form the basis of the development of successful mitigation and protection measures,
as well as aid in the identification of effective marine protected areas (MPAs). The
major questions need to be answered to develop realistic fisheries management and
conservation strategies. These questions include the following:
Where do animals live and where do they migrate to during various temporal periods
(day, season, and year)?
What areas pose the highest risks of interactions with fishing activities or collisions
with ships?
Will such interactions occur within protected areas during key life-history events and
periods of peak fishing activity?
When do migrations occur, and do species have to pass through major fishing
grounds?
How do environmental and physiological variables influence species’ habitat use
and movements?
How do these behaviours vary among marine species according to their size, sex,
and life stage?
Where are the key areas, such as mating, breeding, feeding, or nursery/nesting
grounds?
Can we predict the impact of climate change on megafauna movements and
distribution?
Tagging technologies can be used to help fill these knowledge gaps. The conventional tagging of sharks (spaghetti tags and Rototags) and sea turtles (flipper tags)
and the banding of pinnipeds and seabirds—now replaced by Passive Integrative
Transponder (PIT) tags—can provide information on mixing rates between stocks.
In the case of sharks, these technologies can be used to validate growth studies,
which are usually conducted using hard parts (i.e. vertebrae) to estimate age and
accurately convert catch-at-size data to catch-at-age data (provided by growth
studies). Tagging studies can be used to estimate critical population parameters
such as population size, recruitment, and mortality and survival rates (Kohler et al.
2002). All this information is crucial to the adequate assessment of stocks. However,
conventional tagging is limited because it is dependent on fisheries: (a) information
can be obtained only if the animal is recaptured; and (b) even in the event of
recapture, the route between the tagging and the recapture locations cannot be
reconstructed.
In comparison to traditional methods, recent advances in satellite tagging technologies have provided scientists with more detailed information on the behaviour,
habitat use, and migration patterns of free-swimming marine top predators. This
technology has revealed the key habitats of charismatic species such as white sharks
and basking sharks (Boustany et al. 2002; Braun et al. 2018), green turtles
(Nishizawa et al. 2018), cetaceans (Balmer et al. 2014; Mate et al. 1998), and
seabirds (Burger and Shaffer 2008). Thus, it is now considered to be an essential
tool for conservation purposes. Next, we provide a comprehensive review of the use
of tagging techniques in ecological studies of marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks,
and seabirds in the Alboran Sea.
21 Marine Megafauna and Charismatic Vertebrate Species
729
as well as aid in the identification of effective marine protected areas (MPAs). The
major questions need to be answered to develop realistic fisheries management and
conservation strategies. These questions include the following:
Where do animals live and where do they migrate to during various temporal periods
(day, season, and year)?
What areas pose the highest risks of interactions with fishing activities or collisions
with ships?
Will such interactions occur within protected areas during key life-history events and
periods of peak fishing activity?
When do migrations occur, and do species have to pass through major fishing
grounds?
How do environmental and physiological variables influence species’ habitat use
and movements?
How do these behaviours vary among marine species according to their size, sex,
and life stage?
Where are the key areas, such as mating, breeding, feeding, or nursery/nesting
grounds?
Can we predict the impact of climate change on megafauna movements and
distribution?
Tagging technologies can be used to help fill these knowledge gaps. The conventional tagging of sharks (spaghetti tags and Rototags) and sea turtles (flipper tags)
and the banding of pinnipeds and seabirds—now replaced by Passive Integrative
Transponder (PIT) tags—can provide information on mixing rates between stocks.
In the case of sharks, these technologies can be used to validate growth studies,
which are usually conducted using hard parts (i.e. vertebrae) to estimate age and
accurately convert catch-at-size data to catch-at-age data (provided by growth
studies). Tagging studies can be used to estimate critical population parameters
such as population size, recruitment, and mortality and survival rates (Kohler et al.
2002). All this information is crucial to the adequate assessment of stocks. However,
conventional tagging is limited because it is dependent on fisheries: (a) information
can be obtained only if the animal is recaptured; and (b) even in the event of
recapture, the route between the tagging and the recapture locations cannot be
reconstructed.
In comparison to traditional methods, recent advances in satellite tagging technologies have provided scientists with more detailed information on the behaviour,
habitat use, and migration patterns of free-swimming marine top predators. This
technology has revealed the key habitats of charismatic species such as white sharks
and basking sharks (Boustany et al. 2002; Braun et al. 2018), green turtles
(Nishizawa et al. 2018), cetaceans (Balmer et al. 2014; Mate et al. 1998), and
seabirds (Burger and Shaffer 2008). Thus, it is now considered to be an essential
tool for conservation purposes. Next, we provide a comprehensive review of the use
of tagging techniques in ecological studies of marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks,
and seabirds in the Alboran Sea.
21 Marine Megafauna and Charismatic Vertebrate Species
729