Ecosystem trophic structure and fishing effort simulations of a major fishing ground in the northeastern Mediterranean Sea (Thermaikos Gulf)

Dimarchopoulou, Donna; Tsagarakis, Konstantinos; Sylaïos, Georgios; Tsikliras, Athanassios C.

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107667

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…When explored under constant environmental conditions, the fishing simulations produced relatively similar results as in other Eastern Mediterranean ecosystems (e.g. the adjacent Thermaikos Gulf; Dimarchopoulou et al, 2022). The reduction of fishing effort leads to quick and substantial biomass increase for most species, but also to reduced catches.…”

Section: Climate Simulations and Fishing Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Among others, policy simulations have been applied to explore the ecological and economic effects of the Landing Obligation in the Adriatic Sea (Celi&cacute;, environmental scenarios have been set to explore possible effects of climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean (Corrales et al, 2018) and several applications aimed at exploring the effect of fishing, including in regions of the Aegean Sea (e.g. Papapanagiotou et al, 2020;Papantoniou et al, 2021;Dimarchopoulou et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drivers of the North Aegean Sea Ecosystem (Eastern Mediterranean) Through Time: Insights From Multidecadal Retrospective Analysis and Future Simulations

et al. 2022

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Ecosystem models are important tools for the implementation of Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), especially in highly exploited ecosystems affected by climate change, such as the Mediterranean Sea. Herein, we present the development of an Ecopath ecosystem model for the North Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean) in the early 1990s, as well as the parameterization of the temporal dynamic module (Ecosim) after fitting to catch and relative biomass time series for the period 1993-2020. The Ecosim model included as drivers (i) fishing, assuming a technology creep factor of 2% annual increase (0.79% for bottom trawls), (ii) Sea Surface Temperature, (iii) trophic interactions and (iv) a Primary Production (PP) Anomaly which was positively correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation of the previous year, highlighting the synergistic effect of environmental and anthropogenic processes during the three-decades hindcast period. Trends in biomasses, catches and ecosystem indicators were characterized by a decline from 1993 to 2010 and a strong recovery thereafter. Sea warming scenarios for the period 2021-2050 indicated contrasting responses to increased temperature among the main commercial groups, while simulations of changes in productivity had relatively straightforward effects. Two scenarios of 10% and 25% reduction in fishing effort revealed quick increases in the biomass of most commercial species, though coupled with lower catches due to reduced fishing, except for few groups that their population increase was remarkably high. Although the 25% effort reduction resulted in high recoveries in the short term, it didn’t necessarily lead to constantly high biomasses resulting in reduced catches towards the end of the forecast period for some groups, in contrast to the 10% reduction. When impacts of reduced productivity were added to temperature effects, the model forecasted lower biomass increases for the winners of sea warming and even higher decreases for the losers. Biomass losses were compensated by a 10% reduction in fishing effort, but this was not overall enough to counterbalance losses in catches. The model developed here contributes to better elucidate observed changes in the past and to hind directions of change in future simulations, as well as to advance EBFM in the area.

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Section: Climate Simulations and Fishing Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of the North Aegean Sea Ecosystem (Eastern Mediterranean) Through Time: Insights From Multidecadal Retrospective Analysis and Future Simulations

et al. 2022

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“…Although comparison of ecosystem indices by Ecopath models with different topologies across ecosystems is not recommended (Heymans et al, 2014;, considering similarities for FGs and aggregations of TLs, some indices that are not affected by the model topology can provide insightful information . Therefore, because the SoM is a lesser known part of the Mediterranean basin, some contrasting peculiarities among ecosystems in the Black Sea (Akoglu et al, 2014) and the Mediterranean Sea are worth discussing (Papantoniou et al, 2021;Dimarchopoulou et al, 2022). The total biomass/total throughput ratio was similar to the Black Sea and other parts of the Mediterranean Sea (Akoglu et al, 2014;Papantoniou et al, 2021;Dimarchopoulou et al, 2022).…”

Section: State Of the Som Ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Therefore, because the SoM is a lesser known part of the Mediterranean basin, some contrasting peculiarities among ecosystems in the Black Sea (Akoglu et al, 2014) and the Mediterranean Sea are worth discussing (Papantoniou et al, 2021;Dimarchopoulou et al, 2022). The total biomass/total throughput ratio was similar to the Black Sea and other parts of the Mediterranean Sea (Akoglu et al, 2014;Papantoniou et al, 2021;Dimarchopoulou et al, 2022). In comparison to the Mediterranean and North Sea ecosystems, the SoM was the largest system after the North Sea in terms of flows (TST~4384-6499 t km -2 y -1 ) with an omnivory index of 0.19-0.20 that is comparable to the Mediterranean and North Seas (Mackinson 2014;Piroddi et al, 2015), indicating complex food web interactions.…”

Section: State Of the Som Ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fisheries impact on the Sea of Marmara ecosystem structure and functioning during the last three decades

Saygu

Akoğlu²,

Gül³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The Sea of Marmara (SoM), without doubt, is one of the most disturbed marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean basin. As a semi-enclosed and a recognized eutrophic basin, it has a unique natural characteristic by permanent stratification at ~25 m depth. The SoM ecosystem is under threat by multiple stressors from excessive nutrient enrichment, overfishing, invasive species, habitat loss to the climate change. Within this study, an assessment on the SoM ecosystem structure and functioning and its changes over time have been achieved. Hence, we firstly evaluate the SoM ecosystem over a period of three decades from the 1990s to the 2010s by using three mass-balance Ecopath models, secondly, we delineate the prevailing ecosystem structure and functioning in each period, thirdly we determine how the fishing impact contributed to the changes in the SoM since the 1990s and finally establish a baseline for the management and future studies of the ecosystem. The comparison of the models’ results for three consecutive time periods of the SoM showed that the energetic capacity of the ecosystem decreased significantly over the three decades while the decrease in cycling indices indicated that the SoM ecosystem became fragile to anthropogenic disturbances. According to ecosystem theory indices, the SoM is an immature ecosystem at a stage of autotrophic succession, with a very high total primary production, much more above unity that greatly exceeds total respiration. Our results highlighted that the SoM ecosystem was under bottom-up control exerted by mesozooplankton; however, anchovy was a bottleneck in energy transfers to higher trophic levels creating also a wasp-waist control in the food-web. The bycatch of demersal species with long life span, sharks and rays, brought them to the brink of going commercial extinction. Overall, the changes in the SoM ecosystem were due to the trophic cascades exerted by fisheries exploitation in addition to the changes in the productivity of the system. We conclude that the concomitant impacts of stressors on the SoM have been so diverse that an immediate action plan is required. Therefore, we propose a tentative outlook that will help in ecosystem monitoring and better management of the SoM.

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“…Additional pressure received by the discharges of industrial, agricultural, marine, and aquaculture activities occurring at the coastline of the gulf, makes the latter a reservoir of pollutants. The elevated chemical burden in the marine and coastal environment of the Gulf yields effects on both marine ecosystem and humans [14]. Since fishing and mussel farming are economic drivers for the coastal cities of Thermaikos (from Thessaloniki to Larissa) [15], the required balance between such activities and ecological and socioeconomic targets should not be disregarded, and is usually safeguarded by marine spatial plans [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioaccumulation of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants in Fish from Thermaikos Gulf: Preliminary Human Health Risk Assessment Assisted by a Computational Approach

Kasiotis,

Zafeiraki,

Manea-Karga

et al. 2024

JoX

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The monitoring of contaminants in fish species is pivotal for fishes’ health and reproduction, as well as for human health. In the specific work, three major categories of contaminants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and macro and trace elements, were investigated in two major fish species, Dicentrarchus labrax and Solea solea, collected from Thermaikos Gulf, in Greece. To achieve this goal, three analytical methods using LC-MS/MS, GC-MS/MS, and ICP-MS were developed, validated, and applied to the collected fish samples. The results indicated a very low prevalence of caffeine and acetaminophen, both not exceeding 3.8 μg/kg fish. Similarly, thiabendazole, cypermethrin, and tricyclazole (pesticides) were found in a concentration range of 0.9 to 13.7 μg/kg fish, while in one D. labrax sample, traces of the metabolite of organochlorine pesticide DDT, o,p’-DDE were detected. Al, Mn, Fe, Zn, and Sr were the predominant trace elements in a concentration range of 500–20,000 μg/kg fish. Macro elements levels varied from 280 to 5405 mg/kg fish. Health risk assessment did not unveil an unacceptable risk for the human health of adults, apart from one sample presenting Hg above the regulatory levels. On the contrary, for children, the calculated hazard quotient values for Hg in all cases and for two As detections were higher than the threshold value of 1, indicating a potential risk.

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Ecosystem trophic structure and fishing effort simulations of a major fishing ground in the northeastern Mediterranean Sea (Thermaikos Gulf)

Cited by 19 publications

References 100 publications

Drivers of the North Aegean Sea Ecosystem (Eastern Mediterranean) Through Time: Insights From Multidecadal Retrospective Analysis and Future Simulations

Drivers of the North Aegean Sea Ecosystem (Eastern Mediterranean) Through Time: Insights From Multidecadal Retrospective Analysis and Future Simulations

Fisheries impact on the Sea of Marmara ecosystem structure and functioning during the last three decades

Bioaccumulation of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants in Fish from Thermaikos Gulf: Preliminary Human Health Risk Assessment Assisted by a Computational Approach

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