Saving the ‘rhino rays’ of the northwestern Indian Ocean
Guitarfishes, wedgefishes, and sawfishes belong to one of the ocean’s most threatened groups of fishes, the shark-like rays of the order Rhinopristiformes (the ‘rhino rays’). Fished mostly for their meat and high-value fins, interactions with these species remain poorly documented across much of the northwestern Indian Ocean. Co-leaders Nina and Andrew, alongside a large team of collaborators, are surveying fishers across the Arabian Peninsula and Northeastern Africa to establish where rhino rays still occur, how common they are relative to other sharks and rays, and how they interact with fisheries, providing the evidence needed to better manage these highly threatened species.
Andrew Temple
Growing up in a relatively inland area of the United Kingdom, I didn’t spend much time near the sea, yet I have always had a fascination for the animals living within it. Perhaps the many hours (arguably too many) that, as a child, I spent in front of the television glued to the Discovery Channel and National Geographic fuelled my interest, or the numerous visits to aquariums and zoos. Whatever the cause, it has driven me to pursue my fascination for the marine environment, undertaking a BSc, MPhil (Master’s by pure research) and PhD at Newcastle University, where I currently...
Nina Wambiji
Although I spent many of my early years around Egerton University in Kenya, where the only expanse of water was the university’s pool, I enjoyed school holidays on Kenya’s coast. Exposure to the ocean piqued my interest in the aquatic environment and marine research, even though I come from farming stock. I pursued my Master’s degree in India with a focus on fish dynamics in a lake ecosystem. My PhD at the University of Ryukyus, Japan, later took me back to the ocean, where I examined the molecular aspects of rabbitfishes. I clearly remember one eye-opening field trip to Kizimkazi,...
Fishing for rhinos: the occurrence and relative abundance of Rhinopristiformes across the northwestern Indian Ocean through fisher knowledge
This project aims to inform the conservation and sustainable management of guitarfishes, wedgefishes, and sawfishes across the northwestern Indian Ocean by documenting their current and historical occurrence, relative abundance and interactions with fisheries through structured interviews with fishers and other ocean users.
The shark-like batoids (Order: Rhinopristiformes) are among the most threatened fish, with >70% facing extinction. Fisheries are the greatest threat to these species, but conservation efforts are hindered by a lack of biogeographic and life-history data. This is especially true in understudied regions that tend to coincide with unmanaged fisheries. These taxa provide an important source of income and sustenance for coastal communities (Barrowclift et al. 2017, Temple et al. 2024), so eliminating exploitation is unlikely and could even be considered unethical. Instead, quantifying and enforcing sustainable catch limits should be the shared goal of both conservationists and fisheries stakeholders. This project will address fundamental data gaps on the distribution and status of rhino rays across the northwestern Indian Ocean, spanning the coastal states of the Arabian Peninsula and Northeastern Africa, to inform future research and management of these species throughout the region.
The northwestern Indian Ocean supports some of the world’s most intensive and least-regulated shark and ray fisheries, and has a long history of exploiting rhino rays for their meat and fins (Jabado et al. 2018; Temple et al. 2018). Despite this immediate
conservation concern, there has been little targeted study of the distribution of rhino rays in the region, and fisheries landings data are sparse, fragmented, or absent for many coastal states. Where monitoring does exist, it often lacks species-level resolution and tends to cover limited timelines. Fishers and other ocean users, by contrast, have operated in these seas for many decades, long before scientific monitoring capacity existed in the region, and hold detailed knowledge of patterns and trends in species. Unlocking this knowledge provides access to historical information that is otherwise inaccessible, allowing past occurrence and long-term change to be reconstructed. Structured interviews are a cost-effective means of capturing this knowledge and reconstructing the occurrence and relative abundance of rare, data-poor species at regional scales. By first situating rhino rays within fishers’ overall shark and ray catch, and then asking targeted questions about these species, their seasonality and their interactions with fishing gears, this project will provide a region-wide picture of the status of rhino rays across the northwestern Indian Ocean.
To support the conservation and sustainable management of rhino rays across the northwestern Indian Ocean, this project will generate estimates of regional occurrence patterns, relative abundance, and fishery interactions from fisher knowledge.
Specifically, we will:
1. Describe the current and historical spatial distribution of rhino rays across the northwestern Indian Ocean via key-informant interviews with local fishers (in person) and diving and sport-fishing operators (online).
2. Quantify the relative rarity of these species within the wider shark and ray catch and estimate historical trends in their occurrence.
3. Characterise interactions with fishing gears and identify potential occurrence hotspots and any associated seasonality.
4. Communicate the outputs to relevant researchers and managers.