10.5061/DRYAD.GB424
Pilcher, Nicolas J.
Marine Research Foundation
Adulyanukosol, Kanjana
Upper Gulf of Thailand Marine and Coastal Resource Research and
Development Center, Samut Sakhon, Thailand
Das, Himansu
Environment Agency Abu Dhabi
Davis, Patricia
Community Centered Conservation, London, United Kingdom
Hines, Ellen
San Francisco State University
Kwan, Donna
Convention on Migratory Species Office, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Marsh, Helene
James Cook University
Ponnampalam, Louisa
The MareCet Research Organization, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Reynolds, John
Mote Marine Laboratory
Data from: A low-cost solution for documenting distribution and abundance
of endangered marine fauna and impacts from fisheries
Dryad
dataset
2018
2010 to 2015
questionnaire
Dugong dugon
dugongs
Dolphins
marine mammal bycatch
low cost
marine turtles
traditional ecological knowledge
interview
2018-02-14T00:00:00Z
2018-02-14T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190021
6854876 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Fisheries bycatch is a widespread and serious issue that leads to declines
of many important and threatened marine species. However, documenting the
distribution, abundance, population trends and threats to sparse
populations of marine species is often beyond the capacity of developing
countries because such work is complex, time consuming and often extremely
expensive. We have developed a flexible tool to document spatial
distribution and population trends for dugongs and other marine species in
the form of an interview questionnaire supported by a structured data
upload sheet and a comprehensive project manual. Recognising the effort
invested in getting interviewers to remote locations, the questionnaire is
comprehensive, but low cost. The questionnaire has already been deployed
in 18 countries across the Indo-Pacific region. Project teams spent an
average of USD 5,000 per country and obtained large data sets on dugong
distribution, trends, catch and bycatch, and threat overlaps. Findings
indicated that >50% of respondents had never seen dugongs and that
20% had seen a single dugong in their lifetimes despite living and fishing
in areas of known or suspected dugong habitat, suggesting that dugongs
occured in low numbers. Only 3% of respondents had seen mother and calf
pairs, indicative of low reproductive output. Dugong hunting was still
common in several countries. Gillnets and hook and line were the most
common fishing gears, with the greatest mortality caused by gillnets. The
questionnaire has also been used to study manatees in the Caribbean,
coastal cetaceans along the eastern Gulf of Thailand and western
Peninsular Malaysia, and river dolphins in Peru. This questionnaire is a
powerful tool for studying distribution and relative abundance for marine
species and fishery pressures, and determining potential conservation
hotspot areas. We provide the questionnaire and supporting documents for
open-access use by the scientific and conservation communities.
Questionnaire Data - All 14Feb17
Indo Pacific