The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 12: November 1998
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Dark Clouds on Mediterranean Elasmobranchs: The Case of Endemic Skates
Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara wrote to express concern over the
status of some of the 78 elasmobranch species known to occur in the
Mediterranean Sea.
Lack of knowledge of many of these species, due to the absence
of serious and consistent data collecting, may be conspiring with the
well-known problem of overfishing in the region, particularly as far as
bottom trawling is concerned, to negatively affect marine biodiversity.
Many of the least common batoid species, for example, such as the
Lusitanian cownose ray Rhinoptera marginata, the darkspotted stingray
Himantura uarnak, and the small-tooth sawfish Pristis pectinata, have
not been reported in the scientific literature from the Mediterranean
for many years, in some cases decades.
The greatest concern obviously goes to those species which are
endemic to the region, such as the maltese skate Raja melitensis, the
speckled skate R. polystigma, and Rondelet's skate R. rondeleti, all of
which may have disappeared altogether, as far as one can tell. There
is an urgent need for a greater attention to elasmobranchs from fishery
statisticians, a greater ability and willingness to identify specimens in
the catches to the species level, and more communication among
scientists working on cartilaginous fishes throughout the region.
For more information contact:
Dr G. Notarbartolo di Sciara,
ICRAM (Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Applicata al Mare),
via di Casalotti 300, 00166 Roma, Italy
Fax (+39) (6) 61550581.
Email: disciara@tin.it
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