The Ipar Perspective Association has produced a Biogeographic Atlas of the species of greatest fishing interest in the Spanish Mediterranean.

The Ipar Perspective Association launched the initiative “Biogeographic Atlas of the species of greatest fishing interest in the Spanish Mediterranean. A spatio-temporal approach for the ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the Spanish Mediterranean”.

The results of the project have managed to meet the general objective established to improve the conservation status and knowledge of the most relevant habitats and species (conservation objectives) of the Mediterranean fishing area GSA06 (Northern Spanish Mediterranean, from Murcia to Catalonia) for the advice of medium-high depth MPAs. Based on the data provided by the IEO of San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia), it has been possible to create individual models of concentration of juveniles and adults of 6 species of fishing interest (European hake, black monkfish, white monkfish, squid, rock mullet and mud mullet). The results obtained in terms of the spatio-temporal distribution of the different species studied, have allowed the pre-selection of a total of 8 MPAs, generating a good interconnected network of MPAs with the aim of protection and conservation of these species of fishing interest.

Through these results, it is expected that different research centers from different areas such as GSA01 and GSA05, will collaborate in the analysis of their areas of influence, increasing the studies in 15-20 more species in order to have a complete ecosystem analysis to be able to make effective decisions regarding the declaration of new MPAs.