News Excerpt:
A new study has found that 62% of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) dedicated to protect rare migratory fish species fall outside their core habitats.
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Diadromous fish:
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About the report:
- The study, published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, found that MPAs designated to protect diadromous fish species did not align with their core habitats.
Methodology of the study:
- The researchers implemented the approach of ‘Combined Model for Accurate Prediction’ on diadromous fish due to a lack of knowledge about their at-sea life history stage and no existing model of their distribution.
- The scientists tested 11 rare and data poor diadromous fish:
- the allis shad (Alosa alosa),
- twait shad (Alosa fal- lax),
- Mediterranean twaite shad (Alosa agone),
- the European eel (Anguilla anguilla),
- the European flounder (Platichthys flesus),
- the river (Lampetra fluviatilis),
- sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus),
- Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar),
- sea trout (Salmo trutta),
- the thinlip mullet (Chelon ramada),
- smelt (Osmerus eperlanus).
- They were observed during their at-sea migration in the southern North Sea, Bay of Biscay, French Mediterranean waters and the English Channel.
- It was found that only 55% of modeled core habitats identified for diadromous fish overlapped with the MPAs.
- Of these protected areas, only half had measures in place for the protection of the fish, according to the study.
- The researchers analyzed specific individual species and found that less than 30 percent of endangered species such as Mediterranean twaite shad (Alosa agone) dwelt in core habitat within MPAs.
- Moreover, it was also found that though species such as the European eel and European smelt had nearly 70 per cent of their core habitats within MPAs, only nine percent of these MPAs had specific steps to protect the European eel and no measures existed to protect the European smelt.
