Abstract
The pressure of fishing activity has intensified dramatically during the last decades, resulting in increasing impacts on marine fauna (Carlucci et al., 2021; Lucchetti et al., 2019). Several are the reports of alive/dead stranded and/or bycaught sea turtles and cetaceans along the Italian coasts, underling a remarkable interaction of these animals with fishing activity. Although these reports are significant in number on a national basis, the only open-access database that collects the most important data on stranding and capture events is GeoCetus. The information can be used through the different tools made accessible on the web portal: a web-GIS application, an API, and a repository on GitHub. GeoCetus is a georeferenced database developed in 2012 by Centro Studi Cetacei, and improved over the years for the collection of usable data on cetacean and sea turtle stranding and capture events. The system is based on a completely open-source technology stack composed of a PostgreSQL Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) with PostGIS extension, a PHP business logic that exposes data via API, and a public presentation layer - the Web GIS - providing users with a user-friendly exploration and consultation tool. The data collected in the field are imported into the database via the management application, available for authorized users only. A unique code is automatically generated for each record. Data about the taxonomy, biometry, fishery interactions, location and other details - that have become more specific over the years - are entered along with photos (jpg/png) and necropsy sheet (pdf). The data are made available according to a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 EN). Furthermore, using the web-GIS application or the public API, it is possible to query the contents of the database and return a customized dataset ready to be explored and exported (Di Lorenzo et al., 2013). To date, 4168 reports (607 cetaceans - 3561 sea turtles) have been listed and displayed in GeoCetus. Among them, 446 sea turtles (115 alive, 331 dead) and 48 cetaceans (2 alive) have been registered from 2020 to 2022 along the coasts of Abruzzo and Molise. Interactions with human activities were reported in 137 cases of sea turtles: 73% in alive individuals, and 16% in carcasses. Concerning cetaceans, interactions were observed in 12 cases (26%). Thanks to the data gathered into the system, we observed there could be an underestimation of the data due to cadaveric alteration which precludes the necropsy insights in approximately 80% of sea turtles and 60% of cetacean carcasses. GeoCetus allows us to investigate several useful ecological data, also linked to human activities interaction mainly related to fishing, and to collect and freely share with the scientific community useful data aimed at conservation.
References
Carlucci, R., Capezzuto, F., Cipriano, G. D’Onghia, G., Fanizza, C., Libralato, S., Maglietta R., Maiorano, P., Sion, L., Tursi, A. & Ricci, P. (2021). Assessment of cetacean–fishery interactions in the marine food web of the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea). Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 31, 135–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-020-09623-x
Lucchetti, A., Bargione, G., Petetta, A., Vasapollo, C., & Virgili, M. (2019). Reducing sea turtle bycatch in the Mediterranean mixed demersal fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 387. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00387
Di Lorenzo, A., Olivieri, V., Internullo, E., Bortolotto, A., Manfrini, V., Guccione, S., Piscione, I., Di Nardo, W. & Tringali, M. (2013). GeoCetus: Geographic information management system for sea turtles strandings online database. Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 20 (1): 256-257