Elasmobranquios de la Isla Cayo Serranilla durante la Expedición Seaflower 2017 - Proyecto Colombia BIO

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In response to population declines noted for many sharks and other elasmobranch species around the world, protecting them from overexploitation has become a global priority. However, the necessary data to assess the diversity and abundance of elasmobranchs has often hindered efforts to effectively restore and protect such species. Many reef surveys around the world have been conducted by scuba divers, although many studies have exposed the flaws and biases of this type of surveys for species such as elasmobranchs. Sampling of these species has traditionally been resource and time intensive due to the need to capture sharks or rays on lines. Recently, advances in video technology have allowed the deployment BRUVs. This technique involves positioning a bait source in front of an underwater video camera and quantifying the fish that are observed in the field of view over a standard sampling period and are an ideal way to quickly, and inexpensively, sample populations of relatively low-density predators like sharks and rays. Due to the remote location of Isla Cayo Serranilla, in the northernmost region of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, there is a lack of knowledge of elasmobranch species and their abundance in the area. In order to estimate reef elasmobranch diversity and relative abundance in the Colombian Caribbean at Isla Cayo Serranilla and detect possible bright spots in the region, 52 BRUVs were deployed on the fore-reef and the inner lagoon. Depth was standardized between 8 and 30 m and deployments were performed using standardized pre-weighted bait. Videos will be watched, and species and the maximum number of reef species observed in a single frame (Nmax) will be recorded. This estimate (Nmax) is similar to the Catch per Unit of Effort (CPUE) and will be used to assess the relative abundance of reef shark at Isla Cayo Serranilla.

Conduct a 2-week Baited Remote Underwater Video Survey (BRUV) of reef elasmobranch diversity and relative abundance in the Colombian Caribbean at Isla Cayo Serranilla (San Andrés Archipelago) and detect possible bright spots in the region. These key baseline data will support future studies on elasmobranchs in other areas of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve and fill in gaps on the status of elasmobranch populations in the region. This will be combined with large existing BRUV datasets collected in other key locations around the world for a global analysis through the Global FinPrint project (www.globalfinprint.org).

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