Progress on Marine IUCN Red List Assessments: Key Challenges and Opportunities

Megan van der Bank, Kerry Sink and Domitilla Raimondo [email protected] What are the priority species?

 Harvested taxa  Endemic taxa  Distribution limited to southern Africa  Threatened by alien species  Sensitive species (life history, recovery)  Focus on line fish and invertebrates What does red listing entail? Risk of extinction- where extinction = loss of role in the ecosystem 101 Current state of marine species assessments

52

5

Invertebrates = 0 Other methods for assessing species population health 52

25

Number of harvested species= 638 Challenges

Data Tools Foundational life history knowledge  Data

 Variability

Mean monthly CPUE by number and mass for (a) P. commersonnii and (b) A. japonicus for eight estuaries combined, January 1996–April 1997  DAFF National Marine Linefish System  Long-term datasets (3 generations or 10 years)  Standardization (fishing technique, effort, gear, Beach-seine targeting, environmental drivers, habitat, uncertainty)

Trawl

Small scale

A modelling approach using standardized CPUE data derived from the DAFF National Marine Linefish Database used to evaluate estimated and predicted trends in Recreational population size Tools  Stock assessments  Fishery dependent VS Fishery independent Catch reports data Type of assessment Data needs Index of abundance (often Age structured production model CPUE), total catch, catch at size and age-length key Index of abundance and total Production model catch Remote underwater video Catch at size data, age-length Per recruit models key, an estimate of natural mortality

Standardised CPUE time series CPUE over time

Standardized angling Foundational life history knowledge

At what age  Generation length does the fish  Gonochorists vs. hermaphrodites reach maturity?

Johnius dorsalis (small kob)

Lethrinus crocineus (yellow emperor)

How many fish Does the fish What is the die of natural nebulosus (blue emperor) change sex and relationship causes per at what age? between length and weight? year? Taxonomy

 Taxonomy  Lumping and data resolution

Squalus mahia

Squalus margaretmithae The story of dusky kob

 Threats= fishing and estuarine degradation  SB/R = 1.0–4.5% of pristine  Genetic work= bottlenecking  Severe continuing decline (70-80 %)

Opportunities and Way forward?

 139 line fish species  ID guide offshore  Species checklists (35 checklists, 9 507 profiles invertebrates (8 taxonomic species)  Life history groups)  Species pages (336 species pages)  Ecology  Covers 410 species and led http://seakeys.sanbi.org/search/node  Population status to discovery of 20 new  Species identification guides species Thank you

Past methods for assessing species population health Applications of the Red List

NEMBA: Threatened and Protected Convention on International Trade in Species (TOPS) Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

 Protected: Indigenous species, high  Appendix I: species threatened with conservation value or national extinction. Trade only in exceptional importance, require national circumstances. protection  Appendix II: species not necessarily  Vulnerable: Indigenous species facing threatened with extinction, trade a high risk of extinction in the in the must be controlled to avoid utilization medium-term future incompatible with their survival.  Endangered: Indigenous species facing  Appendix III: species that are a high risk of extinction in the in the protected in at least one country, near future which has asked other CITES Parties  Critically Endangered: Indigenous for assistance in controlling the trade. species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future