Viola L.

Little is known of the population sizes of the common guitarfish. However, there has been a marked decline in the abundance of this guitarfish in the Northern regions of the Mediterranean, based on a combination of fisherman' s knowledge and data from the Mediterranean International Trawl Survey (MEDITS). These experimental trawl surveys carried out in the North of the Mediterranean (from the Alboran to the Aegean Sea) between 1994 and 1999 failed to catch any common guitarfish, indicating that they have disappeared from this area (Baino et al. 2001). Indeed, Relini and Piccinetti (1991) reported the common guitarfish species extinct within the northern regions of the Mediterranean. Observations from the 1970s and 1980s indicate that the common guitarfish was prevalent within the south and eastern basins of Mediterranean (Whitehead et al. 1984, Quignard and Capap 1971, M.N. Bradai pers. comm.), however the demersal nature of this species and the localized decline within the northern Mediterranean indicate that there are low levels of interconnectivity between the geographical sub-populations.

No information is available on the population size of this species along the west African coasts.