Assessing the importance of nursery areas of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) using a body condition index

Cantafaro, Annalucia; Ardizzone, Giandomenico; Enea, Marco; Ligas, Alessandro; Colloca, Francesco

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.06.012

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…These vertical movements and water turbulences enriches the upper layer with nutrients, giving the Tyrrhenian Sea a relatively high concentration of nutrients within the Mediterranean basin (Nair et al, 1992;Nezlin et al, 2004). These favorable trophic conditions allow the presence in these areas of the largest hake nursery in the western Mediterranean basin (Orsi Relini et al, 2002;Abella et al, 2008;Colloca et al, 2009;Ligas et al, 2015;Cantafaro et al, 2017). In the northern part of Elba Island, the wide shelf is characterized by soft bottoms proper to trawling, favoring the development of the fleet of Viareggio, which is the largest one in the Ligurian Sea.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Persistent Hot Spot Areas of Undersized Fish and Crustaceans in Southern European Waters: Implication for Fishery Management Under the Discard Ban Regulation

et al. 2021

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The 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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Persistent Hot Spot Areas of Undersized Fish and Crustaceans in Southern European Waters: Implication for Fishery Management Under the Discard Ban Regulation

et al. 2021

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“…Similarly, reduced food consumption leads to reduced protein and lipid stores (Bar 2014). Areas where mean condition is reduced due to density-dependent mechanisms such as competition may represent lower quality habitat for some species (e.g., European hake, Merluccius merluccius; Cantafaro et al 2017). Conspecific density may be particularly important for describing patterns in the condition for species that exhibit a wide range of densities among regions (as was observed for Atlantic croaker, but not for summer flounder or striped bass), notably during times when food resources are limited.…”

Section: Environmental and Density Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nursery Habitat Quality Assessed by the Condition of Juvenile Fishes: Not All Estuarine Areas Are Equal

Schloesser

Fabrizio

2018

Estuaries and Coasts

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High-quality nursery habitats support greater numbers of juveniles that survive to adulthood, but characteristics underlying highquality habitats remain elusive because their productivity varies spatially and temporally and may be species-specific. Fish condition is an energy-integrative measure of ecological interactions, stress, and activity within a habitat, such that juvenile fish condition is representative of the quality of nursery habitats. We apply spatially explicit models to examine patterns in nursery habitat quality of Virginia estuaries based on nutritional condition for Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus, summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus, and striped bass Morone saxatilis. Environmental factors (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, and depth) positively influenced the condition of Atlantic croaker but had mixed effects on striped bass and summer flounder condition, despite co-location of these species. Over the observed range of environmental conditions, the potential impact of salinity was 1.7 to 6 times that of other environmental factors. The condition of Atlantic croaker was negatively influenced by conspecific density, indicating local abundance mediates habitat quality. Regional habitat effects on fish condition were apparent after adjusting for broad-scale environmental effects: on average, striped bass condition was 22% greater in habitats near tributary mouths, Atlantic croaker condition was 28% greater in upestuary habitats, and the adjusted mean condition of summer flounder associated with coastal lagoons and the eastern side of Chesapeake Bay was 100% greater than conspecifics from other regions. Not all habitats are equally suitable for juvenile stages of estuarine species, but locations that produce wellconditioned individuals reveal the environmental characteristics associated with high-quality nursery habitats that contribute to species-specific productivity.

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“…Morales-Nin and Moranta 2004, Mellon-Duval et al 2010, Ligas et al 2015, diet (Ferraton et al 2007) and physiological and body condition (e.g. Hidalgo et al 2009, Rueda et al 2015, Cantafaro et al 2017. Most of these studies focus on the first year of life (recruits) and few of them investigate an important ontogenetic stage from the ecological and fisheries perspective: the juvenile stage prior to maturation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is indeed expected that food limitation and/or competition can influence survival via density-dependent regulation mechanisms. Density-dependent growth (and size) has been proposed as a primary mechanism of regulation of fish populations (Lorenzen and Enberg 2002), including hake (Hidalgo et al 2014, Cantafaro et al 2017. However, the literature shows a range of contrasting (and often contradictory) studies from individual to population scale between species (Le Pape and Bonhommeau et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size-dependent survival of European hake juveniles in the Mediterranean Sea

et al. 2020

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Most studies on European hake focus on the recruitment process and nursery areas, whereas the information is comparatively limited on the ecology of the juvenile stage (ca. second year of life)—the one most exploited by the Mediterranean trawl fisheries. Using information of the MEDITS programme, we provide a spatial and temporal assessment of the influence of body size and growth on hake survival from recruits (age 0) to juveniles (age 1), along with the impact of surface temperature and chlorophyll variability. At a biogeographic scale, size-dependent survival is supported, with areas with higher mean length of recruits and juveniles yielding higher survival. A similar pattern was observed at interannual level in some western Mediterranean areas, also mediated by a density-dependent effect on growth. However, the most recurrent inter-annual pattern was a negative effect of size on survival, which could be attributed to potential ontogenetic changes in catchability and underrepresentation of intra-annual recruitment pulses that are seasonally inaccessible to the MEDITS survey. Results also evidence that survival in the Alboran and Adriatic seas is dependent on the primary production variability, and that Corsica and Sardinia could be potential feeding grounds receiving juveniles from neighbouring areas. The present study reveals the importance of size- and growth-dependent survival in the juvenile stage of European hake in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Assessing the importance of nursery areas of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) using a body condition index

Cited by 10 publications

References 36 publications

Identifying Persistent Hot Spot Areas of Undersized Fish and Crustaceans in Southern European Waters: Implication for Fishery Management Under the Discard Ban Regulation

Identifying Persistent Hot Spot Areas of Undersized Fish and Crustaceans in Southern European Waters: Implication for Fishery Management Under the Discard Ban Regulation

Nursery Habitat Quality Assessed by the Condition of Juvenile Fishes: Not All Estuarine Areas Are Equal

Size-dependent survival of European hake juveniles in the Mediterranean Sea

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