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International Bottom Trawl Surveyin the Mediterranean

MEDITS Survey2001

Volume

Technical report

Final report December 2001

Project 00/ 006 IFREMER - CE Project 00/00 IEO - CE Project 00/041 SIBM - CE Project 00/010NCMR – CE

In 2001 the Medits project was managed according to the bottom trawl surveys organized each year during the spring period. As the Medits co-ordination committee watched over to encourage the spreading of results as fast as possible, the activity of the group was strongly planned in co-ordination with Medits 2000 - 2001

This report goes back to this organisation, with a couple of documents (technical and biological reports).

This report is made of three parts:Vol. 1 ”Technical report” with general presentationVol. 2 “Biological report” Diskette with row data

The Medits programme is conducted owing to the financial support from the European Commission (DG XIV) and the following partners, the IEO for Spain, the IFREMER and the Territorial Community of Corsica for France, the Italian Minister for Agriculture and Forest Policy (DG fisheries and acquaculture) for Italy as well as Albanian, Croatian, Maltese and Slovenian areas, the NCMR for Greece.

This report does not necessairly reflect the views of the European Commission and in no way anticipates any future opinion of the Commission. Permission to copy, or reproduce the contents of this report is granted subject to citation of the source of this material. The study has been carried out with the financial assistance of the European Commission.

Contents

Volume 1

MEDITS 2001 Technical report

Co-ordination of the MEDITS programme 2001...............................................................................1Summary.............................................................................................................................................2Resumé.................................................................................................................................................3Extended Summary............................................................................................................................4General presentation of the MEDITS 2001 activity.....................................................................5-6Technical report – MEDITS 2001 survey........................................................................................7Tables

Table 1. Vessels used..............................................................................................................14Table 2. General calender.......................................................................................................14Table 3. Boarding tables.........................................................................................................15Table 4. Sampling scheme......................................................................................................26 Table 5. Stratification scheme................................................................................................27

Table 6. Computer files.........................................................................................................32

FigureFig. 1. Stratification scheme...................................................................................................33Fig. 2. Location of hauls.........................................................................................................34

AppendixAppendix 1. Coordination meeting, Genoa, April 2001...........................................................I

Appendix 2. Steering Committee meeting in Genoa, April 2001............…..........................IV Appendix 3. Genoa declaration.......................................................................................XVIII

Co-ordination of the MEDITS programme 2001

Co-ordination committeeGiulio RELINI (SIBM) General Co-ordinator and Co-ordinator of MEDITSITLuis GIL de SOLA (IEO) Co-ordinator of MEDITSEsArnauld SOUPLET (IFREMER) Co-ordinator of MEDITS-FRCostas PAPACOSTANTINOU (NCMR) Co-ordinator of MEDITS-GR

Steering committeeThe members of the Co-ordination CommitteeAli SRAIRI: South Alboran Sea (Morocco)Gianni ARDIZZONE: Ligurian Sea, North and Central Tyrrhenian SeaDino LEVI: South Tyrrhenian Sea and Sicilian ChannelAngelo CAU: SardiniaGiovanni MARANO: West Ionian Sea and part of South Adriatic SeaCorrado PICCINETTI: North, Central and part of South Adriatic SeaBojan MARCETA: North-East Adriatic Sea (Slovenia)Stjepan JUKIC-PELADIC: Central-East Adriatic Sea (Croatia)Kristo ROLAND: South-East Adriatic Sea (Albania)Matthew CAMILLERI: Strait of SicilyArgyris KALLIANIOTIS: North Aegean Sea George TSERPES: South aegean SeaChrissi-Yianna POLITOU: Argosaronic Gulf and East Ionian Sea

Permanent guestsJacques Bertrand (Past general Co-ordinator)Pierre-Yves Dremière & Giulio Cosimi (Technologist)Angelo Tursi (Co-ordinator of the MEDLAND project)Giuseppe Lembo (Co-ordinator of the SAMED project)

1

SUMMARY

The present project MEDITS (2001) is the continuation of the works done since 1994 in the frame of the MEDITS programm and is dealing mainly with trawl survey (2001) that was not planed in the frame of the MEDITS 2000-2001 project. It insures the continuity of the collect of basic data for 2001 using the same common protocol (standardisation of the methodology: location of the trawl stations, same gear operated in the same way by each partner, common format for the computer files, etc...).

The main target of this project is to get abundance indices comparable between the different studied areas and length frequency distributions of 36 target species.

The data analysis, targeting fishery management, is performed in the same time in two European project : SAMED (Stock Assessment in the Mediterranean) and the MEDITS project proposed to the Commission and accepted by it in 1999. In addition, the two Web sites and the database software stemmed from the MDMS program is maintained as well as the database by itself.

The geographical cover of the program includes the whole area sampled in the previous years (trawlable areas off each Union Member States, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania) plus the trawlable grounds off the Moroccan and Maltese coasts, for a total of 1181 trawls in an area of 504.305 Km2. In each of these areas the sampling scheme was the same as in the previous years. A similar one was applied in the Moroccan area from 1999 onwards and in the Maltese one since 2000 to complete the coverage of the Channel of Sicily.

The project covers the continental shelves and the slopes off each participating country, at depths between 10 to 800 m. For practical reasons, it has been decided to share the work at sea among 11 vessels (Morocco: 1; Spain: 1; France: 1; Italy: 5; Greece: 3) each of them working in a particular geographical area.

Five depth strata have been defined in all areas: 10 - 50 m, 50 - 100 m, 100 - 200m, 200 - 500 m and 500 – 800 m. The haul positions are distributed proportionally to the strata’s surface with a random distribution of the positions within each stratum.

The organization of the survey is distributed between the various concerned research Institutes, with a scientific coordination in each country : the "Instituto Español de Oceanografia" (IEO, L. Gil de Sola) for Spain and Morocco, the "Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer" (IFREMER, A. Souplet) for France, the "Società Italiana di Biologia Marina" (SIBM, G. Relini) for Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Malta and the "National Center for Marine Research" (NCMR, C. Papaconstantinou) for Greece. Each national coordinator is in charge to make the necessary arrangements to achieve the planned operations in his area of responsibility. The international scientific coordination is made by SIBM ( G. Relini).

The co-ordination of the project was insured by periodic meetings of the various partners at different levels (Co-ordination Committee, Steering Committee).

The following tasks have been performed and recorded in the present report:

a. Implementation of an annual trawl survey in the year 2001 following the standardized protocol used for the previous MEDITS surveys (1994-2000)

b. Production of raw data following a common format

c. Production of relative abundance indices and of length frequency distributions

2

RESUME

Le présent projet MEDITS (2001) est la poursuite du travail effectué depuis 1994 dans le cadre du programme MEDITS et consiste essentiellement dans la réalisation d'une campagne de chalutage (2001) qui n'était prévue dans le cadre du projet MEDITS 2000-2001. Il assure la continuité de la collecte de données de base pour 2001 en utilisant le même protocole commun à tous les participants (méthodolie standardisée : position des stations de chalutage, engin identique et mis en œuvre de la même façon par tous les partenaires, même format des fichiers de données, etc…).

Le but principal de ce projet est d'obtenir des indices d'abondance comparable entre les differentes régions étudiées et des distributions de fréquences de taille de 36 espèces cibles.

L'analyse des données, dans un but de gestion des pêches, est effectuée dans le même temps dans le cadre de deux projets européens : SAMED (Stock Assessment in the Mediterranean) et le projet MEDITS proposés à la Commission et acceptés par elle en 1999. Par ailleurs, la maintenance des deux sites Web et de la base de données issue du programme MDMS sera poursuivie.

La couverture géographique du programme comprends toute la zone échantillonnée les années précédentes (zones chalutables au large des côtes de chaque Etat Membre de l'Union, Slovénie, Croatie, Albanie) plus les fonds chalutable au large des côtes du Maroc et de Malte, pour un total de 1181 chalutages sur une surface de 504.305 km². Dans chacune de ces régions le schéma d'échantillonnage est identique à celui des années précédentes. Ce schéma a été appliqué dans la zone marocaine depuis 1999 et dans la zone maltaise depuis 2000 pour compléter la couverture du canal de Sicile.

Le projet couvre le plateau continental et le talus au large des côtes de chaque pays participant, à des profondeurs comprises entre 10 et 800 m. Pour des raisons pratiques, il a été décidé de répartir le travail en mer entre 11 navires (Maroc : 1, Espagne: 1, France : 1, Italie : 5, Grèce : 3) chacun d'entre eux travaillant dans une zone géographique particulière.

Cinq strates de profondeur ont été définies pour toutes les zones : 10-50 m, 50-100 m, 100-200 m, 200-500 m, 500-800 m. Le nombre de traits de chalut est proportionnel à la surface des strates avec une distribution géographique aléatoire à l'intérieur de chaque strate.

L'organisation des campagnes est répartie entre les différents instituts de recherche concernés avec une coordination scientifique pour chaque pays : l"Insituto Español de Oceanografia" (IEO, L. Gil de Sola) pour l'Espagne et le Maroc, l"Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer" (IFREMER, A. Souplet) pour la France, la" Soietà Italiana di Biologia Marina" (SIBM, G. Relini) pour l'Italie, la Sovénie, la Croatie, l'Albanie et Malte et le "National Center for Marine Research" (NCMR, C. Papaconstantinou) pour la Grèce. Chaque coordinateur national est chargé de prendre toutes les dispositions nécessaires pour mener à bien les opérations prévues dans sa zone de responsabilité. La coordination scientifique internationale est assurée par la SIBM (G. Relini).

La coordination du projet a été assurée par des réunions périodiques des différents partenaires à différents niveaux (Comité de Coordination, Comité de Pilotage).

Les tâches suivantes ont été réalisées et leurs résultats sont exposés dans le présent rapport :

a. Mise en œuvre d'une campagne de chalutage en 2001 suivant le protocola standard utilisé pour les précédentes campagnes MEDITS (1994-2000)

b. Production de données brutes suivant un format commun

b. Production d'indices d'abondance relatifs et de distributions de fréquences de taille.

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EXTENDED SUMMARY

An important part of the Mediterranean demersal fisheries of the European Union Member States is located on the continental shelves off these countries. Several Mediterranean countries have been conducting national programs of assessment of the demersal resources by repetitive surveys at sea for more than 10 years. The MEDITS project, started in 1993 on a European Commission (DG XIV) initiative, aimed to favour the extension of the study method to all the concerned countries, to standardise the used methodology and to elaborate a common data base.

The cost of the project is covered at 50% by E.U. and 50% by the E.U. state members. Italy (MiPAF) has covered also the cost for Albania, Croatia, Malta and Slovenia while COPEMED has contributed to the activity of Morocco.

The main target of this project was and is to get abundance indices comparable between the different studied areas. This has been made possible by the standardisation of the methodology (location of the trawl stations, same gear operated in the same way by each participant, common format for the computer files, etc...).Until 2001, eight surveys have been conducted, respectively in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. The data have been stored in a common data base elaborated by the project MDMS (EEC contract 96-016). After each survey, abundance indices are calculated and a working group meets to produce a common analysis of the results. These results are presented in reports delivered to the European Commission (DG XIV, at present DG fishery) and to the participating countries. In March 1998, a symposium was held in Pisa (Italy) joining together around 100 scientists from all the participating countries, in which 40 scientific communications using the data from the MEDITS project were presented. In 1996 three Balkan Countries, Slovenia, Croatia and Albania, joined the project. In 1999, Morocco and in 2000 Malta joined as well. Two Web sites, one for the MEDITS program by itself and one for the MDMS program have been implemented in the University of Rome and in the National Centre for Marine Research of Athens, respectively.

The data analysis, targeting fishery management, is performed in the same time in two European project : SAMED (Stock Assessment in the Mediterranean) and the MEDITS project proposed to the Commission and accepted by it in 1999. In addition, the two Web sites and the database software stemmed from the MDMS program is maintained as well as the database by itself.The geographical cover of the program includes the whole area sampled in the previous years (trawlable areas off each Union Member States, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania) plus the trawlable grounds off the Moroccan and Maltese coasts for a total of 1134 hauls in an area of 514.885 km2 in 2001 (without Morocco 60 hauls and 13.840 km2). In each of these areas the sampling scheme was the same as in the previous years. The so obtained observations are used to increase the data base started in 1994. The data coming from each survey are used to estimate abundance indices of the species of fishery interest. The analysis are conducted in a way of a interannual actualisation of diagnosis on the state of fishery resources (evolution of the relative abundance indices and of the indicators coming from the length frequency distributions).On the other hand, a further analyse for MEDITS data has been decided ( as above mentioned in SAMED and MEDITS 2000-2001 ) in order to make the results of the program more useful for fishery management. To achieve that two approaches are used : characterization of the nursery areas for the 36 species of reference and, using the informations of abundance of each species of fish, Crustaceans and Cephalopods, to define the demersal fishery areas and to compare them with the GFCM management areas.

The project covers the continental shelves and the slopes off each participating country, at depths between 10 to 800 m., for a total of 1134 trawls in an area of 514.885 Km 2 (without Morocco). For practical reasons, it has been decided to share the work at sea among 11 vessels (Morocco: 1; Spain: 1; France: 1; Italy: 5; Greece: 3) each of them working in a particular geographical area.

Five depth strata have been defined in all areas: 10 - 50 m, 50 - 100 m, 100 - 200m, 200 - 500 m and 500 – 800 m. The haul positions are distributed proportionally to the strata’s surface with a random distribution of the positions within each stratum.

The organization of the survey is distributed between the various concerned research Institutes, with a scientific coordination in each country : the "Instituto Español de Oceanografia" (IEO, L. Gil de Sola) for Spain and Morocco, the "Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer" (IFREMER, A. Souplet) for France, the "Società Italiana di Biologia Marina" (SIBM, G. Relini) for Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Malta and the "National Center for Marine Research" (NCMR, C. Papaconstantinou) for Greece. Each national coordinator is in charge to make the necessary arrangements to achieve the planned operations in his area of responsibility. The international scientific coordination is made by SIBM ( G. Relini) for 2001.

The co-ordination of the project was insured by periodic meetings of the various partners at different levels (Co-ordination Committee, Steering Committee).

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The following tasks have been performed and recorded in the present report:a. Implementation of an annual trawl survey in the year 2001 following the standardized protocol used for the previous MEDITS surveys (1994-2000)

b. Production of raw data following a common format

c. Production of relative abundance indices and of length frequency

The biological observations (total weight, sex, maturity stage, individual length for the 36 target species listed in the table; total weight and number for the others) will be made following the rules defined in the last version of the “Manual of Protocols” of the MEDITS survey.

The partners have also collected basic data on environment conditions (mainly temperature) which can help to interpret the biological data and were able to valorise the time spent at sea with the collection of any other information ( climate data, environmental data, other biological parameters, waste data, etc...).

All the results will be presented and discussed during an International Symposium MEDITS-SAMED to be held in Rome in next spring with the partecipation of DG-fishery and FAO-CGPM.

5

General Presentation

This final report comprises the contributions produced within the four studies whose references are presented in the cover page and which are developed through the co-ordination of the IEO, the IFREMER, the SIBM and the NCMR. It presents the progress and the results obtained in 2001 inside the MEDITS programme, mainly dealing with the survey at sea.Spain had no contract with the E.C. for the 2001 Medits project, but it has taken part to all activities (survey, meetings, elaboration of data) with the support of IEO.Unfortunately the data from Marocco are not available. So during 2001 the following countries have contributed to Medits from West to East: Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Malta and Greece. A surface of 51.4885 Km2 was sampled by 1134 hauls following the standardized protocol.The present document has been prepared with reference to the rules defined in the “Declaration of participation”. But as the programme is devoted to the collection of data on demersal resources by trawl surveys in the Mediterranean on an annual repetitive base, the partners decided to produce and to make available for the whole MEDITS group all tha basic information obtained during the 2001 yearly survey.The co-ordination of the project was insured by periodic meetings of the various partners at different levels (Co-ordination Committee, Steering Committee).The following tasks have been performed and recorded in the present report:

a. Implementation of an annual trawl survey in the year 2001 following the standardized protocol used for the previous MEDITS surveys (1994-2000)

b. Production of raw data following a common format;c. Production of relative abundance indices and of lenght frequency.

Two complementary documents have been prepared to present this survey and the work done by different partners inside the group: 1) a technical report which describes the activity at sea, meetings etc. and 2) a biological report which describes biological observations on catches and presents biomass classes for 2001, biomass indices by area trend (from 1994 to 2001), lenght distribution of the reference species. All the basic data of 2001 survey are stored in a diskette enclosed to the report. During 2001, the MEDITS programme has been conducted with the same general organisation as the one adopted since 1996, including now nine countries. In 2001 the activity of the group, as above mentioned, has been focused on the organisation of the MEDITS 2001 survey and on the development of the analysis of the data obtained during the eight surveys. Strong relationships have been maintained with the SAMED project (co-ordinator: G. Lembo), devoted to study statistically the data collected by the MEDITS project (re-classification of the MEDITS database on the bases of the new FAO-GFCM sub-division in macro-areas, study of abundance indices, lenght frequency distributions, sex pattern in these areas, multi-species size-spectra as an indicator of fishing pressure and estimation of the demographic parameters and prediction by analytical models), and with Medits 2000-2001, whose activity during 2001 is devoted to the work done by the three subgroups: Study of species assemblages all over the MEDITS area; Determination of nursery areas; Statistical studies on temporal trends in the abundance indices;Two meetings have been held during the year , implying the Coordination and the Steering committees (cfr. reports of these meetings in the Appendix).The present report is composed of three parts: technical report, biological report and a diskette with the data. The validation process of data is still in progress and it is a job of the other Medits projects (99/014, 99/026, 99/038, 99/046), that will end the 31th december 2001.

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Technical report – Medits 2001 survey

The works done at sea for the MEDITS 2001 survey have been conducted from 26/04/2001 till 22/07/2001, occupying 325 ship-days in operation. The survey has covered the same areas as for the last ones, carried out during 2000, except the enlargement in the Moroccan Mediterranean area.Ten vessels have been used for this survey (table 1) and they are the same as the ones used for the 2001 survey.The survey in the different regions has involved more than 160 scientists (table 3) applying the same common protocols (cf. the basic MEDITS handbook published in Biol. Mar. Medit. 5(2): 515 – 572.A total of 1134 hauls have been done in the whole area (table 4). As far as possible, the sea temperature has been sistematically recorded during the hauls.

As for the previous surveys, all the data have been checked and validated by each of the teams, using the Checkmed program (a specific program defined for the project). They have been grouped in Ifremer-Sète to produce the common data bank. Furthermore, as for the previous ones, the corresponding computer files (table 5) will be deposited in five places (to the EC-DG XIV and each of the Co-ordination committee members) to ensure their protection. All these data will be managed by the tool defined by the MDMS project.

The procedure of grouping of the data was finished by the middle of October, that means a very few months after the end of the survey. A first global run to produce biomass/abundance estimators as well as lenght/frequency distributions for the species included in the reference list has been made available. A further elaboration and validation of data will be done during the general meeting to be held in Fuengirola from 15th to 18th November 2001.

Technical reports written by the respective regional co-ordinators are presented below. They set out the conditions whereby the MEDITS 2001 survey has been conducted in their region. The regional reports are presented in an order following the coast, from the western to the eastern part of the zone.

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Technical Report for SpainBy María Gonzalez and Luis Gil De Sola

The MEDITS ES survey took place from the 11th of May to the 16th of June 2001. A total of 125 hauls were carried out with the R/V “Cornide de Saavedra” from the Strait of Gibraltar to Cape Creus: 40 hauls in the Alboran sea and gulf of Vera, 41 in the Alicante area and 44 in the Catalan sea. 2 hauls were not valid.

Participant scientists came from the laboratories of the IEO of Málaga, Murcia, Baleares and Madrid, from the ICM-CSIC of Barcelona, from the University of Alicante, University of Barcelona, University of Gerona, University Complutense of Madrid and University Autonoma of Madrid. The scientific team was composed of biologists, technicians and two genetists. Helena Skember scientist from Croatia stayed on board during two weeks.

Sampling activities were conducted without important difficulties. The geometry of the trawl was monitored during the whole survey using a SCANMAR system, and the temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration at different depths was taken with a CTD measurement system. No haul was new. As in other years great catches of pelagic species were observed.

A total of 431 species were identified: 169 fishes, 85 crustaceans, 88 molluscs including 31 cephalopods, 41 echinoderms and 48 other invertebrate species. A systematic inventory of waste products present in the catch was made. Determination, numbering and weighting of each species, biological examination of the principal species, introduction of the data (characteristics of each haul, weight and number of the caught species, length and maturity index of the principal species) in the CAMP and DAME programs was made on board the vessel. The checking of the data and the calculation of the abundance indices and length frequencies with the CHECKMED3 and INMED5 programs were made in the laboratory.

Technical Report for Franceby Arnauld Souplet

The MEDITS FR survey took place from the 1st of June to the 4th of July 2001. The first part of the survey (01/06 - 09/06) has been conducted on the eastern coast of Corsica and the second part (10/06 - 04/07) in the Gulf of Lions. During the whole survey, the weather conditions were very good except for one and half day.

Observations on the behaviour of the gearThe geometry of the trawl has been monitored during the whole survey using a SCANMAR device. As far as possible the rigging accorded with the latest version of the "Instruction manual". Due to difficulties encountered in the previous years to make the trawl reach the contact with the bottom in biggest depths (more than 500 m) and according with trials made in 2000, we have used bridles of 200 m at the biggest depth (750 m) instead of 150 m. The results have been very decisive and the trawl was well established after a relatively short time (around 30 mn).Nevertheless and in general, the gear specifications, as indicated in the "Instruction manual", lead to a good efficiency of the trawl. At each haul it is however important to wait that the trawl geometry be well stabilised before to decide the beginning of the haul. All the other parameters were kept at their standard value, as recommended in the MEDITS “ Instruction manual ”. The results of this haul were identical to those in 2000, which has to be compared with the previous years in which the trawl did simply not reach the bottom.

1.1.1 Warp length / depth ratio

It seems important to remember that, for this ratio, the working depth to be taken into account is the one of the MEDITS trawl, and not the sounding underneath the vessel.

8

The warp length MEDITS protocol has been established for mean values of steel wire weight per length unit. Due to wire manufacturer, some variations around that weight mean value can have a noticeable effect in deep waters, the warp weight in water being sometimes much less (or more) important than specified.Some adjustments can be consequently useful, in order to facilitate the descending motion of the trawl (particularly in case of a lighter weight per length unit) and its good contact with the bottom. Some allowances are possible in deep waters, with regard to the mean curves and tables given in the “ Instruction manual ”. During our trial on board L’Europe, conducted on a relatively falling slope (around 730 to 850m), we have successfully shot regularly 50 additional metres (16 mm in diameter), to put as fast as possible, and correctly, the trawl on the bottom.

1.1.2 Warp shooting speedWhen shooting additional warp length, on several occasions (on a falling bottom), some different shooting speeds have been tested, to estimate their effect. There is a strong evidence that the faster is the shooting speed, the faster and best the trawl contact with the bottom is.

1.1.3 ConclusionsEvery one of these complementary adjustments have play a part in the results obtained in 2001 as well as in 2000. The effect of the adjustments lied more in the good and continuous contact of the trawl with the sea bottom (real length of the swept area) than in the mean MEDITS trawl shape. We can simply repeat what we said in the 2000's report, which is to think carefully, inside the MEDITS group, to some amendments to the "Instruction manual" to improve the efficiency of the gear.

Survey's progressThis year no damages to the gear occurred during the survey. As previously, the shallowest strata in Corsica (13101 and 13106, between 10 and 50 m) have been considered as not trawlable due to very large quantities of algae, sea urchins and eel grass (Posidonia sp.). During the '2001 survey, 89 hauls have been made : 67 in the Gulf of Lions and 22 in Corsica.

Other observationsFor all hauls, the MICREL ichtyometre has been used, together with the DAME program written by G. Delmas. It should be noted that this program has not gone over the year 2000 but, due to some "astuteness", it has been possible to use it again, waiting that the new software could be finalised in the IFREMER laboratory in Boulogne-sur-Mer. The data files have been checked and when necessary corrected immediately after the survey. It is remembered that the coding of the year in the files records and the files names have been changed accordingly to the Steering Committee meeting held in Genoa in May 2000. Some trials have been made to compare the temperature from the SCANMAR device and from the MINILOG one. They showed a systematic difference of 0.8°C but some further experiment in controlled tanks showed also that these differences are not linear in case of increasing temperature.In addition to the normal biological observations, a systematic inventory of waste products present in the codend (glass, plastic, metal, etc.) has been made. This inventory showed the importance of waste concentration near the biggest harbours (Marseilles, Bastia) and on the ferries routes between Corsica and the mainland.

Technical report for Italy - area M1 - Ligurian and Tyrrhenian SeasBy G.D: Ardizzone and A. Belluscio

In the M1 region the 2000 MEDITS survey was carried out from May 23 to 27 July using the professional trawler "Francesco Padre". A total of 153 valid hauls were carried. A total of 41 fishing days, 8 day of bad weather brake and 15 days of technical break were spent.

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No particular technical problems were met during the survey. As far as possible, all stations have been made at the same positions as in the previous years.Scientific partecipants came from the laboratories of the “Consorzio Interuniversitario di Biologia Marina” of Livorno, from the “Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale della Toscana” of Livorno, from the University of Genova and from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.A Minilog instrument has been used to collect data on surface and bottom water temperature. The file (tdit01m1.txt) was created. Water temperature close the bottom ranged from 13.9°C (slope hauls) to 17.0°C (shelf hauls).The data were insert on board in a PC using the DAME program and checked using the CHECKMED2 routines. Abundance indices and length frequencies have been calculated using the INDMED4 program.

The species of the reference list which were most abundant in weight were, in order: Trachurus mediterraneus Merluccius merluccius, Micromesistius poutassou Galeus melastomus, Mullus barbatus.

Technical report for Italy - area M2 – SardiniaBy M.Murenu, D. Cuccu, Follesa M.C., A. Sabatini & A. Cau

From the 4th of June to the 19th of July a total of 123 hauls were carried out with the fishing vessel ”Nuovo Splendore” in seas surrounding Sardinia. Two shallower hauls (stratum 13316) have been considered as not trawlable due the presence of gill nets and for this reason cancelled.During the whole survey weather conditions were very good except for some windy days. A total of 29 fishing days, 5 days of bad weather brake and 12 days of technical break were spent. Trawling some hauls, especially near the coast, where the substrata were irregular and hard, the gear was damaged to a certain extent. When the damage was not serious, some parts of the gear were changed; in other cases the reserve gear was utilised.Unfortunately, SCANMAR equipment was not available system on board. Following the recommendations of the MEDITS protocol haul duration was recorded according to the average effective time on bottom as from previous trials with SCANMAR by IRPEM-CNR technicians and the horizontal and vertical openings of the gear were estimated indirectly. Fishing depths were recorded by an echo sounder. A GPS system was connected with a nautical plotter where the hauls track log of the 2000 survey were recorded and, as far as possible, all stations were set at the same positions as in the previous years. Sometimes due to the presence of hauled gill nets and long lines near the coasts and in the open sea, we slightly changed the co-ordinates of some hauls, while remaining in the same bathymetric level.Using a MINILOG device temperature and hauling depth were recorded in almost all hauls. At the end of the survey it was damage and out of order in the last two days.On board biological parameters were accurately performed according to the MEDITS protocol. At the end of the survey, in the laboratory, all data collected were recorded on the computer using a database program. The data were later checked and processed using the checkmed and indmed routines. Abundance indices and length frequencies were calculated for target species and for some of the reference species.No particular technical problems were met during the survey. During some hauls, more often in the shallower waters, large quantities of sea urchins, eel grass (Posidonia oceanica) and algae were encountered . Although during the whole survey not many waste products were fished.A total of one hundred and ninety species were identified: 140 fishes, 26 crustaceans and 24 cephalopods. Merluccius merluccius was the most abundant either in biomass (152 kg/km²) and in density (6760 N/km²). As regards biomass important values were also observed for Octopus vulgaris, Raja clavata and Scyliorhinus canicula (50<BI<65). In comparison with the previous year an increase in the catches of most of the target fishes (particularly Pagellus bogaraveo, Aspitrigla cuculus, M. merluccius, Citharus lingualtula and Raja clavata) and of some cephalopods (especially Eledone moschata) was shown. Worthy of note was the decrease in the catches of Spicara smaris and Sardina pilchardus among fishes and of Nephrops norvegicus and Sepia officinalis among crustaceans and cephalopods respectively.

10

Technical Report for Italian coasts and Maltese waters - Region M3

The 2001 Medits survey (hereby MED’01) in the M3 region commenced on April 23 rd with the loading of equipment. This survey started earlier than the previous one due to the earlier deadline of the programme.The MED’01 was carried out using the professional stern trawler “Sant’Anna”. As in MED’00, the Maltese waters (herein defined as sub-region M3d) were included in the survey. Initially, the northern side of the M3 study region had been surveyed, i.e. the grounds of the Central and Southern Tyrrhenian Sea facing Campania (Volturno river) and Calabria (Capo Suvero) regions respectively. This sub-region (M3a) has been investigated, from April 26th to May 8th, by the scientific staff of the “COISPA – Technologiae e Ricerca” of Torre a Mare (Bari).The second sub-region covered was the central part of M3 study region (M3b), i.e., the grounds of the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea off Calabria (Capo Suvero) and the Northern coasts of Sicily (Capo S. Vito). This sub-region has been surveyed, from May 9th to May 16th, by the scientific staff of the “Istituto Talassografico – CNR” of Messina.Finally, the trawler moved to the region known as the Strait of Sicily (M3c), which was surveyed from May 19th to June 1st by the scientific staff of the “Istituto di ricerche sulle Risorse Marine e l’Ambiente, IRMA-CNR” of Mazara. During this period, the waters around Malta (M3d) were explored in collaboration with the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences from May 24th to May 25th.The MED’01 ended with the unloading of the equipment in Mazara del Vallo on June 2nd.An overall of 150 valid hauls were performed in the whole M3 region; in particular, 57, 28 and 56 hauls were performed along the Italian coasts (M3a, M3b and M3c respectively) whilst 9 hauls were performed in Maltese waters (M3d). Some problems arose during the survey in the M3b subregion: in particular one set of gear equipped with MINILOG -TD was lost. Furthermore, 7 hauls were not considered to be valid: 1, 4 and 2 in M3a, M3c and M3d respectively.In almost all hauls, a miniature data logger (MINILOG -TD), recording both temperature and depth, was mounted on the head rope of the gear. Due to the malfunctioning of the spare MINILOG , it was not possible to record these data in the M3b subregion. The gear performance was not directly monitored; however, haul duration was recorded according to average effective time on bottom and the horizontal opening of the gear in each haul was estimated on the basis of the formula derived from previous trials carried out by IRPEM-CNR (Ancona, Italy) technicians using SCANMAR equipment. Both haul registration and processing of biological samples were accurately performed according to MEDITS protocol.

Technical Report for Italy – area M4 (SW Adriatic and NW Ionian) and Albania

The MEDITS-IT & ALB 2001 survey was carried out from 02/05 to 15/07. Total number of operative days was 75 (including Medits vessel and net setting, stand-by and transferring); the survey lasted 30 days in Ionian areas from Cape Passero to Cape of Otranto (1 vessel and Medits net setting days, 3 transferring day, 26 full working days), 29 days for south-western Adriatic areas from Cape of Otranto to Vieste (1 vessel seeting day, 1 trasferring day and 27 full working days) and 16 days for south-eastern Adriatic areas from S. Johan to Saranda (Vieste (1 vessel seeting day, 3 transferring days and 12 full working days).During the survey n° 186 hauls were carried out (Ionian areas = n° 74; south-western Adriatic areas = n° 72; south-eastern Adriatic areas = n° 40); the vessel “Pasquale e Cristina” was utilised by MEDITS-It M4 Unit in the whole research area.Bad weather conditions affected the survey mostly in May and June. During the survey 2001 a net door has been lost in the southern Adriatic waters. Moreover the nets suffered some lacerations and some net bowls were damaged at maximum trawled depths.Biological data were recorded following Medits protocol options and formats. CHECKMED and INDMED softwares have been utilised for data control and elaboration.

11

Technical report for area M 5 – Italy, Slovenia and Croatia

The Medits 2001 survey, like the 2000 survey, has been conducted in the Northern and Central Adriatic Sea on board the same vessel, “Andrea”, both in international waters and in the national waters of each concerned country.The survey took place between the 22th of Maj and 6 July. During the first three days the net working was tested.Scientists of three laboratories (Split, Ljubljana and Fano) took part in the survey, with in general 3-4 scientists on board at the same timeA total of 136 real hauls were carried out: 48 stations located in the Croatian waters, 86 in international and Italian territorial waters and 2 in the Slovenian waters.Haul registrations and first biological processing were performed on board; the more detailed biological analysis and computer data input were made in laboratory according to the Medits protocol.

Technical report for Greece - area G1 By A. Kallianiotis, K. Sophronidis, A. Argyri And P. Vidoris

The MEDITS GR1 survey for 2001 was carried out from 1 June to 13 July in the North Aegean Sea (North of 38 N), using “Evagelistria”, a newly constructed commercial trawler that was used also on last year survey. The research cruise lasted 43 days, 36 of which were spent on fishing and 7 days on stop due to bad weather conditions.

During the research cruise 65 hauls were carried out successfully. The SCANMAR equipment was not available also this year. The temperature, salinity, and oxygen concentration have been recorded with the CTD measurement system. A minilog instrument has also been used to collect continuous data on temperature and depth during the hauls. However it was lost in one haul and so data has been taken only on the shallow hauls where a second minilog for depths < 100m was used.

Sixteen scientists, stuff of Fisheries Research Institute was participated in the Medits’01 campaign. Furthermore two Greek Post-graduate students of University of Thessaloniki, Mrs Aligisaki K., and Anastasiadou C., were participated for 5 days in the research cruise.

Weight and length measurements as well as maturity of the sampled fish were carried out on board. The maturity stage of Galeus melastomus, Heptranchias perlo, Raja asterias, Raja clavata, Raja miraletus, Raja montagui, Raja naevus, Raja oxyrinchus, Raja radula, Raja rondoleti, Scyliorhinus canicula, Squalus acanthias and Torpedo torpedo was not estimated.In the laboratory, data were recorded in the computer using the INDMED program and checked using the CHECKMED program.Abundance indices were calculated for target species and for some of the reference species. The species from the reference list, which were most abundant in weight this year, in the following order: M. merluccius, I. coindetti, S. smaris, P. longirostris, S. canicula, R. clavata, L. budegassa, M. poutassou, M. barbatus, S. flexuosa, E. moschata, C. linguatula, P. bogaraveo, N. norvegicus and O. vulgaris. Comparatively, in ’00 survey the most abundant species in weight were: I. coindetti, S. pilchardus, E. encrasicholus, A. sphyraena, M. merluccius, M. barbatus, P. longirostris, M. poutassou, R. clavata, L. caudatus, S. flexuosa, T. trachurus, P. blennoides, L. piscatorius and S. acanthias.Considering the number of individuals, the most abundant species were in order: P. longirostris, S. smaris, I. coindetti, M. poutassou, T. trachurus, C. linguatula, T. minutus capelanus, M. barbatus, M. merluccius, S. flexuosa, T. mediterraneus, S. canicula, N. norvegicus, L. boscii, and P. blennoides. In comparison, the most abundant species in number of individuals, in the Medits’00 survey were: A. sphyraena, S. pilchardus, E. encrasicholus, P. longirostris, I. coindetti, M. barbatus, T. trachurus, T. minutus capelanus, S. flexuosa, M. merluccius, M. poutassou, C. linguatula, S. smaris, D. annularis and P. blennoides.

The most widely distributed species were, in order: M. merluccius (present in 57 of 65 hauls effectuated), I. coindetti (56 hauls), L. budegassa (48 hauls), P. longirostris (44 hauls), S. canicula (38 hauls), T. trachurus (35 hauls), A. sphyraena (31 hauls), C. linguatula (31 hauls), A. media (30 hauls) and P. blennoides (30 hauls). In MEDITS’00 the order of the most wide distributed species were: I. coindetti (54

12

hauls), M. merluccius (52 hauls), L. budegassa (48 hauls), P. longirostris (43 hauls), T. trachurus (41 hauls), S. canicula (36 hauls), T. minutus capelanus (32 hauls), R. clavata (31 hauls), P. blennoides (31 hauls) and E. cirrhosa (28 hauls).

Technical report for Greece - area G2 (Argosaronikos and Ionian Sea)by C.-Y. Politou and M. Karkani

In zone G2 (Argosaronikos and Ionian Sea), the sampling cruise started on the 30 th of May 2001 and ended on the 24th of June 2001. Similar to 1998, 1999 and 2000, the commercial trawler Demetrios was used. A total of 52 hauls were effected (21 in Argosaronikos and 31 in the Ionian Sea). From these 52 hauls, two were considered invalid because of serious net damage (1 in Argosaronikos and 1 in the Ionian Sea). The weather conditions were generally good with some exceptions (one day of bad weather in Argosaronikos and one in the Ionian Sea). As in the previous years, during the 2001 sampling period, a SCANMAR system was used to observe the following parameters: fishing depth, horizontal and vertical opening of the gear and clearance. This system was connected with a GPS, which recorded the hauling speed and the track of the hauls. The temperature during hauling and the hauling depth were also recorded using a Minilog device. Finally, as in the previous years, the temperature and salinity profiles were recorded by means of a CTD.One of the problems we confronted was that on the 14 th day of the survey the sensor of the vertical opening was damaged. Also, on the 15th day the computer we used onboard was out of operation. Consequently, there were no data recorded from the SCANMAR sensors and Minilog since that day. The problem of the computer was solved on the 22nd day and it started recording the data from the SCANMAR system (except that of the damaged sensor), but still then we could not get the Minilog data.

Technical report for Greece - area G3 (South Aegean Sea)By B. Tserpes and N. Peristeraki

The MEDITS G3 survey took place from the 30th of May to the 26th of June 2001, in the southern Aegean and the Cretan seas. The survey in the G3 area was carried out with the commercial trawler “Nautilos”. The functioning of the gear was tested in the Gulf of Iraklion on the 28th and 29th of May.

The gear showed a generally homogeneous performance and the trawling speed ranged from 2.7 to 3.0 knots. Trawling with the highest speed was realized mostly in the deeper hauls and (or) on muddy bottoms. The electronic observation and recording of the track of the hauls was conducted by means of a GPS and a plotter. In this way, there was a complete representation of the haul (beginning, end, and change of direction). The temperature has been monitored during the hauls by a “Minilog TDR” sensor.

During the 2001 survey a total of 54 valid and 1 invalid hauls were accomplished: 14 around the islands of the Cyclades complex, 23 in the area of the Dodecanesian islands and 17 in the Cretan Sea.

13

Table 1 – MEDITS 2001 – Vessels used

Country code

Region Vessel name Code Lenght (m)

Tonnage(GRT)

Power(kW)

Hauls(No)

Operative days

ITA M5 Andrea AND 29.5 211 1300 86 14HRV na Andrea AND 29.5 211 1300 48 7SLO na Andrea AND 29.5 211 1300 2 1ESP na Cornide de Saavedra COR 66.7 1524 1651 121 34GRC G2 Demetrios DEM 27.77 78.24 537 50 24GRC G1 Evangelistria EVA 29.1 59.45 495 65 30ITA M1 Francesco Padre FRP 25 88 660 153 41FRA na L’Europe LEU 29.6 259.69 690 85 25GRC G3 Nautilus NAU 28.4 138 600 61 21ITA M2 Nuovo Splendore NUS 29.45 134.51 685 123 32ALB na Pasquale e Cristina PEC 33.06 158.77 923 40 11ITA M4 Pasquale e Cristina PEC 33.06 158.77 923 146 56ITA M3 Sant’Anna SAN 32.2 97.06 1357 141 31MAL na Sant’Anna SAN 32.2 97.06 1357 9 2

Table 2 – General Calendar 2001

M1 from 04/05 to 08/07M2 from04/06 to 19/07M3 from 23/04 to 02/06M4 from02/05 to 15/07M5 from22/05 to 06/07Gr1 from01/06 to 13/07Gr2 from30/05 to 24/06Gr3 from30/05 to 26/06ESP from11/05 to 16/06FR from01/06 to 04/07

14

Table 3 – Medits 2001 – Boarding tables

Boarding table of N/O Cornide de Saavedra SPAINDay 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37Month May June June Date 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Place

Málaga

Alm

ería

Cartagena

Murcia

Alicante

Valencia

Ibiza

Tarragona

Barcelona

Gerona

Barcelona

Castellón

Valencia

Alicante

Málaga

L. Gil-de-Sola M. García-Rodriguez P. Abelló D. Lloris M. González A. Ramos J. Rey J. Acosta J. del Arbol E. Ferrandis A. Fernández E. Massutí S. Messeger J. Cartes J. Lloret M. Rufino S. Mallol E. Roldán M. Capa L. García E. Costas C. Lillo L.eyre Helena

Haul nb 0 3 5 4 4 1 4 5 3 3 3 5 4 6 3 1 6 4 3 3 0 2 6 5 4 5 3 3 4 3 3 5 3 6 3 0 0

Comments

Transit

Málaga

Estepona

Marbella

Málaga

Málaga

Salobreña

Entinas

Alm

ería

Cabo de G

ata

Garrucha

Cabo P

alos

Mar M

enor

Santa P

ola

Santa P

ola

Alicante

Cabo La N

ao

Denia

Ibiza

Ibiza

Transit

Ibiza

Colum

bretes

Delta del E

bro

Delta del E

bro

Tarragona

Vilanova

Barcelona

Rosas

Bagur

Blanes

Vinaroz

Oropesa

Valencia

Cabo S

an A

ntonio

Transit

Transit


15

Name Speciality

Name

Speciality

Name

Speciality

L. Gil de Sola Fish. Scient. (Head Survey)

S. Meseger

Fish. Scient.

E. Roldán

Invertebrate Sci. (UA Madrid)

D. Lloris Fish. Scient. (Chief of deck)

S. Mallol

Fish. Scient Univ. Gerona

J. Cartes

Crust. Scien. (Trophism)

P. Abelló Crustacean Scientist

A. Ramos

Fish. Technologist

J. Lloret

Fish. Scient.

M. García-Rodriguez Fish. Scient.

J. Acosta

Fish. Technologist

M. Capa

Invertebrate Sci. (UA Madrid)

J. Rey Fish. Scien.(Chondrictians)

J. del Arbol

Fish. Scient.

L. García

Genetic (UC Madrid)

E. Ferrandis Mathematic Univ. Alicante

M. Rufino

Crust. Scientist

E. Costas

Genetic (UC Madrid)

M. González Cephalopod Scientist E. Massutí

Fish. Scient.

C. Lillo

Fish.Scient. Univ de Alicante

Helena Fish. Scient. (Croatia)

A. Fernández

Fish. Scient.

Leyre Fish.Scient. Univ de Alicante


16

Table 3 (cont) – MEDITS 2001 – Boarding tables

Boarding table of N/O L'Europe FRANCE

Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Date

01/06

02/06

03/06

04/06

05/06

06/06

07/06

08/06

09/06

10/06

11/06

12/06

13/06

14/06

15/06

16/06

17/06

18/06

19/06

20/06

21/06

22/06

23/06

24/06

25/06

26/06

27/06

28/06

29/06

30/06

01/07

02/07

03/07

04/07

Angélique Jadaud Ysabelle Cheret Carole Leité Nathalie Rayssac Laetitia Tarbouriech Patrick Lespagnol Josep Lloret Alain Guillou Arnauld Souplet Yvon Jaouen Haul number 3 5 4 4 4 2 3 5 4 5 5 5 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 3 2 3 3 4 1

Comments

Transit

East C

orsica

East C

orsica

East C

orsica

East C

orsica

East C

orsica

East C

orsica

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

Gulf of Lions

End

Name Speciality Name Speciality A. Jadaud Fishery technician P.Lespagnol Fishery technician Y. Cheret Fishery technician J. Lloret CSIC Barcelona C. Leité Secretary A. Guillou Fishery scientis N. Rayssac Student A. Souplet Fishery scientis

L. Tarbouriech Student Y. Jaouen Electronician



17

Boarding table of N/O Francesco Padre ITALY M1



18

Boarding table of N/O Nuovo Splendore ITALY M2

Table 3 (cont) - MEDITS 2001 – Boarding tables


19

Boarding table of N/O S.Anna ITALY M3


20


Boarding table of M/P Pasquale e Cristina ITALY M4


21

Table 3 (cont.) – MEDITS 2001 – Boarding tables

Boarding table of M/P Andrea ITALY M5


22

Table 3 (cont.) – Medits 2001 – Boarding tables

Boarding table of M/P Evangelistria GREECE G1


23

Table 3 (cont.) - Medits 2001 – Boarding tables

Boarding table of M/P Demetrios GREECE G2Day Date Locality Personnel on board Haul No Comments

1 May 30 Pireas M. Karkani G. Christidis P. Bekas J. Dokos D. Analytis 3 Argosaronikos2 31 Hydra 2 Argosaronikos3 June 1 Spetses 3 Argosaronikos4 2 Spetses 1 Argosaronikos5 3 Serifos 2 Argosaronikos6 4 Lavrio D. Analytis 1 Argosaronikos7 5 Pireas 0 Bad Weather8 6 Pireas 3 Argosaronikos9 7 Pireas 2 Argosaronikos10 8 Pireas 1 Argosaronikos11 9 Pireas A. Fourtouni A. Dogrammatzi 2 Argosaronikos12 10 Antikira 2 Ionian Sea13 11 Itea 3 Ionian Sea14 12 Messologi V. Tsamis 3 Ionian Sea15 13 Messologi 1 Ionian Sea16 14 Messologi E. Lefkaditou 3 Ionian Sea17 15 Ithaki 2 Ionian Sea18 16 Ithaki 1 Ionian Sea19 17 Preveza 2 Ionian Sea20 18 Preveza S. Kavadas A. Hilari D. Raitsos D. Analytis 2 Ionian Sea21 19 Preveza 0 Bad Weather22 20 Preveza 3 Ionian Sea23 21 Preveza 2 Ionian Sea24 22 Leukada 2 Ionian Sea25 23 Katakolo 2 Ionian Sea26 24 Zakynthos 2 Ionian Sea

NCMR - Personnel on board (2001): NCMR - Scientists that realized the work in the the laboratory (2001):Name Specialty Name SpecialtyM. Karkani Biologist C. Papaconstantinou National coordinator, ichthyologistA. Fourtouni Fisheries technologist C.-Y. Politou Regional coordinator, biologistP. Bekas Fisheries technologist M. Karkani BiologistE. Lefkaditou Biologist E. Lefkaditou Biologist G. Christidis Fisheries technologist S. Kavadas Computer engineerA. Dogrammatzi Fisheries technologist J. Dokos Computer engineerS. Kavadas Computer engineerJ. Dokos Computer engineerA. Hilari BiologistD. Analytis Fisheries technologistV. Tsamis Agriculturist-IchthyologistD. Raitsos Student


24

Table 3 (end) – Medits 2001 – Boarding tables

Boarding table of M/P Nautilos GREECE G3


25

Table 4 – MEDITS 2001 – Sampling scheme (ordered by area number)

Area N 10-50 50-100 100-200 200-500 500-800 TOTALES 1.1.1a 1- 5 510 4 2081 7 1218 6 3682 10 5262 13 12753 40

0.0278 0.0146 0.0237 0.026 0.02591.1.2a 1- 5 1130 2 4095 12 3302 9 4242 12 3159 6 15928 41

0.0069 0.0131 0.0131 0.0294 0.02121.1.3a 1- 5 1896 5 7219 17 3587 10 2477 8 1399 4 16578 44

0.0103 0.0106 0.0132 0.0351 0.0342FR 1.2.1a 1- 5 1482 8 3911 23 819 2 709 3 660 4 7581 40

0.0253 0.0315 0.0126 0.0415 0.05851.2.1b 6-10 696 4 2610 11 1734 8 653 3 586 1 6279 27

0.0275 0.0205 0.0242 0.0467 0.01931.3.1a 1- 5 521 2 234 2 920 5 867 2 2542 11

0.0196 0.0441 0.0535 0.02411.3.1b 6-10 524 3 153 2 383 3 960 3 2020 11

0.0248 0.0554 0.0865 0.0349IT1 1.3.2a 1- 5 657 2 729 3 658 3 1737 7 2093 9 5874 24

0.0137 0.0186 0.0225 0.0399 0.03781.3.2b 6-10 2053 8 1598 6 3186 13 2449 10 879 4 10165 41

0.017 0.0191 0.0206 0.0403 0.04451.3.2c 11-15 945 4 1506 6 2732 10 2828 11 3071 11 11082 42

0.0177 0.0192 0.0172 0.038 0.03571.3.2d 16-20 2107 6 2159 6 4302 13 3573 12 3148 9 15289 46

0.0136 0.013 0.0148 0.0338 0.0287IT2 1.3.3a 1- 5 822 3 382 2 351 2 589 3 502 3 2646 13

0.014 0.0208 0.0226 0.0491 0.05011.3.3b 6-10 910 4 1592 6 839 2 765 3 855 4 4961 19

0.0155 0.0165 0.012 0.0359 0.04561.3.3c 11-15 627 3 796 3 512 3 500 2 242 2 2677 13

0.017 0.0195 0.0374 0.0365 0.08261.3.3d 16-20 431 0 541 3 896 5 471 2 335 3 2674 13

0 0.0206 0.0248 0.0435 0.08551.3.3e 21-25 1096 4 446 2 927 4 412 2 260 2 3141 14

0.0146 0.0186 0.0242 0.05 0.07961.3.3f 26-30 783 2 987 5 2335 10 1620 8 1041 7 6766 32

0.0103 0.0196 0.0213 0.044 0.06751.3.3g 31-35 705 3 350 2 768 4 1060 4 1227 6 4110 19

0.0172 0.027 0.0189 0.0349 0.0406IT3 1.3.4a 1- 5 1194 4 1224 6 2095 11 3238 15 5248 21 12999 57

0.0141 0.0223 0.0255 0.0452 0.04051.3.4b 6-10 622 4 1003 4 1224 6 1966 7 2441 7 7256 28

0.0277 0.0179 0.0235 0.0353 0.02821.3.4c 11-15 3145 4 6610 8 9866 10 13424 15 15653 19 48698 56

0.0055 0.0054 0.0049 0.011 0.0117ML 1.3.5a 1- 5 152 2 1473 2 3076 2 3353 2 2526 1 10580 9

0.0496 0.0063 0.0032 0.0061 0.0039IT5 2.1.1a 1- 5 17300 25 8200 11 25500 36

0.0061 0.00592.1.1b 6-10 4700 9 10350 14 14950 20 3900 6 950 1 34850 50

0.0078 0.0061 0.0062 0.0152 0.0104SL 2.1.1c 11-15 184 2 184 2

0.045HR 2.1.1d 16-20 7308 13 14785 15 7225 18 2409 2 31727 48

0.0073 0.0046 0.0127 0.008IT4 2.2.1a 1- 5 259 3 224 2 584 3 1098 3 1273 2 3438 13

0.049 0.0392 0.024 0.0253 0.01112.2.1b 6-10 306 2 278 2 258 2 886 3 989 15 2717 24

0.0281 0.0324 0.0366 0.0308 0.12692.2.1c 11-15 455 3 305 3 357 2 972 4 1032 3 3121 15

0.0255 0.0408 0.0236 0.0363 0.02622.2.1d 16-20 677 1 524 1 1009 3 874 5 1160 12 4244 22

0.0061 0.0076 0.016 0.0463 0.08692.2.1e 21-25 261 0 509 3 1348 8 332 5 860 4 3310 20

0 0.0263 0.0266 0.1391 0.04272.2.1f 26-30 329 3 599 3 1809 5 472 1 350 1 3559 13

0.0414 0.0219 0.0128 0.0197 0.02672.2.1g 31-35 290 2 689 3 1214 3 260 0 336 1 2789 9

0.0297 0.0192 0.0111 0 0.02692.2.1h 36-40 1702 9 1307 6 1407 7 707 4 492 4 5615 30

0.0216 0.0206 0.0229 0.0435 0.0753AL 2.2.1i 41-45 568 3 2231 10 2186 10 1840 8 1910 9 8735 40

0.0243 0.0196 0.0214 0.0387 0.0427GR2 2.2.2a 1- 5 2916 2 4365 10 2536 6 3158 9 3848 4 16823 31

0.002 0.0091 0.0096 0.0185 0.00772.2.3a 1- 5 2467 2 587 3 7143 7 6074 4 8645 5 24916 21

0.0024 0.0231 0.0037 0.0046 0.0045GR1 2.2.4a 1- 5 8645 5 8489 13 15823 17 19774 23 15426 7 68157 65

0.0025 0.0065 0.0054 0.0105 0.0046GR3 2.2.5a 1- 5 4918 5 4090 9 13269 15 18100 20 22224 6 62601 55

0.0044 0.0094 0.0056 0.0069 0.0017With : S.(km2) Nb hauls 514885 1134

Sampl. rate


I

Table 5 – MEDITS 2001 – Stratification scheme

Country N° Stratum

Sszone

Depth (m) Surface (km²)

Area Year List of hauls

ESP 11101 a 10-50 510 Alboran Sea 2001 8 17 25 39

ESP 11102 a 50-100 2081 2001 1 9 19 24 27 37 38

ESP 11103 a 100-200 1218 2001 2 7 26 35 36 40

ESP 11104 a 200-500 3682 2001 3 6 10 13 14 20 28 29 31 33

ESP 11105 a 500-800 5262 2001 4 5 11 12 15 16 18 21 22 23 30 32 34

ESP 11201 a 10-50 1130 Alicante sector 2001 45 59

ESP 11202 a 50-100 4095 2001 47 49 50 54 60 61 117 118 120 121 122 124

ESP 11203 a 100-200 3302 2001 46 48 55 58 62 68 119 123 125

ESP 11204 a 200-500 4242 2001 41 43 44 52 56 57 63 65 66 69 70 71

ESP 11205 a 500-800 3159 2001 42 51 53 64 67 72

ESP 11301 a 10-50 1896 Catalan Sea 2001 88 93 110 113 114

ESP 11302 a 50-100 7219 2001 73 75 77 78 80 81 82 89 92 94 101 103 109 111 112 115 116

ESP 11303 a 100-200 3587 2001 74 76 79 83 90 91 96 100 102 104

ESP 11304 a 200-500 2477 2001 86 87 95 97 98 105 107 108

ESP 11305 a 500-800 1399 2001 84 85 99 106

FRA-F1 12101 a 10-50 1482 Gulf of Lions 2001 50 51 52 53 54 77 78 81

FRA-F1 12102 a 50-100 3911 2001 35 36 37 38 49 55 57 68 69 70 71 72 73 76 79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88

FRA-F1 12103 a 100-200 819 2001 67 75

FRA-F1 12104 a 200-500 709 2001 61 64 74

FRA-F1 12105 a 500-800 660 2001 62 65 66 89

FRA-F1 12106 b 10-50 696 2001 26 27 28 56

FRA-F1 12107 b 50-100 2610 2001 29 30 31 32 33 34 39 45 46 47 48

FRA-F1 12108 b 100-200 1734 2001 24 25 42 43 44 58 59 60

FRA-F1 12109 b 200-500 653 2001 23 40 63

FRA-F1 12110 b 500-800 586 2001 41

FRA-F2 13102 a 50-100 521 East Corsica 2001 8 21

FRA-F2 13103 a 100-200 234 2001 7 9

FRA-F2 13104 a 200-500 920 2001 1 3 5 6 22

FRA-F2 13105 a 500-800 867 2001 2 4

FRA-F2 13107 b 50-100 524 2001 15 17 18

FRA-F2 13108 b 100-200 153 2001 16 19

FRA-F2 13109 b 200-500 383 2001 10 12 14

FRA-F2 13110 b 500-800 960 2001 11 13 20

ITA-M1 13201 a 10-50 657 Ligurian Sea 2001 138 149

ITA-M1 13202 a 50-100 729 2001 130 132 151

ITA-M1 13203 a 100-200 658 2001 131 143 150

ITA-M1 13204 a 200-500 1737 2001 133 135 136 137 139 144 152

ITA-M1 13205 a 500-800 2093 2001 134 140 141 142 145 146 147 148 153

ITA-M1 13206 b 10-50 2053 East Ligurian Sea 2001 119 120 121 122 123 124 128 129

ITA-M1 13207 b 50-100 1598 2001 89 92 93 117 118 127


II

ITA-M1 13208 b 100-200 3186 2001 90 91 95 99 100 101 102 103 104 114 116 125 126

Country N° Stratum

Sszone



ITA-M1 13209 b 200-500 2449 2001 94 96 97 98 105 107 111 112 113 115

ITA-M1 13210 b 500-800 879 2001 106 108 109 110

ITA-M1 13211 c 10-50 945 North Tyrrhenian Sea 2001 47 48 49 87

ITA-M1 13212 c 50-100 1506 2001 51 52 60 61 86 88

ITA-M1 13213 c 100-200 2732 2001 50 57 58 59 62 63 75 76 84 85

ITA-M1 13214 c 200-500 2828 2001 53 54 56 64 65 66 69 70 77 82 83

ITA-M1 13215 c 500-800 3071 2001 55 67 68 71 72 73 74 78 79 80 81

ITA-M1 13216 d 10-50 2107 Central Tyrrhenian Sea 2001 11 14 20 21 28 29

ITA-M1 13217 d 50-100 2159 2001 12 15 19 31 45 46

ITA-M1 13218 d 100-200 4302 2001 5 6 13 16 17 18 26 30 32 36 42 43 44

ITA-M1 13219 d 200-500 3573 2001 1 2 4 7 8 22 27 35 37 38 40 41

ITA-M1 13220 d 500-800 3148 2001 3 9 10 23 24 25 33 34 39

ITA-M2 13301 a 10-50 822 South East Sardinia 2001 1 8 15

ITA-M2 13302 a 50-100 382 2001 7 12

ITA-M2 13303 a 100-200 351 2001 3 9

ITA-M2 13304 a 200-500 589 2001 4 5 6

ITA-M2 13305 a 500-800 502 2001 2 10 11

ITA-M2 13306 b 10-50 910 North East Sardinia 2001 16 20 21 22

ITA-M2 13307 b 50-100 1592 2001 19 23 29 30 31 32

ITA-M2 13308 b 100-200 839 2001 13 28

ITA-M2 13309 b 200-500 765 2001 14 18 27

ITA-M2 13310 b 500-800 855 2001 17 24 25 26

ITA-M2 13311 c 10-50 627 North Sardinia 2001 37 41 42

ITA-M2 13312 c 50-100 796 2001 40 43 45

ITA-M2 13313 c 100-200 512 2001 33 36 38

ITA-M2 13314 c 200-500 500 2001 35 39

ITA-M2 13315 c 500-800 242 2001 34 44

ITA-M2 13317 d 50-100 541 2001 63 64 68

ITA-M2 13318 d 100-200 896 2001 48 49 50 51 96

ITA-M2 13319 d 200-500 471 2001 46 67

ITA-M2 13320 d 500-800 335 2001 47 65 66

ITA-M2 13321 e 10-50 1096 West Sardinia 2001 56 57 60 61

ITA-M2 13322 e 50-100 446 2001 62 72

ITA-M2 13323 e 100-200 927 2001 52 53 58 69

ITA-M2 13324 e 200-500 412 2001 70 71

ITA-M2 13325 e 500-800 260 2001 54 55

ITA-M2 13326 f 10-50 783 South West Sardinia 2001 74 95

ITA-M2 13327 f 50-100 987 2001 59 75 91 92 99

ITA-M2 13328 f 100-200 2335 2001 73 90 93 94 104 105 106 109 113 114

ITA-M2 13329 f 200-500 1620 2001 98 100 102 103 108 117 119 120

ITA-M2 13330 f 500-800 1041 2001 97 101 107 110 111 112 118


III

ITA-M2 13331 g 10-50 705 South Sardinia 2001 77 78 79

Country N° Stratum

Sszone



ITA-M2 13332 g 50-100 350 2001 87 88

ITA-M2 13333 g 100-200 768 2001 76 80 83 89

ITA-M2 13334 g 200-500 1060 2001 81 82 115 122

ITA-M2 13335 g 500-800 1227 2001 84 85 86 116 121 123

ITA-M3 13401 a 10-50 1194 South East Tyrrhenian Sea

2001 85 86 87 95

ITA-M3 13402 a 50-100 1224 2001 88 89 90 91 92 93

ITA-M3 13403 a 100-200 2095 2001 94 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 141

ITA-M3 13404 a 200-500 3238 2001 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119

ITA-M3 13405 a 500-800 5248 2001 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140

ITA-M3 13406 b 10-50 622 South West Tyrrhenian Sea

2001 57 58 59 60

ITA-M3 13407 b 50-100 1003 2001 61 62 63 64

ITA-M3 13408 b 100-200 1224 2001 65 66 67 68 69 70

ITA-M3 13409 b 200-500 1966 2001 71 72 73 74 75 76 77

ITA-M3 13410 b 500-800 2441 2001 78 79 80 81 82 83 84

ITA-M3 13411 c 10-50 3145 Sicilian Channel 2001 2 13 14 15

ITA-M3 13412 c 50-100 6610 2001 1 3 18 44 45 46 47 48

ITA-M3 13413 c 100-200 9866 2001 9 10 11 12 25 26 27 28 29 43

ITA-M3 13414 c 200-500 13424 2001 4 5 6 7 8 16 20 21 30 31 32 42 49 50 51

ITA-M3 13415 c 500-800 15653 2001 17 19 22 23 24 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 52 53 54 55 56

MAL-na 13501 a 10-50 152 Malta 2001 1 6

MAL-na 13502 a 50-100 1473 2001 4 8

MAL-na 13503 a 100-200 3076 2001 5 9

MAL-na 13504 a 200-500 3353 2001 3 7

MAL-na 13505 a 500-800 2526 2001 2

ITA-M5 21101 a 10-50 17300 North Adriatic Sea 2001 1 3 4 5 6 7 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 51 52 53 54 55 56

ITA-M5 21102 a 50-100 8200 2001 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 42 43 44 45

ITA-M5 21106 b 10-50 4700 Central Adriatic Sea 2001 24 28 57 58 73 82 84 85 86

ITA-M5 21107 b 50-100 10350 2001 14 23 25 26 27 46 47 48 49 50 59 71 72 83

ITA-M5 21108 b 100-200 14950 2001 15 16 17 21 22 60 61 62 63 64 69 70 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81

ITA-M5 21109 b 200-500 3900 2001 18 19 20 65 66 68

ITA-M5 21110 b 500-800 950 2001 67

SLO 21111 c 10-50 184 Slovenia 2001 1 2

HRV 21116 d 10-50 7308 Croatia 2001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 19 47

HRV 21117 d 50-100 14785 2001 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 29 30 43 46 48

HRV 21118 d 100-200 7225 2001 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 41 42 44 45

HRV 21119 d 200-500 2409 2001 39 40

ITA-M4 22101 a 10-50 259 East Sicily 2001 1 10 11


IV

ITA-M4 22102 a 50-100 224 2001 4 16

Country N° Stratum

Sszone



ITA-M4 22103 a 100-200 584 2001 2 5 6

ITA-M4 22104 a 200-500 1098 2001 3 7 8

ITA-M4 22105 a 500-800 1273 2001 9 22

ITA-M4 22106 b 10-50 306 North West Ionian Sea 2001 12 37

ITA-M4 22107 b 50-100 278 2001 27 28

ITA-M4 22108 b 100-200 258 2001 26 36

ITA-M4 22109 b 200-500 886 2001 25 29 35

ITA-M4 22110 b 500-800 989 2001 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 30 31 32 33 34

ITA-M4 22111 c 10-50 455 North Ionian Sea 2001 45 51 52

ITA-M4 22112 c 50-100 305 2001 39 46 50

ITA-M4 22113 c 100-200 357 2001 47 49

ITA-M4 22114 c 200-500 972 2001 40 41 44 48

ITA-M4 22115 c 500-800 1032 2001 38 42 43

ITA-M4 22116 d 10-50 677 2001 74

ITA-M4 22117 d 50-100 524 2001 72

ITA-M4 22118 d 100-200 1009 2001 70 71 73

ITA-M4 22119 d 200-500 874 2001 59 60 63 66 69

ITA-M4 22120 d 500-800 1160 2001 53 54 55 56 57 58 61 62 64 65 67 68

ITA-M4 22122 e 50-100 509 2001 75 76 88

ITA-M4 22123 e 100-200 1348 2001 79 81 83 84 89 90 93 95

ITA-M4 22124 e 200-500 332 2001 77 82 85 92 94

ITA-M4 22125 e 500-800 860 2001 78 86 87 91

ITA-M4 22126 f 10-50 329 South West Adriatic Sea 2001 80 99 100

ITA-M4 22127 f 50-100 599 2001 101 104 105

ITA-M4 22128 f 100-200 1809 2001 97 102 103 106 107

ITA-M4 22129 f 200-500 472 2001 96

ITA-M4 22130 f 500-800 350 2001 98

ITA-M4 22131 g 10-50 290 2001 109 115

ITA-M4 22132 g 50-100 689 2001 108 112 114

ITA-M4 22133 g 100-200 1214 2001 110 111 113

ITA-M4 22135 g 500-800 336 2001 116

ITA-M4 22136 h 10-50 1702 2001 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125

ITA-M4 22137 h 50-100 1307 2001 126 127 128 129 130 131

ITA-M4 22138 h 100-200 1407 2001 132 133 134 135 136 137 138

ITA-M4 22139 h 200-500 707 2001 139 140 141 142

ITA-M4 22140 h 500-800 492 2001 143 144 145 146

ALB 22141 i 10-50 568 Albania 2001 1 2 3

ALB 22142 i 50-100 2231 2001 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

ALB 22143 i 100-200 2186 2001 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

ALB 22144 i 200-500 1840 2001 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

ALB 22145 i 500-800 1910 2001 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40


V

Country N° Stratum

Sszone



GRC-G2 22201 a 10-50 2916 East Ionian Sea 2001 25 27

GRC-G2 22202 a 50-100 4365 2001 24 26 28 29 31 32 37 43 44 45

GRC-G2 22203 a 100-200 2536 2001 30 39 40 41 47 49

GRC-G2 22204 a 200-500 3158 2001 33 34 35 36 38 42 46 48 52

GRC-G2 22205 a 500-800 3848 2001 22 23 50 51

GRC-G2 22301 b 10-50 2467 Argosaronikos 2001 15 18

GRC-G2 22302 b 50-100 587 2001 14 16 19

GRC-G2 22303 b 100-200 7143 2001 1 2 10 12 13 20 21

GRC-G2 22304 b 200-500 6074 2001 3 6 7 17

GRC-G2 22305 b 500-800 8645 2001 4 5 8 9 11

GRC-G1 22401 a 10-50 8645 North Aegean Sea 2001 1 4 37 47 63

GRC-G1 22402 a 50-100 8489 2001 2 5 6 23 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 51 60

GRC-G1 22403 a 100-200 15823 2001 3 7 8 13 14 15 16 20 26 31 34 38 50 59 61 62 65

GRC-G1 22404 a 200-500 19774 2001 9 11 17 18 19 21 22 25 27 29 32 33 35 36 39 40 41 52 53 54 55 57 64

GRC-G1 22405 a 500-800 15426 2001 10 12 24 28 30 56 58

GRC-G3 22501 a 10-50 4918 South Aegean Sea 2001 25 40 43 52 55

GRC-G3 22502 a 50-100 4090 2001 10 14 23 24 39 42 47 51 54

GRC-G3 22503 a 100-200 13269 2001 3 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 16 19 36 48 49 50 53

GRC-G3 22504 a 200-500 18100 2001 1 2 4 5 17 18 20 21 22 28 32 33 34 35 37 38 41 44 45 46

GRC-G3 22505 a 500-800 22224 2001 15 26 27 29 30 31


VI

Table 6 – MEDITS 2001 – Computer files

1. Basic data, MEDITS 2001, provisional data to be validated

A files: haul characteristicsB files: catch by haulC files: Biological dataD files: temperature dataS files: surface of the strataT files: haul number-stratum number


RegionSpain Aes2001.txt

Bes2001.txtCes2001.txtDes2001.txt

Ses2001.datTes2001.dat

France Afr2001.txt Bfr2001.txt

Cfr2001.txtDfr2001.txt

Sfr2001.datTfr2001.dat

Italy M1 Ait12001.txt Bit12001.txt

Cit12001.txt Dit12001.dat

Sit12001.dat Tit12001.dat


Cit22001.txtDit22001.txt

Sit22001.dat Tit22001.dat



Sit32001.datTit32001.dat

Malta Aml2001.txt Bml2001.txt

Cml2001.txtDml2001.txt

Sml2001.datTml2001.dat




Albania Aal2001.txt Bal2001.txt

Cal2001.txtDal2001.txt

Sal2001.datTal2001.dat




Croazia Ahr2001.txt Bhr2001.txt

Chr2001.txtDhr2001.txt

Shr2001.datThr2001.dat

Slovenia Asl2001.txt Bsl2001.txt

Csl2001.txtDsl2001.txt

Ssl2001.datTsl2001.dat

Greece G1 Agr12001.txt Bgr12001.txt

Cgr12001.txtSgr12001.dat

Tgr12001.dat


Cgr22001.txtDgr22001.txt

Sgr22001.datTgr22001.dat


Cgr32001.txtDgr32001.txt

Sgr32001.datTgr32001.dat

VII

Figure 1 – MEDITS 2001 – Stratification scheme


33


34

Appendix I. Co-ordination meeting, Genoa, April 2001

MEDITS Co-ordination Committee. Meeting reportGenoa – 26 and 28/04/2001

Participants :

Jacques BERTRAND - IFREMER NantesLuis GIL DE SOLA - IEO MALAGACostas PAPACONSTANTINOU-NCMR AthensGiulio RELINI –SIBM - Dip.Te.Ris GenovaArnauld SOUPLET - IFREMER Sete

The meeting of the Co-ordination Committee has been split into two days. The following is a synthesis of these two meetings.

Project MEDITS 2000-2001In 2001 this project will deal only with the three sub-groups defined during the Cagliari meeting. These sub-groups are :- study of species assemblages with :

J.C. Gaertner (FR) animatorA. Kallianotis (GR)N. Ungaro (IT)L. Gil de Sola (SP)

- definition of nursery areas with :F. Fiorentino (IT) animatorC.-Y. Politou (GR)J. Bertrand (FR)M. Gonzalez (SP)

- methodological studies on trends of abundance indices with :Marie Labropoulos (GR) animatorP. Abello (SP)A. Belluscio (IT)

It is remembered that this sub-groups should work on the basis of MEDITS areas only and not on the basis of GFCM areas.

Project MEDITS 2001This project deals only with the realisation of the 2001 survey. It is remembered that the delays are very short this year. The financial report should be sent to the Commission by the end of August. The following deadlines have been aggreed :- The data, as checked and corrected as possible, should be sent to A. Souplet by the 20th of July,- A. Souplet will have to produce raw data, abundance indices and length frequencies by the 15 th of

September,

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________MEDITS 2001 Technical report

I

- These data will be immediately distributed by e-mail to different peoples in charge of the different species (see the report of the Steering Committee meeting). These persons should send their report to the co-ordinator who will assemble them to produce the final report by the 31st of October.

Future of the projectAt this stage, things remain uncertain. The for EU member states will probably, following the STECF advice, give a high priority both to the survey at sea (1 per year) and to the sampling of commercial catches (landings and discards).These samplings should be made accordingly to the GFCM areas scheme. The MEDITS one is not too different and it seems possible to link some MEDITS areas to fit with the GFCM areas pattern, keeping in mind that it is always possible to remove or add hauls.The main concern is in the co-ordination problem : this co-ordination has a cost but it is possible to manage it by network without meetings.The other problem is the participation of the third countries : it seems impossible in the framework of concerted actions. Contacts should be made with COPEMED and ADRIAMED.

MEDITS web siteThis web site, hosted by the University of Rome, will be updated, although there has been some delays in its maintenance. The principle of two areas, public and restricted, is maintained :- public area : general presentation of the project, list of scientists involved, instruction manual, final

report sent to the Commission until 2001, without the meeting reports, list of publications using the MEDITS data,

- restricted area : meeting reports, latest version of the computer programs used to check the data and to calculate abundance indices and length frequencies with their documentation.

Special issue of Scientia MarinaThe Co-ordination Committeewill send a letter to P. Abello dealing with the referees comments but it is highlighted that we have to follow the referees recommendations and advice. For the time being and following the available information, the submitted papers can be classified in four categories :

Section 1 Section 2 Section 3Accepted 1 3 7Needs minor amendments 5 1Needs major amendments 2 1Rejected 2Total 1 12 9

Because of the little errors or inconsistencies discovered in the data in the framework of the SAMED Project, it has been decided not to include indices tables in the papers of the section 2.

SAMED projectThe co-ordinator of this project (P. Lembo) presented a progress report of the program. It seems that the amount of work was underestimated but many things have already been achieved. A delay has been requested to the Commission and some verbal informations make us think that two additional months will be given.The results (tables and figures) relative to abundance, trends, sex ratio, maturity, etc. for 20 species, 15 management units and 6 years represent the equivalent of around 3000 pages, so they will be stored on CD-ROM. The tasks 1 and 2 of the project are already achieved and the study of demographic parameters will start.


II

It is suggested that a symposium could be held in February/March 2002. This symposium would gather scientists working on stock assessment both by direct and indirect methods, members of GFCM and SAC, representatives of the EU and experts from other areas.It would be an opportunity to combine both families of methods and to discuss in which way it will be possible to go further.

Next meetingFollowing the kind invitation from the IEO, the next general meeting will take place from the 15 th to the 17th of November in Malaga or Fuengirola.


III

Appendix II – Steering Committee meeting in Genoa, April 2001

MEDITS Steering Committee. Meeting reportGenoa – 26-27/04/2001

Participants :BELLUSCIO Andrea, Italy LEVI Dino, ItalyBERTRAND Jacques, France MANNINI Alessandro, ItalyCAMILLERI Matthew, Malta MARANO Giovanni, ItalyCARPENTIERI Paolo, Italy MURENU Matteo, ItalyCOSIMI Giulio, Italy PAPACONSTANTINOU Costas, GreeceFIORENTINO Fabio, Italy PICCINETTI Corrado, ItalyGAERTNER Jean-Claude, France PICCINETTI-MANFRIN – Gabriella, ItalyGIL DE SOLA Luis, Spain POLITOU Chrissi-Yianna, GreeceJUKIC-PELADIC Stjepan, Croatia RELINI Giulio – SIBM, ItalyKALLIANIOTIS Argyris, Greece ROSSI Marco, ItalyLABROPOULOS Mary, Greece SOUPLET Arnauld, FranceLEMBO Giuseppe, Italy TSERPES George, Greece

This meeting was co-chaired by A. Souplet (co-ordinator of the MEDITS 2000-2001 project) and by G. Relini (co-ordinator of the MEDITS 2001 project). The three animators of the study sub-groups identified during the general meeting in Cagliari (J.C. Gaertner, M. Labropoulos and F. Fiorentino) were invited.The General Co-ordinator (A.Souplet) opens the meeting by welcoming all the participants. He warmly thanks the university of Genoa and especially Prof. G. Relini to host this meeting in very good working conditions.Prof. Relini welcomes all the participants on behalf of the University of Genoa and gives the details of the agenda of the meeting.

The current situationThe work of the three sub-groups as defined during the Cagliari meeting is remembered (see infra).Prof. G. Relini exposes the MEDITS 2001 project with its specific constraints :This project deals only with the realisation of the 2001 survey. It is remembered that the delays are very short this year. The financial report should be sent to the Commission by the end of August. More details will be given below.The MEDITS 2000-2001 interim report has been sent to the Commission the 27 th of February. At present there is no answer from the Commission but, after a phone call to the Commission, it seems that the report has been accepted1

MEDITS 2001 surveyThe final report should take the results of the previous surveys into account. There is an important problem of deadline : when the answers to the Commission's call of proposal were written (April/May 2000) it seemed obvious that the contract would have a duration of 12 month as usually. But in December peoples were informed that, for financial an administrative reasons, this contract will last only 8 month, at least as financial report is concerned.Hence the following deadline has been adopted :- The data, as checked and corrected as possible, should be sent to A. Souplet by the 20th of July,

1 By a letter dated of the 18th of April, A. Souplet has been officially informed that the interim report was accepted._____________________________________________________________________________________________________MEDITS 2001 Technical report

IV

- A. Souplet will have to produce raw data, abundance indices and length frequencies by the 15 th of September,

- These data will be immediately distributed by e-mail to different peoples in charge of the different species. These persons should send their report to the co-ordinator who will assemble them to produce the final report by the 31st of October.

The list of peoples in charge is given in Annex 1In addition and following the recommendations from a meeting about species conservation held in Valencia, peoples are asked to report the catches, if any, of sea turtles, big sharks and cetaceans. These species are of a greater concern for the public opinion as well as for the Commission.

Future of the MEDITS projectAt this stage, things remain uncertain. The four EU member states will probably, following the STECF advice, give a high priority both to the survey at sea (1 per year) and to the sampling of commercial catches (landings and discards).The main concern is in the co-ordination problem : this co-ordination has a cost but it is possible to manage it by network without meetings.The other problem is the participation of the third countries : it seems impossible in the framework of concerted actions. Contacts should be made with COPEMED and ADRIAMED.A wide discussion takes place in the meeting; the main points are summarised below :The COPEMED and ADRIAMED structures seem fragile and the MEDITS has been an example for ADRIAMED to develop some programs. It seems indispensable that MEDITS remains present in the third countries under any form as requested to maintain the "MEDITS group".In the particular case of Malta, this country is ready to enter the EU and is already eligible to European funding. COPEMED could continue until June 2002 and it is likely that a COPEMED2 project could be set for 3 more years. For this project, MEDITS in Malta would be a priority.From a general point of view, we miss a structure such as ICES to co-ordinate the international project and the Commission should think to fund at least one co-ordination meeting by year. For the members of the Steering Committee it is obvious that it is of the Commission interest to continue an international co-ordination. Furthermore it is likely that the Italian administration would continue to co-operate with the Balkanise third countries.It is highlighted that the cost of the co-ordination is negligible compared to the cost of the surveys.Following all these considerations, the Steering Committee make an official statement to the Commission (Annex 2) to express its wishes.

Presentation of the SAMED projectThe co-ordinator of the SAMED project (P. Lembo) presents the progress report of the project. Two working groups have already been held, in November 2000 in Iraklion and in April 2001 in Genoa. A third one is planed during the Autumn 2001 (place to be decided).Three task have been started : characterisation of management units on the basis of abundance indices, study of length frequencies, sex ratio and maturity stages, study of the slope of the multi-species length frequencies.A symposium is foreseen in the Winter 2002 (February or March) with the participation of Mediterranean fishery scientists and scientists from other areas (Atlantic, North Sea, etc.) to create a link between direct and indirect assessment methods.The question of the definition of the management units is raised. In fact the management units are not strictly defined and SAMED could be a very useful tool to identify them. With a new software, still under development, it will be possible to allocate each haul of the MEDITS program to every new definition of the management units.

MEDITS web siteThere has been some delay in the maintenance of the web site but this problem will nearly be solved. The principle of two areas, public and restricted, is maintained :


V

- public area : general presentation of the project, list of scientists involved, instruction manual, final report sent to the Commission until 2001, without the meeting reports, list of publications using the MEDITS data,

- restricted area : meeting reports, latest version of the computer programs used to check the data and to calculate abundance indices and length frequencies with their documentation.

Special issue of Scientia MarinaThis special number will contain three main parts : general presentation of MEDITS, directed papers on peculiar species or groups of species, open part with free papers, plus a list of scientist involved in MEDITS and a list of published papers using MEDITS data. This latest list should be send as soon as possible to P. Abello.We have to follow the advice of the referees except for one submitted paper for which the referees suggested to split this paper into two, which seems to be unacceptable.

Specialised Working GroupsThere are three WG dealing respectively with species assemblages (animator J.C. Gaertner), study of temporal trends in abundance indices (M. Labropoulos) and definition of nursery areas (F. Fiorentino). For the latest one, due to the large amount of work needed in the proposal, the study will start about only some species and will be extend to other species, time permitting.The presentations of these studies are given in Annexes 3 to 5.

Next meetingA general MEDITS meeting is planed in Malaga (Spain) from the 15th to the 17th of November 2001.


VI

ANNEX 1 : List of peoples in charge of the various species / group of species for the final report

Species / group of species Scientist in chargeHake L. Orsi – ReliniOther gadiforms A. KalianotisPagellus sp., Mullus sp. G. TserpesLophius sp., Zeus, Helicolenus N. UngaroTriglidae G. ArdizzoneElasmobranchs F. SerenaTrachurus sp., Spicara sp. A. TursiFlatfish S. de RanieriAristeus, Aristeomorpha A. CauParapenaeus, Nephrops L. Gil de SolaSepia, Octopus C. PapaconstantinouLoligo, Ilex F. FiorentinoEledone sp. C. Piccinetti

Annex 2 :Genoa statement on MEDITS

The undersigned members of the Medits steering committee met in Genoa on April 2001 and agreed about the need, in the present phase of development of a EU strategy for fishery data collection, to pursue a co-ordinated action of trawl-surveying in the Mediterranean.They learnt with satisfaction that the EU gives high priority to trawl-surveys by member states, but they would highly appreciate if the EU could also support the ongoing co-ordination financially.So far, co-ordination has produced results in terms of common planning, data bases and their treatment, which has still to be improved in the near future.At the light of the influence of global change at the basin scale, it seems wise not only to sustain the common effort of member states financially but also the development of a co-ordinated surveying all over the Mediterranean in order to monitor the trend of demersal resources living in the same LME.

SOUPLET Arnauld IFREMER, France

GIL DE SOLA Luis IEO, Spain

CAMILLERI Matthew Min. of Agriculture and Fishery, Malta

COSIMI Giulio IRPEM, Italy

KALLIANIOTIS Argyris NAGREF-FRI, Greece

JUKIC-PELADIC Stjepan IOR- Split, Croatia

MARANO Giovanni Biol. Marina Bari, Italy

BELLUSCIO Andrea Dip. BAU – Roma, Italy

LEVI Dino IRMA – CNR, Italy

MURENU Matteo DBAE – Cagliari, Italy

BERTRAND Jacques IFREMER – Nantes, France

TSERPES George IMBC, Greece

POLITOU Chrissi-Yanna NCMR, Greece

PAPACONSTANTINOU Costas NCMR, Greece


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RELINI Giulio SIBM – DIP.TE.RIS, Italy

PICCINETTI Corrado LBMP – Fano, Italy

Annex 3 : Definition of geographical units for trawl fishery management purposeJ.C. Gaertner2, G. Luis de Sola, A. Kallianiotis, N. Ungaro

Due to the multispecies nature of most of the trawl fisheries, management by single-species quota control appeared difficult (Daan, 1987). Thus, after a long tradition of single-species assessment as the main basis of fish stock management, fishery science has moved into a new era where multispecies approaches receive an increasing attention (Mercer, 1982). The concept of multispecies assessment recognizes that fish species do not exist independently of each other, and that they are not harvested independently (Daan, 1987; Mahon and Smith, 1989). In this context, multispecies approaches are usually based on the definition of fishery management units in time and space such that catches with a specific type of fishing gear exhibit an homogeneous species composition (Tyler, et al., 1982; Murawski, et al., 1983; Overholtz and Tyler, 1985; Gabriel, 1992). So, defining geographical areas for management purpose, first requires to describe the spatio-temporal organization of fish assemblages and to better understand its determinism (Gabriel and Murawski, 1985; Mahon and Smith, 1989; Auster, et al., 1995; Langton, et al., 1995; Mahon, et al., 1998). The perspective here is that the community, i.e. a fish assemblage (sensu Tyler, et al., 1982), is the basic unit of analysis, and that changes over time are best understood by following changes, both in composition and in spatial distribution, within the community (Gomes, et al., 1995).On this basis, we postulate that the approach needed to define geographical areas for management purpose should be divided into three steps:

- 1. Definition of assemblages and identification of their spatial distribution boundaries.

- 2. Monitoring the temporal evolution of the assemblage structuring.

- 3. Characterising and quantifying the main processes acting on their origin and persistence. Indeed, identifying the relative strength of bio-geographical discontinuities constitutes a preliminary, but indispensable basis for defining spatial (or ecosystem) units for management (Biagi, et al., 1989; Gabriel, 1992; Mahon, et al., 1998; Tyler, et al., 1982). Furthermore, once the assemblages have been defined and their spatial distribution clearly identified, it is necessary to deal with their temporal persistence. If the structuring of assemblages in a given area does not exhibit a common organisational pattern from one survey to the other, it is not possible to use them as management units (Overholtz and Tyler, 1985; Mahon and Smith, 1989). Furthermore, the definition of regions that are stable in species composition constitutes a source of information on the organisation of the fleet concerned (Bianchi, 1991; Weinberg, 1994; Taquet, et al., 1997). In addition, analyses of resources stability or variability in time is useful to assess the reaction of communities to natural or anthropogenic disturbances (Gomes, et al., 1995; Aldebert, 1997; Gaertner, et al., 1998). More generally, understanding the causes of observed assemblage patterns may help managers to anticipate the influence of anthropogenic and natural processes on resources availability in the future. Moreover, in exploited ecosystems, identification of associations between species and their environment constitutes a major step towards incorporating the effects of environmental variability into abundance indices and reducing by-catch problems (Rose and Legett, 1988; Rakocinski, et al., 1992; Perry, et al., 1994). According to Perry et al. (1994), such knowledge will significantly reduce the amount of noise associated with environmental variability and produce abundance indices that are more sensitive to the detection of real changes in species' abundance. So, apart from the definition of areas for management purposes, the proposed approach could also contribute to several important fields of fisheries ecology. More generally, it contributes to a growing conviction in fisheries ecology that in addition to the information on the commercially demersal assemblages, the management units must include information on other communities, taxa and environmental components of the ecosystem (Caddy, 1993; Lévêque, 1995; Gaertner, et al., 1999).

2 * Corresponding author :J.C. GaertnerCentre d'Océanologie de MarseilleRue de la batterie des Lions13007 Marseille (France)[email protected]


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However, this kind of approach reveals some technical and methodological constraints. From a practical viewpoint, it requires to collect data concerning both commercial and non commercial species. For this reason, numerous works used data from experimental trawling surveys in order to deal with the analysis of the spatial and temporal organisation of demersal fish communities (Colcovocoresses and Musick, 1984; Overholtz and Tyler, 1985; Mahon and Smith, 1989; Biagi, et al., 1989; Bianchi, 1991; Gomes et al., 1992; Loneragan and Potter, 1990; Abella and Serena, 1995a and 1995b; Wantiez, 1996; Aldebert, 1997; Fariña et al., 1997; Ungaro et al., 1998; Jennings et al., 1999; Garcia et al., 1998; Kallianiotis et al., 2000). In comparison with traditional approaches based on commercial landing data, using experimental surveys provides fishery-independent indices for target species, and basic knowledge on the abundance and organisation of non-commercial species. Moreover, the comparisons between surveys coming from (1) a unique area but performed at different periods (necessary to reach the step 2 of our approach), or (2) the same period but for different areas (step 3) can only be assessed using a set of standardised surveys. Unfortunately, if the standardisation of the sampling design is usually correct in the first case it is yet uncommon in the second one. In the Mediterranean Sea, the MEDITS programme (International Trawl Survey in the Mediterranean; Bertrand and Rélini, 2000), may well meet these requirements. Indeed, this programme, which has been carried out annually from 1994 to 2000 in several areas of the Mediterranean Sea, is featured by a high effort to standardise the sampling design between the different surveyed regions (Bertrand and Relini, 2000; Bertrand, et al., 2000). So, in addition to direct assessment of the commercial species, the data collected during this programme provide a unique basis to better understand the spatio-temporal organisation of demersal assemblages at the North-Mediterranean Sea scale.From a methodological viewpoint, monitoring temporal evolution of assemblages (step 2) and quantifying the main processes responsible for their organisation (step 3) requires combined analysis of different data tables. Until recently, the treatment of three-dimensional data sets (stations-species-time or stations-species-areas) failed because of methodological problems (Centofanti, et al., 1989; Dolédec and Chessel, 1989; Gaertner, 1997). Referring to fishery ecology purpose, Mahon et al. (1998) pointed out the subjective aspect of traditional approaches and concluded that it limited the value of works focused on this field. However, this situation is changing. Numerous statistical approaches have been developed during the two last decades to describe patterns of multivariate structures (Ter Braak, 1987; Lebreton, et al., 1991; Clarke and Ainsworth, 1993; Borcard and Legendre, 1994; Thioulouse, et al., 1995; Legendre, et al., 1997; Underwood and Chapman, 1998). Among them, constrained analyses, such as Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA; Ter Braak, 1986; Palmer, 1993) or Principal Component Analysis on Instrumental Variables (PCAIV; Rao, 1964; Sabatier, et al., 1989), widely used in several fields of terrestrial and marine ecology (Yoccoz and Chessel, 1988; Lebreton, et al., 1991; Borcard and Legendre, 1994; Belgrano, et al., 1995; Mazouni, et al., 1998) have also found some applications in demersal assemblages studies (Fariña, et al., 1997; Pech and Laloë, 1997; Gaertner, et al., 1999). Moreover, the recent development of multitable analyses (Lavit, et al., 1994; Escoffier and Pagès, 1994; Chessel and Hanafi, 1996; Gaertner, et al., 1998), which offers a theoretical frame to compare several data tables, showed their usefulness to study the spatial and temporal organization of marine communities (Gaertner, et al., 1999; Mazouni, et al., 2000). In the frame of the MEDITS group dedicated to "the definition of areas for management purpose", we propose to carry out each of the three above-mentioned steps on the basis of the MEDITS surveys. Definition of assemblages and identification of their spatial distribution boundaries (step 1) should be treated at a regional scale (e.g. in each surveyed area) using several kinds of multivariate methods such as clusters (see an example of application in the field of fishery ecology in Mahon, 1985), factorial analyses (see Bianchi, 1991 or Ungaro et al., 1995), or multidimensional scaling (see Ungaro et al., 1999). Monitoring of temporal evolution of the assemblages structuring (step 2) could be investigated at a regional scale using multi-table analyses such as STATIS method (see Gaertner et al., 1998). This work should also contribute to characterise the main processes acting on the origin and persistence of the observed patterns (step 3). In addition, this third step could be specifically investigated using two other kinds of analyses. On one hand, when environmental data are available we could compute the relationships between assemblages organisation and some environmental parameters using constrained analyses such as CCA or PCAIV (see Fariña et al., 1997). On the other hand, we should address inter-regional comparisons using Multi-table methods in order to give a better insight of the determinism of assemblages organisation at the MEDITS global scale. Consequently, taking into account both the progress of statistical tools and the existence of a set of standardised experimental surveys we may anticipate that each of the three steps necessary to define geographical units for management purpose could be investigated. This is the aim of the present project.

References

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Abella, A. and F. Serena – 1995b. Definizione di assemblaggi demersali dell'Alto Tirreno. Biol. Mar. Medit., 2 (2): 451-453.

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Bertrand, J.A. and G. Relini. - 2000. Demersal resources in the Mediterranean. vol. 26. IFREMER, Plouzané, France.

Bertrand, J.A., Y. Aldebert and A. Souplet. - 2000. Temporal variability of demersal species in the Gulf of Lions from trawl surveys (1983-1997). In: J.A. Bertrand and G. Relini (eds), Demersal resources in the Mediterranean., vol. 26: 153-164. IFREMER, Plouzané, France.

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Daan, N. - 1987. Multispecies versus single-species assessment of North sea fish stocks. Can. J. Aquat. Fish. Sci., 44: 360-370.

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Gabriel, W.L. - 1992. Persistence of demersal fish assemblages between cape Hatteras and Nova Scotia, northwest Atlantic. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci., 14: 29-46.

Gabriel, W.L. and S.A. Murawski. - 1985. The use of cluster analysis in identification and description of multispecies system. In: R. Mahon (eds), Toward the inclusion of fishery interactions in management advice, Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. , vol. 1347, pp. 112-117.

Gaertner, J.C. - 1997. Organisation des assemblages démersaux dans le golfe du Lion: structures spatiales et stabilité temporelle. Thèse doctorat, Université Aix-Marseille II.

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Gaertner, J.C., N. Mazouni, R. Sabatier and B. Millet. - 1999. Spatial structure and habitat associations of demersal assemblages in the Gulf of Lions : a multicompartment approach. Marine Biology, 135: 199-208.


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Garcia, C.B., L.O. Duarte and D.V. Schiller. - 1998. Demersal fish assemblages of the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombia (southern Caribbean Sea). Marine Ecology Progress Series, 174: 13-25.

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Gomes, M.C., R.L. Haedrich and M.G. Villagarcia. - 1995. Spatial and temporal changes in the groundfish assemblages on the North-east Newfoundland/ Labrador shelf, north-west Atlantic, 1978-1991. Fish. Oceanogr., 4: 85-101.

Jennings, S., J. Alvsvag, A.J.R. Cotter, S. Ehrich, S.P.R. Greenstreet, A. Jarre-Teichmann, N. Mergardt, A.D. Rijnsdorp and O. Smedstad. - 1999. Fishing effects in northeast Atlantic shelf seas: patterns in fishing effort, diversity and community structure. III. International trawling effort in the North Sea: an analysis of spatial and temporal trends. Fisheries Research, 40: 125-134.

Kallianiotis, A., K. Sophronidis, P. Vidoris and A. Tselepides. - 2000. Demersal fish and megafaunal assemblages on the Cretan continental shelf and slope (NE Mediterranean): seasonal variation in species density, biomass and diversity. Progress in Oceanography, 46: 429-455.

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Lebreton, J.D., R. Sabatier, R. Banco and A.M. Bacou. - 1991. Principal component and correspondance analyses with respect to instrumental variables: An overview of their role in studies of structure-activity and species-environment relationships. In: J. Devillers and W. Karcher (eds), Applied multivariate analysis in SAR and environmental studies, , vol. pp. 85-114. Brussels and Luxembourg.

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Mahon, R. and R.W. Smith. - 1989. Demersal fish assemblages on the Scotian shelf, northwest atlantic: spatial distribution and persistence. Can. J. Aquat. Fish. Sci., 46: 134-152.

Mazouni, N., J.C. Gaertner and J.M. Deslous-Paoli. - 1998. Influence of oyster culture on water column characteristics in a coastal lagoon (Thau, France). Hydrobiologia, 373/374: 149-156.

Mazouni, N., J.C. Gaertner and J.M. Deslous-Paoli. - 2000. Composition of biofouling communities on suspended oyster-cultures: an in situ study of their interactions with the water column. Marine Ecology Progress Series (in press).

Murawski, S.A., A.M. Lange, M.P. Sissenwine and R.K. Mayo. - 1983. Definition and analysis of multispecies otter-trawl fisheries off the northeast coast of the United States. J. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer, 41: 13-27.

Overholtz and Tyler. - 1985. Long-term responses of the demersal fish assemblages of Georges Bank. Fishery Bulletin, 83: 507-520.

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Pech, N. and F. Laloë. - 1997. Use of principal component analysis with instrumental variables (PCAIV) to analyse fisheries catch data. ICES J. Mar Sci., 54: 32-47.

Perry, R.I., M. Stocker and J. Fargo. - 1994. Environmental effects on the distribution of groundfish in Hecate Strait, British Columbia. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 51: 1401-1409.

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Rose, G.A. and W.C. Legett. - 1988. Atmosphere--ocean coupling and Atlantic cod migrations: effects of wind-forced variations in sea temperatures and currents on nearshore distributions and catch rates of Gadus morhua. Can. J. Fish. aquat. Sciences, 46: 1904-1913.

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Taquet, M., J.-C. Gaertner and J. Bertrand. - 1997. Typologie de la flottille chalutière de Sète : formalisation par une méthode de segmentation. Aquatic Living Ressources, 10: 137-148.

Ter Braak, C.J.F. - 1986. Canonical correspondance analysis : a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology, 67: 1167- 1179.

Ter Braak, C.J.F. - 1987. The analysis of vegetation-environnement relationships by canonical correspondance analysis. Vegetatio, 69: 69-77.

Thioulouse, J., D. Chessel and S. Champely. - 1995. Multivariate analysis of spatial patterns: a unified approach to local and global structures. Environmental and ecological statistics, 2: 1-14.

Tyler, A.V., Gabriel. W.L. and Overholtz. W.J. - 1982. Adaptative management based on structure of fish assemblages of northern continental shelves. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish., 59: 149-156.

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Ungaro, N., Marano G., Vlora A. and M. Martino – 1998. Space-time variations of demersal fish assemblages in South-Western Adriatic Sea. Vie et milieu, 48 (3):191-201.

Ungaro, N., C.A. Marano, R. Marsan, M. Martino, M. C. Marzano, G. Strippoli, A. Vlora – 1999. Analysis of demersal species assemblages from trawl surveys in the South Adriatic Sea to fishery resources assessment purpose. Aquatic Living Resources, 12.

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Annex 4 : Statistical studies on temporal trends

Species selectionThe species which will be analysed could be selected from the target species on the basis of their commercial value as well as their representative value in each depth stratum for each area. The criteria for species selection should be discussed during the meeting.

Abundance indices Abundance indices of the selected species could be analysed for each area by depth stratum and year in terms of both number and weight expressed as N/km2 and g/km2

The methodology that could be used for estimating standardised catch per unit effort (CPUE) indices could be the standard one of analysing a log-transformed response variable using linear models (Gavaris 1980, Kimura 1981):

log (CPUE ki)= μ+αi+σk+(ασ)ki+ε ki

where:


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i = year effect,k = depth stratum effectμ = meanασki = two-way interactionε ki = error term CPUE ki = N/km2 and g/km2 at depth stratum k, in year i

Fitting the log-transformed variable to the factors selected by the analysis of variance using ordinary least squares arrives at the linear model, with the assumption of the log-normally distributed variable. The goodness of fit of the models will be determined by the coefficient of determination (r 2), at the 95% confidence level. In the above model we could add the sub-area effect and the relative interaction terms in the case that for each country we will use the sub-areas defined in the MEDITS project. The final decision for the sub-areas will be taken during the meeting.

Length analysisLength measurements taken from a representative number of specimens per species will be used for length analysis for each area (and sub-area), depth zone and year. Length frequency distributions already available could be used to estimate the length distribution of the species under study in the different depth zones, and select those zones where the species occur in such numbers that will allow the analysis. Statistical analysis based on comparisons of length-frequency curves it is not possible to be done in the framework of the project, because the methodology is complicated and may not add too much on the elaboration of the data.Therefore, it is suggested that the mean length per depth zone and year could be estimated, together with minimum, maximum and modal length, while non-parametric comparisons among these values could be undertaken, since in most of the cases the annual length frequencies by species and area are far from normality.

References

Gavaris, S. 1980. Use of a multiplicative model to estimate catch rate and effort from commercial data. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37: 2272-2275

Kimura, D. D. 1981. Standardized measures of relative abundance based of modelling log(c.p.u.e.) and their application to Pacific ocean perch (Sebastes alutus) J. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer. 39: 211-218.

Annex 5 : Proposals to characterise the “nursery” areas on the basis of MEDITS trawl survey data.

By Fabio Fiorentino, Germana Garofalo, Sergio RagoneseAbstractThe objective of this paper is to propose some methods useful to characterize the areas of concentration of juveniles on the basis of Length frequency distributions gathered during MEDITS trawl surveys. These methodologies concern the identification and quantification of the youngest group (“recruits”) and the analysis of their spatial distribution. In particular areas with the highest concentration (“nurseries”) will be identified on the base of geo-statistical approach. The sea water temperature will be used as a “proxy” of the environmental influence on the settlement of Juveniles.

Key-words: Recruitment, nurseries, spatio-temporal variability, Sea Water Temperature, demersal resources, Mediterranean.

IntroductionUnderstanding the recruitment processes is one of the most important challenges to the fishery science. In recent years, out of the Mediterranean, a big effort is done to collect and analyse data in order to relate the


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variability in recruitment strength to the abundance of the spawning stock and to the environmental factors (ICES, 2000).Classically there are two main sources of data on the strength of the recruitment: the estimation of recruits deriving from VPA, or similar approaches, on commercial data and the abundance indices obtained by trawl surveys (Walters and Hilborns,1992).In the frame of the MEDITS program (Bertrand et al., 2000), it was proposed to analyse the consistence of 0 group derived by trawl surveys with main objective to individuate the most important nursery areas for the target species in the Mediterranean. This contribution is aimed to stimulate the discussion among the MEDITS teams in order to individuate a proper way to obtain this scope. Material and MethodsIn order to achieve the main objectives of the task, the following operational criteria and procedures will be proposed:Identifying the spatial scale Analysis will be performed at level of MEDITS Region (for example M3). Only if there are evidences of high variability in environmental and biologic features among sub regions, the analysis will be performed at sub-region level (for example M3c);Identifying the target speciesFirstly all the target species (36 species) will be considered in the analysis in order to check the relative importance in the different areas. Successively only those species well sampled during the all examined period (1994-2000) and characterised by high frequency of occurrence and good level of abundance will be chosen for the mapping procedures.

Identifying the “recruits”When possible, as recruits will be identified those specimens belonging to the 0 age group. For those species whose recruitment is not coincident with the period in which the trawl surveys was carried out (such as Mullus barbatus) or occurs at an age older than 1 year (such as the red shrimps and Nephrops norvegicus), the recruits will correspond to the youngest age group found in the samples (ICES, 2000). Generally speaking, identifying recruits in the length frequency distribution (LFD) should not present particular difficulties in case of discrete recruitment and if the juveniles of a given year are fully recruited to the bottom before the start of the MEDITS survey. Conversely, some problems could be arise if the juveniles are fully recruited to the bottom after the end of the MEDITS survey at a given year, appearing as more aged individuals in the following year survey samples, or the recruitment process is continuous.How splitting the recruits from the LFDIt should be convenient analysing data, standardised by a sweep area of 1 km2, to obtain indices of recruitment per haul, in order to elaborate density in space.Among the several methods available in literature in calculating juveniles from LFD (Orsi Relini et al., 1988; Corsi & Ardizzone, 1997; Betrand et al., 1999; Levi et al., 2000), that one, out the steady state assumption, seems the most useful. The proposed method (Levi et al., 2000) is based on two steps procedure: firstly analysing the overall LFD for each area and survey in order to estimate the mean length ( ) and

corresponding standard deviation (sd) of the 1st component by using the MPA routine implemented in FiSAT (Gayanilo et al.,1996). A putative age to this component is assigned on the basis of the biology of the examined species;

secondly identifying the abundance in number (Density Index = DI) of the recruits per haul as all specimens whose length was below the threshold + αsd (with α =1 or 2), where α value will be chosen after an explorative analysis.

Studying the relative “strength” of recruitmentIn each area DI and corresponding CV will be calculated, for the continental shelf, the slope and the total area. The DI development in time will be analysed in order to detect trends, if any. More particularly, any significant (p=0.05) temporal trend will be evaluated on the base of a weighed (by 1/CV) semi-log e linear regression.


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Mapping the nurseryGenerally speaking, after recruits have been correctly identified and their indices of abundance geo-referenced, location and extent of nursery areas can be investigated by means of spatial analysis and GIS techniques. Several methods have been recently proposed in literature to individuate the nursery areas (Sanchez & Gil, 2000; Kavadas, 2000; Aldebert et al., 2000; Corsi et al., 1998; Lembo et al.,1998 and 1998a; Levi et al., 2000). Most of them apply the basic kriging technique or its variants. However none of these studies attempt a performance comparison among the different methods. Given that no interpolation method is universally superior and since conditions required for valid application of different geo-statistical methods may be easily unfulfilled, it would be useful to consider two alternatives. As first choice, the suggested approach is Ordinary Kriging (OK), which implies the modelling of the semivariogram function. Among the kriging techniques, it is easier to implement and robust enough (Goovaerts, 1997). Whenever the semivariogram results is not interpretable, the inverse squared distance method (IDW) may be considered a valid alternative (Isaaks and Srivastava, 1989). Like OK, the basic idea behind IDW method is that nearby observations are more alike than those further apart and estimation at unsampled location is obtained as weighted linear combination of a number of neighbours.The “nurseries” will be identified as the “restricted” areas where juveniles are concentrated above a prefixed threshold that will be identified after a preliminary analysis of data. Studying the persistence in space and time of nurseriesAfter the identification of an area of significant concentration of juveniles for a given year, it should be relevant to study its persistence in time. The recruitment variability should be due to two main source of variation or their combination: the strength of the spawning stock and the environmental factors. It would be expected that in case of high strength recruitment, the spatial boundaries of the nurseries should be larger than a low or medium abundant cohort had recruited.Looking for environmental influences on recruitmentAmong the environmental factors, the hydrologic features of the water column seemed to be the most important.In the context of recruitment investigations, a more fully use of the sea water temperature data, collected during the MEDITS trawl surveys using the “mini-log”, should be achieved. For each area, which data are available in, the following parameters could be calculated for each haul: The “mean temperature at bottom” (MTB) from the stabilization of the gear on the bottom (depth

measure quite constant) to the end of haul; The ”mean temperature at surface” (MTS) in the first 10/15 m at start and end of haul; The ”surface-bottom gradient” (SBG), as difference between MTS and MTB.A simple approach to explore the existence of relationships could correlate the deviation in % of recruitment indices in a given year and area from the mean over the overall examined period with the deviation in % of seawater temperature indices (MTB, MTS or/and SBG) in the same time by a GIS approach.DiscussionConsidering the status of knowledge of recruitment processes in the Mediterranean and the absence of comparative studies testing the characteristics of various methods used, our proposals are mainly based on “speculative pro and con” analysis. In fact none of the mentioned studies attempts a performance comparison among the different methods neither in calculating juveniles density nor in mapping nurseries. Since no method is unanimously better, it would be useful, in future, to carry out a study aimed at investigating these issues in the framework of MEDITS data.Essential referencesAldebert Y., Le Corre J., G. Boyer – (2000) – Demersal resources of the Gulf of Lion : applying Geostatistical Analysis using ArcView and Spatial Analyst. FIGIS Final Report. EU Project FAIR CT 95 0419: 110 – 123.

Bertrand, J.A., L. Gil de Sola, C. Papaconstantinou, G. Relini and A. Souplet.- 1999. Distribution of juveniles of some demersal species in the Northern Mediterranean. Working Paper to the GFCM-SAC – Sub Committee on Stock Assessment Rome 7-10 June 1999. 15 pp.


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Bertrand, J.A., L. Gil de Sola, C. Papaconstantinou, G. Relini and A. Souplet.- 2000. An international bottom trawl survey in the Mediterranean: the MEDITS programme. Actes de Colloques IFREMER, 26:76-93.

Corsi F, Ardizzone G.D. (1997) – Individuazione statistica di aree di concentrazione di staid giovanili di specie ittiche. Biol. Mar. Medit., 4 (1): 217-222.

Corsi F, Agnesi S., Schintu P., Ardizzone G.D. (1998) – Geographical Information System (GIS) applied to fisheries data: The case of Italian demersal resources. Cah. Options Mediterr., 35: 155-168.

Gayanilo F.C. Jr., Sparre P., Pauly D. (1996) - FAO-ICLARM Stock Assessment Tools (FISAT) User's Manual. FAO - Computerized Information Series – fisheries: 1-126.

Goovaerts P. (1997) – Geostatistics for Natural Resources Evaluation. Oxford University Oress, New York, 483 p.

Gotway C.A., Hartford A.H. (1996) – Geostatistical methods for incorporating auxiliary information in the prediction of spatial variables. Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Vol. 1 n° 1, p.17-39

ICES, (2000) – Report of the Working Group on Recruitment Processes. Oceanography Committee ICES. CM 2000/C:03. Ref. G: 60 p.

Isaaks E.H., Srivastava, R.M. (1989) – An Introduction to Applied Geostatistics. Oxford University Oress, New York, 561 p.

Kavadas S. (2000) – Spatial distribution of Hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the North Aegean Sea (Greece) using geostatitical analysis. FIGIS Final Report EU Project FAIR CT 95 0419.

Hilborn R., Walters C.J. (1992) – Quantitative fisheries stock assessment, choice, dynamics and uncertainty. Chapman and Hall, London: 563 pp.

Lembo G., Spedicato M.T., Silecchia T., D’Agostino V. (1998) – Distribution of nursery areas of Merluccius merluccius obtained by geostatistical techniques. Cah. Options Mediterr., 35: 147-154.

Lembo G., Silecchia T., Carbonara P., Spedicato M.T (1998) – Nursery areas of Merluccius merluccius in the Italian Seas and in the east side of the Adriatic Sea. Presented at Assessment of demersal resources by direct methods in the Mediterranean and the adjacent Seas. Pisa 18-21 March 1998. 15 p.

D. Levi, M.G. Andreoli, A. Bonanno, F. Fiorentino, G. Garofalo, S. Mazzola, G. Norrito, B. Patti, G. Pernice, S. Ragonese, G.B. Giusto, P. Rizzo (2001) – The influence of hydrological features on the recruitment of red mullet (Mullus barbatus L. 1758) in the Strait of Sicily. Proceedings of the International symposium on Fish Stock Assessment and predictions: Integrating Relevant Knowledge, Bergen, Norway, 4-6 December 2000 (submitted to Scientia Marina).

Orsi Relini, L., Fiorentino, F., and Cappanera, M. 1988. Mapping the nurseries of Merluccius merluccius in the Ligurian Sea. Rapports et Procès-Verbaux de Reunions de Commission internationale pour l'Exploration Scientifique de la Mer Méditerranée,

Journel A.G., Huijbregts C.H.J. (1978) - Mining Geostatistics. Academic Press, London, 600 p.

Relini G., Bertrand J., Zamboni A. (eds.) (1999)- Sintesi delle conoscenze sulle risorse da pesca dei fondi del Mediterraneo centrale (Italia e Corsica). Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (suppl. 1).

Sanchez F. and J.Gil (2000) – Hydrographic mesoscale structures and Poleward Current as a determinant of hake (Merluccius merluccius) recruitment in southern bay of Biscay. ICES Journal of Marine Science 57: 152 – 170.

Tserpes G., F. Fiorentino, D.Levi, A. Cau, M. Murenu, A. Zamboni, C. Papaconstantinou (2001) Distribution of red mullets in the Mediterranean continental shelf; implications for management. Submitted to Scientia Marina.


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