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Potential bycatch impact on distinct sea turtle populations is dependent on fishing ground rather than gear type in the Mediterranean Sea

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Abstract

Bycatch is one of the main threats affecting marine megafauna worldwide, not only because of its prevalence, but also because the impact of high levels of bycatch in small oceanic regions may spread over whole oceans due to the complex dispersal patterns of bycaught species. Here, we use intrinsic and genetic markers to understand the impact of bycatch on the Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the loggerhead turtle sharing the same foraging grounds in the western Mediterranean Sea. Turtles of Atlantic origin settle on the continental shelf later and at a larger size than turtles of Mediterranean origin and hence have been suggested to be more vulnerable to pelagic fishing gears, whereas those of Mediterranean origin would be more vulnerable to neritic ones. To assess whether this hypothesis holds true, we compared the genetic make-up of turtle bycatch from drifting longlines and bottom trawl/trammel nets in three different regions (eastern mainland Spain, southern Balearic Islands and southern Italy). A total of 176 incidentally caught turtles were considered, and size and habitat use, as revealed by stable isotopes, were incorporated to the analysis. No genetic, size or isotopic differences were found between turtles caught with drifting longlines and bottom trawl/trammel nets within any of the three regions. However, genetic, size and isotopic differences were detected among regions, regardless of the fishing gear. Thus, the population make-up of loggerhead bycatch depends on the area where the fishing operations are conducted, but not on the fishing gear used. Accordingly, the actual impact of loggerhead bycatch in the Mediterranean Sea will depend not only on the total number of turtles taken, but also on the geographic distribution of the fishing effort.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to all the researchers, assistants and volunteers who collaborated in sample collection. This study was co-funded by projects CGL2009-10017, CTM2013-48163 and CGL2011-30413 of the Spanish Government (CICYT) and partially funded by the EU project Protección de Praderas de Posidonia en LICs de Baleares LIFE00NAT/E/7303 and Zoo de Barcelona. All the IRBio authors are part of the research groups 2014SGR-336 and 2014SGR-1364 of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The tissue samples used in this paper were provided by the BMA tissue bank managed by the Fundació Bosch Gimpera with the support of the Fundació pel Desenvolupament Sostenible. M. C. was supported by the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona and C. C. by the Beatriu de Pinós programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya. S. P. is supported by LIFE03 NAT/IT/000163 and LIFE04 NAT/IT/000187. J. T. And J. A. R. are also supported by and agreement with Conselleria d'Agricultura, Medi Ambient, Canvi Climàtic i Desenvolupament Rural and by project Prometeo (UV-CI-12-151) and PROMETEOII/2015/018 of the Generalitat Valenciana. We thank Fabiana Saporiti and Mónica Revelles for helpful aid with stable isotope protocols and Gregg Ashcroft for English grammar corrections. Map in Fig. 1 is a courtesy of Maptool (www.seaturtle.org).

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  1. Susanna Piovano

    Present address: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Laucala Campus, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Biology and IRBio, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Marcel Clusa, Stephen J. Gaughran, Alex Aguilar & Luis Cardona

  2. Department of Genetics and IRBio, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Carlos Carreras & Marta Pascual

  3. Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter, Penryn, TR10 9EZ, UK

    Carlos Carreras

  4. Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, 10024, USA

    Stephen J. Gaughran

  5. Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123, Turin, Italy

    Susanna Piovano

  6. Sea Turtle Rescue Centre CTS, Brancaleone, Italy

    Diego Avolio

  7. Cetaceans and Sea Turtles Rescue Centre Laguna di Nora, 09010, Nora, Pula, Italy

    Gepi Ollano

  8. Fundación Aspro Natura, c/Garcilaso de la Vega 9, Costa d’en Blanes, 07181, Calvià, Spain

    Gloria Fernández

  9. Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Aptdo. 22085, 46071, Valencia, Spain

    Jesús Tomás & Juan Antonio Raga

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  1. Marcel Clusa
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Correspondence to Marcel Clusa.

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Clusa, M., Carreras, C., Pascual, M. et al. Potential bycatch impact on distinct sea turtle populations is dependent on fishing ground rather than gear type in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar Biol 163, 122 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-2875-1

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