Aetobatus ocellatus | UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes
Taxa
Aetobatus ocellatus | (Kuhl, 1823)
Publication
Asessment status in full
Vulnerable
Assessment status abreviation
VU
Assessment status criteria
A2cd
Assessment rationale/justification
This inshore and offshore eagle ray occurs throughout UAE waters. The species inhabits lagoons and estuaries and is often associated with coral reefs. It may be taken as bycatch in certain fisheries. Most of the distribution of the species in the Arabian Sea region is under extremely intense and increasing demersal fishing pressure, especially off Iran, India and Pakistan; although, pressure is thought to be lower in the western part of the Arabian Sea, which includes the UAE. Furthermore, the loss and modification of coastal habitats across the region is a significant concern. Its relative rarity, large size and low productivity makes this species particularly susceptible to population decline as a result of fishing pressure and coastal development. Though data specifically from the UAE are not available, individuals in the UAE are a component of a larger, interconnected and migratory population that occurs broadly in the north-western Indian Ocean. Given the intense fishing pressures faced by this species throughout the Arabian Seas, and ongoing threats from bycatch and habitat loss, it is inferred that declines reported in the Arabian Seas are representative of the status in the UAE. Based on recorded levels of exploitation and declines in habitat quality, it is suspected to have declined by 30-50% over the past three generation lengths, or about 45 years. It is listed as Vulnerable A2cd.
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
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
The Spotted Eagle Ray is highly susceptible to a variety of inshore demersal fisheries, including trawls and gill nets. Its small litter size, schooling behaviour, inshore habitat and hence availability to a wide variety of inshore fishing gear (beach seine, gillnet, purse seine, benthic longline, trawl, etc.), and the generally intense and unregulated nature of inshore fisheries across large parts of the species' range, pose significant risks to the Arabian Sea population. The occurrence of this species in coral reef areas make it susceptible to habitat degradation and coastal development, pollution, and the effects of climate change (Normile 2016). In the Arabian Gulf, there are major impacts from from development activities (including dredging and reclamation), desalination plants, industrial activities, habitat destruction through the removal of shallow productive areas and major shipping lanes (Sheppard et al. 2010). 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aetobatus ocellatus | Animalia | Chordata | Chondrichthyes | Myliobatiformes | Aetobatidae | Aetobatus |