Browsing by Author "Milisenda, Giacomo"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Changes of energy fluxes in marine animal forests of the Anthropocene: factors shaping the future seascapePublication . Rossi, Sergio; Isla, Enrique; Bosch-Belmar, Mar; Galli, Giovanni; Gori, Andrea; Gristina, Michele; Ingrosso, Gianmarco; Milisenda, Giacomo; Piraino, Stefano; Rizzo, Lucia; Schubert, Nadine; Soares, Marcelo; Solidoro, Cosimo; Thurstan, Ruth H; Viladrich, Núria; Willis, Trevor J; Ziveri, PatriziaClimate change is already transforming the seascapes of our oceans by changing the energy availability and the metabolic rates of the organisms. Among the ecosystem-engineering species that structure the seascape, marine animal forests (MAFs) are the most widespread. These habitats, mainly composed of suspension feeding organisms, provide structural complexity to the sea floor, analogous to terrestrial forests. Because primary and secondary productivity is responding to different impacts, in particular to the rapid ongoing environmental changes driven by climate change, this paper presents some directions about what could happen to different MAFs depending on these fast changes. Climate change could modify the resistance or resilience of MAFs, potentially making them more sensitive to impacts from anthropic activities (i.e. fisheries and coastal management), and vice versa, direct impacts may amplify climate change constraints in MAFs. Such changes will have knock-on effects on the energy budgets of active and passive suspension feeding organisms, as well as on their phenology, larval nutritional condition, and population viability. How the future seascape will be shaped by the new energy fluxes is a crucial question that has to be urgently addressed to mitigate and adapt to the diverse impacts on natural systems.
- Identifying persistent hot spot areas of undersized fish and crustaceans in southern european waters: implication for fishery management under the discard ban regulationPublication . Milisenda, Giacomo; Garofalo, Germana; Fiorentino, Fabio; Colloca, Francesco; Maynou, Francesc; Ligas, Alessandro; Musumeci, Claudia; Bentes, Luis; Gonçalves, Jorge Manuel Santos; Erzini, Karim; Russo, Tommaso; D’Andrea, Lorenzo; Vitale, SergioThe recent establishment of the "landing obligation" under the reformed EU Common Fishery Policy has the twofold objective of reducing the excessive practice of discarding unwanted catch at sea and encouraging more selective and sustainable fisheries. Within this context, the awareness of the spatial distribution of potential unwanted catches is important for devising management measures aimed to decrease discards. This study analyzed the distribution of Hot Spot density areas of demersal fish and crustaceans below the Minimum Conservation Reference Size (MCRS) in four different southern European seas: continental Portuguese coast, Catalan Sea, South of Sicily, Liguria and northern Tyrrhenian Seas using both bottom trawl survey data and information on the spatial distribution of commercial fisheries. Critical areas for discarding were identified as zones where the highest densities of individuals below MCRS were consistently recorded throughout a series of years. Results clearly showed a patchy distribution of undersized individuals in each investigated area, highlighting the overlap between high density patches of both discards and fishing effort. The present findings provide a relevant knowledge for supporting the application of spatial-based management actions, such as the designation of Fisheries Restricted Areas (FRAs), in order to minimize the by-catch of undersized specimens and improve the sustainability of demersal fisheries
- Marine spatial closures as a supplementary tool to reduce discards in bottom trawl fisheries: examples from southern European watersPublication . Despoti, Smaragda; Milisenda, Giacomo; Ligas, Alessandro; Bentes, Luis; Maynou, Francesc; Vitale, Sergio; Garofalo, Germana; Sbrana, Mario; Erzini, Karim; Tserpes, George; Tsagarakis, Konstantinos; Maina, Irida; Pyrounaki, Maria-Myrto; Papadopoulou, Nadia; Machias, Athanassios; Colloca, Francesco; Fiorentino, Fabio; Stergiou, Konstantinos, I; Giannoulaki, MariannaDiscards is an important issue in fisheries around the world. the spatial management of discards has attracted interest as a potential tool for minimizing the unwanted catch. the aim of the present work was to identify areas with high quantities of bottom trawl discarded catch regarding species subjected to MCRS, in six areas of southern European waters (southern Portuguese waters, Catalan Sea, Ligurian and northern Tyrrhenian Seas, Strait of Sicily, eastern Ionian Sea, and Aegean Sea). Analyses were based on two types of data: (a) the undersized catch of species subjected to MCRS from bottom trawl surveys and (b) the actual discarded catch (including undersized and non-undersized individuals) of species subjected to MCRS from commercial bottom trawling. Geostatistical analysis techniques were applied to the first type of data and Generalized Additive Models using environmental variables were applied to the second one. Subsequently, areas that persistently presented high quantities of discarded catch (i.e., "iDC grounds") or undersized catch (i.e., "iUC grounds") were identified and mapped. the "iDC grounds"/"iUC grounds" were located either over the slope or within the continental shelf and over marine plateaus, largely depending on the main target species of each fishery. Next, the overlap of "iDC grounds"/"iUC grounds" with the existing Fisheries Restricted Areas (FRAs) and the proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) was estimated aiming to explore how spatial closures could contribute to the reduction of bottom trawl discarded catch/undersized catch. Certain spatial closures were more effective in the Central Mediterranean and others to the Eastern Mediterranean. the overlapping of existing FRAs with "iDC grounds"/`iUC grounds" did not exceed 24 % in any study area, whereas proposed MPAs, like the CIESM Marine Peace Parks, reached up to 90 % for the same study area.