The Project is coordinated by the Maltese Environment Planning Authority (MEPA), as the lead beneficiary, with KAI Marine and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC) as partners and Bank of Valletta (BOV) as a cofinancier. KAI Marine is an international interdisciplinary team of experts in the design of management schemes for the conservation of great pelagic marine species. The outcome of one of the actions under the LIFE+ MIGRATE is a series of guidelines for the adequate management of the potential risks to the maintenance of a favourable conservation status of the cetacean and sea turtle populations present in Maltese waters. Among these guidelines, that are based on a solid scientific foundation, is the identification of potential sites that should be included in Europe’s network of protected areas, NATURA 2000.
For more information please visit: WWW.LIFEPROJECTMIGRATE.COM WWW.MARINENATURA2000MALTA.COM
PROJ ECT MIGRATE - LIFE11 NAT//MT/1070 EU LIFE+ Funding Programme This project is part-financed by the European Union Co-financing rate: 49.4 % EU Funds; 37.1 % National Funds and 13.5 % Private funds
booklet 6_ Research_
Cetaceans, sea turtles, tunas and sharks know little about national borders. Their conservation can only be achieved through international cooperation and oceanic scale concerted effort.
LO GY
LIFE+ MIGRATE was launched in October 2012 with the goal of implementing parts of the European Union’s Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) with regards to establishing the conservation status of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Maltese waters and establishing an important zones for them.
BIO
Natura 2000 sites
Front page map: “Satelite image of Malta”. Licenced under the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg
Europe’s main contribution to the Convention for Biological Diversity is the Habitats Directive and its NATURA 2000 network of sites that are critical for the breeding, feeding and migration of species that require special effort of conservation.
neritic
LIFE MIGRATE+_
LIFE MIGRATE+_
<land
pelagic
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE
The LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (Caretta caretta; Maltese: Il-Fekruna tal-Baħar) is the most common sea turtle, and is listed in Annex II & Annex IV of the Habitat Directive. Loggerheads found in Maltese waters can possibly be of both Mediterranean and Atlantic origin (from the nesting beaches of the eastern shores of the Atlantic.
LAMPUKI
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN
During their sub adult life stage, turtles gain the ability to swim against the ocean currents, and at this point they can alternate the open sea phase with a coastal phase, where they approach the coast to feed on crustaceans and other demersal prey. At this point, turtles migrate back to the nesting beaches where they were born, in order to initiate their reproductive cycle at maturity around 24-30 years of age. At this stage, the female will nest in cycles of 2, 3 or 4 years, emerging on the beach to dig a boot shaped nest in the sand where she will lay around 100 eggs.
BLUE SHARKS AND OTHER PREDATORY FISH
OTHER CETACEANS
Other species of sea turtle and cetacean can also be found around Maltese waters, as the green turtle, the striped dolphin, the Risso’s dolphin, the long finned pilot whale, the beaked whale, the fin whale and the sperm whale. Among these species, it is important to highlight the Mediterranean common dolphin.
seamount
COMMON DOLPHIN
4000m abyssal
upwelling of nutrients epipelagic 200m zoning
continental slope
PHYSIOGRAPHY plays a key role in the lives of cetaceans and sea turtles. Features such as sea mounts or escarpments are landmarks for navigation, but also aggregate prey either directly by offering a habitat for benthic and demersal species or indirectly by inducing upwellings. Different cetaceans have different preferences for either the continental shelves or slope or deep waters. BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS feeding on demersal fish or loggerhead turtles feeding on benthic invertebrates during their oceanic phase can be observed frequently on the continental shelf or along its edge. LOGGERHEAD TURTLES in their oceanic phase are generally found off the shelf edge in deeper waters. Likewise other cetacean species, an in particular odontocetes, are found offshore tracking deep sea squid. If we sail these deep waters using an echosounder, we can often observe what we call the deep scattering layer between 200 meters to over 1000. This is a layer that aggregates a mass of creatures as jellies and also several deep sea squid species that make up the most important part of the diet of odontocetes in the oceanic domain.
bathypelagic
zoning
Drifting around in surface waters, these turtles act as thousands of small oasis in the open seas. Aggregating algae, a mass of invertebrates and a cloud of small pelagic fish under their shade, turtles provide bait balls for hungry pelagic predators. Turtles themselves will feed on a variety of pelagic invertebrates including jellyfish.
The BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN (Tursiops truncatus; Maltese: Id-Denfil ta’ Geddumu Qasir) is one of the more coastal dolphin species in European waters. This cosmopolitan species is found as an offshore sub species and a coastal subspecies. Around Malta bottlenose dolphins are found regularly in small pods foraging on demersal prey along the continental shelf edge but also taking advantage of fishing gear and fish farms to obtain an easy meal.
THE OCEANIC REALM Marine ecosystems are difficult for us to visualize, unlike habitats on land that are easy for people to make reference to. In appearance, this is just an endless blue surface, but underneath that surface there are extraordinary physiographic and oceanographic features. Think of water flows larger than the Amazon, or escarpments far deeper than the famous Grand Canyon.
BLUEFIN TUNA
Emerging from the sand after an average of a 60-day incubation under the sun, hatchlings race out to the open seas where they enter the first phase of their extraordinary life cycle. During this open sea phase, turtles are transported by surface currents agrregating with other current-driven organisms, like jellies, and will spend several years throughout their juvenile years until they become sub adults.
continental shelf
25 n.m.
Other OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURES as currents, frontal zones, down-wellings, and up-wellings play also a key role in aggregating the prey of cetaceans and aggregating and / or dispersing turtles migrating passively during their oceanic phase. Temperature on the other hand plays a crucial role with regards to sea turtles, that as reptiles see their metabolic rate affected by waters much warmer or colder than their preferred 18 degrees C.
mesopelagic 1000m zoning
THE BLUE SERENGETI
Malta’s position in the channel between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins makes it a site of particular interest for the great pelagic wonderers of our seas. Lampuki/dolphin fish, swordfish, bluefin tunas, sharks, cetaceans and marine turtles as well as seabirds probably use these islands’s waters and as landmark for their migrations.
Editorial design and illustration: GOBIUS 2015 www.gobius.pt
SEABIRDS
SITES OF SPECIAL RELEVANCE AROUND THE ISLANDS OF MALTA AND GOZO The Maltese Islands consists of a group of 3 islands with Malta being the largest, situated at the southern tip of the continental shelf of Sicily. To the east from these islands, there is a steep escarpment that plunges to the abyss of the Ionian where the Mediterranean reaches its record depth of over 4,000 meters. Malta also designated a 25 nautical mile Fisheries Management Zone, where the deepest waters are found to the south west and north west of the archipelago.
RESEARCH
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE GHOST FISHING
In addition to evaluation by the Animal Welfare Directorate, research permits should continue to take into consideration the priority lines of research identified to fill in the gaps of data required to assess, manage and monitor risks to the maintenance of a favourable conservation status of the target species and their habitats. Furthermore, it is important to take into account the regulation, codes of best practice and recommendations set forward by relevant research and conservation fora.
UNDERWATER DEBRIS
UNDERWATER DEBRIS
GHOST FISHING
GHOST FISHING
COMMON DOLPHIN
GHOST FISHING
UNDERWATER DEBRIS
PRIORITY LINES OF RESEARCH Mapping of debris aggregation sites for organized removal programs by divers, yachtsmen, schools, fishers Develop technology to avoid ghost fishing in LAMPUKI fishery Bottlenose dolphin monitoring program (acoustics + photo id)
COMMON DOLPHIN
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN
www.marinenatura2000malta.com
Factsheet_
UNDERWATER DEBRIS
Factsheet_
EDUCATION Cetaceans and marine turtles in Malta provide a unique opportunity as flagship species of marine biodiversity conservation. Raising awareness and education are essential to consolidate the management plans and ensure that they are followed-up by a cultural change that can enhance the sustainability of human activities with regards to its maritime natural and cultural treasures. LIFE+ MIGRATE has provided an important source of data and images that can be used for the establishment of capacity development and educational programs. Through education, it is also possible to address risk to marine biodiversity that cannot be reached exclusively by actions developed with the sectors active at sea, as debris pollution or other sources of pollution that are produced on land or outside of Malta.
REFERENCE DOCUMENTS, MATERIALS AND LINKS: www.marinenatura2000malta.com . ACCOBAMS & RAC/SPA. 2004. Guidelines for the Development of National Networks of Cetacean Strandings Monitoring. Edit RAC/SPA & ACCOBAMS, Tunis, 20 pp. . Casale, P. and Margaritoulis, D. (Eds.) (2010). Sea turtles in the Mediterranean: Distribution, threats and conservation priorities. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 294 pp. . FRANZOSINI, C., GENOV, T., TEMPESTA, M., 2013. Cetacean Manual for MPA Managers. ACCOBAMS, MedPAN and UNEP/MAP-RAC/SPA. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis. 77 pp. . RAC/SPA. 2003. Guidelines to design legislations and regulations to the conservation and management of marine turtles populations and their habitats, Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis, 63 pp. . RAC/SPA. 2004. Guidelines to improve the involvement of marine rescue centres for marine turtles. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis, 48 pp. . RAC/SPA, 2014. Guidelines to improve the implementation of the Mediterranean Specially Protected Areas network and connectivity between Specially Protected Areas. By Dan LAFFOLEY. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis. 32 pp. . RAC/SPA & IUCN-Med. 2013. Stakeholder Participation Toolkit for Identification, Designation and Management of Marine Protected Areas. RAC/SPA and IUCN-Med. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis. 30 pp. . UNEP/MAP - RAC/SPA. 2001. Action Plan for the conservation of Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis, 8 pp. . UNEP/MAP - RAC/SPA. 2007. Action Plan for the conservation of Mediterranean Marine Turtles. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis, 40 pp. . UNEP/MAP - RAC/SPA. 2011. Guidelines for the Establishment and Management of Marine Protected Areas for Cetaceans. By Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara. Ed. ACCOBAMS-RAC/SPA, Tunis. 36 pp.
. UNEP/MAP - RAC/SPA. 2012. Guidelines for Setting up and Management of Specially Protected Areas for Marine Turtles in the Mediterranean. By Andreas Demetropoulos, CWS. Ed. RAC/SPA, Tunis, 32 pp. . WĂźrtz, M., 2010. Mediterranean Pelagic Habitat: Oceanographic and Biological Processes, An Overview. Gland, Switzerland and Malaga, Spain: IUCN. 88 pp.
www.marinenatura2000malta.com
neritic
LIFE MIGRATE+_
LIFE MIGRATE+_
<land
pelagic
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE
The LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (Caretta caretta; Maltese: Il-Fekruna tal-Baħar) is the most common sea turtle, and is listed in Annex II & Annex IV of the Habitat Directive. Loggerheads found in Maltese waters can possibly be of both Mediterranean and Atlantic origin (from the nesting beaches of the eastern shores of the Atlantic.
LAMPUKI
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN
During their sub adult life stage, turtles gain the ability to swim against the ocean currents, and at this point they can alternate the open sea phase with a coastal phase, where they approach the coast to feed on crustaceans and other demersal prey. At this point, turtles migrate back to the nesting beaches where they were born, in order to initiate their reproductive cycle at maturity around 24-30 years of age. At this stage, the female will nest in cycles of 2, 3 or 4 years, emerging on the beach to dig a boot shaped nest in the sand where she will lay around 100 eggs.
BLUE SHARKS AND OTHER PREDATORY FISH
OTHER CETACEANS
Other species of sea turtle and cetacean can also be found around Maltese waters, as the green turtle, the striped dolphin, the Risso’s dolphin, the long finned pilot whale, the beaked whale, the fin whale and the sperm whale. Among these species, it is important to highlight the Mediterranean common dolphin.
seamount
COMMON DOLPHIN
4000m abyssal
upwelling of nutrients epipelagic 200m zoning
continental slope
PHYSIOGRAPHY plays a key role in the lives of cetaceans and sea turtles. Features such as sea mounts or escarpments are landmarks for navigation, but also aggregate prey either directly by offering a habitat for benthic and demersal species or indirectly by inducing upwellings. Different cetaceans have different preferences for either the continental shelves or slope or deep waters. BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS feeding on demersal fish or loggerhead turtles feeding on benthic invertebrates during their oceanic phase can be observed frequently on the continental shelf or along its edge. LOGGERHEAD TURTLES in their oceanic phase are generally found off the shelf edge in deeper waters. Likewise other cetacean species, an in particular odontocetes, are found offshore tracking deep sea squid. If we sail these deep waters using an echosounder, we can often observe what we call the deep scattering layer between 200 meters to over 1000. This is a layer that aggregates a mass of creatures as jellies and also several deep sea squid species that make up the most important part of the diet of odontocetes in the oceanic domain.
bathypelagic
zoning
Drifting around in surface waters, these turtles act as thousands of small oasis in the open seas. Aggregating algae, a mass of invertebrates and a cloud of small pelagic fish under their shade, turtles provide bait balls for hungry pelagic predators. Turtles themselves will feed on a variety of pelagic invertebrates including jellyfish.
The BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN (Tursiops truncatus; Maltese: Id-Denfil ta’ Geddumu Qasir) is one of the more coastal dolphin species in European waters. This cosmopolitan species is found as an offshore sub species and a coastal subspecies. Around Malta bottlenose dolphins are found regularly in small pods foraging on demersal prey along the continental shelf edge but also taking advantage of fishing gear and fish farms to obtain an easy meal.
THE OCEANIC REALM Marine ecosystems are difficult for us to visualize, unlike habitats on land that are easy for people to make reference to. In appearance, this is just an endless blue surface, but underneath that surface there are extraordinary physiographic and oceanographic features. Think of water flows larger than the Amazon, or escarpments far deeper than the famous Grand Canyon.
BLUEFIN TUNA
Emerging from the sand after an average of a 60-day incubation under the sun, hatchlings race out to the open seas where they enter the first phase of their extraordinary life cycle. During this open sea phase, turtles are transported by surface currents agrregating with other current-driven organisms, like jellies, and will spend several years throughout their juvenile years until they become sub adults.
continental shelf
25 n.m.
Other OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURES as currents, frontal zones, down-wellings, and up-wellings play also a key role in aggregating the prey of cetaceans and aggregating and / or dispersing turtles migrating passively during their oceanic phase. Temperature on the other hand plays a crucial role with regards to sea turtles, that as reptiles see their metabolic rate affected by waters much warmer or colder than their preferred 18 degrees C.
mesopelagic 1000m zoning
THE BLUE SERENGETI
Malta’s position in the channel between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins makes it a site of particular interest for the great pelagic wonderers of our seas. Lampuki/dolphin fish, swordfish, bluefin tunas, sharks, cetaceans and marine turtles as well as seabirds probably use these islands’s waters and as landmark for their migrations.
Editorial design and illustration: GOBIUS 2015 www.gobius.pt
SEABIRDS
SITES OF SPECIAL RELEVANCE AROUND THE ISLANDS OF MALTA AND GOZO The Maltese Islands consists of a group of 3 islands with Malta being the largest, situated at the southern tip of the continental shelf of Sicily. To the east from these islands, there is a steep escarpment that plunges to the abyss of the Ionian where the Mediterranean reaches its record depth of over 4,000 meters. Malta also designated a 25 nautical mile Fisheries Management Zone, where the deepest waters are found to the south west and north west of the archipelago.
The Project is coordinated by the Maltese Environment Planning Authority (MEPA), as the lead beneficiary, with KAI Marine and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC) as partners and Bank of Valletta (BOV) as a cofinancier. KAI Marine is an international interdisciplinary team of experts in the design of management schemes for the conservation of great pelagic marine species. The outcome of one of the actions under the LIFE+ MIGRATE is a series of guidelines for the adequate management of the potential risks to the maintenance of a favourable conservation status of the cetacean and sea turtle populations present in Maltese waters. Among these guidelines, that are based on a solid scientific foundation, is the identification of potential sites that should be included in Europe’s network of protected areas, NATURA 2000.
For more information please visit: WWW.LIFEPROJECTMIGRATE.COM WWW.MARINENATURA2000MALTA.COM
PROJ ECT MIGRATE - LIFE11 NAT//MT/1070 EU LIFE+ Funding Programme This project is part-financed by the European Union Co-financing rate: 49.4 % EU Funds; 37.1 % National Funds and 13.5 % Private funds
booklet 6_ Research_
Cetaceans, sea turtles, tunas and sharks know little about national borders. Their conservation can only be achieved through international cooperation and oceanic scale concerted effort.
LO GY
LIFE+ MIGRATE was launched in October 2012 with the goal of implementing parts of the European Union’s Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) with regards to establishing the conservation status of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Maltese waters and establishing an important zones for them.
BIO
Natura 2000 sites
Front page map: “Satelite image of Malta”. Licenced under the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg
Europe’s main contribution to the Convention for Biological Diversity is the Habitats Directive and its NATURA 2000 network of sites that are critical for the breeding, feeding and migration of species that require special effort of conservation.