Report of the 1st International Workshop · 15 April 2016. 44 pp. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4801.3047 Report of the 1st International Workshop Conservation and research networking on short‐beaked

Reportofthe

1stInternationalWorkshop

Conservationandresearchnetworkingonshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSea

IschiaIsland,Italy

AlbergodellaReginaIsabella

13‐15April2016

Citation:

PaceDS,MussiB,VellaA,VellaJ,FreyS,BearziG,BenamerI,BenmessaoudR,GannierA,GenovT,GiménezJ,GonzalvoJ,KeremD,LarbiDoukaraK,MilaniC,MurphyS,NatoliA,ÖztürkA,PierceGJ.2016.Reportofthe1stInternationalWorkshop“ConservationandResearchNetworkingonShort‐beakedCommonDolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSea”.MediterraneanCommonDolphinWorkingGroup.IschiaIsland,Italy,13‐15April2016.44pp.DOI:10.13140/RG.2.1.4801.3047

Reportofthe1stInternationalWorkshop

Conservationandresearchnetworkingonshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSeaIschiaIsland,Italy,13‐15April2016

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Tableofcontents

Conservationandresearchnetworkingonshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSea...........................................................................................................................................1

Participants.................................................................................................................................................................4

Introduction................................................................................................................................................................5

Background.................................................................................................................................................................5

Objectivesandmainworkshoptopics.............................................................................................................6

OverallWorkshopoutcomes...............................................................................................................................6

Recommendationsforconservationandmanagement...........................................................................7

Recommendationsforfurtherresearch.......................................................................................................10

References..................................................................................................................................................................11

Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................................14

ABSTRACTS...............................................................................................................................................................16

Commondolphins:ecology,threats,researchandconservation.....................................................17

Commondolphins,commoninneriticwatersoffsouthernIsrael,demonstrateuncommondietaryhabits............................................................................................................................................................19

TrophicecologyofcommondolphinsintheAlboranSea MediterraneanSea ........................21

Thecommondolphin'spresenceinLibya,stateofknowledgeandgaps......................................22

Comparisonofhabitatuseofbottlenosedolphin Tursiopstruncatus andshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis inTunisiannortheasterncoasts........................................23

Occurrenceofshort‐beakedcommondolphinsintheGulfofTrieste northernAdriaticSea.........................................................................................................................................................................................24

Abundance,distributionanddietofshort‐beakedcommondolphins Delphinusdelphis,Linnaeus,1758 intheNorthAegeanSea,Greece...................................................................................25

DistributionandhabitatofDelphinusdelphisintheMediterraneanSeaasobtainedfromsmallboatdedicatedsurveys............................................................................................................................27

Commondolphins Delphinusdelphis intheCentralMediterraneanRegion:long‐termresearchfromMalta..............................................................................................................................................29

Occurrenceanddistributionofshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis inItalianwaters:thepowerofnetworking......................................................................................................31



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Dorsaledgemarkingsandpatchesanalysisinshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis :comparisonofphoto‐identificationcataloguesfromdifferentItalianregions........33

Conservationgeneticsoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSea:stateoftheartandfutureresearch.......................................................................35

Apreliminarystudyonpopulationstructureoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphinDelphinusdelphis intheTurkishSeasbasedonmtDNAsequences............................................38

Willtherebeanyrewardforcommondolphinperseverance?..........................................................41

Short‐beakedcommondolphinsintheGulfofCorinthareCriticallyEndangered....................42

Astrandingrecordoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis inAlgerianWestCoast,during2007‐2011.........................................................................................................................43



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Participants

AdaNatolispeaker [email protected] UAEDolphinProject,UnitedArabEmirates

AdrianaVellaorganizer,speaker,chairperson

[email protected],UniversityofMalta CBRG‐UoM &BiologicalConservationResearchFoundation,Malta

AlexandreGannier speaker a_o.gannier@club‐internet.fr GroupedeRecherchesurlesCétacés,France

AngeloMiragliuolo observer [email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

BarbaraMussiorganizer,speaker

[email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

CarlottaVivaldi observer [email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

CristinaMilani speaker [email protected] FisheriesResearchInstituteofKavala,Greece

DanKerem speaker [email protected] IMMRAC,Israel

DanielaSilviaPaceorganizer,speaker

[email protected],Italy

SapienzaUniversityofRome,Italy

DavideAscheri observer [email protected] UniversityofGenoa,Italy

ElenaFontanesi observer [email protected] UniversityofBologna,Italy

FedericaChiozzaspeaker,chairperson

[email protected] SapienzaUniversityofRome,Italy

GiancarloGiacomini observer [email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

GiandomenicoArdizzone chairperson [email protected] SapienzaUniversityofRome,Italy

GiovanniBearzi speaker [email protected] DolphinBiologyandConservation,Italy

GrahamPierceinvitedspeaker,chairperson

[email protected] UniversityofAberdeen,UK

IbrahimBenAmer speaker [email protected] UniversityofAberdeen,UK

JoanGonzalvo speaker [email protected] TethysResearchInstitute,Italy

JohnBaxterinvitedspeaker,chairperson

[email protected] ScottishNaturalHeritage,UniversityofStAndrewsandHeriot‐WattUniversity,UK

LarbiDoukaraKamel speaker artimaquakamel@yahoo,fr UniversityofBlida,Algeria

LeonardoVigna observer [email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

LucianoCiarlone observer [email protected] UniversityofNaplesFedericoII,Italy

RaffaellaTizzi observer [email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

RossanaTenerelli observer [email protected] OceanomareDelphisOnlus,Italy

SilviaBonizzoni observer [email protected] DolphinBiologyandConservation,Italy

SilviaFrey organizer [email protected] OceanCare,Switzerland

SinéadMurphy invitedspeaker [email protected] UniversityofAberdeen,UK

TilenGenov speaker [email protected] Morigenos,Slovenia

AyakaAmahaOzturk contributor [email protected] IstanbulUniversity,Turkey

JoanGiménezVerdugo contributor [email protected] EstaciónBiológicadeDoñana EBD‐CSIC ,Spain

RimelBenmessaoud contributor [email protected] InstitutNationaldesSciencesetTechnologiesdelaMer,Tunisia



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IntroductionOceanomare Delphis Onlus Italy , BICREF Malta and OceanCare Switzerland , jointlyorganized the 1st International Workshop on short‐beaked common dolphin Delphinusdelphis,Linneaus1758 ,whichtookplaceinIschia,betweenthe13thandthe15thofApril,inorder toassess thestatusof theMediterraneanpopulation,understandthemajor threats itfacesandoutlineconservationactionplans.Furthermore,theprocessfortheIUCNredListre‐assessmentoftheMediterraneanpopulationwasstarted.

Theworkshopbrought together representativesof leadingacademic institutions,NGOsandresearch groups of the Mediterranean and European countries, with contributions from Algeria, France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Libya,Malta, UnitedKingdom, Slovenia, Spain,Switzerland,TunisiaandTurkey.

BackgroundThe short‐beaked common dolphin is widely distributed throughout warm‐temperate andtropicalwaters,fromnearshoretooffshorehabitats Perrin,2002 .

Althoughthe taxonomyof thegenusDelphinus isstill subjectofdebate,currently therearetworecognizedspeciesofDelphinus:theshort‐beakedcommondolphinandthelong‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinus capensisHeyning andPerrin, 1994 . Two endemic subspecieshave been suggested, one of the short‐beaked form Delphinus delphis ponticus Barabash‐Nikiforov, 1935 distributed in the Black Sea and one of the long‐beaked form DelphinuscapensistropicalisVanBree,1971 foundintheNorthernIndianOceanandRedSea.

In the Mediterranean Sea, the short‐beaked common dolphin inhabits pelagic and neriticwaters Notarbartolo di Sciara & Birkun, 2010 . In the past, this species was widelydistributed throughout the Mediterranean basin and, until the 1960s, was considered themost abundant cetacean species. During the past decades, however, the species declinedthroughout the region Bearzi et al., 2003 withnotable strongholds remaining only in theAlboran Sea Cañadas & Hammond, 2008 and around the Maltese Islands Vella, 2005 .Declined abundance raised conservation concerns, and in 2003 the Mediterranean short‐beaked common dolphin was listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of ThreatenedAnimals,basedoncriterionA2,whichreferstoa50%declineinabundanceoverthelastthreegenerations,thecausesofwhich‘maynothaveceasedormaynotbeunderstoodormaynotbereversible’.

Long‐term monitoring has been carried out around the islands of Malta Vella, 2005 ,Lampedusa,Italy HabitatDirectiveReporting,2014;Paceetal.,2015 ,Ischia,Italy Mussi&Miragliuolo,2003;Paceetal.,2015 ,theInnerIonianSeaArchipelago,Greece Bearzietal.,2003, 2008; Piroddi et al., 2011 , and in the Alboran Sea Cañadas & Hammond, 2008 .However, informationonoccurrence,distributionandhabitatuse in theMediterraneanSearemainsfairlysparse,withlittlepublisheddata.



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ObjectivesandmainworkshoptopicsThe workshop was organized in order to promote greater participation, internationaldialogue and scientific knowledge transfer including presentation of recent and stillunpublishedstudies .Suchexchangeofresearchexperiencewasintendedtostrengthenthescientificandconservationaleffortsforthespecies.

Theworkshopparticipantscontributedinformationregardingvariousaspectsofthebiology,currentstatusandtrendsofcommondolphins.Suchcontributionswererelevantinorderto:

1 Sharescientificinformationandmethodologiesbetweendifferentresearchgroups.Nolargecoordinatedstudiesonshort‐beakedcommondolphinhaveoccurredacrosstheMediterraneanandonlyasmallnumberofteamshavephoto‐identificationcataloguesofthisspecies.Thelevelofdetailandeffortdedicatedtoscientificresearchoncommondolphins in theMediterraneanvaries considerably.Relatively small researchgroups,oftenNGOs,carryoutthemajorityofthestudies.

2 SetupthebasistoupdatetheassessmentoftheMediterraneansubpopulationofthespecies under the IUCN Red List criteria. IUCN assessments are generally updatedevery 10 years. As the last assessment was carried out in 2003, and with newinformation available, a reviewon the status on the species in theMediterranean isdue.

3 Enhance conservation efforts, both locally and internationally. Provide a forum forscientistsworkingoncommondolphinsintheMediterraneanSeatodiscussrelevanttopics,shareexperiences,andmakerecommendations.

4 Defineaplatformforlaunchingnewpartnerships,activitiesorprojects.Theworkshophasencouragedall theparticipants tocollaborate inwritingprojects tosustain long‐termresearch,monitoringandintegratedmanagementintheMediterraneanarea.

OverallWorkshopoutcomes Adeclining trend in presence and abundance of this specieswas highlighted in some

Mediterranean regions where long‐term studies are ongoing. In the Ionian Islands,commondolphins formerlymanifestinga strong site‐fidelity towards the Inner IonianSea Archipelago also referred to as Kalamos appear to have expanded their homerange quite significantly towards neighbouring areas where, until now, based on thelimiteddataavailable,thespecieswasnotconsideredtoberegularlypresent Gonzalvo& Costa, this report . In the Gulf of Corinth, Greece a geographically distinctconservationunit,withlikelylittledemographicandgeneticexchange,facesahighriskof extinction due to its small population size 22 animals estimated in 2011–2015 ,limitedextentofoccurrence,andsuspectedhybridisationwitha60‐fold largerunitofstripeddolphins Bearzietal.,inpress;thisreport .IntheIslandofIschia Italy yearlyencounter rates had a significant steady decline between 2000 and 2013, and nocommon dolphin encounters were documented in 2014 and 2015 Pace et al.,submitted;Mussietal.,thisreport .

Genetic differentiation between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic populations andfurtherdifferentiationwithintheMediterranean,betweenEastern Ionian andWestern



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Alboran unitswasobserved.ThisdifferentiationislikelytohaveevolvedrecentlyandtohavebeenreinforcedbyabottleneckeventthatrecentlyaffectedtheIoniancommondolphins.

NewdataonpresenceanddistributionwerepresentedforbothItalian aroundSardiniaandinMessinaStrait andGreekwaters NorthAegeanSea .

NewinformationonstrandingsinAlgeriawasdelivered,aswellasforSouthernIsrael,wherecommondolphinstomachcontents revealed thedominanceofanunusualpreyitem Ariosomabalearicum .

Results on the diet of common dolphin in the Alboran andNorth Aegean Sea, and inSouthern Israel supported previous knowledge that the species ismainly piscivorous,cephalopodsbeingfoundinlowquantities.

Photo‐identificationwasconfirmedasapowerfulmethodforestimatingabundanceandmovementpatterns.

Aerialsurveyswereusedtostudythelargehomerangeandmovementsofthespeciesyear‐roundand to report thenumber, compositionand sizeof groupsencounteredatdifferenttimesoftheyear.

KnowledgegapswereidentifiedinseveralMediterraneanareasincludingthewatersoffMorocco,Algeria,Libya,Egypt,Lebanon,andSyria.

To re‐assess the status of the species under the IUCN Red List, the combination ofdifferentcriteria whichrequiresfullunderstandingoftheIUCNRedListcategoriesandcriteriaandguidelinesforusingthem shouldbeconsidered.

RecommendationsforconservationandmanagementFactors thought tobe thecauseofcontinuingdecline include incidentalmortality in fishinggear, contaminants, prey depletion, and climate change. Enforcing existing regulations andconservationmeasuresmayreducesomeofthepressuresfacedbycommondolphinsintheMediterranean.

1 Bycatch

WithintheMediterraneanSeaunderRegulation812/2004,EuropeanUnionMemberStateshavetomonitorandreportonpelagic/midwatertrawlfisheriesoperatingeastofline5°36’W.Monitoringofstaticgearisnotrequiredwithinthebasin.InEuropeanwaters, fixed net gears generally pose a much higher incidental capture risk tocetaceans compared to towed gear. As outlined by the International Council for theExplorationoftheSea ICESWorkingGrouponBycatchofProtectedSpecies in2015“ThelackofmandatorymonitoringofstaticgearsintheMediterraneanandBlackSeasrepresentsasignificantloopholeinReg.812reportingrequirements.”Werecommendthe inclusion of static gear fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea within the proposalrevisingtheDataCollectionFrameworkthatmaysupersedethe812/2004Regulation.

We also support the recommendations of the executive secretariat of ASCOBANStransmitted on 30 October 2015 to the European Commission relating to



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the“Requirements of Legislation to Address Monitoring and Mitigation of SmallCetaceanBycatch”andincludingrecommendingoverarchinglegislationforcetaceansinEuropeanwaterstoensuretheeffectiveprotectionofcetaceansfromallthreats.

2) Contaminants

As high trophic level predators, marine mammals are more vulnerable than othermarine organism lower down in the food chain to the accumulation of highconcentrations of anthropogenic contaminants and thusmore exposed to their toxiceffects (WHO/UNEP,2015).The toxiceffectsofPersistentOrganicPollutants (POPs)include immunosuppression and reproductive impairment; in particular, the highconcentrationsofDDTmetabolitesandPCBcongeners(knownasendocrinedisruptingchemicals, EDCs) found in Mediterranean common dolphins are thought to be animportantstressfactorforthespecies(Fossietal.,2003).TheEUhasimplementedanumber of legislative measures that are related to POPs (see The UnionImplementation Plan, 2014). As sentinels of marine ecosystems, monitoring POPsconcentrations incetaceansshouldbeconsideredfor inclusionasan indicatorunderdescriptor 8 within the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)(Directive2008/56/EC).

3 Preydepletion

The exploitation of marine ecosystems and the depletion of food resources due tooverfishingmay representmajor factors in the top predators’ global decline IUCN,2015 .Mediterranean fish stocks are largely overfished FAO, 2016 . Between1950and2010Mediterraneancatcheswere50%higherthanreportedbyFAOandthereisclearevidenceofdeclineincatches,,withastrongerdeclinesincethe1990s Pauly&Zeller,2016 .InwesternGreece,thedeclineofcommondolphinshasbeenattributedtothedepletionofsmallschoolingfishes Bearzietal.,2008 .

Werecommendtheestablishmentofno‐takeareasincommondolphincriticalhabitat,at least for fishing gears know to deplete commondolphin prey e.g. purse seiners andseverelydamagethecoastalenvironment e.g.bottomtrawlers .

Furthermore, to better understand the biological and ecological processes whichcontrolpreydepletion,wesuggesttheimplementationofextensivestockassessmentsforfishandcephalopodspecieseatenbycommondolphins,includingnon‐commercialspecies and studies of diet e.g. based on stomach contents analysis of strandedanimals .

4 Climatechange

In the last few years the natural evolution of the Mediterranean biome has beenperturbed by the effects of climate change. In particular, shifts in temperature,circulation, stratification, nutrient input, oxygen content and ocean acidification arelikelytohavegreatlymodifiedthemarineecosystems Doneyetal.,2012;UNEP,2009,2010 .

Long‐term monitoring of the Mediterranean common dolphin critical habitat hasrevealedspecificexamplesofclimatechangeeffects,suchasreportedbyCañadasandVázquez 2016 for effects of sea surface temperature on availability of suitablehabitat in theAlboranSea. Since theevidence todateprimarily comes froma single



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region, the Alboran Sea, it is important to assess how representative this area is ofotherpartsoftheMediterranean.

Thereisalsotheneedtoevaluatewhethersuchrelationshipsaredirect,e.g.duetothelimits of a species thermalneutral zone, orwhether they are indirect, e.g. due to aneffectonpreferredpreyspecies MacLeod,2009 .

Wesuggesttoinvestigatewhethertherangesofcommondolphinsare,infact,drivenby water temperature rather than by other factors which currently co‐vary withtemperature.

5 Otherthreats

Tomitigateanumberof threatssuchasunderwaternoise, recreationalvessel trafficand whale watching disturbance, the designation of protected areas should beconsideredwhereshort‐beakedcommondolphincriticalhabitatsareknowntooccur.TheACCOBAMSresolution4.15 2010 liststhefollowingareasofspecialimportanceforthecommondolphin:Kalamos Greece ;TheAlboránSea;waterssurroundingtheislandofIschia south‐easternTyrrhenianSea,Italy ;waterssurroundingtheislandofMalta and south‐eastern Sicily, Italy; the eastern Ionian Sea and the Gulf of CorinthGreece ;theSazaniIsland–KaraburuniPeninsula AdriaticandIonianSea,Albania ;theGulfofSaronikosandadjacentwaters Argo‐SaronikosandsouthernEvvoikosGulf,Greece ;waterssurroundingthenorthernSporades Greece ;thenorthernAegeanSeaGreece ; and waters surrounding the Dodecanese Greece . Currently, the onlyestablished Mediterranean Marine Protected Area specifically designated to protectshort‐beakedcommondolphincriticalhabitatistheItalianMPA“NeptuneKingdom”oftheIslandofIschiaProcidaandVivara,whichuntilnowhasnotimplementedpracticalmeasurestopreservethespecies.

We recommend undertaking surveys in poorly‐known areas particularly off thecoastsofNorthAfrica ,increasedeffortstoidentifyandestablishotherprotectedareasencompassing common dolphin critical habitat, and working to ensure that specificprotectionmeasuresareimplementedwithindesignatedprotectedareas.

Goold 1996 found that common dolphins were temporarily disturbed by seismicsurveys, and Stone & Tasker 2005 confirm this first observation, describing theanimals’avoidancereactiontoairguns.

To limit the impact of anthropogenic noise on commondolphinhabitat, itwould bebeneficial to implement the recommendations from the CMS Resolution 10.24 onFurtherStepstoAbateUnderwaterNoisePollutionfortheProtectionofCetaceansandOther Migratory Species, which are consistent with resolutions and papers on thistopicadoptedunderotherinternationalforaduringthelastyears.

Vessel presence has been shown to increase travelling and avoidance behaviour incommondolphinsattheexpensesof foragingandresting Neumann&Orams,2006;Stockin et al., 2008 . In particular, common dolphin foraging behaviour has beendemonstratedtobealteredandreducedbyboat interactions Meissneretal.,2015 ,with possible consequences for individual health and ultimately reproductionpregnancyandnursing;Young&Cockcroft,1995 .



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In theMediterranean,disturbancebywhalewatchingvesselscurrentlyoccurs in theBay of Algeciras a recognized feeding and breeding ground for common dolphins;Giménez et al., 2011 mainly by Gibraltar UK companies. We recommend theapplicationoftheguidelinesforcommercialwhalewatchingactivitiesincludedintheACCOBAMSresolutions4.7 2010 and5.10 2013 .

RecommendationsforfurtherresearchBasedontheevidencepresentedanddiscussed,thefollowingrequirementswereidentified:

1 Abundance

conductwell‐designedsurveysinareasknowntoincludeimportanthabitat,aswellaslarge‐scalesurveysinareaswherenoinformationisavailable;

compile and compare status and abundance trends in different areas, wherenecessaryaccountingfordifferencesinresearchapproaches;

develop and apply innovative techniques for abundance estimation, such asintegratingphoto‐identificationandacousticrecords.

2 Distributionandhabitatuse

develop and implement predictive models of presence and distribution usingsighting and survey effort data, inter alia to identify potential common dolphinhabitatswherenewsurveysshouldbeconducted,whilerevealingsitesthatshouldbesuitableforthespeciesbutwhicharenotutilisedduetoanthropogenicorotherchangingconditions.Thelatterneedtobeinvestigatedinordertofacilitatefuturemanagement improvements to reduce distribution fragmentation and increaseaccessibilityofsuitablehabitatsforthespecies.

3 Stockassessmentandgenetics

definespatial population, subpopulation,managementunit and temporal scalesfor management through genetics, ecological tracers, pollutant profiles,morphometrics as well as through monitoring of individual movements sitefidelity,homerange ;

collectsamplesfromdifferentregionsoftheMediterraneanforgeneticanalysistoclarifypopulationstructure.

4 Threatsandcausesofdeath

increasestudiesoninteractionswithhumanactivitiestoassesspossibleimpactsoncommon dolphins and determine, whenever possible, the causes of death ofstrandedindividuals;

analysedataandsamplesfromstrandingnetworks MEDACES inasystematicandcoordinated way; extend and enhance strandings monitoring to cover allMediterraneancoasts;

use the data collected to monitor threats and to help construct population andecosystemmodels.



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5 “Novel”informationsources

usecitizensciencedatatocomplementinformationondistributionandabundance,withdatafilteringprotocolstoavoidspeciesmisidentification;

implementhistoricalresearch,whereavailable,toinvestigatelong‐termtrendsandset appropriate baselines, e.g. through the analysis of museum collections,historical literature, time series of fishery catches and long‐term strandingdatabases.

askgovernmentofficerspermissiontoaccessthereportsofcetaceansurveysbyoilandgascompanies,bearinginmindthevariablequalityofsuchinformation.

6 Knowledgegaps

strengthen the research effort off southernMediterranean coasts and in offshorewaters;

review information and results from different studies in order to obtain amorecomprehensivepictureoftheconservationneedsoftheMediterraneanpopulation.

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MarineStrategyFrameworkDirectivehttp://eur‐lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/56/oj

MeissnerAM,ChristiansenF,MartinezE,PawleyMDM,OramsMB,StockinKA.2015.Behaviouraleffectsoftourism on oceanic common dolphins, Delphinus sp., in New Zealand: The effects of Markov analysisvariationsandcurrenttouroperatorcompliancewithregulations.PLoSONE10 1 :e0116962.

MussiB,MiragliuoloA.2003.Icetaceidellacostanordoccidentaledell’isolad’Ischia canyondiCuma .In:Ambientemarino e costiero e territorio delle isole Flegree Ischia, Procida e Vivara – Golfo di Napoli .Risultatidiunostudiomultidisciplinare GambiMC,DeLauroM,JannuzziF,eds .MemorieAccademiadiScienzeFisicheeMatematiche,SocietàItalianadiScienzeLettereeArtiNapoli.LiguoriEditore.Pp.213‐232

Neumann DR, Orams MB. 2006. Impacts of ecotourism on short‐beaked common dolphins Delphinusdelphis inMercuryBay,NewZealand.AquaticMammals32:1–9.

Notarbartolo di Sciara G, Birkun A Jr. 2010. Conserving whales, dolphins and porpoises in theMediterraneanandBlackSeas:anACCOBAMSstatusreport,2010.ACCOBAMS,Monaco.

PaceDS,MussiB,AiroldiS,AlessiJ,ArcangeliA,AtzoriF,AzzolinM,CampanaI,CelonaA,FioriC,GiacomaC,GnoneG,LuperiniC,ManganoR,MiragliuoloA,MoulinsA,NutiS,PellegrinoG,RossoM,SalvioliF,TepsichP, Tringali M. 2015. New insights on the presence and distribution of the endangered short‐beakedcommondolphinDelphinusdelphisinItalianwaters.BiologiaMarinaMediterranea22 1 :262‐263.

Pace DS, Ardizzone G, Zucchini A,Mussi B. 2016. A ‘relict’ population of short‐beaked common dolphinDelphinus delphis in the central Mediterranean Sea: trends in occurrence, distribution, photo‐identificationandabundanceoffIschiaisland Italy .SubmittedtoEndangeredSpeciesResearch.

PaulyD,ZellerD.2016.Catchreconstructionsreveal thatglobalmarine fisheriescatchesarehigherthanreportedanddeclining.NatureCommunications7:10244.

PerrinW.2002.CommonDolphins.In:EncyclopaediaofMarineMammals PerrinW,WursigB,ThewissenJ,eds. .AcademicPress,SanDiego.Pp.245–248.

PiroddiC,BearziG,GonzalvoJ,ChristensenV.2011.Fromcommontorare:thecaseoftheMediterraneancommondolphin.BiologicalConservation144 10 :2490–2498.

StoneCJ,TaskerML.2005.Theeffectsofseismicairgunsoncetaceans inUKwaters. JournalofCetaceanResearchandManagement8:255‐263.

StockinKA,LusseauD,BinedellV,WisemanN,OramsMB.2008.Tourismaffectsthebehaviouralbudgetofthe common dolphin Delphinus sp. in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Marine Ecology Progress Series355:287–295.

UNEP‐MAPRAC/SPA.2009.Identificationofimportantecosystempropertiesandassessmentofecologicalstatus andpressures toMediterraneanmarine and coastal biodiversity BazairiH,BenHaj S, TorchiaG,LimamA,RaisC,CebrianD,eds. .RAC/SPA,Tunis.100pp.

UNEP‐MAP‐RAC/SPA. 2010. Impact of climate change on marine and coastal biodiversity in theMediterraneanSea:Currentstateofknowledge BenHajS,LimamA,eds. .RAC/SPA.,Tunis.28pp.

vanBreePJH.1971.Delphinustropicalis,anewnameforDelphinuslongirostrisG.Cuvier,1829.Mammalia35 2 :345‐346.

Vella A. 2005. Delphinus delphis common dolphins status in the central and southernMediterraneanaroundtheMalteseislands.Proceedingsoftheworkshop“Commondolphins:currentresearch,threatsandissues”.ECSNewsletter45 StockinKA,VellaA,EvansPGH,esd. :8‐16.

WHO/UNEP.2012.StateoftheScienceofEndocrineDisruptingChemicals BergmanÅ,HeindelJJ,JoblingS,KiddKA,ZoellerRT,eds. .ISBN:978‐92‐807‐3274‐0 UNEP and9789241505031 WHO .

YoungDD,CockcroftVG.1995.StomachcontentsofstrandedcommondolphinsDelphinusdelphisfromthesouth‐eastofsouthernAfrica.ZeitschriftFürSaugetierkunde‐International JournalofMammalianBiology60:343–351.



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AcknowledgementsTheWorkshophasreceivedthepatronageandthesupportofnumerousinstitutions,researchcentresandpartners.Toallofthem,tothestaffofOceanomareDelphis,BICREF,OceanCareandtotheEditorofAquaticConservation,goesourmostheartfeltthankyou.

•UNEP/RACSPA

•ACCOBAMS

•IUCN SpeciesSurvivalCommission

•CSM ConventionontheConservationofMigratorySpecies

•ItalianEnvironmentMinistry

•ItalianSocietyofMarineBiology

•UniversityofRomeLaSapienza

•UniversityofMalta

•UniversityofNaplesFedericoII

•UniversityofNaplesParthenope

•AntonDohrnZoologicalStation

•BritishEmbassyRome

•UKScienceInnovationNetwork

•HumanSocietyInternational

•WorldCetaceanAlliance

•ItalianCoastguards

•MarineProtectedArea“RegnodiNettuno”

•CampaniaRegion

•TourismBoardofIschiaeProcida

•MunicipalitiesofCasamicciolaTermeeLaccoAmeno

•UnionofYoungCharteredAccountantsofNaples

•AmicidiRiccardoDomenici

•GiardiniPoseidon

•Negombo

•AlbergodellaReginaIsabella



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Workshopunderthepatronageof

andthesupportof



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Commondolphins:ecology,threats,researchandconservation

PierceGJ1‐2,EvansPGH3‐4,SaavedraC5,ReadFL1‐6,SantosMB5

1Oceanlab,SchoolofBiologicalSciences,UniversityofAberdeen,MainStreet,Newburgh,AberdeenshireAB416AA,UnitedKingdom;2CESAM&DepartamentodeBiologia,UniversidadedeAveiro,3810‐193Aveiro,Portugal;

3SeaWatchFoundation,Cynifryn,Llanfaglan,Caernarfon,Gwynedd,LL545RA,UnitedKingdom;4SchoolofOceanSciences,BangorUniversity,MenaiBridge,AngleseyLL595AB,UnitedKingdom;5CentroOceanográficodeVigo,InstitutoEspañoldeOceanografía,SubidaaRadioFaro,50,36390Vigo,Spain;6WhaleandDolphin

Conservation,BrookfieldHouse,38StPaulStreet,ChippenhamWiltshireSN151LJ,UnitedKingdom

TheMediterraneanSea isgenerallyoligotrophic, althoughwith someproductivityhotspots,withrelativelyhighbiodiversitybutalsohighlevelsofmaritimetrafficandtourismandahighhuman population living in “water‐poor” countries. Environmental threats include habitatdestruction, prey depletion, invasive species, microbial pathogens, pollution and climatechange.TheMediterraneanshort‐beakedcommondolphinislistedasendangeredintheIUCNRedListanditsabundanceisthoughttohavefallenbyover50%inthelast40years,althoughcausesof thedeclinearepoorlyunderstood.Thereare likely threegeneticstocks eastandwestandBlackSea butManagementUnitshavenotbeendefined.

Previoushighabundance isevident fromhistoricalrecordsandspecimensbut therearenolarge‐scale population estimates. An internationally coordinated visual survey covering thewholeMediterraneanSeaisneeded,pluscoordinationofsmall‐scalesurveysbuttheregularoccurrenceofmixedcommonandstripeddolphingroupspresentsanimportantchallenge.

Monitoringofstrandingscangiveimportantinsightsintobiologyandecology,alsohelpingtoconstruct population and ecosystem models. Some strandings schemes exist in theMediterranean,moreeffortisneededtogatherandanalysedataandsamplesinasystematicand coordinated way. It is thought that common dolphins need a diet rich in fat fish andoverexploitationofsardineandanchovymayhavebeenafactorintheirdecline.Dietarydataandecosystemmodelsareneededtounderstandeffectsofchangingpreyabundance.

Important threats include fishery bycatch, prey depletion, contaminants and underwaternoise.RecentresearchsuggeststhatMediterraneanfisherieshaveremovedfarmorefishthanindicatedbyFAOdata.Significantcommondolphinmortalityhasbeenrecorded indriftnetandgillnetfisheriesintheMediterraneanandsystematicmonitoringofby‐catchisneeded.

The Mediterranean has numerous coastal pollution hotspots. PCBs are known to causereproductive failure and immune suppression inmarinemammals andhigh concentrationshavebeen recorded inMediterraneanmarinemammals. PCB concentrationsmaybe fallingbutothercompoundswith likelysimilareffectscontinue tobedevelopedandreleased intotheoceans,alongwithanestimated8milliontonsofplasticperyearglobally,towhichEgyptis among the top 10 contributors. Phalates from microplastics have been detected in finwhalesfromtheMediterraneanandmayhavesignificantadverseeffects.Theroleofdiseaseinthedeclineofcommondolphinsremainsunknownbutstripeddolphinshavesufferedtwomajor morbillivirus epizootics in the Mediterranean. Other possible threats include non‐



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indigenous species, noise andotherdisturbance fromshippingand climate change.ClimateprojectionsfortheMediterraneanregionpointtoreducedrainfallandhighertemperatures.

Mediterranean common dolphins are protected by national laws and internationalagreements, including the Barcelona Convention Protocol on Specially ProtectedAreas andMediterraneanBiodiversity.However, lackofimplementationandcomplianceremainmajorobstacles to achieving conservation objectives, as is the lack ofmonitoring. In Europe, theMSFDisprobablythemajorfocusofcurrentmarineconservationefforts. Issuesincludethedifficultyofdetectingchanges incetaceanabundanceandadifficulty in identifyingsuitablemanagementmeasures.Implementingfisheryby‐catchmitigationisonekeymeasure.Giventhelackofmonitoring,aprecautionaryapproachisneeded,withactiontakenongearswithknown high bycatch rates e.g. gillnets, purse seines, drift nets . The USAMarineMammalProtectionActprovides apossiblemodel for future legislation.Controlsonoverfishingandpollutionareimportantbutevenlesstractablepriorities.



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Commondolphins,commoninneriticwatersoffsouthernIsrael,demonstrateuncommondietaryhabits

BrandD2,EdelistD2,GoffmanO1‐2,HadarN1,KeremD1‐2,ScheininA1‐2

1IMMRAC IsraelMarineMammalResearch&AssistanceCenter ,UniversityofHaifa,MountCarmel,Haifa31905,Israel;2DepartmentofMaritimeCivilizations,SchoolforMarineSciences,UniversityofHaifa,Mount

Carmel,Haifa31905,Israel.

During the last decade, the common dolphin CD has become the second most sighteddolphininIsraelicoastalwaters,afterthecommonbottlenosedolphin CBD .

Sightings,delimitedwithina10kmstrip,arealmostexclusivelyconfinedtothesouthernhalfof the coast and are comprised of rather large groups mean SD: 21.5 13.3 , often withyoungcalves.Theyaresightedyearround,lessofteninthecoldseason.Seasonalityhowevermaybebiasedbyobservationeffort,asdocumentationalmosttotallyreliesonopportunistic,photoand/orvideo‐backed,secondpartyreports.

Figure1:CommondolphinsinIsraeliwater



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Strandingsarerelativelyscarce CBD/CD 8/1 ,usuallyoneperyear,butduetoaclusterin2012,4stomachcontentswereavailablefordietanalysis.

Cephalopodbeakscomprised 3%ofthecombinedpreyitems.Surprisingly,byfarthemostabundantandprevalentpreyitemfound 56%ofcombinedcontent;presentanddominantin3outof4stomachs wastheBaleariceel Ariosomabalearicum ,asandburrowerwhichisalsoamajordietarycomponentoftheCBD.

Thelattercetaceanislocallyknowntoforageandfeedbehindbottomtrawlers,whichmakesusbelievethat some? CDsalsomakecommonuseofthisforagingmode.Indeed,inadditionto their association with purse seiners, they have several times been documentedaccompanyingbottomtrawlers.

Interestingly,whileCBD isquiteoftena victimof trawl‐netbycatch, therewasnot a singleincident involvingCD.CBD,whenfollowingtrawlers feedsat themouthof thenet,where ithastheopportunitytoenteritandgetentrapped.CDisseentoswimanddiveatthecod‐endofthenet,wherethesmallandslendereelsmaybeescapingthroughthenet’seyes.

Informationgapsincluderangeextensiontothesouth/southwest,abundanceestimationandgenetic flow/isolation.Whilewecouldnot identify specific threats, considering the stateoftheMediterraneansub‐population,weareoftheopinionthatthesoutheasternLevantinesub‐sub‐populationshouldbeconsideredaconservationalmanagementunitinneedofprotectionanditsareaofoccupancy,anAreaofSpecialImportanceforMediterraneanCD.



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TrophicecologyofcommondolphinsintheAlboranSea MediterraneanSea

GiménezJ1,MarçaloA2‐3,Garcia‐PoloM4‐5,García‐BarónI6,JoséCastilloJ7,Fernández‐MaldonadoC8,SantosMB4,deStephanisR9

1Departamento de Biología de la Conservación, Estación Biológica de Doñana‐Consejo Superior deInvestigacionesCientíficas EBD‐CSIC ,AmericoVespucios/nIsladelaCartuja,41013Sevilla,Spain;2CentrodeEstudos do ambiente e domar CESAM , Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro,Portugal; 3SociedadePortuguesadeVidaSelvagem SPVS ,DepartamentodeBiología,UniversidadedoMinho,CampusdeGualtar,Braga,Portugal;4InstitutoEspañoldeOceanografía,CentroOceanográficodeVigo,POBox1552, 36200 Vigo, Spain; 5Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga,CampusdeTeatinoss/n,29071,Málaga,Spain;6AZTIFundazioa,HerreraKaia,Portualdea,Pasaia,Spain;7CentrodeRecuperacióndeEspeciesMarinasAmenazadas CREMA ,AuladelMardeMálaga,Pacífico80,29004Málaga,Spain; 8Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucía, Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación delTerritorio,JuntadeAndalucía,JohanGütemberg1,IsladelaCartuja,41092Sevilla,Spain;9CIRCE,Conservation,InformationandResearchonCetaceans,CabezadeManzaneda3,11390Pelayo‐Algeciras,Spain.

The Mediterranean subpopulation of common dolphin Delphinus delphis is classified as"endangered" by the IUCNas it is estimated that abundance has declined by 50 percent inrecentdecades.InformationaboutthedietofthisspeciesintheMediterraneanSeaisscarce.Common dolphin has been described as an opportunistic feeder, although epipelagic andmesopelagic fish have been foundmore often in the stomachs of stranded animals. In thisstudy, stomach contents of 37 common dolphins stranded in theAlboran Sea and Strait ofGibraltar,twooftheareaswiththegreatestabundanceofthisspeciesintheMediterranean,areanalyzed.A totalof13,603 individualpreyof28 taxawere identifiedusing fishotolithsandjawbonesandcephalopodmandibles.Theaveragediversityofpreyinthestomachswas4 range1‐11 .ThefamilyMyctophidae 86.82%N,59.46%O,55.63%W,8469.74IRI wasthemostimportantgroup,especiallyCeratoscopelusmaderensis 60%N,45.95%O,29.96%W, 4133.45 IRI andNotoscopelussp. 20.43% N; 32.43% O, 24.33% W, 1451.68 IRI ,followed by the family Sparidae 0.78% N, 35.14% O, 16.55% W, 608.84 IRI especiallybogueBoopsboops 0.76%N,35.14%O,15.97%W,587.49IRI .Resultsindicatethatthedietof common dolphins in this area is piscivorous, with predominance of myctophids.Cephalopodswerefoundinlowquantities 0.23%N,27.03%O,0.27%W,13.47IRI .Thesestudiesareneededtodeterminetherolethatcommondolphinsareplayingastoppredatorsin the Mediterranean and to evaluate the possible competition with local fisheries toimplementpropermanagementactiontoconservetheendangeredsubpopulationofcommondolphinsoftheMediterraneanSea.



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Thecommondolphin'spresenceinLibya,stateofknowledgeandgaps

BenamerI

Oceanlab,UniversityofAberdeen,MainStreet,Newburgh,Aberdeenshire,AB416AA,UnitedKingdom.

InformationaboutcetaceansinthesoutheastMediterraneancoastisconsideredlimitedandfragmented due to lack of studies and research. Basic information about cetacean species’presence andoccurrence is either absent ornot clear, such is the casewith theLibyan seawhichencompass40%ofthenorthAfricancoast .

Two studieswere conducted in relation to thepresenceofDelphinusdelphis in Libya.Thefirstwas conducted in2013‐2014asa review togatherandcompilehistoricdataon smallcetaceans and other megafauna in the country. Along with few publications, the studyapproached fishermen, sailing and diving clubs,museums and privet collectors to look foranecdotalevidenceforanycetaceans'sightingsorstrands.

Theother studywasmainlya socio‐economicsurvey thatwasconducted in2013 toassessanthropogenicimpactsonthemarineenvironmentofAl‐koufNationalPark northeastLibya .Part of the questionnaire adopted in the survey was to assess the degree of interactionbetweenthelocalartisanalfisheriesandthesmallcetaceanspresentthere.

Results from both studies suggest that there was hardly any strandings recorded for thecommondolphininLibya 2provencases whiletherewereseveralsightings podsof3‐16individuals onseveral locations figure1 .Thecommondolphinwasalso identifiedbythefishermen in the latter study as the secondmost recognised/common species encounteredafterthebottlenosedolphin.

However little, these few indications suggest that the species might be present in highabundance in the Libyanwaters. Hence, it is highly recommended that research should beconductedandpromotedinselectedpartsofthecountrytoknowmoreaboutthespecies.

Figure1:sightingandstrandingrecordsalongtheLibyancoast.



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Comparisonofhabitatuseofbottlenosedolphin Tursiopstruncatus andshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis inTunisiannortheasterncoasts

BenmessaoudR,CherifM,KouchedW

InstitutNationaldesSciencesetTechnologiesdelaMer INSTM ,annexelaGoulette,Tunis‐2060,Tunisia.

TheoccurrenceoftwospeciesofDelphinidaeinthesamegeographicalareais frequentandhasbeenreported for thecommonbottlenosedolphins Tursiops truncatus andtheshort‐beakedcommondolphins Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanbasin.

Between January2012and January2013, a totalof45boat‐based surveyswere conductedwith a total of 360 hours of survey effort. We studied the occurrence and distribution ofbottlenose and short‐beaked common dolphins and analyzed differences between groupdynamic groupsizeandcomposition andspatialdistribution depthanddistancetocoast .

Fromatotalof67independentsightingsofDelphinidae,57wereofbottlenosedolphinsand10were of short‐beaked commondolphins. Both specieswere observed generally in smallgroups 5ind. .Groupsofbottlenosedolphinsincludedbothadultsandcalves,contrarytothe short‐beaked common dolphins which groups are predominantly composed by adultsn 6 .

Analysisofspatialdistributionshowedadifference.Werecordedinseveralsightings,inthesame area, the overlapping of groups of both species. Results show that T. truncatus, incontrast toD.delphis, aremore closely related to the inshore than to theoffshoreecotype.Bottlenosedolphinsaremoreencounteredinshallowerwaters 70m nearshore 15NM .In contrary, short‐beaked common dolphins are occurring preferentially in deeper waters150m and more distant to coast 15NM . These differences suggest that habitat

preferenceisduetodifferencesinthesespeciesecologicalnichesandpreysabundance.

Duetothelackofdata,furtherresearchesmustbecarriedouttoameliorateourknowledgeonfeedingecologyofthesetwospecies.



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Occurrenceofshort‐beakedcommondolphinsintheGulfofTrieste northernAdriaticSea

GenovT1‐2‐3

1Morigenos–SlovenianMarineMammalSociety,Piran,Slovenia,2DepartmentofBiodiversity,UniversityofPrimorska,Koper,Slovenia,3SeaMammalResearchUnit,UniversityofStAndrews,UnitedKingdom

Thiscontributionreviewsthepastandrecentoccurrenceofshort‐beakedcommondolphinsDelphinus delphis in thewider area of theGulf of Trieste and theNorthernAdriatic Sea,based on published and unpublished accounts as well as new original data. Historicalevidencesuggeststhatshort‐beakedcommondolphinsusedtobearegularoccurrenceintheGulfofTriesteandtherestoftheAdriaticSeaduringmostofthe20thcentury.However,bythe end of 1970s, they virtually disappeared from the northern Adriatic Sea and probablymost other parts of the basin, likely due to systematic culling and habitat degradation.Systematic boat surveys in the wider area of the Gulf of Trieste between 2002 and 2015confirmed that the common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus is the only regularlyoccurring cetacean there. Despite this, several sightings of short‐beaked common dolphinswererecorded in theareabetween2009and2012.Dorsal finmarkingsallowedthephoto‐identificationofsomeof these individuals.Mostof thesightings involvedsingle individuals,but some included a mother‐calf pair. This pair involved a female that was temporarilyresident in the area for 16months, and remained in a port for almost a year, a behaviouratypical for this species. Photo‐identification showed that this individual was previouslysightedintheInnerIonianSeaArchipelagoinGreece,over1000kmfromtheGulfofTrieste.This is currently the longest documented movement for any individual of this species,worldwide. Nevertheless, at present times, the short‐beaked common dolphin can beconsideredextremelyrareinthewiderareaoftheGulfofTriesteandinthenorthernAdriaticSea.



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Abundance,distributionanddietofshort‐beakedcommondolphins Delphinusdelphis,Linnaeus,1758 intheNorthAegeanSea,Greece.

MilaniC1‐2,VellaA1,VidorisP2,ChristidisA2,SyllaiosG3,KoutrakisE2,

KallianiotisA2

1ConservationBiologyResearchGroup,UniversityofMalta,MsidaMSD2080Malta;2FisheriesResearchInstituteofKavala,64007NeaPeramos,Kavala,Greece;3DepartmentofEnvironmentalEngineering,DemocritusUniversity

ofThrace,Xanthi,Greece.

Theabundance,distributionanddietofshortbeakedcommondolphinwereinvestigatedaspartofafirstdetailedstudyoncetaceanpopulationsintheGreekNorthAegeanSea.Thisarea,in particular the Thracian Seawhere the research took place, is extremely productive andlargelyexploitedbybothcoastalandmid‐waterfisheries.ItisalsoconsideredimportantforcetaceansandithasbeenproposedasapotentialcetaceanconservationareabyACCOBAMSandotherentities.

Abundance and distributionwere investigated between 2005 and 2013 through dedicatedscientific marine surveys. Data were collected during a total boat survey effort covering14,701kminseaconditions Beaufort3;thestudyareaofabout2000km2includedtheGulfof Kavala and the sea around the island of Thassos. The survey used the line‐transectsampling method to estimate relative abundance, calculated using Distance software 6.0.Dolphin sightingswere successively correlated toeightenvironmental variablesusingGAMandPCA.

Cetacean strandings were recorded since 1998 in the entire Thracian Sea, and stomachsamplingstartedin2002fordietanalysis.Stomach‐contentanalysiswasperformedonatotalof26suitablespecimensamples,amongthem8belongedtocommondolphins.Trophiclevelofthespecieswascalculated.

Six cetacean specieswere recorded in thestudyarea; the commondolphinwas the secondmost abundant species after the bottlenose dolphin. Common dolphins presented anencounter rate of 0.24 groups/100km 1.5dolphin/100km and ameangroup size of 6.88SE 1.90 .TherelativeabundanceofcommondolphinsintheGulfofKavalaandThassoswasobtainedwithDistanceanalysisafterpost‐stratification.Theyearlyrelativeabundanceintheareawasestimatedat185individuals 95%C.I. 118–284;CV 22.55 .

The correlation with environmental parameters showed that common dolphin sightingscorrelatedwithdepth p 0.035 ,temperature p 0.022formediantemperatureandp 0.001fortemperaturegradient andsalinity p 0.001formediansalinityandp 0.024forsalinity gradient . These parameters affect the distribution of common dolphins’ prey, inparticularofpelagicfish.

Resultsfromthestomach‐contentanalysesshowedthatcommondolphins N 8 fedmainlyon species from theClupeidae,Myctophidae andCentracanthidae familieswhich composed59% of stomach‐content. Cephalopods in the stomachs analysed were very rare. Although



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important commercial fisheries species were found during diet analysis, in none of thestomachs investigated theirpresencewasconsidereddominantonother species.Resultsofthetrophiclevelcalculatedfromthedietindicatedthecommondolphinasatoppredatorinthefoodweboftheregion.

Thisresearch,providingthefirstabundance,distributionanddietdataofcommondolphinsin thenorthernmostpartof theNorthAegeanSea,confirmandcorroboratetheACCOBAMSproposaloftheneedofaconservationareaforcommondolphinsandothercetaceanspeciesintheThracianSea.Infact,asalreadypresented,theareaiswidelyusedbothbyhumansanddolphinsandriskofinteractionisveryhigh.



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DistributionandhabitatofDelphinusdelphisintheMediterraneanSeaasobtainedfromsmallboatdedicatedsurveys

GannierA

GroupedeRecherchesurlesCétacés,BP715,06633Antibescedex,France

The common dolphin is often described as a generally uncommon species in theMediterranean Sea, with the exception of the Alboran Sea and a few restricted regions.Historical elements suggest that Delphinus delphiswasmore frequent one century ago, atleast in regionswitha favourablehabitat.ButoffFrenchRivieraat least, thereareobviousexamples of mis‐identifications that may have affected the perception of the species paststatus.Thepresent‐timerelativeabundanceofcommondolphinintheMediterraneanSeaanditshabitatshavebeeninvestigatedbyprocessingdataobtainedbyGroupedeRecherchesurlesCétacésduringsummersurveysfrom1988to2015,betweentheStraitsofGibraltarandRhodes Island Greece . A total of 60 D.delphis sightings was obtained out of a total of4,123 with an effective effort of 33,500NM Figure 1 . Survey datawere analysed for 10regions,rangingfromtheAlboranSeatotheLevantinebasin. IntheAlboranSea,D.delphisaccountedfor39%ofthedelphinidsightingscontrastingwiththerestoftheMediterranean1.1% as a global average , and sighting frequencies close or equal to 0 in the followingregions: Gulf of Lion‐Provence, Ligurian Sea‐W Corsica, Levantine region. Interestingly, weobtainedhighcommondolphinsightingfrequencies intwomoreregions:western‐southernSardinia 23% and southernSicily 33% . In fourother regions, commondolphin sightingfrequencies were low but not negligible: SW basin‐Balearic Islands 4% , northern andsouthern Tyrrhenian Sea about 3% and northern‐central Ionian Sea 5% . The relativeabundance index RAI washigh in theAlboranSea 0.33dolphin/km or inSicily channel0.25dolphin/km butquasi‐null in theNWMediterraneanandLevantinebasins.Commondolphinpreferredhabitatwasupperslope depth 1000m orshelf:ameansightingdepthof514mandanaveragedistanceto200misobathof6.8kmwereobserved comparedtorespectively1,837mand30kmfor thestripeddolphin .TheaverageRAIwas0.07 for theneritichabitatand0.02fortheslopehabitat.OffFrenchcontinentalshores,commondolphinswererarelysighted lessthan0.1%ofsightings ,inspiteofanintensesurveyeffortincludingthe four seasons. In theGulf of Lions, itsquasi‐absence is enigmatic, since a relativelyhighprimary productivity and the extension of shelf and slope habitats would support itssignificantpresence.As it isdemonstrated thatanthropogeniceffectshavebadly influencedcommon dolphin conservation status in some regions, our study and other recent resultssuggest that large parts of the southern central Mediterranean Sea are probably stillfavourable toDelphinusdelphis. SomeMediterranean regions arenot yet coveredby long‐termdedicatedsurveyeffortanddeservethehighestresearchpriority.



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Figure1:Commondolphinsightings1988‐2015withanindicationofGRECsurveyeffort



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Commondolphins Delphinusdelphis intheCentralMediterraneanRegion:long‐termresearchfromMalta

VellaA1‐2,VellaJ1‐2

1ConservationBiologyResearchGroup,DepartmentofBiology,UniversityofMalta;2TheBiologicalConservation

ResearchFoundation,BICREFngo,Malta.

Cetaceanshavebeensubjectofyearroundlong‐termresearcheffortintheCentral‐SouthernMediterraneanSeaaroundtheMalteseIslandssince1997,coveringanareaof120,000km2.Dedicated scientific aerial andmarine surveysmeasured thedistributionandabundanceofthevariousspeciesinhabitingthesewatersusingmethodsdescribedinVella 1998 .Amongthespeciesstudied, thispaper focusesuponthecommondolphin,Delphinusdelphis in thisstudyarea.Thisspecies/subpopulationratedasendangeredintheMediterranean ENA2abc‐ IUCN 2003 ‐ http://www.redlist.org necessitating particular conservation assessment,monitoringandmanagementplanning IUCN,2003;Reevesetal.,2003 .Long‐termresearchtherefore contributesknowledge Vella, 2000b;2000,2001,2002,2005,2006,2008,2009,2010, Vella and Vella 2011, Vella and Vella 2012 required for conservation. AlthoughMediterraneancetaceansarealready legallyprotectedbyMaltese lawthroughspecific legalnotices, this field conservation research constitutes the only dedicated long‐term scientificeffort around the Maltese Islands useful to the implementation of integrated and effectiveconservation measures. Common dolphin distribution, abundance, habitat preference,behaviour,andassociationswithfisheriesthatareexploitedinthesameareaareamongtheparametersstudied.

The studyarea includesmostof the fishingareautilisedbyMaltese fishermen.Outside the25nmzoneor“conservationzone”aroundtheMaltese Islands,Maltese fishermensharethearea with numerous other fishermen from other Mediterranean and Non‐Mediterraneancountries. Knowledgeof the impacts of these trendson commondolphins isnecessary forboth sustainable resource utilisation and effective preservation of legally protected speciessuchascommondolphins.AfirstattempttodrawapictureofthestatusofthisspeciesintheMediterranean Sea and to which this research has contributed in the past, had pointedtowards further research needs Bearzi et al., 2003; IUCN2003 , as did the ECSworkshopoutputsin2004focusingonthisspecies Stockinetal.,2005 .Thereforesuchresearchisanimportantcontribution,whichmaycomplementeffortsinotherregionsoftheMediterraneanthroughpotentialresearchnetworking.

TheoverallgroupsizesforD.delphisinthisregionvariesaccordingtothetimeofyear,withsummerandautumnbeingtheseasonswithencountersoflargergroupsizesoffshorewhichtendtodiffuseastheygetcloserinshore from200individualsto25individualsorlesspergroup . The organization of the group structures are best analyzed through aerial surveyswhichallowforthestudyofhowconformationsmaychangeaccordingtotimeoftheyear,thedistance from shore and their activities. Coverage of the relatively large and plastic homerange sizes is also more efficiently achieved through aerial surveys encompassing largerdistancesinshortertime.Themarinesurveysundertakenallowforthegatheringofclose‐up



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photosrequiredforusefulidentificationpurposesandforexaminationofbehaviours,thatarealsousefultomonitoringeffortsoftheindividualsinhabitingthesewaters.Ongoinglong‐termresearcheffortsinthisregionaretobesustainedsoastoassesstheefficacyoftherecentlyestablishedmarineprotectedareasbothcoastalandoffshoreinthestudyarea.Whileimpactsof ongoing anthropogenic activities are still monitored to address the extent to which thespatial distribution of these activities may affect this endangered species both within andoutside protected areas in the central and southern Mediterranean around the MalteseIslandsasincreasingmaritimeactivitiesareenvisaged.



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Occurrenceanddistributionofshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis inItalianwaters:thepowerofnetworking

MussiB1,AiroldiS2,AlessiJ3,ArcangeliA4,AtzoriF5,AzzolinM6,BittauL7,BuscainoG8,CelonaA9,FioriC10,GiacomaC6,GnoneG11,LuperiniC12,ManconiR7,ManganoR13,MoulinsA14,Nuti

S15,PapaleE8,RossoM14,TepsichP14,TringaliM16,VivaldiC1,PaceDS1‐17

1Oceanomare Delphis Onlus, Via G. Marinuzzi 74 – 00124 Rome, Italy; 2Tethys Research Institute, Viale G.B.Gadio, 2 –Milan, Italy; 3Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences DISTAV ,University of Genoa, Italy;4ISPRA,ViaVitalianoBrancati48–Rome,Italy;5AMPCapoCarbonara,ViaRoma60–Villasimius,Cagliari,Italy;6Dept.ofLifeSciencesandSystemsBiology,UniversityofTurin–Italy;7Dept.ofSciencesofScienceforNatureandEnvironmentalResources DIPNET ,UniversityofSassari,ViaMuroni25,07100Sassari,Italy;8IAMCCapoGranitola, NationalResearch Council, Torretta Granitola TP , Italy; 9Necton Marine Research Society, Via G.Gozzano47–Catania,Italy;10MENKAB:ilrespirodelmare,ViaQuardaSup.20/6–Savona,Italy;11AcquariodiGenova,PonteSpinola–Genoa,Italy;12Dept.ofEarthScience,UniversityofPisa–Pisa,Italy;13DELPHISAeolianDolphin Center, Via Duca delle Grazie 22, – Santa Flavia, Palermo, Italy; 14CIMA Research Foundation, Via A.Magliotto 2 – Savona, Italy; 15CE.TU.S., Lungo Canale Est – Viareggio, Lucca, Italy; 16Ketos, Corso Italia 58 –Catania,Italy;17Dept.ofEnvironmentalBiology,‘Sapienza’UniversityofRome,Italy.

The short‐beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, 1758 , once presentthroughout theMediterraneanSea, in the last twodecadesdeclined innumbers throughoutthecentralandeasternbasinsand in2003theMediterranean ‘subpopulation’was listedasendangeredintheIUCNRedListofThreatenedAnimals.IntheItalianwaters,thespecieswasreported to be regularly present in lownumbers around Ischia about 50 individuals andLampedusaislands 250individuals andrareinallotherseas.

ThankstoacommoneffortcarriedoutbyanetworkofresearchgroupsinItaly,wepresentherecombineddataonpresence,distribution,groupsize,andassociationwithotherspecies.The datawere collected through visual surveys from2000 to 2014, in different areas thePelagos Sanctuary, the central and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, the Sicily Channel and thewestern Ionian Sea . All surveys were conducted by trained observers in good weathercondition Beaufort 3 , from different platforms ferries, sailing vessels, inflatables,fishing/motorboats,oceanographicvessels .

Atotalof5182encounteredindividualswascollectedfrom286sightings n 48fromferries;238fromotherplatforms inbothpelagicandneritichabitats.MostsightingsoccurredintheTyrrhenianSeanamely in the central n 78mainly around Ischia,whereyearly encounterrates declined between 2000 and 2013, and no common dolphin encounters weredocumented in 2014 and 2015; Pace et al., 2016 submitted and southern basins n 106mainly in the Messina Strait . Of the remaining sightings, 55 occurred in the PelagosSanctuaryarea,41intheSicilyChannel mainlyaroundtheLampedusaIsland and6inthewesternIonianSea.

The presence of immature animals juveniles, calves, and newborns was repeatedlydocumentedaroundIschiaIslandonly.Mixedgroupsofcommondolphinwithothercetaceanspecies were recorded in all study areas on 78 occasions, with striped dolphin Stenellacoeruleoalba observed in 58 cases and bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus in 10 all



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near Lampedusa Island . Other associated species included Risso’s dolphin Grampusgriseus ,spermwhale Physetermacrocephalus ,andfinwhale Balaenopteraphysalus .

Preliminarily pooled data on short‐beaked common dolphins in Italianwaters showed thegreat potential of ournew researchnetwork andprovided anovel picture on the status ofpresenceanddistributionofthespeciesoverthestudyperiod.

Figure1:CommondolphinsightingsinItalianwaters

WhatcanbeimmediatelyseenfromthisstudyisthattheislandsofIschiaandLampedusaandtheStraitofMessinacouldbesignificant possiblycritical areas,thatcanplayakeyrolefortheseendangeredanimalstoperformbasicbiologicalprocessesforsurvival,persistenceandwellness i.e.feeding/breeding .Therearestrongargumentsfortheprotectionoftheseareasthroughspecificmanagementstrategiestobedevelopedandapplied.

References

PaceDS,Mussi B, Airoldi S, Alessi J, Arcangeli A, Atzori F, AzzolinM, Campana I, CelonaA, Fiori C,GiacomaC,GnoneG,LuperiniC,ManganoR,MiragliuoloA,MoulinsA,NutiS,PellegrinoG,RossoM,Salvioli F, Tepsich P, Tringali M 2015 . New insights on the presence and distribution of theendangered short‐beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis in Italian waters. Biologia MarinaMediterranea22 1 :262‐263.

Pace DS, Ardizzone G, Zucchini A, Mussi B: A ‘relict’ population of short‐beaked common dolphinDelphinus delphis in the central Mediterranean Sea: trends in occurrence, distribution, photo‐identificationandabundanceoffIschiaisland Italy .SubmittedtoEndangeredSpeciesResearch.



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Dorsaledgemarkingsandpatchesanalysisinshort‐beakedcommondolphinDelphinusdelphis :comparisonofphoto‐identificationcataloguesfromdifferent

Italianregions

PaceDS1‐2,VivaldiC1,AiroldiS3,AlessiJ4‐5,BittauL6,BuffaG7,BuscainoG7,CelonaA8,FioriC4‐5,GnoneG9,ManganoR8,ManconiR6,MiragliuoloA1,MoulinsA10,NutiS11,PapaleE7,Pulcini

M12,RossoM10,TepsichP10,MussiB1

1Oceanomare Delphis Onlus, Via G. Marinuzzi 74 – 00124 Rome, Italy; 2Dept. of Environmental Biology,‘Sapienza’UniversityofRome, Italy; 3TethysResearch Institute,VialeG.B.Gadio,2–Milan, Italy; 4MENKAB: ilrespiro del mare, Via Quarda Sup. 20/6 – Savona, Italy; 5Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Life SciencesDISTAV , University of Genoa, Italy; 6Dept. of Science for Nature and Environmental Resources DIPNET ,UniversityofSassari,ViaMuroni25,07100Sassari,Italy;7CNR‐IAMC,GranitolaTorretta–Trapani,Italy;8NectonMarineResearchSociety,ViaG.Gozzano47–Catania,Italy;9AcquariodiGenova,PonteSpinola–Genoa,Italy;10CIMAResearchFoundation,ViaA.Magliotto2–Savona,Italy;11CE.TU.S.,LungoCanaleEst–Viareggio,Lucca,Italy;12ISPRA,ViaVitalianoBrancati48–Rome,Italy.

Photo‐identificationisapowerfulmethodofusingnaturalmarkingstoidentifyindividualsofatargetspecies.Itallowsthecollectionofkeydataforwildlifeconservatione.g.toestimateabundance as long as the underlying assumptions are met and population parameterssurvival, recruitment,andpopulationgrowthrate , toproducemodelsofpopulationsocialstructureaswellasanimalmovements,migrationpatterns,andlifespan.

In this study we: a performed common dolphin photoidentification in Italian waters, b describedthedistributionofmarkswithingroupsindifferentlocations,c matchedidentifiedanimals,andd estimatedtheirmovementsbetweendifferentareas.

Basing on recommendations provided by Urian et al. 2015 , photos were selected usingconsistentcriteria e.g. focus,exposure,entiredorsalfinvisible,andothers .Thereafter,thebestavailablerightand/orleft imageforeachindividualwasscoredforimagequality,witheachnumeralbeingscoredbetween1and3.Onlyindividualswithascoreof2orabovewereusedinthephotoidentificationanalysis onlyinfewcases,i.e.highlyrecognizableindividuals,ascoreoflessthan2wasconsidered .Imageswerethencroppedaroundthedorsalfinandvisiblepartofthebody.

Individuals with distinctive dorsal fin profiles, prominent dorsal edge markings DEMs suitable for reliable long term identification, and/or clearly visible white patch wereconsideredforthephotoidentificationanalyses BamfordandRobinson2015 ,measuringthepositionandshapeofDEMsandthecharacteristicsofthewhitepatchonbothsidesofthefinofsomeanimals.Whitepatcheswereusedtoconfirmamatchbutnotasauniquedistinctivefeature.

Weconsideredfivedistinctivenesslevels :1 unmarked lowdistinctiveness ,2 verysmallnotches/markings low distinctiveness , 3 two or more marks of reasonable size/fairlyuniquemarking mediumdistinctiveness ,4 several,obviousmarkings,uniqueshapes highdistinctiveness , 5 extremely obviousmutilations high distinctiveness . DEMs’ shape andpositionwereclassifiedasinFig.1.



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Figure1:DEM’sshapeandpositions

Over 20,000 images were analysed in 67 photoidentification encounters and 293 animalswere individually identified. All the analyzed animals showed a low‐medium level of fins’distinctiveness,withasignificantdifferencebetweentheIschiaIslandandallotherareas.Asforthedistributionandforthemarkstypeswefoundanoverallprevalenceofindentedmarksintheupperposteriormarginofthedorsalfins.Theanalysisofwhitepatchpositionshowedtheprevalenceofdiffusedwhitepatchesoverthefinandwhitepatchesinbasalposition.TheMultipleCorrespondenceAnalysis MCA runonDEMsshapes/positions/whitepatchesandother marks evidenced that unmarked animals and indented shape marks in the upperposteriorpositionofthedorsalfin,togetherwithdiffusedwhitepatchesandcompletelywhiteones,andothermarks toothrakes explained74.16%ofthesamplevariability.

Asconservationofmanagementunits is increasinglybeingrecognizedasarequirement forpreventing biodiversity loss and common dolphins could range/dispersewidely between anetwork of geographic areas, future studies should compare identification data by otherresearchers across the Mediterranean, thereby increasing spatial scale and sample size,providingmoreaccuratehomerange,andabundanceestimatesforcommondolphinsinthebasin.

References

Bamford CCG, Robinson KP. 2015. An analysis of dorsal edge markings in short‐beaked commondolphins Delphinus delphis from the Bay of Gibraltar and the Moray Firth. Journal oftheMarineBiologicalAssociationUK,Doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025315415001150

Urian R, Gorgone A, Read A, Balmer B, Wells RS, Berggren P, Durban J, Eguchi T, Rayment W,HammondPS.2015. Recommendations forphoto‐identificationmethodsused in capture‐recapturemodelswithcetaceans.MarineMammalScience31 1 :298‐321

PU PosteriorUpper

PL PosteriorLower

AUAnteriorUpper

AL AnteriorLower

PT PosteriorTip

AU

AL

PT

PU

PL



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Conservationgeneticsoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSea:stateoftheartandfutureresearch.

NatoliA1,MouraA2,HoelzelAR3

1UAEDolphinProject,Dubai,UnitedArabEmirates;2SchoolofLifeSciences,UniversityofLincoln,UnitedKingdom;3SchoolofBiologicalandBiomedicalSciences,DurhamUniversity,Durham,UnitedKingdom.

MediterraneanSeacommondolphinsare listedas ‘endangered’ in the IUCNRed list,due totheirreporteddeclinesincethemiddleofthe20thcentury.However,littleisknownaboutthenumber or distribution of populations in this region. Furthermore, the mechanisms andfactors that shape population structure in these highly mobile species are still unknown,leaving still open taxonomic issues also in theMediterranean/Black Sea region. Populationgenetics has been proven to be a useful tool to identify population boundaries, investigatepopulationhistoryandtoprovideinformationoftendifficulttoobtainwithstandardsurveymethods.

Herewepresentabriefreviewoftheoutcomesofthelatestgeneticstudiesonthecommondolphin Delphinusspp withfocusontheMediterraneanpopulation.Wefurtherdiscusshowgeneticinformationcanbesuccessfullyutilizedinsupportingtheformulationofconservationmeasures.

The genus Delphinus spp exhibits aworld‐wide distribution, however its taxonomy is stillsubject to debate and the factors that drive its population structure, especially on a smallgeographicscale,arenotwellunderstood Natolietal.,2006,Amaraletal.2011,2012 .Afirstgenetic analysis ofBlack Sea,Mediterranean Sea and easternNorthAtlantic samples foundsmallbutsignificantpopulationdifferentiationacrossthebasinbetweentheEastern Greece and the Western Mediterranean populations at both nuclear and mtDNA markersmicrosatelliteFST 0.052,mtDNAFST 0.107,p‐values 0.001 Natoli et al., 2008 .Nosignificant genetic differentiation at eithermarkerwas observed among the EasternNorthAtlantic populations, though the Alboran population inhabiting the Mediterranean watersimmediately adjacent theAtlanticOcean showed significantmtDNAgenetic differentiationcompared to the Atlantic populations. Subsequent analyses suggested that populationstructurebetweentheEastern Greece andWesternMediterraneanevolvedrecentlyandislikelytohavebeenreinforcedbyarecentbottleneckevent Mouraetal.,2013 .Thetimingofthis recentbottleneckwasestimated tohavebeenwithin50generations, consistentwithaproposed anthropogenic influence Bearzi et al., 2003 . Directional estimates of gene flowsuggested movement of females out of the Mediterranean Natoli et al., 2008 , andpreliminary research on kinship structure suggested that this might be related to preyresourcescompetition Moura,pers.com. ,whichmayberelevanttothepopulationdecline.We discuss how adaptation to different environments and/or foraging strategies may bedriving factors for differentiation in this species, and highlight how regional collaborationamongresearchersindifferentdisciplines Mouraetal.,2012,Spitzetal.,2010 isimportanttogainabetterunderstandingofthestatusofMediterraneancommondolphins.



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Figure 1.Map illustrating the origin andnumber of the commondolphin samples from theMediterraneanSeaandnearEasternNorthAtlanticanalysedinNatolietal. 2008 .BelowtheSTRUCTURE analysis profile, based on nine microsatellite markers showing cleardifferentiationbetweenthesamplesfromtheIonianSeaandtherestofthedataset.

References

AmaralAR,BeheregarayLB,BilgmannK,BoutovD,FreitasL,RobertsonKM,SequeiraM,StockinK,CoelhoM,MöllerLM.2012.Seascapegeneticsofagloballydistributed,highlymobilemarinemammal:theshort‐beakedcommondolphin genusDelphinus .PLoSONE7:e31482.

Amaral AR, Sequeira M, Martınez‐Cedeira J, Coelho MM. 2007. New insights on population geneticstructureofDelphinusdelphisfromtheNortheastAtlanticandphylogeneticrelationshipswithinthegenusinferredfromtwomitochondrialmarkers.MarineBiology151:1967–1976.

BearziG,ReevesRR,NotarbartolodiSciaraG,PolitiE,CañadasA,FrantzisA,MussiB.2003.Ecology,status and conservation of short‐beaked commondolphinsDelphinus delphis in theMediterraneanSea.MammalReview33 3 :224‐252.

MouraA,NatoliA,RoganE,HoelzelAR.2012.EvolutionofFunctionalGenesinCetaceansDrivenbyNaturalSelectiononaPhylogeneticandPopulationLevel.EvolutionaryBiology40 3 :341‐354.

MouraA,NatoliA,RoganE,HoelzelAR.2013.Atypicalpanmixia inaEuropeandolphinspecies,andlocal differentiation likely associated with a recent population bottleneck. Journal of EvolutionaryBiology26:63‐75.



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NatoliA,CañadasA,PeddemorsVM,AguilarA,VaqueroC,Fernandez‐PiquerasP,HoelzelAR.2006.Phylogeographyandalphataxonomyofthecommondolphin Delphinussp. .JournalofEvolutionaryBiology19:943‐954.

NatoliA,CañadasA,VaqueroC,PolitiE,Fernández‐PiquerasJ,HoelzelAR.2008.Conservationgeneticsoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSeaandintheeasternNorthAtlanticOcean.ConservationGenetics9:1479‐1487.

Spitz J, Mourocq E, Leauté JP, Quéro JC, Ridoux V. 2010. Prey selection by the common dolphin:fulfillinghigh‐energyrequirementswithhighqualityfood.JournalofExperimentalMarineBiologyandEcology390:73–77.



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Apreliminarystudyonpopulationstructureoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphinDelphinusdelphis intheTurkishSeasbasedonmtDNAsequences

TonayAM1‐2,UzunB1‐2,ÖztürkA1‐2,DedeA1‐2,DanyerE2‐3‐4,AytemizI2‐3‐5,BilginS6,ÖztürkB1‐2,BilginR7

1IstanbulUniversity,FacultyofFisheries,OrduCad.No:200Laleli, Istanbul,Turkey; 2TurkishMarineResearchFoundation TUDAV , P.O. Box: 10 Beykoz, Istanbul, Turkey; 3Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock,Ankara, Turkey; 4Istanbul University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Nutrition andNutritional Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey; 5Istanbul University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department ofPathology,Istanbul,Turkey;6SinopUniversity,FacultyofFisheries,Sinop,Turkey;7BogaziçiUniversity,InstituteofEnvironmentSciences,HisarCampus,Bebek,Istanbul,Turkey.

The short‐beaked common dolphin is a cosmopolitan species, showing an extremely widedistribution in all oceans including the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Its Black Seapopulation has been suggested as the subspecies Delphinus delphis ponticus Barabash‐Nikiforov,1935due to itsgenetic Roseletal.,1994;Natolietal.,2008 andmorphologicaldifferences Amaha, 1994 . Although significant differentiation was detected between theBlack Sea and Mediterranean common dolphins based on mtDNA in previous studies, thesamplesizewasrelativelysmall lessthan10 Roseletal.,1994;Natolietal.,2008 .Inthisstudy,mtDNAsequencesof15 individualscollectedbetween2003and2015 in theTurkishBlackSeacoast 5western,2eastern ,IstanbulStrait 3 andMarmaraSea 5 ,revealedninehaplotypes, seven of which were new. Five of these new haplotypes were detected in theTurkish Straits System TSS, consisting of the Istanbul Strait, Marmara Sea and ÇanakkaleStrait , connecting the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The two primers, L15926 andH00034 Roseletal.1994 andconditions Natoli2004 ,wereusedtoamplifyandsequenceapartial428basepair‐longmtDNAfragmentofthecontrolregion.45haplotypes from113samples previously reported Rosel et al. 1994; Natoli et al. 2008 GenBank U02639–U02641,EU365129‐EU365173 , fromthesamemitochondrial region,werealso included intheanalysis.Moreover,basedonФstvalues Table1 ,wedetectedgeneticdifferentiationoftheBlackSeapopulationfromtheAtlanticpopulation,supportingthepreviousinferencethattheBlackSeacommondolphinshadbeendifferentiatedfromthoseintheAtlantic.However,nodifferentiationwasdetectedbetweenthepopulationsintheBlackSeaandanyoftheotherpopulations.At thesametime, theresultssuggest that thecommondolphins in theTurkishBlack Sea and TSS waters might have some degree of genetic connectivity to the westernMediterranean and Atlantic populations, as the haplotype network, including the newlydiscovered ones, do not show any obvious geographical clusters Figure 1 .More samplesfrom the Turkish waters will be sequenced with the same mtDNA marker for a betterunderstandingofthegeneticpopulationstructureofthisspecies,withinthescopeofanon‐goingproject,CetaGen.



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Table1.Фstvaluesofthepopulationcalculatedbyusingpairwisedifferencesmethod.

BlackSea TSS Aegean EastMed. WestMed. Atlantic

BlackSea 0.00000

TSS ‐0.02403 0.00000

Aegean ‐0.27650 ‐0.35165 0.00000

EastMed. 0.04024 0.02176 ‐0.23585 0.00000

WestMed. 0.01328 ‐0.01724 ‐0.05247 0.09532*

Atlantic 0.06251* 0.00541 ‐0.07832 0.10239* 0.03874* 0.00000

*indicatesstatisticallysignificantgeneticdifferentiationatP 0.05.

Figure 1. Haplotype network for themitochondrial control region. Circles represent the haplotypesidentifiedbyRoseletal. 1994 andNatolietal. 2008 aswellasinthepresentstudy.Thesizesofthecircles are proportional to the frequency of each haplotype. Squares represent the new haplotypesfrom this study. Black circles represent hypothetical haplotypes. Each line between haplotypesrepresentsasinglemutationalstepbetweenhaplotypes.GapsaretreatedasmissingdatabyPopART,whichresultedinthreehaplotypesthatweredifferentduetoindelsbeingcategorizedasidenticaltothreeotherhaplotypes.



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Acknowledgments

Wewould like to thankHakkıBayar,Macit EgeErcanand the volunteers for field surveys;IU/TUDAVCetaceanStrandingNetworkfornotifications.ThisstudywassupportedbygrantsNo:114Y568 fromtheScientificandTechnologicalResearchCouncilofTurkey TUBITAK ,No: 51782 from Istanbul University Scientific Research Projects and by equipment fromTurkishMarineResearchFoundation.

References

Amaha A. 1994. Geographic variation of the common dolphin, Delphinus delphis Odontoceti:Delphinidae .PhDthesis,TokyoUniversityofFisheries,Japan.

NatoliA.2004.Molecularecologyofbottlenose Tursiopssp. andcommon Delphinussp. dolphins.PhDthesis,DurhamUniversity,UK.

NatoliA,CanadasA,VaqueroC,PolitiE,Fernandez‐NavarroP,HoelzelAR.2008.Conservationgeneticsoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis intheMediterraneanSeaandintheeasternNorthAtlanticOcean.ConservationGenetics9:1479‐1487.

RoselPE,DizonAE,HeyningJE.1994.GeneticanalysisofsympatricmorphotypesofcommondolphinsgenusDelphinus .MarineBiology119:159‐167.



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Willtherebeanyrewardforcommondolphinperseverance?

GonzalvoJ,CostaM

TethysResearchInstitute,VialeG.B.Gadio2,20121Milan,Italy

Once common and relatively abundant in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago, short‐beakedcommon dolphins have declined dramatically over the past couple of decades. Fromapproximately150individualsusingtheArchipelagoin1996,only15wereobservedin2007.Monitoring of local fishing fleet and ecosystemmodelling approaches showed that reducedprey availability, caused by overfishing of small pelagic stocks, induced this sharp decline.Consequently, in 2009, a call for actionwas issued by several NGOs andmarinemammalsconservationexperts,manifestingtheirfearofan“immediateriskofcompleteeradication”ofcommondolphinsfromthearea.SuchanegativecommondolphintrendintheInnerIonianSea Archipelago was not considered to be a consequence of emigration or long‐rangemovementsbecause,thespeciesappearedtoberarein,orabsentfrom,theadjacentwatersincluding theHellenicTrenchand the IonianSea.Despite thishighlydiscouragingscenario,survey effort in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago continued between 2008 and 2015 andshowed a regular presence of common dolphin groups although at low frequencies. Inaddition,severalgroupswerereportedbeyondthegeographicallimitsoftheArchipelagobythe IonianDolphinProject sightingsnetwork, or found through an extensive search on theonlinevideo‐sharingwebsiteYouTube.Theseobservations,contrarilytowhatwasformerlybelieved,suggestedthepresenceofcommondolphinsinneighbouringareas,whichpromptedus to conduct a survey between the islands of Corfu and Ithaca‐Cephalonia at the end ofsummer2015.

Photo‐identificationeffortconductedintheInnerIonianSeaArchipelagobetween1995‐2015resulted in205photo‐identified commondolphins.Of those,69 individualswere seenonlyonce.Fromtheremaining136dolphins,64showedarelativelystrongsite‐fidelityuntil2003nottobeseenagain intheareasincethen.Elevenindividualswerenewly identifiedduringthe last decade. Only 61 common dolphins that were regularly identified throughout theperiod 1995‐2003were also occasionally identified in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago insubsequent years; moreover, 20 of those were also photo‐identified during the 2‐weekssurveyconductedbeyondthehistoricallimitsofourstudyarea.

Theinformationprovidedhereevidencesforthefirsttimethattheformerlyhighly‐residentcommondolphinshaveeffectivelydispersedandroamoverawiderareamovingoccasionallyinto the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago. Our findings raise the question that, if timelyconservation action is taken, common dolphin perseverance in the Inner Ionian SeaArchipelago may lead to the “re‐colonization” of their former wonderland. Fisherymanagement measures are urgently needed to reduce current over‐exploitation. As ECfunding tools exist to compensate the affected fisheries, this may be a ‘win‐win’ situation,where existing regulations can be effectively implemented to solve a specific conservationproblem, with the added value of protecting marine biodiversity, ensuring continuedecosystemservices,preservingartisanal fisheriesandbringing long‐termbenefits tohumansociety.



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Short‐beakedcommondolphinsintheGulfofCorinthareCriticallyEndangered

BearziG1‐2,BonizzoniS1‐2,SantostasiNL1‐2‐3,EddyL1‐2,GimenezO3

1DolphinBiologyandConservation,OriaBR,Italy;2OceanCare,Wädenswil,Switzerland,3Centred’EcologieFonctionnelleetEvolutive,CNRS,Montpellier,France

Cetaceans having restricted ranges and disjunct distributions can become isolated and areespecially vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts. Further divergence can occur as groupsbecome resident within discrete and geographically separated subareas. Short‐beakedcommondolphinsDelphinusdelphisintheIonianSeaaregeneticallydifferentfromthoseofotherMediterraneanandAtlanticareas,andthoselivingintheGulfofCorinth GOC —a2,400km2 semi‐enclosed deep inlet of the Ionian Sea—may have diverged even further. Weinvestigated thestatusandgeographic rangeof commondolphins in theGOCbasedon fiveyears 2011–2015 of survey effort from small boats. We used photo‐identification and arobust design capture‐recapture approach to estimate dolphin abundance based on 60,592high‐resolutiondigitalimages.Commondolphinswerealwaysfoundinmixed‐speciesgroupswith stripeddolphinsStenella coeruleoalba. Stripedand commondolphins averaged94.5%and 1.6%, respectively, whereas the remaining 3.9% were animals of intermediatepigmentation likelyhybrids .Abundancewasestimatedas22commondolphins 95%CI16–31 , 55 'intermediate' animals 95%CI 36–83 , and 1,324 striped dolphins 95%CI 1,158–1,5151 . Dedicated survey effort totalling 21,435 km yielded no evidence of movementsacrosstheentirewesternquarteroftheGOC,whichleadstoMediterraneanwatersthroughashallowstrait.CommondolphinmovementsappearedtobelimitedtothecentralportionoftheGOC,largelywithinanareaofapproximately900km2wherewatersare500–900mdeep.Studiesconductedsincethemid1990salsoproducednorecordsintheshallowwesternmostportion of the GOC, or in the adjacent Gulf of Patras and Prokolpos Patron. A populationviabilityanalysis incorporatingdemographicandenvironmentalstochasticityindicatedthat,withinathree‐generationtime,commondolphinsintheGOCarelikelytoeithergoextinctorremainbelow the IUCNRedList thresholdof50matureanimals. Such trendwaspredictedirrespective of potential negative impacts resulting from hybridisation e.g. genetic anddemographicswamping oranthropogenicthreats includingoverfishing,industrialpollutionand noise disturbance . Under standard criteria provided by the IUCN Red List to assessextinction risk, common dolphins in the GOC constitute a geographically and otherwisedistinct conservation unit subpopulation with little or no demographic exchange, whichqualifies as Critically Endangered based on 1 small population size point estimate 22individuals ; 2 limited dispersal and extent of occurrence; 3 reproductive isolation; 4 occurrencewithinageographicallyandecologicallydistinctareainwhichasinglethreateningeventcanrapidlyaffectallindividuals;5 low 50 predictedabundanceofmatureanimalsin a three‐generation time; 6 suspected hybridisation with a 60‐fold larger population ofstriped dolphins; and 7 extant anthropogenic impacts. Management action is urgentlyneeded to prevent eradication of common dolphins from yet another part of theMediterraneanSea—aregionwheretheseanimalshavebeenclassifiedasEndangeredsince2003.



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Astrandingrecordoftheshort‐beakedcommondolphin Delphinusdelphis inAlgerianWestCoast,during2007‐2011

LarbiDoukaraK1,BouslahY2,BouderbalaM2,BoutibaZ2

1FacultyoftheSciencesoftheNatureandLife,UniversityofBlida,Algeria;2TheEnvironmentalSurveillance

NetworkLaboratory,UniversityofOran,Oran,Algeria

Marinemammalstrandingsrepresentamajorandvaluablesourceofbiological informationoncausesofmortalityforcetaceanpopulations.ThisstudyaimstodescribethestrandingsofthecommondolphinalongtheAlgerianwestcoast,andtoexaminetheproportionofhumanandnon‐humaninducedmortalityaffectingthispopulation.

Between2008and2012,52specimensofcetaceanswererecordedalongtheAlgerianwestcoast, 14 26.9 % of which were Delphinus delphis. The spatial distribution of commondolphinstrandingsisshowninFigure1.Allstrandingsrecordedareindividualcases,nomassstrandingshavingbeenreportedduringthestudyperiod.

Inordertoexaminetheproportionofhumanandnon‐humaninducedmortalityaffectingthispopulation,necropsieswereconducted.In10casesaninteractionwithsometypeoffishinggearhadoccurred,3casesofmortalitywereattributable tonon‐humanrelatedcauses,andonly one cause of death couldnot be determineddue to conditionof the carcass severelydecomposed .

Figure1:SpatialdistributionoftheCommondolphin Delphinusdelphis strandedinAlgerianwestCoast 2008‐2012 .



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StatusoftheNorth‐eastAtlanticcommondolphinpopulation;recommendationsandactionsforconservationandmanagement

MurphyS

MarineandFreshwaterResearchCentre,GMIT,DublinRoad,Galway,Ireland

The commondolphin isoneof themostnumerous cetacean species in theNorth‐east NE Atlanticandplaysakeyfunctionalrolewithintheecosystemasatoppredator.However,themostrecentassessmentoftheconservationstatusoftheNEAtlanticpopulationunderArticle17 of the Habitats Directive was “Unfavourable‐Inadequate” in 2013, due to unfavourablepopulation, habitat for species and future prospect. Themain pressures and threats in thisregion include bycatch, pollution and underwater noise; though there are major knowledgegaps in the extent of their effects. In recent years various conservation and managementpractices have been employed, including the identification of a management unit andimplementation of national observer bycatch programmes and bycatchmitigationmeasuresunder EC Regulation 812/2004. Collection of data and samples through national strandingprogrammeshasenabledassessmentsoflife‐historyparameters,dietaryrequirementsandtheeffect of stressors such as by‐catch and pollutants. However, in order to improve theconservationstatusoftheNEAtlanticpopulationanumberofkeyactionsarerequired.Theseinclude the implementation of a conservation plan, finalisation of amanagement frameworkprocedure and coordination among Member States bycatch monitoring programmes forassessment of the population bycatch rate. In addition, monitoring the state of themanagement unit through frequent large‐scale surveys and continued assessment of theindependent and interactive effects of multiple stressors. Above all, improvement of theconservationstatus ishinderedbya lackofoverarching legislation forcetaceans inEuropeanwaters that ensures the effective protection of cetaceans from all threats. This paper willprovideanoverviewofthecurrentstateofNEAtlanticcommondolphinpopulationandoutlinethekeyrecommendationsandactionsforconservationandmanagement.

Documents

Report of the 1st International Workshop · 15 April 2016. 44 pp. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4801.3047 Report of the 1st International Workshop Conservation and research networking on short‐beaked