Description
Fisheries have a large economic importance for Icelandic and Spanish economies but are facing similar threats resulting from over-exploitation and climate change. The main goal is to evaluate the impact of global change on a group of economically important fish that is heavily exploited in North Atlantic and Mediterranean waters: the species belonging to the genus Molva. This project has a multidisciplinary character because it will collate biological data, oceanographic data and fisheries data. Results should contribute to improve the sustainable exploitation of the studied species and therefore will benefit fisheries managers. The mobility period will also allow the Icelandic and Spanish scientists to establish a new cooperation that should lead to future research projects and networking activities. The project promoter, University of Girona has nearly 20 years of experience in fisheries biology. During, this lime the University has been investigating the effects of environmental factors. Donor partner, University of Iceland/MARICE research group has more than 40 year’s research experience in the evaluation of the fishing and environmental impacts on exploited fish resources in the North Atlantic.
Summary of project results
Although many studies have focused on the impact of sea warming on warm-water species in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, there is much less information regarding the impact of sea warming on cold water species. The project aims at assessing whether our understanding of the impact of sea warming on the cold-water fish species belonging to the genus Molva can be enhanced with interdisciplinary approaches that combine data from biological studies, fishery statistics, trawl survey data on abundance and biomass, and data from museums and fish collections, in two environment with distinct fishing features and temperature regimes: Iceland waters, and NW Mediterranean. In order to complement the data available at partner institutions, the Marine Research Institute in Iceland and the Institute of Sea Fisheries in Germany were invited and joined the project. The hypothesis is that the comparison between different kind of data (biological, oceanographic and fisheries data) in two areas with very different fishing and temperature regimes can shed light on the links between exploited marine resources and global change that a local / regional approach using a single type of data do not totally reveal. In particular, this multidisciplinary methods contributes to elucidate the response of cold-water species such as species of the genus Molva,that could be facing negative effects from both sea warming and overfishing. Statistical analysis to evaluate the data collected during the one-week stay in Iceland is completed during the following months by partners, leading to publications planned for the end of 2015 and 2016. In order to determine and quantify the possible relationships between the time series (of landings, CPUs, abundance, biomass, length, weight) and water temperature, bivariate ARIMA transfer function models are constructed for each species, using the ForeTESS software package, as well as General Linear Models, General Additive models and multiple regression. The reproductive phases of the species are compared to determine the differences between the spawning seasons in Icelandic and Spanish populations. Part of this work is in process during 2016. The project has only allowed to move forward the planned research objectives and also benefitted the PhD thesis carried out by Alba Serrat, a PhD student at the University of Girona. She is expected to come to Iceland for a stay to collect further biological data and to carry out interviews to fishermen.
Summary of bilateral results
After all analyses are finished, partners planned to disseminate the results among fishery managers and other scientists, through scientific papers and local press, and among stakeholders, specially policy makers. The partnership constituted by two leading Icelandic institutions (University or Iceland and Marine Research Institute) and the Spanish Institution University of Girona, allows for the first time to combine data from Icelandic and Mediterranean waters regarding the impact of global change on cold-water exploited species of the genus Molva. The further inclusion to the project of a German Institution (Institute for Sea Fisheries) and possible Spanish (Instituto Español de Oceanografía) and French (OIFREMER) institutions, will further complement data needed for the project. This north-south partnership in the field of marine and fisheries science constitutes a sound way to study the impact of climate change on cold-water exp0loited species.