🚨NEW PAPER🚨

Research & management efforts are failing dolphins, porpoises, & other toothed whales!

🐬22% of species threatened
🎣Fisheries & habitat degradation are drivers
👮Management having little impact
📖Research re-prioritisation required

doi.org/10.1038/s41598…

More from Oman fish markets. At Muttrah, more juvenile sharks, Oman cownose rays, sf pygmy devil ray & guitarfish. Overwhelming & depressing but desperately needs documenting. Then need strategy to reduce catch of threatened species before they are gone! Sciences at Newcastle IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group

More sampling of sharks in Oman during our pilot study. Here at Seeb market where we encountered several threatened species and were given free access & much help from merchants & quality inspectors. Juvenile sharks are preferred and sold as dried meat.Sciences at Newcastle IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group

Oman shark study: Yesterday's team at Sur market. We sampled a few Silky sharks and tested an ultrasound to determine fecundity and to count pups. Shark was a juvenile, but good practice! Also starting to collect data on the fishing vessels. Sciences at Newcastle IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group

In Oman conducting a pilot study with Sciences at Newcastle PhD student Miaad Al Maamari on shark catch in small scale fisheries. At Barka fish market with help from Sultan Quaboos University students. The plan is to assess diversity and catch levels for conservation status assessments.

The full open access for the paper will be released in 24 hrs. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Our new PAM paper just out investigating environmental drivers of dolphin and porpoise occurrence in near shore coastal waters off NE UK. Part of Matt Sharpe exellent PhD. NCL Marine Ecology Group, Newcastle University Sciences at Newcastle
doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss…

Marine Megafauna Lab Christmas Potluck tonight with classic dishes from UK, Middle East & Sweden. A few drinking songs (as expected), together with Janson's frestelse (vegan), ginger cake & some specialty drinks. Beer Pong and quiz & some X-mas tales.

Hi Alex, assuming these are driftnets targeting tuna, then replacing the nets with pole and line would be one (best?) solution. Do you know where in the net the mobula are caught? If it is near the surface then sub-surface setting the net could partly mitigate the bycatch.

Big relief today! We found & recovered the PAM array we lost in recent storms. One of many benefits of our Sciences at Newcastle developed NanoPAM is that we can 'talk to it' to locate it underwater. Many thanks to RV PR crew Neil & Barry Jeffrey Neasham Engineering at Newcastle Ecology Group, Newcastle University

~100 auks caught in a single gillnet at a beach in Yorkshire. This type of fishing is devastating for birds and marine mammals #bycatch

Please contact me by DM, phone or email (see poster) if you happen to find one of our devices. Will most likely be on Blyth, Cambois Bay, Newbiggin or Tynemouth beaches. Many thanks!
NCL Marine Sciences at Newcastle

This innovative project, designing and building new low-cost hardware to measure, assess & conserve sharks is a product of Mech Engineering Graduate Sol Lucas doing a PhD in Marine Conservation Biology. Cross- discipline Sciences at Newcastle

Great work by MEGAfauna Lab PhD student Sol Lucas. Finally got some good data after many planned field days cancelled due to weather.
Ecology Group, Newcastle University Sciences at Newcastle IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group

Another great MEGAfauna lab social at Gorilla bowling & darts. Joined by Cameron now postdoc at British Antarctic Survey 🐧. Thanks to our organiser Sarah Dickson.
We are still open to game challenges from any other lab groups! Ecology Group, Newcastle University

Excellent and very informative! Many thanks for sharing CBMWC News!

Disappointing news indeed and it remains difficult to fathom Japan, Iceland and Norway's continued ignorance of the importance of cetaceans for ecosystem stability, resilience & productivity, and as carbon sequesters. I guess it is not ignorance, just arrogance and indifference.

Promising results showing pingers can reduce dolphin bycatch. Also demonstrates the importance of using REM to generate independent and verifiable data necessary to support the results which would not be achieved using fisher self-reporting only via App as promoted in the UK.

Very happy to be a contributor and see our study on harbour porpoise seascape genomics published. The results offer definitive evidence for a separate Baltic Sea Proper Population. Research evidence for much needed conservation & management.
doi.org/10.1111/1755-0…

My first wildlife drone footage: Basking sharks outside Dunbar, East Lothian, North Sea on Tuesday! A rare species in this area. Two animals were feeding about 500m off the shore during most of the morning. This animal navigated narrowly around a lobster pick up buoy.