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Evaluating the potential of photo-identification as a monitoring tool for flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius)

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Date
27/07/2018
Author
Benjamins, Steven
Dodd, Jane
Thorburn, James
Milway, Victoria A.
Campbell, Ronald
Bailey, David M.
Keywords
Elasmobranchs
Fish
Fishing
Marine protected area
Monitoring
Ocean
Protected species
Recreation
Sublittoral
QH301 Biology
NDAS
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Abstract
1. Flapper skates (Dipturus intermedius) were once widespread in European shelf waters but are currently classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to historical overexploitation. Novel monitoring approaches are needed to assess the efficacy of management measures, such as dedicated marine protected areas, for the conservation of relict skate populations. 2. Flapper skates possess distinctive dorsal spot patterns, which could potentially be used for individual recognition using photo‐identification (photo‐ID) approaches. This study assessed the potential of photo‐ID as a method for individual recognition of a relict population of skates within a dedicated marine protected area in western Scotland (UK), which has long been targeted by directed recreational angling. A collection of 486 photographs of 373 separate skate capture events from 2011 to 2016, taken with standard mobile phones and compact cameras, was studied using visual pairwise comparison methods to determine number of individuals and recapture rates. 3. Results indicated that adult flapper skates were individually recognizable with a high degree of certainty through comparison of spot patterns, assuming appropriate lighting conditions. A total of 226 individuals were identified, of which 77 (34%) were recaptured at least once. The average recapture interval was 308 days (SE: 29.4 days), with the longest recapture interval to date being 4.4 years. Spot patterns among recaptured tagged or otherwise uniquely identifiable skates were found to remain stable over timescales of months to >1 year. 4. Results indicate that photo‐ID, based on photographs sourced through citizen science approaches, can provide a low‐cost alternative means of monitoring flapper skate presence and distribution for the purposes of underpinning management decisions.
Citation
Benjamins , S , Dodd , J , Thorburn , J , Milway , V A , Campbell , R & Bailey , D M 2018 , ' Evaluating the potential of photo-identification as a monitoring tool for flapper skate ( Dipturus intermedius ) ' , Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems , vol. Early View . https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2937
Publication
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2937
ISSN
1052-7613
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2018 The Authors Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
Financial support for this study was received from SNH through the SNH‐COSPIDS grant. This study received additional funding from the SIORC (Sharks, skates and rays In the Offshore Region and Coastal Zone of Scotland community project) from the MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) pooling initiative, and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15733

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