Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume –Oral presentations
Topic 4: THE ELASMOBRANCHS
F. SERENA, M. BARONE, C. MANCUSI
Regional Agency for the Environmental Protection in Tuscany, Via Marradi, 114 - 57126 Livorno, Italy.
f.serena@arpat.toscana.it
MEDITERRANEAN CARTILAGINOUS FISHES:
25 YEARS OF ITALIAN RESEARCH
I PESCI CARTILAGINEI DEL MEDITERRANEI: 25 ANNI DI RICERCA
ITALIANA
Abstract – A brief historical overview of the actions related to management and data collection on
cartilaginous fishes in Italy is presented. A table summarises the main events of the past 25 years.
Key-words: research programmes, monitoring, shark fisheries, Mediterranean, Italian seas.
Introduction – In the last 25 years several projects aimed at the assessment of the
stocks exploitation have been carried on in Italy. Our country is always present in these
kind of research even because the fisheries represent an important sector of the Italian
economy. The most important project is perhaps represented by the GRUND (GRUppo
Nazionale risorse Demersali) started in 1985. A national expert group coordinating the
project was build up and Italy became the Mediterranean country with the longest time
series of demersal resources. In 1994 also the UE project MEDITS (MEDIterranean
Trawl Survey) started and several UE countries joined the collection of data. The
GRUND and MEDITS projects allowed the collection of a huge number of data on
cartilaginous fishes, for example on their biology, spatial distribution, trophic relations
etc. Moreover, other specific projects on cartilaginous fishes were conducted in this
period. The collection of data about large cartilaginous fishes stared in Italy since 1985
as the LEM project (Large Elasmobranchs Monitoring). Starting from 2002 the project
became the MEDiterranean Large Elamobranchs Monitoring programme (MEDLEM)
and has been provided an updated source of information on large cartilaginous fishes
for national and international organizations involved in the management and the
conservation of these fish in the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, in 2006 the DG
Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission financed the project
“Status of rays populations in the Mediterranean Sea and advices for sustainable
exploitation of the stocks”, aimed to analyse and discuss data on skates captures
collected during MEDITS surveys, giving to Italy the coordination of the project.
Finally, the project “Elements for the Assessment and Protection of Elasmobranchs in
the Italian Seas” (ELASMOIT), an Italian project with a primary goal to collect
information on the status of exploitation and conservation of elasmobranches in the
Italian Seas. The project started in February 2009 and was completed in April 2010.
The ELASMOIT project especially focued on the pelagic species, and the output was
also the proposal of guidelines supporting the Ministry for the Environment, Land and
Sea (MiATTM) in the compilation of the future Italian Action Plan. In the Table 1 the
main events of the past 25 years are summarised.
Overview on the MEDLEM project - The MEDLEM has the objective of recording
data on by-catch, sighting, stranding or bibliographic references and allows the search
for species, country and gear. The MEDLEM protocol was more and more refined in
41 st S.I.B.M. CONGRESS Rapallo (GE), 7-11 June 2010
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