome and handsome shark species over batoids . Encouragingly, this has been partly redressed with recent coordinated conservation focuses on sawfishes (Harrison & Dulvy 2014) and devil rays (Lawson et al 2016), although it is worth noting that both of these groups are perhaps the most highly charismatic of all batoids, being highly recognisable, often large and with strong cultural associations. Engaging researchers and the public alike in less charismatic taxa like guitarfishes will require innovative and collaborative ap proaches.…”

Mother–embryo isotope fractionation in the pygmy devilray Mobula kuhlii cf. eregoodootenkee

“…The family Moblulidae currently comprises eight globally distributed species, most of which are vulnerable to capture in various fishing gears and especially coastal gillnets deployed throughout the tropic–temperate zone (Couturier et al, ; Lawson et al, ). Mobulids are assumed to have highly conservative life histories, encompassing low fecundity and long generation times.…”

“…Seven species have been assessed by the IUCN and all are listed as Threatened with extinction (IUCN, ). A necessary prerequisite to conserving mobulid populations is adequate information describing their ecology and biology and especially reproduction, but even basic data are lacking for many species (Couturier et al, ; Lawson et al, ). Recently, using specimens collected during trials of bather‐protection nets off eastern Australia, Broadhurst et al .…”