Line of action:

Status:

Execution date:

The overall objective is to give continuity to the previous phases of the project by mitigating the impacts of artisanal fishing on benthic communities dominated by gorgonians, soft corals and sponges.

Specific objectives of the project:
(OE-1) Mitigation of the impacts of artisanal fishing on populations of gorgonians and soft corals in marine protected areas.
(OE-2) Generation of new gorgonians and sponges of the most impacted species for the ecological restoration of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems impacted by artisanal fishing.
(OE-3) Involvement of society in the restoration of gorgonians in marine protected areas.
(OE-4) Dissemination of the project.

A1: Collection of gorgonians and soft corals, the aim is to recover 400 individuals, including soft corals and gorgonians.
A2: Return of gorgonians and soft corals to their natural habitat: 300 gorgonians and 70 soft corals are intended to be transplanted.
A3: Evaluation of the success of mitigation A campaign with ROVs is intended to evaluate the survival rate of transplanted gorgonians.
A4, A5: Maximizing the growth rates of gorgonians and sponges The aim is to evaluate the growth rate of 200 gorgonian fragments and 30 sponge fragments.
A6, A7: Environmental education in schools and environmental awareness for the general public is intended to make a series of workshops and conferences open to the public.
A8: Involvement of society in the restoration activity: gorgonians are intended to be transplanted by diving.
A9: Dissemination of the project in the press and digital media is intended to publicise the project

During the period of lobster fishing with trammel (May-August) a total of 48 trips have been made in which the fishermen were accompanied by one of the researchers hired by the ResCap project.

During the 48 sorties, a total of 321 gorgonians and 75 soft corals were caught. Gorgonians or soft corals were caught in 24 sorties (50% of sorties).

The fishermen, knowing the procedure of other years, collected all the gorgonians and corals that they accidentally caught, regardless of whether or not they were accompanied by scientists, and took them to the aquariums, thus favoring their subsequent return to the sea. This, without a doubt, has helped to increase the number of gorgonians and corals returned to the sea allowing the return to the sea of more than 1000 gorgonians.

Throughout the trammel fishing season (May – August), and thanks to the collaboration of the fishermen of the brotherhoods of Port de la Selva and Cadaqués, in total, 1175 gorgonians belonging to the species Eunicella cavolini, Eunicella singularis and Leptogorgia sarmentosa and 65 soft corals of the species Alcyonium palmatum and Alcyonium acaule have been returned.

The location chosen to carry out the gorgonian return has been one of the park called “Es Portalò” (42°20,385′ N 3°17,586′ E) at a depth of 82 – 84 m. This location was chosen due to the good results obtained in the previous phase of the project.

During this fourth phase of the RESCAP project, different environmental awareness activities were organized for the general public. Initially, it was proposed to organize a conference on the state of conservation of benthic communities with the participation of fishermen and the realization of a theoretical-practical informative workshop for the general public. Thanks to the great experience in communication of the benthic ecology group of the Institute of Marine Sciences, it was possible to organize, not one, but four conferences, of which three face-to-face and one online due to the covid 19 pandemic. In addition, we participated in the first congress of artisanal fishing as speakers with more than 80 participants where the RESCAP project was presented to more than 60 fishermen belonging to 10 guilds distributed along the entire Catalan coast from Llançà to the Ebro delta. During this congress, the main results obtained during these 4 years of the RESCAP project were explained and many of the fishermen expressed their interest in participating in future editions. It was commented that in the event that in the future call for FEMPA funds managed by the Biodiversity Foundation we had the opportunity to have funds to execute the project, they would be taken into account to generate new areas of marine restoration. During the 4 conferences organized by the researchers responsible for the RESCAP project, more than 80 people had the opportunity to explain the project.

During this fourth phase of the RESCAP project, for the first time, a pilot test for the restoration of shallow gorgonians through the use of diving techniques was proposed. The species subject to this pilot test is Eunicella singularis , which fishermen accidentally catch when they set the trammel nets at shallow depths. This was possible thanks to the collaboration with one of the diving centers of Cadaques with whom the activity could be organized in total safety. Any activity that involves diving into the marine environment carries a percentage of risk depending on the depth of work and environmental conditions. For this reason, professional qualifications are necessary to carry out underwater activities of this type. This prevented the involvement of society in the direct restoration phase, only the researchers were able to transplant the gorgonians into their natural habitat. Once the 44 gorgonians of the promised 40 were transplanted, the same center organized daily outings to observe the area that was destined for restoration. On average, 60 people visited the restored area per week during the second half of August, September and October, for a total of 600 people involved in the shallow restoration of gorgonians accidentally caught by artisanal fishermen. A protocol was organized so that each diver knew what to do in case of encountering an unhooked gorgonian.