engleski

Fishing the same fish? Odontocete - fisheries interactions in the Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is semi-closed in the eastern Mediterranean Over one third of cetacean mortality in this area during the past 19 years is attributed to antropogenic causes. We examined the diet of four odontocete species that appear in the Adriatic regularly: Risso's dolphin, Striped dolphin and Cuvier's beaked whale, and the only resident one: the Bottlenose dolphin. 201 animals were found stranded in this period and a stomach content analysis was done, and in addition we conducted a series of interview on cetacean presence and behavior with local fishermen. The Bottlenose dolphin was feeding on the prey in inshore area, with >60% prey biomass attributed by Sparidae, while other species were feeding offshore: Risso's dolphin and Cuvier's beaked whale fed exclusively on cephalopods of middle and lower slope, respectively, without a direct interaction with the firsheris A correlation was established between the fish stock status and the bottlenose dolphin mortality: as the stock dropped the dolphins maintained a similar diet, a possible result of the growth of the competiton with fishermen, but also a possible consequence of adopting the alternative feeding methods, as the interviews implied. The results urge for a revision of the management measures in eastern Adriatic in order to sustain the small local bottlenose dolphin population.

dolphin

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