This project aims to assess the cumulative impact of artisanal trammel fishing on maërl seabeds by comparing bottoms impacted outside the Columbretes marine reserve and protected seabeds for more than two decades within the reserve. The purpose is to develop fishing methods that promote sustainable and sustainable artisanal fishing on maërl communities.

This project aims to assess the cumulative impact of artisanal trammel fishing on maërl seabeds by comparing bottoms impacted outside the Columbretes marine reserve and protected seabeds for more than two decades within the reserve. The purpose is to develop fishing methods that promote sustainable and sustainable artisanal fishing on maërl communities.

The Columbretes Islands marine reserve has been a protected area for more than two decades. One of its most important habitats is the maërl bottoms that form a perennial and heterogeneous habitat and an ecosystem of high species diversity. The maërl bottoms (intermediate habitats between the reef and the sedimentary bottoms) have not been the object of attention in Spain until recent times, although they are threatened by human impact, including fishing activities. One of them is trawling, recently studied in the INDEMARES – Menorcapesca Channel project. Another traditional technique, less studied, is trammel netting, used to capture species of high commercial value. This is the most important fishing resource in the fishing grounds around the Columbretes marine reserve, as well as in other places, especially the Menorca Channel. Its activity is associated with rocky and maërl bottoms

To achieve the objectives, the following actions have been outlined:

• Dredge sampling along an axis from inside to outside the Columbretes RM to assess the cumulative impact of artisanal fishing on maërl species by comparing their composition and structure inside the RM closed to fishing for +20 years and in the adjacent areas fully exploited.
• To carry out experimental fishing with new materials and different ways of assembling the nets designed with the aim of simultaneously minimising contact with the maërl seabed and catch losses for the artisanal fleet operating on them.
• To design a responsible artisanal fishing code on maërl bottoms and to carry out demonstration activities in different guilds.