Yellow Stingray Population Declines in the Keys: What Does it Mean‪?‬

One topic that caught my eye was a study about the changes in the population of yellow stingrays in various parts of the Caribbean.  Why should we care about yellow stingrays? In this study, published in the scientific journal Environmental Biology of Fishes, Reef Environmental Education Foundation data on the yellow stingray population were used to study the abundance of the species, as observed by REEF divers, from 1999 to 2007.  Several noteworthy items emerged from the work, which you can see on the REEF web site. The main thrust of the work details the decline in abundance in yellow stingrays in many, but not all areas. The Florida Keys had the largest decline, while Jamaica had an increase. Why is that significant?