WP2 - Tools for the implementation of ecosystem approach to fisheries and sustainable aquaculture

The WP aims to develop tools to support fisheries management, through the implementation of models able to describe the dynamics of the target species and the ecosystem as a whole, following two different methodological approaches:

1. insert the dynamics of fishery main target species in a broader environmental context in respect to the traditional mono specific approaches, with the aim of providing useful information in the short to medium term for capture management,

2. provide guidance to adjust, in the medium to long term, fishing methods in function of resources productivity and of marine ecosystem structure and function as a whole. The activities of this WP will be applied in the study areas considered in WP1.

Particular attention is paid to the analysis of scenarios, relating to the presence of fishing and other economic activities which adversely affect the environment or that depend on it, in order to identify fishing methods complying to the Common Fisheries Policy and the recommendations of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean.

The environmental impact and economic sustainability of the adopted management scenarios are also considered.

The WP is divided into the following activities:

• AZ1 - Habitat and connectivity modeling

• AZ2 - Commercial stocks modeling

• AZ3 - Communities and food webs modeling

• AZ4 - Integrated models and scenario analysis

WP leader Cosimo Solidoro - OGS