Scientists look to past to help identify fish threatened with local extinction

Date:  February 13, 2019

Source:  Wildlife Conservation Society

Marine scientists from the University of Queensland, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other groups have developed a methodology to assess fish stocks that combines new data with archeological and historical records -- some dating back to the 8th Century AD. In a study conducted in along the coast of Kenya, the researchers reconstructed species' occurrences by combining modern underwater transect surveys and catch assessments with historical records that included observations from 18th century naturalists and data from archaeological sites including ancient middens dating back more than a thousand years.

Continued