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Protection effects on Mediterranean fish assemblages associated with different rocky habitats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Rita Sahyoun ,
Simona Bussotti ,
Antonio Di Franco ,
Augusto Navone ,
Pieraugusto Panzalis  and
Paolo Guidetti
Rita Sahyoun*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Conservation and Management of Marine and Coastal Resources, DiSTeBA, CoNISMa, University of Salento, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE CRIOBE, University of Perpignan, Perpignan cedex 66860, France Laboratoire d'Excellence ‘CORAIL’
Simona Bussotti
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Conservation and Management of Marine and Coastal Resources, DiSTeBA, CoNISMa, University of Salento, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Faculté des Sciences, EA 4228 ECOMERS, 06108 Nice cedex 2, France
Antonio Di Franco
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Conservation and Management of Marine and Coastal Resources, DiSTeBA, CoNISMa, University of Salento, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Faculté des Sciences, EA 4228 ECOMERS, 06108 Nice cedex 2, France
Augusto Navone
Affiliation:
Marine Protected Area of Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo, Via Dante 1, 07026 Olbia, Italy
Pieraugusto Panzalis
Affiliation:
Marine Protected Area of Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo, Via Dante 1, 07026 Olbia, Italy
Paolo Guidetti
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Conservation and Management of Marine and Coastal Resources, DiSTeBA, CoNISMa, University of Salento, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Faculté des Sciences, EA 4228 ECOMERS, 06108 Nice cedex 2, France
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: R. Sahyoun, Laboratory of Conservation and Management of Marine and Coastal Resources DiSTeBA, CoNISMa, University of Salento, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy email: rita.sahyoun@gmail.com
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Abstract

Rocky banks (i.e. sea mountain-like structures rising from the sea bottom) are hard substrate habitats of high socio-economic value (e.g. for fishermen and divers) and ecological relevance as they often host unusually high density of fish. Here we tested whether the response of fish assemblages to protection (i.e. related to the presence of a Marine Protected Area (MPA)) in rocky banks is comparable with the response of rocky reefs dropping from the coast (hereafter called ‘coastal rocky substrates’), and whether there are differences between fish assemblages associated with protected and unprotected rocky banks. Fish assemblages were assessed in shallow and deep coastal rocky substrates, and in rocky banks, in unprotected and protected conditions at a Mediterranean MPA in north-east Sardinia in August 2007 and 2008. Whole fish assemblage structures (in terms of biomass) differed between protected and unprotected conditions in both study years. Fish assemblages at rocky banks, in addition, differed from those associated with coastal rocky substrates. Total fish biomass (summing contribution of all species) was higher under protected than unprotected condition in 2007, while species richness and total fish density did not demonstrate any significant change related to protection. The responses to protection displayed by the target species Epinephelus marginatus and Diplodus sargus were clear especially in terms of greater frequency of large-sized specimens in both study years. Biomass of E. marginatus in 2007 and density of D. sargus in 2007 and 2008 were significantly higher in protected than unprotected conditions, especially in protected rocky banks. This study emphasizes the ecological and socio-economic role of protection and the potential role of rocky banks within management/conservation programmes in the Mediterranean Sea.

Keywords

fish assemblagesMarine Protected AreaMediterranean Searocky banksrocky reefs
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Special Issue 2: Fish and Fisheries , March 2013 , pp. 425 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

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