José de Anchieta C. C. Nunes1, Camilo M. Ferreira1,2, Ericka O. C. Coni1, Cláudia M. Araújo3 & Cláudio L. S. Sampaio1,4
1- Grupo de Estudo de Ambientes Recifais-Bahia, anchietaba@yahoo.com.br 2- PPG Sistemas Aquáticos Tropicais, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz. 3- Centro de Estudos SocioAmbientais (Pangea). 4-Museu de Zoologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia.
The Abrolhos bank is located in the south of the state of Bahia. This region is considered the most important reef area of the southern Atlantic (Dutra et al, 2006) and an important habitat for lemon sharks. In Brazil lemon sharks are endangered species and can reach up to 3.2 meters in length. They can be observed from the Northeast region to the state of Rio de Janeiro (Carvalho-Filho, 1999; Gruber & Sundström, 2000). Dives carried out around of the islands, especially at Santa Barbara and Redonda, throughout the past two decades confirm the suggestion of Garla et al (2008), in which they suggest that the place is a nursery area, due to the seasonal occurrence of newborn lemon sharks and records of mature females mainly during summer months. Overfishing is most likely the main contributor to the decline of newborns in the area, thus threatening this nursery ground. Two other areas in Brazil have been recently recognized as nursery grounds: Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Rocas Atol (Garla et al, 2008; Freitas et al, 2006). The Abrolhos archipelago is situated more than 900 nautical miles south of these two areas. Consequently, conservation planning to protect lemon sharks should consider not only these three areas independently, but also the connectivity between them. Although a very important conservation measure, the creation of the Abrolhos National Marine Park in 1983 did not guarantee the conservation of lemon sharks. Anecdotal evidence suggests that fishing pressure around and sometimes inside the Park has increased in recent years. This may well be caused by the lack of an understanding by fishers of the importance of the Marine Park to sustain and improve fisheries. Environmental education programs with fishermen along with an extensive program to monitor fishing and sharks are important in order to guarantee the survival of the species in the region.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Parque Nacional Marinho dos Abrolhos-IBAMA. Laís Chaves, Diego Medeiros, Raissa Frazão, Leo Dutra and Katie Brennan for revising the manuscript. Alfredo Carvalho-Filho and Ricardo Rosa for references. Maria Bernadete for giving valuable information.
References
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Dutra GF, Allen GR, Werner T, McKenna SA (2005) A Rapid Marine Biodiversity Assessment of the Abrolhos Bank, Bahia, Brazil. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 38. Conservation International, Washington, DC, USA.
Freitas R H A, Rosa R S, Gruber SH, Wetherbee B M (2006) Early grwth and juvenile population structure of lemon sharks Negaprion brevirostris in Atol das Rocas Biological Reserve, off north-east Brazil. Journal of Fish Biology: 68, 1319-1332.
Garla R C, Garcia-Jr J, Veras L B, Lopes, N P (2008) Fernando de Noronha as an insular nursery area for lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris, and nurse sharks, Ginglymostoma cirratum, in the equatorial western Atlantic Ocean. JMBA- Biodiversity Records, 1-3. Published on line in 28/May/2008.
Gruber S, Sundström, LF (2000). Negaprion brevirostris. In IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
