• Energy Research

The new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is designed to represent an appropriate response to the uncertainties and challenges facing the fisheries sector. It also adopts a holistic approach to fisheries management, considering all factors driving fishers' behavior, and ultimately, the long-term maintenance of living resources. The most reliable way to pursue these aims could be represented by a change in the exploitation pattern, in order to guarantee the sustainability of fisheries without compromising their socioeconomic viability. In this paper, the demersal fisheries of the Ionian Sea [Geographic Sub-area (GSA) 19] were analyzed with respect to their spatial, temporal, economic, and biological characteristics in terms of four key species for fisheries, namely European hake, red mullet, giant red shrimp, and deep-water rose shrimp. Specifically, (1) a quantitative procedure was applied to break down the whole system (including small-scale fleet components) into a series of fishing grounds using input data about fishing efforts; (2) the different fleet segments were defined as a combination of main gear and fishing grounds; (3) the effort and production by fleet segment were derived according to biological samplings of commercial data (Data Collection Framework for the collection and management of fisheries data, DCF), information on localization of nursery and spawning grounds, and expert knowledge; and (4) all this information was used to feed a bioeconomic modeling tool (BEMTOOL), and to explore alternative exploitation patterns. A series of scenarios including the status quo were defined, starting from the actual management approach based on temporal fishing closure. The results showed that significant improvements in the exploitation pattern could be achieved by setting up spatial and/or temporal gear-specific bans of the fishing activity. More specifically, scenarios based on a 3-month fishing ban for trawlers are expected to provide high rebuilding of the spawning stock biomass (SSB) for all target stocks, and at the same time, result in a remarkable reduction of discards. When combined with a seasonal fishing ban for small-scale fleets equipped with nets and longlines, this approach could lead to a significant improvement in all indicators, but especially the SSB of the exploited species.

AbstractThe bamboo-coral Isidella elongata is a key habitat-forming species in the deep Mediterranean Sea. This alcyonacean is listed as an indicator of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) and as Critically Endangered due to bottom trawling impacts. In this work, a modeling approach was used to predict and map the habitat suitability of I. elongata in the Mediterranean Sea under current environmental conditions. Occurrence data were modeled as a function of environmental parameters. Using climate change scenarios and fishing effort data, the risk of climate change and fisheries impacts on habitat suitability were estimated, and climate refugia were identified. A drastic loss of habitat is predicted, and climate change scenarios suggest a loss of 60% of suitable habitats by 2100. In the central Mediterranean, climate refugia overlapped with active fishing grounds. This study represents the first attempt to identify hot spots for the protection of soft bottom Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems for the entire Mediterranean Sea, and highlights areas most at risk from trawling. This work is relevant to the objectives of the EU Marine Strategy Framework and Maritime Spatial Planning Directives, the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 regarding priority areas for conservation.

The SEAwise project works to deliver a fully operational tool that will allow fishers, managers, and policy makers to easily apply Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management. This SEAwise report explored the impact of alternative future socio-economic scenarios (Global Sustainability, National Enterprise, Local Stewardship, World Markets), integrating climate change and incorporating enhanced economic (Bitetto et al., 2023) and productivity (Melià et al., 2023) sub-models. Deliverable 2.4 is aimed at exploring the full MSEs conducted in WP6, focusing on the management strategies other than FMSY and PGY. In particular, the socio-economic and carbon emission impacts of management measures based on change in selectivity and on the new spatial closures from task 5.5 (Bastardie et al., 2024) are investigated.The socioeconomic scenarios examined differ in climate change impact, fuel and fish price following the categorisation developed in the CERES project (Peck et al., 2020). These scenarios were combined with management scenarios and with a specific focus on small scale (SSF) and large-scale (LSF) fleets in the North Sea, Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay and Central Mediterranean Sea. In addition to indicators related to socioeconomic aspects such as GVA and wages, carbon emissions were estimated as kg CO2 per kg of fish landed for all cases. Moreover, a specific focus was made in this Deliverable on the organic carbon pool in the stocks, in terms of biomass left in the sea and extracted by the sea (landings) to provide some insights on the carbon cycle.The Bay of Biscay case study reveals that under the Landing Obligation, the Gross Value Added (GVA) increased over time across all scenarios. Although the one-month spatial closure aimed at reducing the bycatch of common dolphins could have negative effects on GVA, these are mitigated by the positive impacts of the socio-economic scenarios. The first sale price under these socio-economic scenarios is higher than in the status quo or baseline scenario, compensating for the increase in fuel prices. The CO2 emissions per kg fish show an increasing trend over the projected period for the Large-Scale Fisheries (LSF), indicating that a dedicated effort is needed to reduce carbon emissions from these fleets. In contrast, the CO2 emissions from the Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) decreased from the first period (2025 – 2030) to the second period (2035 – 2040) and then remained relatively stable. Regarding organic carbon in the Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB), the simulations show differences between scenarios only in species whose biomass dynamics have been modelled considering climate change (anchovy and northern hake). For anchovy, organic carbon is higher without climate change, while for northern hake, organic carbon is higher in the RCP8.5 scenarios.In the Celtic Sea case study, the effect of an alternative fleet structure was explored. The effort of bottom trawl fleets was reduced with 50%, and the effort of static fleets was increased with a factor of 2, 5 and 10. This explorative analysis showed that such fleet modification would increase catches of several demersal stocks without compromising the biomass. A reduction of bottom trawling combined with a doubling of the static fishing effort is currently identified as the best scenario. It would result in a better uptake of catches of the different stocks, allow rebuilding of the cod stock, and reduce direct CO2 emissions per kg of landed fish below current levels. However, CO2 emissions per kg landed fish still exceeded emissions in the strict implementation of the Landing Obligation (FMSY-min).In the North Sea, applied gear modifications led to lower catches of young roundfish, while utilising higher quotas of flatfish, thus delaying choking for the fleets under the landing obligation scenarios. The effect in the bioeconomic submodel explicitly accounting for price differences with age was stronger, as a larger portion of older age classes of roundfish were targeted. Even though the gear modifications resulted in an effort increase for fleets to fish out their quota, with higher fuel utilisation and costs, the impact of the positive fish price developments under the CERES projections still exceeded higher fuel price effects, resulting in a general positive economic performance of both the large and small scale fleets under the landing obligation. However, due to the decrease in CPUE under the gear modification scenarios, the CO2 emissions per kg fish generally increased over the level of the Status-quo scenario.In the Central Mediterranean case study (Adriatic and Western Ionian) the scenarios on gear modification to improve selectivity led to economic improvement in the medium to long term, with the best scenario for social and economic sustainability (Local Stewardship) emerging from 2035. In general, CO2 emissions per kg of fish decreases over time for large-scale fisheries (LSF), but the most negative climate scenarios (related to RCP8.5, NE and WM) are less efficient and yield lower catches. For small-scale fisheries (SSF), emissions remain stable and lower than those of LSF. Organic carbon stored in fish stocks increases over time due to management measures, especially under moderate climate scenarios. In general, the organic carbon stored in hake and red mullet stocks increase until 2040, followed by a decline, in line with the SSB corresponding trends.The additional management scenarios analysed in this deliverable provided further insights on how the gear modification to improve selectivity, effort reallocation among gears and spatial closures, can impact on carbon emissions and fleet performances under the four socio-economic scenarios across the four case study areas. Finally, further insights on the carbon cycle were provided (e.g. organic carbon in SSB).

Mean temperature (MTC) and mean trophic level (MTL) spatiotemporal patterns of MEDITS survey catches were examined in 13 geographic statistical areas (GSAs) of the Mediterranean between 1994 and 2016. The study aimed to detect changes in the demersal community structure related to anthropogenic impacts. A generalized additive modelling approach was used to examine the effects of year and GSA on the MTC and MTL indexes and on bottom temperature by haul. For the MTC index, the year was significant only in 4 GSAs, while for MTL it was significant in 5. Higher MTC values were observed in central and eastern areas. Bottom temperature increased after 2010, and also from west to east and from north to south. Our results indicate that the recently observed increase in bottom sea temperature has not resulted in an immediate response by demersal marine communities, but areas with higher warming rates or shallow depths were found to be more susceptible to sea warming. For MTL, decreasing trends were observed in only 2 GSAs, while the temporal trends observed in 5 GSAs may have reflected changes in fishing activity patterns. However, higher MTL values were observed in GSAs with generally higher exploitation rates, indicating that factors other than fishing play an important structuring role in marine communities. The present results indicate differences among Mediterranean subareas in regard to changes in the community structure attributed to environmental conditions and exploitation patterns and have implications for the ecology and dynamics of the stocks.

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.

The use of fish meal/oil in carnivorous fish feeds remains a concern for the environmental sustainability of aquaculture. In this study, we investigated the impact of an innovative diet designed to be cost‐effective and environmentally sustainable (i.e., 60% replacement of fish meal by a blend of plant, yeast [Saccharomyces cerevisiae], and krill meal feed ingredients) on the growth, health, and welfare of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). Over a 135‐day experiment, fish were fed either the innovative or a commercial diet (control), and various parameters were evaluated, namely growth performance, levels of physiological blood parameters related to stress, immunity, health, and welfare, as well as swimming activity, serving as a proxy for energy expenditure. Results revealed that the innovative diet enhanced growth compared to fish fed the control diet. Hematological and biochemical indicators did not highlight any impaired welfare condition in fish fed innovative diet while higher levels of Immunoglobulin M were measured in plasma of fish fed innovative diet, potentially suggesting enhancement of humoral immunity. However, accelerometer tags data revealed that fish fed the innovative diet exhibited higher overall swimming activity, suggesting higher energy expenditure, which was consistent with greater prealbumin levels measured in the plasma. In conclusion, the higher energy metabolism in fish fed the innovative diet might be compensated by the diet’s content, which may boost humoral immunity and hence help the fish develop a better adaptation to rearing environment, including its viral and bacterial load, ensuring overall better growth. Longer term investigations, including measurements of additional parameters, are required to validate these promising preliminary outcomes.