Informing the general public on the threat status of the European spiny lobster, Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) through Citizen-Science and social media platforms. A case study from the Aegean Sea

PDF SUPPL FILE
Published: Mar 31, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.26929
Keywords:
ocean literacy citizen-science spiny lobster threatened species Aegean Sea Mediterranean
THODOROS E. KAMPOURIS
Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2528-6941
DROSOS KOUTSOUBAS
Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9514-1644
KATERINA KANELOPOULOU
Ministry of Environment and Energy, Geospatial Information Directorate, 2 Panormou str., 11523, Athens, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6561-6576
CASSANDRA ZANNAKI
Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
IOANNIS E. BATJAKAS
Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8141-6547
Abstract

Research known as Citizen Science (CS) has been recognized as an important tool for both biodiversity restoration and fisheries management projects through active involvement of citizens and therefore for public environmental awareness too. CS projects should be well designed and state clear questions, that will benefit both the research goals and the citizen scientists themselves. In January 2019, the “Red Fish Project” group was created on Facebook consisting of SCUBA divers and fishers and offering the main data source and the relevant digital material. The project’s establishment was based on previous personal experience and following specific protocols. Further information was provided by personal communications. Till October 21st, 2020 the FB group consisted of 464 members who recorded 348 European spiny lobster individuals from all sub-regions of the Aegean Sea. Based on the findings of the present study it seems that most of the citizens were unaware that the species is listed as “Vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List. Lastly, we discuss the important role of the spiny lobster in the country’s culture and that it can be listed as a charismatic, flagship species for citizens to be ocean-literate since it has been shown, that it can raise the interest of recreational divers and increase their awareness.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Special Issue Ocean Literacy

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biographies
THODOROS E. KAMPOURIS, Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
Marine Sciences Department, PhD researcher
DROSOS KOUTSOUBAS, Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
Department of Marine Sciences, Professor
KATERINA KANELOPOULOU, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Geospatial Information Directorate, 2 Panormou str., 11523, Athens, Greece
Ministry of Environment and Energy, Geospatial Information Directorate
CASSANDRA ZANNAKI, Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, Postgraduate student
IOANNIS E. BATJAKAS, Department of Marine Sciences, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilene, Lesvos Island, Greece
Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, Assistant Professor
References
Andrews, K., Nichols, K., Harvey, C., Tolimieri, N., Obaza, A. et al., 2019. All hands on deck: Local Ecological Knowledge and Expert Volunteers Contribute to the First Delisting of a Marine Fish Species Under the Endangered Species Act. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 4 (1), 1-14.
Arvanitidis, C., Faulwetter, S., Chatzigeorgiou, G., Penev, L., Bánki, O. et al., 2011. Engaging the broader community in biodiversity research: the concept of the COMBER pilot project for divers in ViBRANT. ZooKeys, 150, 211‑229.
Changeux, Τ., Blazy, C., Ruitton, S., 2019. The use of citizen science for marine biodiversity surveys: from species identification to ecologically relevant observations. Hydrobiologia, 847, 27-43.
EC, 2020. Commission Staff Working Document. Best Practices in Citizen Science for Environmental Monitoring SWD (2020) 149 final. Brussels: Belgium, 76pp.
Eddy, T.D., Gardner, J.P.A., Pérez-Matus, A., 2010. Applying Fishers’ Ecological Knowledge to Construct Past and Future Lobster Stocks in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. PLoS ONE, 5 (11), e13670.
Fairclough, D.V., Brown, J.I., Carlish, B.J., Crisafulli, B.M., Keay, I.S., 2014. Breathing life into fisheries stock assessments with citizen science. Scientific Reports, 4, 7249.
Fauville, G., Dupont, S., von Thun, S., Lundin, J., 2015. Can Facebook be used to increase scientific literacy? A case study of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Facebook page and ocean literacy. Computers & Education, 82, 60-73.
Fauville, G., Strang, C., Cannady, M.A., Chen, Y-F., 2019. Development of the International Ocean Literacy Survey: measuring knowledge across the world. Environmental Education Research, 25 (2), 238-263.
Ferreira, J.C., Vasconcelos, L., Monteiro, R., Silva, F.Z., Duarte, C.M. et al., 2021. Ocean Literacy to Promote Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 in Coastal Communities. Education Sciences, 11 (2), 21 pp.
Fritz, S., See, L., Carlson, T., Haklay, M., Oliver, J.L. et al., 2019. Citizen science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability, 2, 922-930.
Gerovasileiou, V., Chintiroglou, C.C., Vafidis, D., Koutsoubas, D., Sini, M. et al., 2015. Census of biodiversity in marine caves of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Mediterranean Marine Science, 16 (1), 245-265.
Gerovasileiou, V., Dailianis, T., Panteri, E., Michalakis, N., Gatti, G. et al., 2016. CIGESMED for divers: Establishing a citizen science initiative for the mapping and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea. Biodiversity Data Journal, 4, e8692.
Gibson, K.J., Streich, M.K., Topping, T.S., Stunz, G.W., 2019. Utility of citizen science data: A case study in land-based shark fishing. PLoS ONE, 14 (12), e0226782.
Giovos, I., Kleitou, P., Poursanidis, D., Batjakas, I.E., Bernardi, G. et al., 2019. Citizen-science for monitoring marine invasions and stimulating public engagement: a case project from the eastern Mediterranean. Biological Invasions, 21, 3707-3721.
Goñi, R., Latrouite, D., 2005. Review of the biology and fisheries of Palinurus spp. Species of European waters: Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) and Palinurus mauritanicus (Gruvel, 1911). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 46, 127-142.
Groeneveld, J.C., Goñi, R., Díaz, D., 2013. Palinurus species. p. 326-356. In: Lobsters: Biology, Management, Aquaculture and Fisheries. Phillips, B.F. (Ed.). Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.
Guest, H., Lotze, H.K., Wallace, D., 2015. Youth and the sea: Ocean literacy in Nova Scotia, Canada. Marine Policy, 58, 98-107.
Kampouris, T.E., Koutsoubas, D., Milenkova, D., Economidis, G., Tamvakidis, S. et al., 2020. New Data on the Biology and Fisheries of the Threatened Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) (Decapoda, Achelata, Palinuridae) from the North-West Aegean Sea, Greece. Water, 12 (9), 2390.
Kelly, R., Evans, K., Alexander, K., Bettiol, S., Corney, S. et al., 2021. Connecting to the oceans: supporting ocean literacy and public engagement. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, in press.
Kelly, R., Fleming, A., Ped, G.T., von Gönner, J., Bonn, A., 2020. Citizen science and marine conservation: a global review. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375, 20190461.
Krželj, M., Cerrano, C., Di Camillo, C.G., 2020. Enhancing Diversity Knowledge through Marine Citizen Science and Social Platforms: The Case of Hermodice carunculata (Annelida, Polycheta). Diversity, 12, 311.
Lloyd, T.J., Fuller, R.A., Oliver, J.L., Tulloch, A.I., Barnes, M. et al., 2020. Estimating the spatial coverage of citizen science for monitoring threatened species. Global Ecology and Conservation, 23, e01048.
Marengo, M., Theuerkauff, D., Patrissi, M., Doutreloux, N., Leduc, M. et al., 2020. A Typical Mediterranean Fishery and an Iconic Species: focus on the common Spiny Lobster (Palinurus elephas, Fabricius, 1787) in Corsica. Oceanography & Fisheries, 12 (1), OFOAJ.MS.ID.5557827.
McCauley, V., McHugh, P., Davison, K., Domegan, C., 2019. Collective intelligence for advancing ocean literacy. Environmental Education Research, 25 (2), 280-291.
Miyazaki, Y., Teramura, A., Senou, H., 2016. Biodiversity data mining from Argus-eyed citizens: the first illegal introduction record of Lepomis macrochirus macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819 in Japan based on Twitter information. ZooKeys, 569, 123-133.
Mogias, A., Boubonari, T., Realdon, G., Previati, M., Mokos, M. et al., 2019. Evaluating Ocean Literacy of Elementary School Students: Preliminary Results of a Cross-Cultural Study in the Mediterranean Region. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 396.
Mokos, M., Cheimonopoulou, M.Th., Koulouri, P., Previati, M., Realdon, G. et al., 2020. Mediterranean Sea Literacy: When Ocean Literacy becomes region-specific. Mediterranean Marine Science, 21 (3), 592-598.
Steven, R., Barnes, M., Garnett, S.T., Garrard, G., O’Connor, J. et al., 2019. Aligning citizen science with best practice: Threatened species conservation in Australia. Conservation Science and Practice, 1, e100.
UNESCO-IOC, 2021. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) Implementation plan – Summary. UNESCO, IOC Ocean Decade Series, 19, 20 pp.
Most read articles by the same author(s)