An Evaluation on Interaction of Cetaceans with Fisheries in the seas around Turkey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22120/jwb.2020.124829.1131Keywords:
Conservation, ecological interactions, The Aegean Sea, The Black Sea, The Levantine SeaAbstract
Interaction between fisheries and cetacean species has been one of the challenging issues in marine biology for the last three decades. Even though there have been some attempts to regulate legislations or mitigation action for their by-catch in certain regions, the bilateral effects of this interaction are not fully understood for the seas around Turkey. Therefore, interviews were carried out between March 2019 and February 2020, with 186 fishers from the coasts of the Turkish Black Sea and the Mediterranean. As a result of the interviews, fleet, and fishing characteristics of sampling groups were described for each sea region. Then, the interaction and attitude of fishers against to the cetacean species were presented and evaluated to provide a baseline for developing effective conservation and management strategies in Turkey. As a conclusion, it was pointed out that a higher dependency of cetaceans to fishery year by year for all regions. Regional differences were determined for the characteristics of the interaction. The fishery in the Black Sea, results in higher by-catch events for cetaceans, while cetaceans lead to higher damages on fishing gear and catch in the Mediterranean. Additionally, a notable phenological shift was observed between industrial and small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean. Even though most of the fishers like cetaceans and accept sharing fish with them, results highlighted the requirement of a severe consideration to increasing their awareness in fishers from the Black Sea region as well as actions must be prioritized to reduce damage on fishing gears and mitigation of cetacean by-catch to deliver more effective conservation of cetacean
References
Alan V., Bengil F., Kaboğlu G., Güçlüsoy H. 2017. The First Photo-Identification Study on Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Foça Special Environmental Protection Area, Turkey. Aquatic Mammals, 43(3):302-307, DOI 10.1578/AM.43.3.2017.302.
Bengil F. 2019a. Dogu Akdeniz’de Balinalar Yunuslar ve Muturlar [in Turkish]. Istanbul, Turkey: Hiperlink yayinlari.
Bengil F. 2019b. Yunus ve Balina Bilgi Sistemi: Türkiye Denizleri Durum Çalışması [in Turkish]. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi Fen ve Mühendislik Dergisi 21 (61):279 - 285.
Bengil F. 2013. The forgotten species: Marine mammals in the Turkish Aegean Sea. Project final report of The Rufford Foundation, pp 0-7. Retrieved from https://www.rufford.org/files/11408-1%20Final%20Report.pdf. Downloaded on 12 January 2020.
Bengil F., Kankus J., Sonmez R. 2012. Can individual tracking systems be used for conservation of wild dolphin populations in behalf of live captures in Turkish waters? Bihaeran Biologist, 6(2):126-127.
Birkun A. Jr., Northridge S. P., Willsteed E., A., James F., A., Kilgour C., Lander M., Fitzgerald G., D. 2014. Studies for Carrying Out the Common Fisheries Policy: Adverse Fisheries Impacts on Cetacean Populations in the Black Sea. pp347, final report to the European Commission, Brussels.
Committee on Taxonomy 2019. List of marine mammal species and subspecies. Society for Marine Mammalogy. Retrieved from www.marinemammalscience.org. Downloaded on 16 March 2020.
Dede A. 2000. Türk Boğazlar Sisteminde Yaşayan Deniz Memelileri populasyonları üzerine araştırmalar [in Turkish]. PhD Thesis, İstanbul Üniversitesi, pp 62, İstanbul.
Enul E. 2009. Deniz Memelileri Bilimi ve Yönteminin Türkiye’deki Durumu ve Deniz Memelilerinin Ege’deki Trol Balıkçılığı ile Etkileşimi [in Turkish]. Master Thesis, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, pp 67, İzmir.
Guclusoy H. 2006. Türkiye'nin Orta Ege kıyılarında deniz memelilerinin durumu ve balıkçılıkla etkileşimi[in Turkish]. PhD Thesis, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, pp 116, İzmir.
IUCN 2012. Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. pp 32, Gland, Switzerland and Malaga, Spain: IUCN.
Jefferson T. A., Leatherwood S., Webber M. A. 1993. Marine mammals of the world. FAO species identification guide, pp 320, Rome, FAO.
Kinzelbach R. 1991. Records of the Bottlenosed Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, in the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara (Cetacea: Delphinidae). Zoology in the Middle East 5(1): 5-10. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09397140.1991.10637597
Mavruk, S. (2020). Trends of white grouper landings in the Northeastern Mediterranean: reliability and potential use for monitoring. Mediterranean Marine Science, 21(1), 183-190. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.18986
Mavruk S., Saygu I., Bengil F., Alan V., Azzurro E. 2018. Grouper fishery in the Northeastern Mediterranean: An assessment based on interviews on resource users. Marine Policy 87: 141-148. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.10.018.
Notarbartolo di Sciara G., Birkun A. 2010. Conserving Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. pp 212, Monaco, ACCOBAMS Secreteriat.
Notarbartolo di Sciara G. 2002. Cetacean species in the Mediterranean and Black Seas: State of Knowledge and Conservation Strategies. pp 17, Monaco, ACCOBAMS Secreteriat.
Ondes F., Unal V., Ozbilgin Y., Deval C., Turan, C. 2018. By-catch and monetary loss of pufferfish in Turkey, the Eastern Mediterranean. Ege Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 35(4): 361-372. Doi: https://doi.org/10.12714/egejfas.2018.35.4.01.
Ondes F., Kaiser, M. J., Guclusoy, H. 2020. Human impacts on the endangered fan mussel, Pinna nobilis. Aquatic Conservation: Marine Freshwater Ecosystems 30: 31-41. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3237.
Ozturk B., Ozturk A. A., Dede A. 2001. Dolphin by-catch in the swordfish driftnet fishery in the Aegean Sea. Rapp. Comm. int. Mer Médit. 36: 308.
Ozturk B. 1996. Balinalar Yunuslar – Setolojiye Giris [inTurkish]. Istanbul, Turkey: Anahtar Kitaplari Yayinevi.
Parsons E. C.M., Clark J., Warham J., Simmonds M. P. 2010. The Conservation of British Cetaceans: A Review of the Threats and Protection Afforded to Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises in UK Waters, Part 1. Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy 13(1): 1-62. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13880291003705145.
Quero M. E., Chiofalo G., Datta S., Di Natale A., Dremière P.Y., Goodson D. 2000. Interaction between dolphins and artisanal gillnet fishery: methods of fishery and damage sampling. European Research on Cetaceans 14: 48-54
Sönmez R., Kankus J., Bengil F., Güçlüsoy H. 2011. Can Press Provide Some Insight on the Cetacean Strandings on the Turkish Coasts? 25th Conference of the European Cetacean Society, 21-23 March 2011: Spain.
Tonay, A. M. 2016. Cetacean stranding records in the Turkish Western Black Sea coast during October 2012 - September 2013 [in Turkish]. Ege Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 33(4): 343-345. Doi: https://doi.org/10.12714/egejfas.2016.33.4.06
Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) 2018. Fishery Statistics (2000-2018), Prime Ministry, Ankara (in Turkish). Retrieved from http://www.tuik.gov.tr. Downloaded on 22 March 2020.
JWB applies the 