Data availability and participatory approach: the right mix for enhancing Mediterranean fisheries’ sustainability

A misalignment between the legislation and the effectiveness of Mediterranean fisheries management has emerged due to the status of the stocks (still largely in overfishing) and the discontent of stakeholders regarding management plans and tools that are not always recognized as appropriate to the characteristics of the concerned fisheries. Stakeholders’ involvement in management processes is one of the main pillars of the Common Fisheries Policy revision. The literature underlines, in an increasingly urgent manner, the importance of stakeholders fully understanding the contents of management plans and, vice versa, necessary for the successful implementation of policies. Focusing on the path towards sustainability endorsed by the BluFish project, the paper tries to provide an answer about the sustainability of some selected Southern Italian fisheries, by adopting the assessment approach of the Marine Stewardship Council. The assessment approach, based on a set of Performance Indicators and on a well-defined scoring scheme, focuses on three dimensions of sustainability. In addition to the classic assessment of the state of the stocks, there is an extensive screening of the impact of anthropic activity such as fishing on the entire ecosystem, including both the impact on accessory species and on vulnerable habitats and species. The evaluation adopted goes even further, with an approach that also includes the management and governance sphere, also trying to evaluate the level of involvement of the operators in the decision-making process. The paper illustrates that the selected fisheries are not fully sustainable but some of them have excellent potential for improvement even in the short term by identifying and implementing the appropriate action. The most relevant weaknesses identified refer to the low scores obtained for sustainability of stocks, mainly around the Harvest Control Rules (HCR) and the Harvest Strategy indicators, highlighting the importance of improving the management of the assessed stocks. The paper highlights how data and scientific knowledge availability is essential for a detailed mapping and evaluation of fishing activities but also that the path towards more sustainable and responsible fisheries does not work without a strong participation of all the key stakeholders

Population structure of Corallium rubrum (L. 1758)in different geographic areas

Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum, L 1758) is a colonial anthozoan endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the high economic value of its carbonate axial skeleton this species has been harvested and traded since ancient times. In the last two decades a reduction of the overall fishing yield by 2/3 has been recorded. Data on shallow populations suggest that several coastal shallow-water populations have been depleted and colony size reduced due to the over-harvesting these populations faced. These populations need therefore conservation and restoration actions. To this aim management approaches based on a detailed knowledge of specific population demographic features are the key to ensure long-term exploitation sustainability. At the present long-term studies on Mediterranean red coral demography are scarce due to its slow growth and longevity. Aim of this study is to investigate the demography of two different populations of Corallium rubrum located in Portofino (Ligurian Coast, Italy) and Cap de Creus (Costa Brava, Spain). Both populations dwell within two Marine Protected Areas in which Corallium rubrum management is different. Harvesting is regulated at Cap de Creus while banned at Portofino since 1999. Moreover, illegal harvesting also occurs in the Spanish area, seriously affecting the local Mediterranean red coral population. To determine the age of the colonies of Corallium rubrum in the two areas a sclerochronological approach has been applied. The estimated colony growth rates of the two populations (0.22 and 0.24 at Portofino and Cap de Creus respectively) are similar to those observed in other populations and CaCO3 deposition rate (measured as circular crown area) is constant overtime. These results suggest a similar growth pattern of C. rubrum over different geographic areas. The decrease in diameter growth with age suggests that this colony descriptor may not be the most reliable descriptor of colony growth mostly for larger / older colonies. Others, such as weight or branching pattern, should be taken into account to assess the growth rate of the red coral. Differences in the life-span of the two populations indicate a recovery trend in Portofino from the previous exploitation occurred till the 1970s. On the contrary the population of Cap de Creus, still object of both legal and illegal harvesting, shows a shorter life span by about 25% and a population structure dominated by young colonies. Data on 1) colony density; 2) population size/age structure, 3) reproduction; 4) survival have been merged in two “static life – history tables” – one for each population - in order to describe population – specific structure. Lower densities, shorter life - span, lower larval output and higher mortality emerged for the harvested population of Cap de Creus than Portofino, despite the two populations present the same sex ratio and the same average fecundity. The minimum size for commercial harvest of C. rubrum in Cap de Creus is 7 mm. These findings underline that such measure could represent a conservative limit allowing adult colonies to reproduce about 25 times during their life-span. Despite this, it is worth to note that colonies bigger than 7 mm in diameter are very scarce in Cap the Creus (only 4 on 163 colonies collected on whole, and not considered in population age determination because of morphological limitation). It is necessary for a sustainable fishery management, to maximise the yield ensuring an adequate number of sexually mature individuals: 7 mm in diameter could be a prudential measure, whatever respected. The “static life – history tables” here reported will be the base to set out demographic models that will allow to project population trends over time. This approach, applied to populations with different life-histories, will allow to compare their demographic structures and trends and to set out conservation and management strategies suitable for specific local populations

Long-term settlement plates: some clues for demography and restoration of Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) shallow water populations

International Workshop on Red Coral Science, Management, and Trade: Lessons from the Mediterranean, 23-26 September 2009, Naples, Italy.-- 6 pages, 3 figuresRecovery of coral populations is a slow process, especially in Mediterranean Sea where octocorals, characterized by slow growth rates, are dominant. Until now, restoration techniques are based on transplantation, a technique requiring high degree of manipulation leading to high colony mortality. Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum, L 1758) is a long-lived, slow-growing gorgonian, endemic to Mediterranean rocky shores. Its high economic value determined over-harvesting which brought many coastal, shallow-water populations to depletion. Moreover, shallow-water populations could be extremely vulnerable to mass mortality events putatively linked to global warming. Therefore, these populations need conservation and restoration actions. Due to their fragility, transplantation of adult colonies does not give any effective result. Within this framework we set out a method suitable to foster red coral recruitment on artificial, carbonatic substrates (marble tiles), following a patented protocol. This protocol allowed red coral larvae settlement and growth on marble tiles. In the framework of a study carried out in Italy with 54 100 cm2 marble tiles, overall, 388 settlers colonized the tiles and their densities varied between 12.37 ± 6.1 and 2.75 ± 2.4 dm-2. Even if mortality affected these colonies (24.35 ± 9.12 colonies % y-1), after 4 years the tiles still harbored a persistent population (19 ± 4.97 dm-2) with positive net-recruitment rates (recruitment-mortality). As permanently colonized tiles may easily be removed and fixed again in new areas by a central screw, red coral re-colonization may be fostered by transferring and re-fixing tiles in areas depleted of red coral colonies. Moreover, none of the colonies settled on such tiles was affected by boring sponges, which are one of the main sources of red coral mortality and also reduce their economic value. These findings suggest marble tiles could be a useful tool both to study recruitment and to foster restoration of red coral shallow-water populationsPeer Reviewe

The red coral (Corallium rubrum L. 1758) population of Calafuria (Leghorn)

7 pages, 6 figures, 1 table[EN] The red coral Corallium rubrum is the most precious Marine species. This gorgonian, spread over the whole Mediterranean, has been and is still now an important economic resource. The Calafuria (Livorno-Italy) red coral population is historically known. The shallow depth and the neighbourhood of this population to the laboratories of the University of Pisa made for easy to carry out researches which start in the last '80 of the past century. These researches deal with demography and population genetics. The Calafuria population is a true, self-seeding, genetically different population, composed by crowded, small-sized, few-branched colonies. More than half of such colonies are pierced by boring sponges which reduce greatly their economic value and their survival rate. This population show high reproductive output and recruitment, higher than those found in other populations. Simulations, set out on the basis of an ad hoc dynamic model, underline the resilience of this population, due to the high density of small, but reproductive colonies. However repeated anomalous mortality events, like that recorded in late-summer 1999, if will occur with high frequency, adding to other mortality sourches, could even lead this population to extinction. The Calafuria red coral population, dwelling at 10 km from Livorno is provided of highly naturalistic and touristic value, its conservation must be therefore fostered reducing the numerous anthropogenic sources of mortality. © 2009, Societa Toscana di Scienze Naturali. All rights reserved[IT] Il corallo rosso è la specie marina di maggior valore economico. Endemico dell’area mediterranea questo gorgonaceo ha costituito un’importante risorsa economica fin dall’antichità. La presenza di una popolazione di corallo rosso a Calafuria è storicamente documentata da diversi secoli. La facile accessibilità di questa popolazione ha consentito di realizzare ricerche approfondite relative alla sua demografia e struttura genetica a partire dalla fine degli anni ’80 del secolo scorso. La popolazione di Calafuria costituisce un’unità genetica distinta da altre popolazioni, è caratterizzata da un’elevata densità di colonie che presentano una piccola taglia e sono, per più della metà, affette da spugne perforanti. Nonostante questo, la popolazione presenta una produzione larvale ed un reclutamento estremamente elevati, maggiori rispetto a quelli delle altre popolazioni fino ad ora studiate. Simulazioni effettuate sulla base di un apposito modello demografico confermano l’elevata resilienza di questa popolazione dovuta soprattutto all’elevata densità delle piccole colonie riproduttive; ciò nonostante eventi di mortalità anomala come quello registrato nel 1999, se ripetuti con elevata frequenza e associati ad un intenso prelievo, potrebbero portarla all’estinzione. Questa popolazione, posta a soli 10 chilometri da Livorno, riveste un’eccezionale valore naturalistico e turistico e andrebbe, pertanto, opportunamente tutelataLe ricerche realizzate sulla popolazione di Corallo rosso di Calafuria sono state realizzate con contributi del MURST e del Min. Pol. Agr. For.e con il sostegno del Dottorato di Biologia dell’Università di Pisa. Ringraziamo inotre l’SSI Italia, la Fisher Italia, la PADI Fundation per il loro sostegno alle nostre ricerchePeer Reviewe

The history of research and harvesting of the Mediterranean Red Coral: potential and limits

International Workshop on Red Coral Science, Management, and Trade: Lessons from the Mediterranean, 23-26 September 2009, Naples, Italy.-- 14 pages, 9 figuresThe history of the research on the Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum L 1758) is strictly intertwined with that of harvesting. For more than three centuries all the information on red coral habitat and all the material examined by naturalists was gathered by fishermen; moreover, the oscillating succession of red coral fishing vicissitudes deeply affected the development of red coral research. Up to the XVII century, red coral was considered to be a plant, and the first naturalist who stated the animal nature of red coral was the Neapolitan alchemist Farinella, and only subsequently Peyssonel in 1723 confirmed this statement. A following milestone in red coral research was the beautiful book of the French scientist Lacaze-Duthiers, who, in 1864 published: History naturelle du corail. Only in the second half of the XX century the research on red coral started again and in situ researches were carried out by Laborel and Vacelet (1958, 1961) and Weinberg (1978, 1979a, 1979b), who described the sensitivity of red coral to light, sedimentation, hydrodynamics, and the red coral habitat selectivity. In the same period, a team of Italian researchers (Barletta, Marchetti, Vighi 1968) described, on the basis of data collected directly by SCUBA diving, several red coral populations living in shallow-waters (between 20 and 50 meter depth) along the Italian coasts. Moreover, they described for the fist time the reproductive cycle of this species. In 1986, Spanish researchers (Rodriquez and Massò 1986) described red coral population size structure and allometric relationships on the basis of Catalan fishing crops; moreover, they try to determine the age of red coral colonies. In 1991 and 1994, after two meetings organised by FAO in Torre del Greco and Alger, and the submission of a Spanish proposal to include red coral in CITES Appendix-II, new impulse was given to red coral research by the Italian Government, who funded two preliminary research projects. These researches led to two basic books on red coral biology and ecology (Red coral in the Mediterranean Sea, Art history and Science 1993; Red Coral and other Mediterranean Octocorals: Biology and Protection 1999). It will be worth to remember that nearly all the papers already published deal with shallow-water populations which have a limited economic value. More recently red coral research was addressed towards the study of population structure and dynamics by means of demographic models (Abbiati et al. 1992; Santangelo et al. 2004, 2007; Bramanti et al. 2009). This approach, widely applied in Conservation Ecology, will supply the tools to match harvesting to population growth rate fostering both conservation and rational management of the populations of this precious species, if sound data on deep-dwelling populations will be at least gathered and enforcement will be really applied at local population levelPeer Reviewe

Untying the Mediterranean Gordian Knot: A Twenty First Century Challenge for Fisheries Management

Management of fisheries in the Mediterranean basin has often been described as a unique and complex challenge, due to their multi-specificity, the diversity of gear-types, and the number of nations involved. This perspective has gone hand-in-hand for decades with a lack of strong political will from decision-makers, who have been unwilling to put Mediterranean fisheries management high on their agendas. Over time, exploitation rates of demersal stocks have increased and in 2016, 97% of shared stocks assessed in the Mediterranean were reported to be overfished. An alarm bell about the chronic overfishing of Mediterranean fish stocks was rung by European policy makers in 2015, exactly 20 years after the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization mandated that states should ensure the sustainable use of fishery resources. In this perspective, we: (i) review the context of fisheries management in the Mediterranean; (ii) identify the potential factors that may have hindered management and; (iii) discuss how the reformed European Union Common Fisheries Policy and the binding commitments laid down in its text may lead to knock-on effects for fisheries management in the international Mediterranean context, if properly implemented. In this line, we also present the example of demersal fisheries management in the Strait of Sicily, which may represent a starting point for science-based management in the Mediterranean

Involvement of recreational scuba divers in emblematic species monitoring: The case of Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum)

7 pages, 2 figures, 2 tablesLarge-scale monitoring programs are fundamental for the management of overexploited or endangered species. When resources are limited, volunteer data collection is an alternative for researchers needing a large amount of data covering a wide geographic extension. Corallium rubrum is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Some coastal populations have been deeply studied although there is still lack of knowledge about the distribution or even its presence along Italian coasts. The present work represents cooperation between University of Pisa and SSI-Italy. Recreational scuba divers have been involved in a monitoring project which aims to acquire data on Italian red coral shallow-water populations and increase the awareness of such an emblematic and patrimonial species. During summer 2008 a questionnaire was distributed to recreational divers. The 616 questionnaires analysed, covering more than 1600 km of coasts and 390 h of diving, showed an awareness of recreational divers towards red coral; 80% planned their dive aiming to find red coral and 4% reported colony damage. The same methodology applied in other countries could provide useful and comparable data on this precious marine speciesThis research is part of a post doctorate project co-funded by SSI Italia and University of Pisa. We would like to thank all the diving centres that helped in the collection of the questionnaires and the recreational scuba divers “citizen scientists” that participated to the project. L.B. was funded by Marie Curie IEF (CORGARD, Project No. 221072) and S.R. by a Ramon y Cajal contract. We want to thank also the magazines Mondo sommerso and Il Subacqueo and the Italian television program Linea Blu that contributed to improving awareness of the questionnaire. Thanks to Carlos Dominguez for the English revision. A special thank to Stefano Infanti (SSI Italia) for organising the online collection of questionnaires. Thanks to DIVE SYSTEM for the contribution to the questionnaire print and to FISCHER Italia. Thanks to the anonymous referees who contributed to the improvement of the paperPeer reviewe

Patterns of variation in recruitment and post-recruitment processes of the Mediterranean precious gorgonian coral Corallium rubrum

7 pages, 6 figures, 3 tablesThis research seeks to quantify recruitment, early survival and early colony growth in different populations of the precious Mediterranean red coral. Although basic to our understanding of red coral ecology and population dynamics, these early life-history descriptors are still poorly understood. To fill this lack of knowledge, marble settlement tiles were placed at 35 ± 1 m depth within 3 populations of Corallium rubrum dwelling in the coralligenous habitat of different geographic areas of the north-western Mediterranean: Calafuria and Elba Island (Italy), and Medes Islands MPA (Spain), following a multifactorial ANOVA model and sampled photographically for four years (2003–2006). Overall, 517 red coral recruits settled on the tiles during the experiment, 189 of which (126 at Calafuria and 63 at Elba) were still surviving, in 2007, when the tiles were removed. The recruitment density at Medes was only one tenth of that at Calafuria and Elba (0.56 ± 0.21 vs. 6.06 ± 1.75 and 4.66 ± 1.01 recruits dm− 2, mean ± SE). No colony survived after four years at Medes, where the lowest recruitment rate was also found. As the age of each new settled colony was known, it was possible to measure the early growth rates of individual colonies. The growth rates thus obtained were two to three times higher than that measured in older colonies and differed significantly between the geographic areas (the growth of colony basal diameter was 0.68 ± 0.02 and 0.59 ± 0.19 mm/year at Calafuria and Elba), while no significant difference was found between the actual colony growth and that previously measured in the former area. A test for secondary substrate selectivity, carried out in one area, showed that red coral preferentially settles on tubes of Serpulida than on other encrusting organisms. However, since recruitment density at Medes was lower despite the four-fold higher cover of Serpulida found there, other factors, intrinsic to the populations, such as different size–age structures or densities, leading to different larval output, may likely have determined red coral recruitment rates in the studied areasThis research was supported by the common Italy–Spain exchange project: Proyecto Cooperación Csic/Cnr 2004t0040 and Azioni Integrate Italia-Spagna 2008. GS was funded by the PRIN 2007 project 200777BWEP: Mathematical population theory. LB was funded by Marie Curie IEF (CORGARD, Project No. 221072) and SR was funded by Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2007-01327). We thank Fischer Italy for economical support and A. Cafazzo for his revision of the English textPeer reviewe

Determination of Corallium rubrum population age structure

International Workshop on Red Coral Science, Management, and Trade: Lessons form the Mediterranean, 23-26 September 2009, Naples, Italy.-- 4 pages, 2 figuresManagement approaches based on a detailed knowledge of specific population demographic features are fundamental to ensure long-term exploitation sustainability (Knittweis et al. 2009). Demography focuses on the specific dynamics of each population, allowing to project population structure over time. This approach allows setting out local conservation strategies for wildlife and for exploited species structured into discrete local populations, such as the Mediterranean red coral (Abbiati et al. 1993). Regarding corals, long-term studies are scarce due to their slow growth and longevity (Connell 1997; Garrabou and Harmelin 2002). Because of its high economic value, the precious Mediterranean red coral Corallium rubrum (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Gorgonacea) has been harvested for more than 2000 years and its shallow-water populations (living between 20 and 70 m depth), indicate a regression and even a partial economic extinction (Tsounis et al. 2007). Demographic studies based on sound age structure and growth rate assessment in different populations are nevertheless scarce (Santangelo et al. 2009). In this study we compared the age structure and the basal growth rate of two shallow Corallium rubrum populations dwelling in two marine protected areasThis study was funded by the Common research project between the University of Pisa, Department of Biology (Italy) and CSIC-ICM (Spain): “Population dynamic of Corallium rubrum.”Peer Reviewe