Food from the Depths of the Mediterranean: The Role of Habitats, Changes in the Sea-Bottom Temperature and Fishing Pressure

• Published in: Foods Vol. 11; no. 10; p. 1420
• Main Authors: Maiorano, Porzia, Capezzuto, Francesca, Carluccio, Angela, Calculli, Crescenza, Cipriano, Giulia, Carlucci, Roberto, Ricci, Pasquale, Sion, Letizia, Tursi, Angelo, D'Onghia, Gianfranco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13.05.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Commercial fishing; conservation; Crustaceans; Deep sea; Deep sea environments; Deep sea fisheries; Deep water; Ecosystems; environmental change; Fish; Fisheries; Fisheries management; fisheries resources; Fishery resources; Fishing; Food; Food resources; Food science; Geomorphology; Habitats; Marine ecosystems; Mediterranean; Seafood; Shellfish; Sustainable fisheries; Threatened species; vulnerable marine ecosystem; Wildlife conservation; Mediterranean Sea; seafood; Mediterranean; conservation; vulnerable marine ecosystem; fisheries resources; environmental change
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods11101420

As part of the " " Special Issue, this paper briefly reviews studies that highlight a link between deep-sea fishery resources (deep-sea food resources) and vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME), species, and habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, providing new insights into changes in commercial and experimental catches of the deep-sea fishery resources in the central Mediterranean over the last 30 years. About 40% of the total landing of Mediterranean deep-water species is caught in the central basin. Significant changes in the abundance of some of these resources with time, sea-bottom temperature (SBT), and fishing effort (FE) have been detected, as well as an effect of the Santa Maria di Leuca cold-water coral province on the abundance of the deep-sea commercial crustaceans and fishes. The implications of these findings and the presence of several geomorphological features, sensitive habitats, and VMEs in the central Mediterranean are discussed with respect to the objectives of biodiversity conservation combined with those of management of fishery resources.