Gnathanodon speciosus | UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes
Taxa
Gnathanodon speciosus | (Forsskål, 1775)
Publication
Asessment status in full
Data deficient
Assessment status abreviation
DD
Assessment rationale/justification
This pelagic, inshore species occurs throughout UAE waters, and is targeted by recreational fishers as well as the commercial trap fishery and retained as bycatch in gill net fisheries. Its presence in UAE fish markets has noticeably declined over time. The Abu Dhabi stock was first reported as overfished in 2004, and a subsequent stock assessment in 2014 concluded it had collapsed. According to an analysis of its stock status in 2018, the resource was considered sustainably exploited. Catch in Abu Dhabi declined by 85% from 2014-2018, but the cause of this decline is poorly understood due in part to the lack of data on effort. The status of population(s) outside the UAE is not well-understood, though it is also targeted by fisheries elsewhere, and was considered fully exploited off Qatar as of 2011. Based on the uncertainty regarding the population trend of this exploited species, it is listed as Data Deficient in UAE waters until updated data become available. Improvements in fisheries monitoring are needed.
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1 + Regional Guidelines v4.0
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Threats listed in assessment
Overexploitation is a potential major threat to this species in the UAE. Corals in the UAE and Arabian Gulf have severely declined due to the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures, which is a consequence of climate change, as well as pervasive coastal development (Riegl et al. 2018, Burt et al. 2019).
Conservation Measures
Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:
Scientific Name | Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gnathanodon speciosus | Animalia | Chordata | Actinopterygii | Perciformes | Carangidae | Gnathanodon |