Lopez: Neotrygon kuhlii prey items included vermiforms, arthropods, and molluscs. Arthropods were the dominant prey in both males and females.

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Noblezada-Payne: redtail scad ate mostly crustacians, while slender red scad fed mostly on fishes, probably larval fishes.

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Mary Mar Noblezada-Payne presents findings on diet of sympatric scads – redtail scad and slender red scad.

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Tambihasan: 3 distinct groups or clusters were identified. There were also high proportions of related individuals observed (up to 52.9%), including mother-offspring relations. Thus, Mobula birostris in Bohol Sea doesn't appear to be of a single stock.

#PAMS18 #MarineMegafauna #FishAndFisheries

Tambihasan: Mobula birostris samples were collected in Jagna, Bohol from 2012-2017, prior to the ban on mobulid fisheries.

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Chua: there are other possible drivers of declines such as loss of habitat. Key takeaway is that no-take zones do not mean #MPAs are immune to climate change impacts.

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Chua: but on a larger scale of the entire #TRNP, declines are also observed for fish density.

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Chua: There are significant declines of fish biomass in deep areas, while biomass in shallows remained relatively stable.

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Dylan Chua presents research on long-term trends of fish populations in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.

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Brendan Reid from UCSC on results from the PIRE project inferring demographic patterns across fish species in the Philippines using specimens from the USS Albatross expedition.

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Labrador: fish species richness peaks in areas with moderate storm disturbance (20 storms/yr)

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Labrador: Tubbataha Reefs and Cagayancillo in Palawan show high values for all variables ‐ species richness, biomass, and density.

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Labrador: most abundant fish families from Pomacentridae (damselfishes), Labridae (wrasses), and Chaetodontidae (butterflyfishes)

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Kevin Labrador, #PinoyScientist at TAMUCC, presents work on predictive mapping of reef fishes using 30 years underwater visual census data to examine patterns and drivers of reef fish biodiversity in the Philippines

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Tampoy: Otolith shapes are different for the same species in 3 different sites within Celebes Sea. Differences may be from long-term habitat exposure which may influence phenotypic variation.

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Diofel Tampoy talks about tuna ear bones - or #otoliths - used to understand spatial populations of Eastern Little Tuna in the Celebes Sea

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Aurellado: the study underscores importance of #seagrass beds to other ecosystems like coral reefs and mangroves.

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Aurellado: species such as Terapon jarbua and Gerres sp. known to utilize mangroves were also observed in seagrass sites.

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Aurellado: vegetation such as canopy height and abundance seemed to have a strong influence on fish assemblage.

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Aurellado: the study used #BRUVS deployed in quadrats and found 42 species from 23 families mostly fishes that are also found in reefs. The most abundant families are schooling fishes like sprats, siganids, breams among others.

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Maria Eleanor Aurellado from UPLB on fish assemblages in seagrass meadows. Fishes in seagrass are not as understood as other fishery resources from seagrass beds.

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Dr. JC Gonzalez commends study for using morphometrics and DNA barcoding, emphasizes that taxonomic collections should ideally have 3 voucher specimens: actual specimen, digital image, and DNA sample.

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Fortaleza: we report the new Philippine record of Scuticaria cf. okinawae, and the first record of this in Davao. However, this needs further validation to confirm the identity.

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Fortaleza: "Same-same, but different" because marine eels look very similar to each other morphologically but are they the same? They looked at both morphological examination and DNA barcoding.

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Up next: Maybelle Fortaleza of UP Mindanao's CRREST Lab on taxonomic diversity of eels in Davao.

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Dr. Acebes: Instead of putting the burden of proof on fishers, management should push for assessments to happen so sound scientific advise can be used to inform communities and shape policies and regulations. #PAMS18 #FishAndFisheries

Dr. Acebes: RA 10654 banned CITES spp even at domestic levels, resulting to loss of livelihoods in both mobulid fisheries and a small-scale sea cucumber fishery in Pamilacan. Implementation barely considered stakeholders, and didn't compensate for losses. #PAMS18 #FishAndFisheries #MarineMegafauna

Dr. Campos emphasizes the importance of community organizing and the role of fishers associations in advocating for fishers' rights and better market values.

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Jessie de los Reyes from Calatagan MFARMC: municipal fishers don't dictate the price. Case in pt — sardine price last year should've been Php120/kg but middlemen dictated the price of Php40/kg. How can we improve this situation for fishers?

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Dr. Campos: changing mesh size to avoid catching juveniles is not an easy solution to implement. In some fisheries, this switch could mean that fishers don't catch anything at all, leading to livelihood displacement.

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