Research activities, planned to achieve FishMan objectives, largely relied on existing data on benthic communities and fisheries from the NW Mediterranean. The first activity was the assessment of demersal assemblages´ vulnerability to trawling, specifically focusing on the catch of the organism by fishing nets, on potential survival after discard practices and on population resilience to individuals’ catch. This assessment framework was tested in four case studies in southern European Seas, evidencing overexploited communities dominated by highly resilient assemblages, that is, the most vulnerable species have sharply declined or even disappeared from fishing grounds. This work (de Juan et al., 2020;
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00044(si apre in una nuova finestra)) also evidenced variability in demersal assemblage composition by depth and habitat type, which indicates the importance of spatial restrictions of trawling activities to protect the most vulnerable areas. The second activity aimed at developing an integrative framework for the assessment of the sustainability of the fisheries sector in the Mediterranean. As a result, a multidisciplinary indicator framework encompassed key ecological, social and economic aspects of the trawl fishery that indicated deviance from sustainability of the sector. This framework was successfully tested in a NW Mediterranean trawling fleet and is a promising tool for the monitoring of an effective implementation of an ecosystem-approach to management (Christou et al. 2019;
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00594(si apre in una nuova finestra)). The third task focused on adopting an Ecosystem Services approach to assess the human-nature interactions in coastal systems. A novel methodological approach was developed (Ruiz-Frau et al., 2020;
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101176(si apre in una nuova finestra)) for an objective evaluation of cultural ecosystem services demand in marine and coastal areas through the analysis of social media data. Social media (e.g. Instagram and Twitter) provides large data sets on peoples’ posts that inform on activities (e.g. recreational fishing, seafood consumption), places or feelings (e.g. happiness, environmental concern) regarding a natural space (Ruiz-Frau et al., 2020; arXiv:2006.12495v1; de Juan et al., 2020; arXiv:2007.14308v1). The fourth activity resumes an ecosystem-approach to the un-sustainable fisheries problem by exploring the application of a size-spectra model to benthic ecosystems from trawling grounds. The advantage of this approach is the adoption of a species’ size focus, as species’ interactions are highly size-dependent; therefore, fisheries’ selectivity is a significant driver of marine communities’ structure and composition. This model, that was developed in close collaboration with scientists from the University of York (UK), illustrated ecosystem-wide affects of increasing the fishing net selectivity in a NW Mediterranean fishery (i.e. continental shelf trawl fishery targeting hake and red mullet). The last activity had to be largely modified due to COVID pandemic restrictions, as it relied on face-to-face interviews with fishermen and fisheries stakeholders’ workshops planned towards the end of the project. Fishermen interviews collected before the lockdown were complemented with telephonic remote interviews with fisheries stakeholders and local consumers aiming to obtain an ample perspective on perceptions and solutions towards the fisheries sustainability problem. Data gathered still needs to be processed, but a publication that illustrates fisheries actors’ perception on current management and on future sustainable paths is expected to be finalised by the end of 2020.
