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    The status of basking sharks in the South-West Tom Horton Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Marine Discovery E: tom.w.horton.13@gmail.com The Southwest is viewed as the UK’s principal ‘hotspot’ for the world’s second largest fish. Sightings of basking sharks in shoals of up to 80 individuals have previously been relatively commonplace, and these ocean giants are strongly associated with the region during the summer months. A multitude of datasets detailing basking shark abundance exist in the Southwest and all, despite differences in sampling protocols, show a marked decline in basking shark abundance in previous years. This presentation will focus on effort-based data collected by Marine Discovery (2007-2014) detailing this recent decline, but will also comment on trends observed in other datasets collected by Seawatch Southwest, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Marine Conservation Society and the Shark Trust. This is the first stage of a broader-scale project that seeks to elucidate environmental drivers behind observed trends. Furthermore, the presentation will highlight the importance of long-term public recording datasets and comment on how Seaquest Southwest – Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s public sightings scheme, aims to focus survey effort in order to better monitor regional mobile species’ hotspots.

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    The status of basking sharks in the South-West Tom Horton Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Marine Discovery E: tom.w.horton.13@gmail.com The Southwest is viewed as the UK’s principal ‘hotspot’ for the world’s second largest fish. Sightings of basking sharks in shoals of up to 80 individuals have previously been relatively commonplace, and these ocean giants are strongly associated with the region during the summer months. A multitude of datasets detailing basking shark abundance exist in the Southwest and all, despite differences in sampling protocols, show a marked decline in basking shark abundance in previous years. This presentation will focus on effort-based data collected by Marine Discovery (2007-2014) detailing this recent decline, but will also comment on trends observed in other datasets collected by Seawatch Southwest, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Marine Conservation Society and the Shark Trust. This is the first stage of a broader-scale project that seeks to elucidate environmental drivers behind observed trends. Furthermore, the presentation will highlight the importance of long-term public recording datasets and comment on how Seaquest Southwest – Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s public sightings scheme, aims to focus survey effort in order to better monitor regional mobile species’ hotspots.

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    486 views21 pages

    Tom Horton 2015 Basking Sharks

    Uploaded by

    Coastal Futures
    The status of basking sharks in the South-West Tom Horton Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Marine Discovery E: tom.w.horton.13@gmail.com The Southwest is viewed as the UK’s principal ‘hotspot’ for the world’s second largest fish. Sightings of basking sharks in shoals of up to 80 individuals have previously been relatively commonplace, and these ocean giants are strongly associated with the region during the summer months. A multitude of datasets detailing basking shark abundance exist in the Southwest and all, despite differences in sampling protocols, show a marked decline in basking shark abundance in previous years. This presentation will focus on effort-based data collected by Marine Discovery (2007-2014) detailing this recent decline, but will also comment on trends observed in other datasets collected by Seawatch Southwest, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Marine Conservation Society and the Shark Trust. This is the first stage of a broader-scale project that seeks to elucidate environmental drivers behind observed trends. Furthermore, the presentation will highlight the importance of long-term public recording datasets and comment on how Seaquest Southwest – Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s public sightings scheme, aims to focus survey effort in order to better monitor regional mobile species’ hotspots.

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    of 21

    The status of basking

    sharks in Cornwall

    Tom Horton

    The Project
    Previous works suggesting
    decline in numbers
    Following another
    "interesting year . . .
    Long-term aim is to
    categorise and understand
    long-term trends in
    abundance
    Work in progress . . .

    Overview
    Basking sharks in the UK and Cornwall
    2014
    Long-term trends
    Implications
    The future

    BASKING SHARKS
    IN THE UK
    Seasonal visitors

    Fished 1946-1997

    Listed on CITES & CMS


    Vulnerable IUCN Red List
    (1996-)
    SW England regional
    hotspot

    Witt et.al., 2012

    Wildlife and Countryside Act


    (1981)

    BASKING SHARKS
    IN CORNWALL
    ICONIC species
    Synonymous with Porthcurno
    & Sennen
    Income through wildlife tour
    operators
    Multiple sightings programs

    Proposed to be listed in
    MCZs
    How about numbers?

    2014

    10
    9
    8

    Independent

    UoE Project

    2014 totals
    59 records
    91 sharks

    Records

    7
    6
    5
    4
    3
    2
    1
    0

    1998 - 2014 average


    273 records
    1226 sharks

    4.5.2014

    Map to show shark locations on 4.5.2014

    4.5.2014

    59 records comprising 91 sharks


    Mostly South coast
    No large shoals

    60% of records 23.4.2014-7.5.2-2014

    Long-term trends
    1. Public recording

    1988- present

    1997- present

    1997- present

    2. Effort-based

    2007- 2011

    2007- present

    2008 - 2012

    Long-term trends
    1. Public recording

    1988- present

    1997- present

    1997- present

    2. Effort-based

    2007- 2011

    2007- present

    2008 - 2012

    Seawatch Southwest

    Marine Discovery

    500

    458

    0.4

    July

    450

    August

    400

    Sept

    350

    Oct

    0.3

    209

    Sharks

    0.2

    51

    200
    100

    47

    13
    0

    Yearly average:
    156 sharks

    MD

    Yearly average:
    173 sharks

    50
    0

    2007

    2008

    2009

    2010

    2011

    600

    547

    Sept

    35

    Sharks 100km-1

    250

    150

    0.1

    40

    300

    SWSW

    June

    March

    500

    30
    400

    25
    20

    221

    15

    194

    300

    218

    200

    115

    10

    59

    100

    14

    13

    2007

    2008

    2009

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    April

    Sharks year-1

    Sharks h-1

    0.5

    -1 -1
    year
    Sharks
    year
    Sharks

    0.6

    May
    June
    July
    August
    Sept
    Oct
    Nov
    Sharks

    Cornwall Wildlife Trust


    SWSW & MD Start
    4001

    4000

    February

    250

    Records

    4500

    January

    2929

    200

    3500

    March

    3000
    April
    2500

    2200

    150

    May

    1711
    1385

    100
    728
    50

    2000

    1607
    1219

    1500

    1069
    786

    599

    1050
    796

    1000

    317

    283
    77

    91

    500

    Sharks year-1

    300

    So what is this telling us?


    Shark sightings have
    declined in the SW
    1. Species assemblage
    change
    2. Zooplankton density
    3. Temperature

    Calanus helgolandicus @
    L4
    MD 2013 peak

    CWT 2014 peak

    450.00
    400.00

    Individuals m3

    350.00
    300.00
    250.00
    200.00
    150.00

    100.00
    50.00
    0.00

    Data courtesy of Rachel Harmer @ PML

    basking shark status


    CWT dataset shows periodicity +/ SWSW & MD show decline A need for the inclusion of long-term prey
    and SST data
    Sub-surface sharks?
    Importance of monitoring schemes

    Moving Forwards

    Summary
    Raw data show a decline in sightings since
    2006/07
    Combined effects of SST & prey rather than
    a population decline

    Still defined need for long-term monitoring


    Fingers crossed for 2015!

    Thanks for listening

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