The challenges of apex marine predators research and conservation in Israel
The eastern Mediterranean Sea is a marine desert exhibiting extremely low biological productivity, particularly in its easternmost basin. Nevertheless, apex predators such as sharks and dolphins are present. This presentation will present two case studies of long-term research on coastal sharks and dolphins. Two species of carcharhinid sharks, Dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) and Sandbar shark (C. plumbeus), aggregate every winter at the warm water effluent of the Hadera coastal power plant on the Israeli Mediterranean coast. Since 2016, the long-term ecological research of the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station’s (MKMRS) Apex Predator Laboratory in Israel has led to the definition of seasonal ‘hotspots’ of sex-segregated aggregations of mainly female Dusky sharks and male Sandbar sharks. The common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in the Mediterranean Sea are evaluated as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Mediterranean Red List. The local population inhabits the southern coastal waters of Israel, in the shallow waters. The decrease in their abundance, coupled with their apparent isolation level, qualifies the local population for a re-assessment of their conservation status since they are on the verge of local extinction as their numbers are decreasing dramatically. The cutting-edge methodologies used today for marine apex predator research still lack the ability to confront fundamental and basic questions such as movement patterns. This and others will be brought to discussion.