A Mozambican marine protected area provides important habitat for vulnerable pelagic sharks
Name:
VoR - A Mozambican marine protected ...
Size:
1.546Mb
Format:
PDF
Request:
Article - VoR
Authors
Murie, CalumLebrato, Mario
Lawrence, Andrew
Brown, James
Gavard, Livia
Bowles, Karen R.
Jije, Mauro G.
Dicken, Matt
Oliver, Simon P.
Affiliation
University of Chester; Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies ; KwaZulu Natal Sharks Board; University of PlymouthPublication Date
2023-04-20
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Pelagic sharks play key roles in marine ecosystems, but are increasingly threatened by human extraction, habitat degradation and mismanagement. We investigated the use of protected and unprotected coastal habitats by bull (Carcharhinus leucas) and oceanic blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus) sharks in southern Mozambique. Five INNOVASEA VR2W-69 kHz acoustic receivers were positioned in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park (BANP) as well as one to the south of the park’s boundaries. Seven receivers were also deployed 250 km south in the Inhambane estuary and on reef sites off Praia de Tofo. Twelve bull, and six oceanic blacktip sharks, were fitted with INNOVASEA V16 acoustic tags, which generated 933 detections of bull and 12,381 detections of oceanic blacktip sharks over a period of 1391 days. A generalised additive model was used to estimate the effects of seven spatiotemporal and environmental parameters on the frequency of each species’ detections. In general, calculated residency indices were highest around the locations monitored in the BANP and one unprotected location off Tofo. Both species were more abundant across the monitored sites, during the summer when water temperatures were ~ 27 °C, when the moon was < 50% illuminated, and when the tide was rising. Detections coincided with each species’ reproductive season indicating that both species may be reproductively active in the BANP region. Oceanic blacktip sharks were largely resident and so fisheries management may significantly benefit their population(s) around certain reef habitats in the BANP. The low residency and seasonal detections of bull sharks indicates that they may be transient and so effective conservation may require coordination between regional fisheries managers.Citation
Murie C. J. G., Lebrato M., Lawrence A., Brown J., Gavard L., Bowles K., Jije M., & Dicken M, Oliver SP. (2023). A Mozambican marine protected area provides important habitat for vulnerable pelagic sharks. Scientific Reports 13, 6454. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32407-9Publisher
Nature ResearchJournal
Scientific ReportsAdditional Links
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-32407-9#citeasType
ArticleEISSN
2045-2322ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/s41598-023-32407-8
Scopus Count
Collections
The following license files are associated with this item:
- Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International