Mediterranean Sea case studies

Fact sheet series VECTORS

Contact

Project coordinator: Mel Austen Project manager: Jenny Lockett

VECTORS Project Office

Coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory vectors@pml.ac.uk, www.marine-vectors.eu

VECTORS

Western Mediterranean Sea: The Catalan Sea

Vectors of change in European Marine Ecosystems and their Environmental

and Socio-Economic Impacts

The VECTORS project seeks to develop integrated, multidisciplinary research - based understanding of changes taking place in our marine environment, the mechanisms for them and the ecological impacts expected from them. VECTORS will examine how these changes may affect the range of goods and services provided by the oceans, the ensuing socio - economic impacts and some of the measures that could be developed to reduce or adapt to these changes.

Regional Seas Case Studies

VECTORS studies three regional seas, the North Sea, Baltic and Western Mediterranean, as research areas for investigating the impacts of human activities and how multiple pressures can have combined and interacting effects for the marine environment, society and economy. Within each of the regional seas several case studies are taking place to allow more targeted investigation of the causes and impacts of these pressures in particular environments. This series of fact sheets provides an overview of each case study and the varying scientific approaches used.

Mediterranean Sea case studies

Drivers of change in the Mediterranean Sea include eutrophication, fishing, tourism, pollution, shipping and renewable energy generation.

These activities can result in changes in species distribution, impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function and a decrease in fishing revenue, resources and tourism.

V1: Feb 2013

The Catalan Sea is facing increasing challenges as a consequence of an intensification of use by a highly industrialised human population. These uses are wide ranging, often compete for space and frequently impact on biodiversity and species distribution, which is compromising the sea’s main asset: the attractive and diverse coastal and marine ecosystems heavily visited by residents and tourists.

One of the key challenges affecting tourism is an increase in jellyfish blooms and coastal strandings, which have made marine issues more relevant to the coastal population and visitors. A positive outcome of increased public awareness is that this has led to new monitoring policies allowing frequency, distribution and interactions with human uses to be measured. These blooms also impact on the fishing industry as jellyfish are interacting with marine food-webs and interrupting some of the early stages of commercial fish species development by predation, adding one more dimension of complexity in the already intricate state of fishing activities in the region.

Tourism is essential to the economy of Catalonia with more that 10% of the regional GDP generated through touristic activities. This has led to a rapid

development of coastal areas in the form of accommodation and infrastructure, which is impacting on coastal ecosystems. The Catalan beaches attract a huge number of visitors every year, mainly during the summer season. The quality of these assets is changing due to human interventions, future energy generation needs, and biodiversity changes. Understanding how these features are perceived and intervening in individual decision making processes will help to improve recommendations for new policies aimed at conserving the cultural and recreational ecosystem services in the region.

Fisheries production has declined during recent decades but is still a significant pressure on the marine environment with consequences being seen in the destruction of the seabed and stock depletion. Highly diverse coastal ecosystems are being driven to a process of simplification which, together with other climate and hydrodynamic related drivers, is favouring the appearance of jellyfish blooms in the open sea and strandings on the Catalan coasts. The cumulative effects of overfishing, climate change and other stressors on the socio-economic system are causing a reduction in the importance of the fishing sector as profits decrease, the extinction of traditional ways of fishing as a cultural heritage, and a possible loss of visitors due to an increase in jellyfish or reduction in the quality of the touristic experience.

Institutions have not satisfactory dealt with these complex, multidimensional and interrelated issues. Disciplinary knowledge is not enough to fully understand the complexity of these processes. VECTORS aims to provide more informed decision making tools through simulation of potential future scenarios that allow analysis of future trade - offs as a base for developing a shared vision for the future.

Tourism in Catalonia.

VECTORSVECTORS is a European project (26455) supported within Themes 2, 5, 6 and 7 of the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

AuthorsThe authors of this fact sheet are

Sergio Sastre (CSIC, Spain, sastre@icm.csic.es) Ben Tomlinson (CSIC, Spain) and Francesc Maynou (CSIC, Spain)

Through the application of different monitoring, modelling and valuation techniques, consequences of different paths for the future can be tested. Climate change, energy supply changes, major economic changes or the effect of the growth of human population will shape the way in which the Catalan Sea will be used in the next decades.

The trophic relevance of jellyfish with regards to commercial fish species, the role of over - fishing, and their influence in one of the most important economic sectors of the region are at the core of the interest in this study area.

How

How tourism can be affected by conditions favouring jellyfish blooms and arrivals to the Catalan beaches is a major issue considering the economic impact of this hypothetical situation. In addition, if jellyfish interact with food-webs related with commercially relevant fish species, will the depletion of stocks become irreversible? What will be the effect of energy supply infrastructures for local economies?

Not all possible futures are equally desirable. The consequences of different paths in selected variables can be assessed by using models and simulations. Through the analysis of scenarios, trade - offs are made explicit, and a base for a shared vision of the future can be built through better informed policy design in relevant fields such as Marine Spatial Planning.

Jellyfish blooms are affecting tourism in the Catalan Sea

The future

The interaction between the socio - economic system and its environment is a complex relationship requiring interdisciplinary approaches. Human use of ecosystems is impacting on their capacity to support biodiversity. The ways in which biodiversity, fishing and recreation interact are complex and dynamic. There’s a challenge in approaching these issues in more comprehensive ways in order to visualise possible futures and assess their consequences and reflect about their desirability.

The interactions between biodiversity, fishing and recreation are complex in the Catalan Sea

Why

The Catalan Sea is located in the NW Mediterranean, comprising of the area between Cape Nao and Cape Cerbere in coastal Mediterranean Spain. For practical purposes, the VECTORS scientists will consider the coasts and the near maritime domain of Catalonia as the study site. The Catalan Sea has more than 500 km of diverse coasts ranging from sandy to rocky profiles and attracts around 18% of the foreign tourism received by Spain. Fisheries are in decline but still relevant with more than 120 commercial categories exploited, and around a dozen high value species captured and sold daily in local markets.

In addition, two ports of national importance are located in Barcelona and Tarragona, attracting a huge share of the international trade of Spain including oil imports.

Catalan Sea (image courtesy of NASA World Wind)

Where