Scaling up the of-fish-al records
Keep a lookout for rarely recorded and unusual fish.
That is what the public and fishing community in Cork are being asked to do in a bid to increase the knowledge of Ireland’s marine biodiversity. Anyone who finds unusual specimens is asked to bring their discoveries to their local Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) port office in Clonakilty or Castletownbere, so that their identity can be confirmed and recorded.
Declan Quigley, biologist and Senior Port Officer with the SFPA, said: “Understandably, most of the focus in Ireland and elsewhere is on learning more about commercial fish stocks, those that we would expect to find on a typical fish counter. However, a total of 567 species of fish have been recorded from Irish territorial waters yet only about ten per cent of these are fished commercially and less than five per cent are subject to ongoing stock assessments and fisheries management.”
He continued: “Little is known about the biology of the vast majority of the non-commercial fish species in Irish waters, although they represent an important component of our National Marine Biodiversity and an essential part of our marine ecosystems. Citizen scientists in Cork can help to fill that knowledge gap.”
Some of the more unusual fish species recently recorded for the first time in Irish waters include the Spanish sea bream, red porgy, marbled electric ray and red scorpion fish, all of which are more commonly found in much warmer waters to the south of Ireland.
Similarly, some warm-water invertebrate species such as slipper lobsters, have only recently been recorded from Irish waters.
Mr Quigley suggested that the recent occurrence of these sub-tropical and Mediterranean species in Irish waters may be due to the general increase in sea water temperatures in the North Atlantic over the last few decades. This, he said, could potentially lead to greater stocks of these fish and invertebrates more accustomed to warmer temperatures occurring in Irish waters during the coming years.
“The potential contribution of citizen science to increasing our knowledge about marine life in Irish waters is enormous. There are only a small number of full-time fisheries scientists and fisheries research vessels in Ireland, whereas there are over 2,000 commercial fishing vessels and 406,000 recreational fishers. In addition, hundreds of scuba divers and thousands of people explore Ireland's extensive shoreline on a regular basis and are another untapped source who can provide very useful observations on marine life,” he added.
For a full list of the SFPA port offices, visit SFPA.ie.