The Nursery Role of Marine Animal Forests

Cau, Angelo; Mercier, Annie; Moccia, Davide; Auster, Peter J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-57054-5_10

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Certain species such as cephalopods, benthic fishes, or crustaceans may be found where the seagrass or seaweed presence is abundant [73,74]. Now there is a more accurate vision of the importance of complex habitats (marine forests, line seagrasses, seaweeds, marine animal forests) [75,76] as ecosystem services providers. The habitats in which these three-dimensional living structures (forests) are present are those in which the local people also agree there is more capacity to fish.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seascape Ethnomapping on the Inner Continental Shelf of the Brazilian Semiarid Coast

Pinheiro

Neto

Bezerra

et al. 2023

Water

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Seascape mapping is critical to understanding ecosystem services and managing areas with potential for fishing, power generation, mining, and tourism. Despite advances in marine geophysics, the necessary equipment to make underwater cartography can be expensive and requires a certain degree of specialization. In areas with scarce data, ethnomapping can be used for the elaboration or complementation of marine cartography. In addition, it provides information about the nature, concepts, phenomena, and nomenclatures attributed by the local population. The aim of this study was to integrate the knowledge of artisanal fishermen from NE Brazil into the mapping of seascapes, validating the obtained cartography with scientific sampling. Focus groups were used to promote an open discussion of local users’ knowledge about seascapes and their importance for local fisheries. After analyzing, it was possible to correlate the products of participatory mapping with the scientific data available in the literature, resulting in the seascape ethnomap. Nine seascapes relevant to subsistence fisheries were identified. The mapping of seascapes and fauna captured by indigenous fishermen was similar to that produced from preexisting geology, geomorphology, and fishing data. This validated the methodological protocol and the importance of the participation of local populations in coastal conservation and management activities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seascape Ethnomapping on the Inner Continental Shelf of the Brazilian Semiarid Coast

Pinheiro

Neto

Bezerra

et al. 2023

Water

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“…During the early life stages of fish, the first three phases depend on bottom habitat complexity to increase survival rates of these vulnerable early stages. These areas serve as nurseries and shelter (Cau et al, 2020). This is a topic to be better explained in future cofishing projects.…”

Section: Ocean Literacy Assessment and Cultural Consensus Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

An urgent call for more ambitious ocean literacy strategies in marine protected areas: a collaboration project with small-scale fishers as a case study

Salazar,

Gómez,

Vendrell-Simón

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Cold-Water Corals play a paramount role in marine benthic ecosystems, increasing their complexity and providing spawning and nursery habitats to many species. However, due to their sessile lifestyle and ramified shape they are commonly entangled in nets and even by-caught during the practice of bottom-contact fishing, which includes impacts from both large-scale activities such as trawling and small-scale fishing (e.g., trammel nets or pots). In this context, passive and active restoration measures are crucial to avoid their damage and disappearance, which might cause the consequent loss of complexity and biodiversity of marine benthic communities. With the aim of modifying these fishing practices in the Marine Protected Area of Cap de Creus (North-Western Mediterranean), small-scale fishers and scientists (marine biologists) started a Participatory Process in which they agreed to develop a joint marine conservation program combining two distinct projects: a restoration project of the Cold-Water Corals incidentally captured on fishing nets for their subsequent reintroduction at sea (RESCAP project) and also a project on mitigation of fishing impacts on marine benthic communities (MITICAP project). Collaborative actions were carried out including interviews and exchanges of information with the purpose of collecting all the knowledge required for conducting the actions of the projects. This study shows the results of the assessment throughout five years (2017-2022) of cooperative work and highlights how crucial it is to develop long-term and revisable ocean literacy strategies for ensuring a sustainable ocean governance. An ocean literacy test evaluated the scientific knowledge of fishers at the end of the projects and revealed that despite all the efforts applied, still more work is needed, which reinforces the importance of improving the strategies of knowledge transfer for MPA management. Under the coordination of marine social anthropologists, a Cultural Consensus Analysis was conducted with the fishers. Results revealed a protoculture that should be characterized and considered when developing management strategies in the area. Additionally, the Personal Network Analysis showed that fishers have become agents of change and transmitted the learnings of the projects to their communities, fishers from nearby guilds, local educational centers and even the press. Furthermore, a list of recommendations is provided to optimize the multisector opportunities emerging from collaborative projects with marine scientists and fishers in MPAs.

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Marine macro-litter mass outweighs biomass in trawl catches along abyssal seafloors of Sardinia channel (Italy)

Carreras-Colom,

Follesa,

Carugati

et al. 2024

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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This study provides new insights onto spatial and temporal trends of seafloor macro-litter in the abyssal seafloor of Sardinian channel, in central western Mediterranean (Italy). Trawl surveys were conducted at depths between 884 and 1528 m, thus focusing on one of the least investigated marine environments. None of the considered sites was litter free, with plastics being numerically dominant (57% of items), followed by metal (11%) and glass (16%). Recorded densities and weight ranged between 49.9 and 499 items km−2 and 1.4 and 1052 kg km−2. In the most contaminated sites, the weight of the litter collected in nets represented up to nine times the biomass of benthic megafauna, and, overall, in 60% of hauls macro-litter mass outweighed the biomass collected. Moreover, we report that megafauna was observed to be more abundant in sites where macro-litter presence was more severe. More studies are needed to elucidate the nature of this correlation, with biota being more abundant in hotspots of accumulation of seafloor macro-litter.

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The Nursery Role of Marine Animal Forests

Cited by 4 publications

References 98 publications

Seascape Ethnomapping on the Inner Continental Shelf of the Brazilian Semiarid Coast

Seascape Ethnomapping on the Inner Continental Shelf of the Brazilian Semiarid Coast

An urgent call for more ambitious ocean literacy strategies in marine protected areas: a collaboration project with small-scale fishers as a case study

Marine macro-litter mass outweighs biomass in trawl catches along abyssal seafloors of Sardinia channel (Italy)

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