Untitled - CNR

Marine research at CNRso far been based on limitations of fishingcapacity (licenses), minimum landingsizes, net mesh sizes and temporary fishingclosures [9], but the establishment ofno-fishing zones, particularly within nurseryareas, has been increasingly advocatedas a further component of the fishery managementstrategy (European Council Regulationn. 1967/2006).The present paper is a synthesis of thework carried out to identify the nurseriesof the most important fishery target speciesin the northern sector of the Strait ofSicily. The species studied are: red mullet(Mullus barbatus), European hake (MerlucciusMerluccius), horned octopus (Eledonecirrhosa), deep-water rose shrimp(Parapenaeus longirostris), greater forkbeard(Phycis blennoides), Norway lobster(Nephrops norvegicus), giant red shrimp(Aristaeomorpha foliacea).This analysis is based on a definition of“nursery” ground which takes into accountthe spatial persistence of hotspots of recruitdensities over long periods [10, 11, 12].More specifically, a nursery ground is definedas a discrete area characterized yearby-yearby the highest concentrations (densityhotspot) of the juvenile fraction of aspecies. The character of persistence ofthese areas has clear implications for implementingspatially explicit managementoptions such as the designation of marineprotected areas (MPAs) and their inclusionin a conservative network.2 Study area and samplingschemeThe Strait of Sicily (Figure 1) is a regioncharacterized by complex bottom topographyand by important hydrodynamic processes,which determine the water-massexchanges between the western and easternMediterranean basins. Along the southerncoast of Sicily, the shelf is characterizedby two wide and shallow banks (