Great article on the #aes2013 #RaysTheRoof session topics www.tamucc.edu/news/2013/07/Conserve%20...
I Storify-ed the #AES2013 Biology and Conservation of Rays Symposium: http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=15119 // Please read, RT and share! #RaysTheRoof
Tweets from AES: Biology and Conservation of Rays Symposium http://sfy.co/bN2d #storify #raystheroof #aes2013
Thanks to Matt, Julie, @saveourseas , and @michaelcscholl , as well as our presenters! Great #RaysTheRoof symposium!
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: Answer: rays fall through cracks. Not a major fishery. Not considered a priority.
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: ?: Do ray studies get enough funding from grant agencies? @lyndellmbade shouts "no" from the audience
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: Answer from @SharkAdvocates : Some argued that mobulid rays should be #CITES listed too as manta "look-alike"
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: ?: If manta rays are placed in a different genus, does this affect their new #CITES protections?
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: Answer: Part of it is that the bivalve fisheries are doing worse in the Chesapeake than elsewhere.
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: ?: Why do fishers in the Chesapeake blame cownose rays for scallop collapse but not fishers elsewhere?
Any questions for our #AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel? About ray biology and conservation in general, or the talks we covered today?
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Panel: @lyndellmbade says that in NC they won't put precautionary catch limits in place because there's no fishery yet
#RaysTheRoof panel: Grubbs: If we can't tell the species of cownose ray apart, we'll manage them as a complex
It's time for our #RaysTheRoof expert panel discussion! Let me know if you have any questions about rays for our experts!
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: We need science-based catch limits for the cownose ray fishery, currently no limits
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: PETA is upset at Tampa Bay rays stadium has #sharks in a tank there
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: Cownose rays are frequent residents of aquarium touch tanks, public loves them.
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: Wegman's has good sustainable seafood policies, doesn't sell any #shark . But they sell cownose ray.
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: Wegman's grocery store sells cownose ray and promotes it as helping the ecosystem.
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: A 2010 article listed cownose rays as "top 10 invasive species costing the U.S.money". NOT INVASIVE!
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: "Eat a ray, save the bay" campaign was started by the VA Seafood Council. Sold as "Chesapeake Ray"
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: Cownose ray is even sold as a "sustainable" seafood choice because they're a "pest" (eat a ray save the bay)
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: There are currently no catch limits in place for cownose rays in Virginia
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: IUCN Red List said "a fishery without proper safeguards could be devastating to populations"
Right after this talk is the #RaysTheRoof expert panel discussion- let me know if you have questions for the panel! #AES2013 #JMIH13
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: Cownose rays are loved by aquarium attendees, considered a scourge by fishermen
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Fordham: Everyone loves whale sharks, everyone hates spiny dogfish, but cownose rays get both reactions
The last #RaysTheRoof talk before the panel discussion is "Preventing the depletion of cownose rays" by Sonja Fordham @SharkAdvocates
#AES2013 #RaysTheRoof Grubbs: Cownose rays are very vulnerable to overexploitation, not a good candidate for sustainable fisheries