The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently updated the Red List of Threatened species, including the endemic Mediterranean starry ray Raja asterias in the list of Near Threatened species.
Awareness about this specie has raised in recent years and this new evaluation of the UICN, taking into account latest data available for this specie, has determined its change of category from ‘Least Concern’ to the next category ‘Near Threatened’.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently updated the Red List of Threatened species, including the endemic Mediterranean starry ray Raja asterias in the list of Near Threatened species.
Awareness about this specie has raised in recent years and this new evaluation of the UICN, taking into account latest data available for this specie, has determined its change of category from ‘Least Concern’ to the next category ‘Near Threatened’.
Among the scientific papers used as reference for this new category, are the ones published by Marta Coll and Joan Navarro, researchers from the Renewable Marine Resources Department at the ICM, who are promoting the creation of a group specialized in the study of predatory species in the Western Mediterranean Sea.
The UICN Red List of Threatened Species (also named as Red Book) was born in 1963, but its categories actualize constantly thanks to the research work of a wide community of international experts, and represents the state of conservation of animal and plant species at a global scale. The current version considers nine categories: Extinct (EX), Extinct in the wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), Vulnerable (VU), Near Threatened (NT), Least Concern (LC), Insufficient Data (IS), Non Evaluated (NE). The objective of this list is to communicate the problems with preservation of species and help the international community to reduce extinction.
“Scientific data highlight that fishing is the first cause of mortality of Raja asterias in the 78% of the cases. Much higher than the mortality of this specie due to predation. Our studies, based on a trophic network model, show that the starry ray is very harmed by non-selective fishing strategies, in all its size range. In the Catalan Sea, where the study has been developed, its abundance has been affected and the awareness raises due to a possible increment of fishing exploitation. This specie could disappear in local area, as have already happened before with others ray species in highly exploited areas of the North Atlantic” affirms Marta Coll.
UICN scientists consider that, due to a high fishing activity in Mediterranean Sea, populations of starry ray are likely in a very low level.
“We know that continental shelves and coastal areas of the whole Mediterranean Sea are currently subjected to a high fishing pressure from a highly diversified fishing fleet. However, our models show that the starry ray may respond well under decreasing trawl fishing effort and could substantially recover in the Mediterranean Sea” concludes the researcher.
Translation from scientific result to recommendations for marine natural resources management is an essential step to promote the participation of scientist in these policies and is a clear example of how important are these data for society.
Articles:
Coll M. and co-authors (2010) The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns and threats. PLoS ONE 5:doi:10.1371
Coll, Navarro and Palomera 2013 Ecological role of the endemic Starry ray Raja asterias in the NW Mediterranean Sea and management options for its conservation. Biological Conservation 157:108-120
Navarro J, Coll M, Preminger M, Palomera I (2013) Feeding preferences of the Mediterranean endemic starry ray Raja asterias: consistency between sexes, maturity-stages and seasons. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:1315-1328
More information in iucn.org iucn.org y en iucnredlist.org