Updating the Master Management Plan for El Cachucho MPA (Cantabrian Sea) using a spatial planning approach

Located in the Cantabrian Sea (NE Atlantic), 30 nm off the Asturian coast, “El Cachucho” was the first off-shore Marine Protected Area (MPA) to be declared in Spain. The area includes Le Danois Bank and its intraslope basin. It joined the OSPAR Network of MPAs in 2009 and, thereafter, was included in the Natura 2000 Network in 2011. The main reason for its declaration as MPA was the presence of the 1170 Reefs habitat included in Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive. In 2018, the MPAs Master Management Plan was under revision and its design criteria were subjected to evaluation. We used Marxan decision support tool to evaluate the MPA's management design criteria. This tool selects the most important conservation features, while minimizing the socioeconomic cost. First, the 1170 Reefs habitat was defined as the main environmental value. Specifically, we took into account the six large sized target species that are more representative of this habitat in the area: the sponges Asconema setubalense, Geodia cf. barretti and Phakellia robusta, the anthipatarian Leiopathes glaberrima, and the gorgonians Placogorgia sp. and Callogorgia verticillata. A spatial distribution map was produced for each species using Generalized Additive Models (GAM). We also considered the presence of spawning stocks of fish species which are present in the area as an important conservation value. Their spatial distribution was modeled through Maxent software. Additionally, for the socioeconomic cost, fishing effort of the different fisheries operating in the area was estimated linking VMS/Logbook data before and after the MPA was declared. The first results obtained with the Marxan tool were presented in public consultation, in the context of the LIFE + INTEMARES Project, to help in decision making within the new Management Plan. Thus, to improve the management measures aimed at the conservation of the environmental values of the MPA, an enlargement of the protected area to the West was proposed, and a more reasonable use of the buffer area to fishermen than that defined in the former Management Plan was suggested. Involving all stakeholders in the development of the management plan for this MPA is a decisive step for the creation and consolidation of an important network of MPAs in Spain.En prensa2,08

Range extension of the Atlantic herring Clupea harengus (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae) southern part of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean

The atlantic herring Clupea harengus linnaeus, 1758 is a pelagic clupeid, schooling, plankton-feeding species that inhabits the coastal areas from inshore to well offshore waters, at depths to 200 m (Whitehead, 1986). This target species has been crucial for food security and economic development in northern europe (Martinez-Barrio et al., 2016). Its fishery currently ranks among the five largest fisheries in the world, with nearly 2 million tons of fish landed annually in the last years (Fao, 2010-2019). This species is distributed on both sides of the north atlantic ocean. In the western atlantic, it ranges from labrador to cape Hatteras; in the eastern atlantic, from the northern part of the Bay of Biscay to Greenland, and to the east into the Barents sea (Whitehead, 1985, 1986). In the northeastern atlantic, a large number of intraspecific groups (races, stocks, and populations) are distinguished by their spawning grounds and seasons, otolith morphology and meristic characters (Berg et al., 2017).En prensa0,40

Empleo de modelos de series temporales para la mejora de la calidad de las series históricas en pesquerías

Abstract: The so-called baca trawl fleet of the port of A Coruña working in the VIIIc ICES Division Area has been used since 1985 as the tuning fleet for the analytical assessment of the southern stock of hake Merluccius merluccius (L., 1758). The historical series of cpue dates from 1983 to 2000 with data missing from 1998. From January 1999, landings were estimated by means of monthly samplings in port. The predictions of the arima model fit the 1983-1997 series, and estimates of the transfer function model from the 1983-2000 series made it possible to complete the series, and to detect errors and possible changes in the orientation of the fleet. The comparison of the two models confirms the series’s stability over time, validating the estimates made in the last two years.Empleo de modelos de series temporales para la mejora de la calidad de las series históricas en pesquerías La flota de baca del puerto de A Coruña que opera en el área VIIIc del CIEM se usa desde 1985 como flota de calibración en la evaluación del stock sur de merluza Merluccius merluccius (L., 1758). Se dispone de una serie histórica mensual de cpue (1983-2000), excepto para 1998, año del que no se posee información. Desde enero de 1999 los desembarcos han sido estimados a partir de muestreos mensuales en lonja. Las predicciones efectuadas por el modelo arima ajustado a la serie 1983-1997 y las estimaciones del modelo de función de transferencia, considerando la serie 1983-2000, han permitido completar la serie, así como detectar errores o cambios en el comportamiento de la flota. La comparación de ambos modelos confirma la estabilidad de la serie, validando las estimaciones efectuadas en los dos últimos años.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Trophic mechanisms underlying bentho-demersal community recovery in the north-east Atlantic

En prens

To what extent is fishing effort affecting the trophic level of the demersal communities at small scale? Preliminary results of a new food web indicator

Due to the complexity of benthic and demersal ecosystems, to be really helpful, a food web indicator should summarize, in a single number, a variety of complex processes that are otherwise hard to apprehend. The present work assesses the direct impact of bottom fishing gears on the trophic level (TL) of benthic and demersal communities dwelling in the continental shelf of the southern Bay of Biscay. Using a spatio-temporal approach at small scale, we tackle two main objectives: 1) to evaluate temporal trends in mean TL at community scale per sampling rectangle (5 x 5 miles grid resolution), and 2) to assess to what extent these trends are related to fishing effort. Two types of data are involved in the analyses: 1) TL data (mean trophic level by sampling rectangle), and 2) VMS data (number of fishing days by sampling rectangle). TL data were calculated using stomach contents sampled for demersal fish species during the Demersales surveys (IBTS), carried out every autumn in the southern Bay of Biscay since 1983, and combined with data from Fishbase and local references for those species which lacked empirical data. We only considered species that appeared in a minimum of 5 years and were consistently well identified along the whole historical series, in order to keep consistency in the community spatiotemporal sampling. Preliminary results point to a significant increase in TL in most of the sampling rectangles, suggesting that the trend observed globally is spatially homogeneous. A clear relationship between fishing effort and TL was also identified, particularly in those areas where fishing effort (mainly otter trawl fisheries) has been decreasing in recent years