Sensitive focal species that inhabit a variety of habitats
can also help "monitor" these habitats remotely: if
an important habitat is failing, then its focal-species
populations will be ailing as well. Manatees, for
example, use a variety of habitats (freshwater rivers
and lakes, seagrasses, mangroves and coral reefs),
so they are important indicators of habitat integrity.
The endangered hawksbill also uses different reef
habitats for different life stages. (For example, adults
roam reefs, forage on sponges and nest on beaches,
while juveniles roam the open waters of the pelagic
zone.) Whale sharks display a strong fidelity to Belize's
Wolcott Henry
Gladden Spit spawning aggregation site, although
they have been tracked throughout the entire region
from Yucatan to Honduras.
The population of whale sharks at Gladden Spit
The plight of high-level predators and iconic species
is transient and composed primarily of juvenile
(like goliath groupers and sawfish) can be valuable
males. The minimum viable population level for this
tools to inspire the public to engage in conservation
species is not known. However, their life-history
efforts.
traits (late maturity, longevity, low birth rate) make
them vulnerable to overexploitation. Whale sharks
Some focal species are difficult or expensive to
are not exploited within the MAR region, but the full
monitor. Aerial surveys, for example, are expensive,
range of the MAR population is not known and this
as are surveys in remote areas.
population may suffer from fisheries exploitation in
other regions13.
St atus
Status
Additional information is needed on goliath groupers
At least 27 MAR marine species (not including birds)
and sawfish. A combination of fieldwork and more
have earned a spot on the IUCN Red List: 15 species
than 154 fisherman interviews in Belize suggest
are listed as Vulnerable, six as Endangered, five
a dramatic decline in abundance. Due to lack of
as Critically Endangered, and one as Extinct (see
consistent sightings or captures throughout Belize in
Appendix 3).
the past 15 years, both the largetooth and smalltooth
sawfish species are considered ecologically extinct
Regional manatee abundance was estimated (1998) at
(that is, their numbers are so small that they no longer
approximately 1200 individuals, with 6-12 manatees
have a significant ecological effect). They are also
along the Yucatan coast, 250 in Chetumal Bay at the
likely locally extinct in some areas14.
MexicoBelize border, 400-900 in Belize, 22-106 in
Guatemala and 120-140 in Honduras9.
Data Needs
Data
The current, extreme vulnerability of Caribbean
Data on some focal (threatened) species are available
hawksbills is demonstrated by the recent, sharp
at the national level, although such data are not often
decline in hawksbill nestings in the Yucatan Peninsula,
published or readily available to the public.
Mexico9. This area had 6,400 nests in 1999
(representing 43% of all nests reported for the Wider
Manatee monitoring programs and sea turtle nesting
Caribbean), but numbers plummeted to fewer than
beach monitoring programs are established in most
2,400 by 2004. This drop represents a 63% decline
areas.
in five years, in the largest population in the Atlantic
basin and one of the four largest nesting beaches
Extremely limited monitoring data are available for
in the world10. The records of the nesting season of
goliath groupers and sawfish, although some efforts
2005 suggest that the decline may have stopped11.
are underway in southern Belize. No data are available
The fact that the cause of the decline remains
on Warsaw grouper, other than anecdotal stories of
unknown, despite great investments over 30 years in
some catches decades ago.
nest protection throughout the nesting range in the
A routine, regionally consistent monitoring protocol
Yucatan, is alarming11. The most important nesting
and reporting mechanism need to be implemented
beaches in Guatemala (Punta de Manabique) and
for all of these focal species.
Belize (Manatee Bar) have also experienced declines.
The manatee bar nesting beach had well over 100
nests in the mid-1990s but had only 65 in 200512.
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