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Independence of science and best available science are fundamental pillars of the UN-FAO code of conduct for responsible fisheries and are also applied to the European Union (EU) Common Fishery Policy (CFP), with the overarching objective being the sustainable exploitation of the fisheries resources. CFP is developed by DG MARE, the department of the European Commission responsible for EU policy on maritime affairs and fisheries, which has the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) as consultant body. In the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (FAO-GFCM), with its own Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (GFCM-SAC), plays a critical role in fisheries governance, having the authority to adopt binding recommendations for fisheries conservation and management. During the last years, advice on the status of the main stocks in the Mediterranean and Black Sea has been provided both by GFCM-SAC and EU-STECF, often without a clear coordination and a lack of shared rules and practices. This has led in the past to: i) duplications of the advice on the status of the stocks thus adding confusion in the management process and, ii) a continuous managers’ interference in the scientific process by DG MARE officials hindering its transparency and independence. Thus, it is imperative that this stalemate is rapidly resolved and that the free role of science in Mediterranean fisheries assessment and management is urgently restored to assure the sustainable exploitation of Mediterranean marine resources in the future., SI

The study focused on the macroscopic, histological, and biometric analysis of European hake females in GSA 17 (Central-North Adriatic Sea). From 2013 to 2015, 976 females were collected and analyzed monthly. Though females in spawning conditions were found during the whole year, the trend of GSI showed a peak of the reproductive season from April to July in 2014 and 2015. HSI and Kn reached the highest values in September, after the spawning peaks. In 2013, the trend of these indices did not highlight an evident peak, probably due to an adverse event that occurred in the previous winter in the Adriatic shelf. The length at first maturity (L50) was estimated by macroscopic and histological approaches, resulting in 30.81 cm for the macroscopical length and 33.73 cm for the histological length, both values are higher than the current catching legal size. For the first time in this area, batch and relative fecundity were estimated. Relative fecundity was similar to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic stocks, whereas batch fecundity values were lower compared to other fishing grounds. Overall, the analysis of reproductive parameters plays a fundamental role in the sustainable management of this resource in an area as overfished as the Central-North Adriatic Sea.

Bianchetto [“white” late-larval and juvenile stages (‘fry’) mainly of sardine (Sardina pilchardus)] was fished traditionally along most of the Italian coast. The Gulf of Manfredonia (southwest Adriatic Sea) hosts a sardine nursery which was historically exploited by the bianchetto fishery using trawlnets; the fishery was banned in 2010. Here, we model this larval fishery under different assumptions of catch and natural mortality to assess its impact on the adult sardine stocks in the Adriatic Sea. The results show that the impact of the fishery is heavily dependent on the choice of early-stage natural mortality. The model proposed by Pepin (1991). Effect of temperature and size on development, mortality, and survival rates of the pelagic early life history stages of marine fish. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 48: 503–518. was selected as the most plausible. Under this assumption, the direct effect of the bianchetto fishery in the Gulf of Manfredonia on the Adriatic adult sardine stock appears to be low, but not negligible, with impacts estimated as a 0.1–2% increase in the numbers of sardine at age 1 in the absence of a bianchetto fishery. Projections show that a 5% impact on age 1 sardine may be sufficient to bring the adult stock below safe levels. Therefore, given the uncertainties surrounding the impact assessment and the current status of the stock, if this fishery were to be resumed, catches should be kept at the lowest possible level until the underlying processes are better understood.

This study evaluates the effects of biological factors of fish and seasonality on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) accumulation in red mullet (Mullus barbatus) tissue. Specimens were collected monthly with a bottom trawl net in an offshore fishing ground in the Northern and Central Adriatic Sea (Geographical Sub Area 17) throughout 2016. The edible fillets of 380 individuals were analyzed for the concentrations of individual PAH, total PAH, and low, medium and high molecular weight (MW) PAHs. PAH bioaccumulation was related to their physicochemical characteristics (MW, and logarithm of the octanol-water partition coefficient, log Kow), some biological parameters of fish (body size, age, sex, reproductive stage and total lipid content), and catch season. The PAH bioaccumulation pattern and the effects of the different factors varied according to PAH MW. The heavier (medium and high MW) PAHs showed higher levels in winter-autumn and in pre-spawners compared with spawners and post-spawners. Our findings suggest that an important detoxification mechanism, albeit limited to the heavier PAHs, acts in the spawning and post-spawning stage. Low MW PAHs appeared to be unaffected by reproductive stage, lipid content and seasonality. Reproductive stage and seasonality seem to play an important role in the accumulation of heavier PAH, whereas total lipid content and age seem to exert a limited influence, and body size no effect at all.

The aim of the paper is to assess the accuracy for physical oceanography purposes of some commercial sensors (Star-Oddi and NKE) installed on fishing boats in the Adriatic Sea. When mounted on fishing gears, they can retrieve huge amounts of daily datasets (temperature, depth and salinity), spanning a very large spatial region. The possibility to establish their accuracy would be of extreme importance for physical oceanography studies since it would be almost impossible to obtain the same amount of data by means of cruises onboard Research Vessels. Comparison tests against a calibrated {CTD} were performed during several surveys. Summarizing, the data collected by Star-Oddi sensors are useful only considering the data portion where a dwell time at a fixed depth permanence is longer than 50 s, while those collected by {NKE} sensors are much more accurate for both depth and temperature and could be usefully considered for broader oceanographic purposes. The weak point of the {NKE} sensors is the salinity measurement. The evaluation carried out in the present study underlined the optimal conditions for the usage of the considered sensors and produced a series of offsets that might be used to enhance the accuracy of the recorded datasets.

Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) is one of the most important crustacean species in terms of landings and commercial value for the Adriatic Sea. In this zone, this stock is composed by two different subpopulations, characterised by different growth features. This study focus on the biology of individuals from the two most important fishing grounds of the area, namely the “off Ancona” area and the Pomo/Jabuka pits. The size at the onset of first maturity (SOM) for both males and females were determined by means of macroscopic techniques: gonad tissue was examined for females, whereas the relation between carapace length and appendix masculina (length and width) was investigated for males. The estimated SOMs underline the differences between these two subpopulations, even if only the relationship between the carapace length and the length of the appendix masculina of the Pomo/Jabuka pits is statistically sound. Males from the Pomo/Jabuka pits mature at carapace length (CL) between 24.33 ± 0.32 and 25.39 ± 0.81 mm, corresponding to the SOM estimated respectively from the length and the width of the appendix masculina. Estimated L50 for females is 21.14 mm CL within the Pomo/Jabuka pits and 30.83 mm CL in the “off Ancona” area. These results underline the fact that the subpopulations living in the “off Ancona” fishing ground matures at bigger length compared to that one inhabiting the Pomo/Jabuka pits. This is in line with the other analysis carried out within this study, that show the presence of larger individuals in the “off Ancona” fishing ground, whereas small individuals characterize the Pomo/Jabuka pits. These differences have to be taken into account when managing this stock.

The main aim of the present study is to increase the knowledge on the seasonal dynamics of the set gears used by Adriatic small-scale fisheries (SSFs) through the collation of data (landings, fishing effort, composition of catches, length-frequency distributions of target species and economic value of landings) on target species,. The study focused on the three set gears mainly used in the basin: gillnets, trammel nets and traps. The results confirmed that SSFs are diverse, complex and dynamic, representing an economic and social engine and providing seafood and employment to local economies. In the Adriatic Sea, SSFs exploit coastal fishing grounds where the seasonal fluctuations of the physical and chemical parameters of the water column strongly influence the occurrence of the different species. Because of this, many different types of set gears are currently used to catch a pool of target species over the year. Fishermen use more than one set gear during the year and tend to increase the fishing effort when the target species concentrate inside the coastal areas during the recruitment or the spawning season. Accordingly, landings reached the highest values during such periods and often include a large portion of juveniles and/or spawners. The study highlighted that the lack of appropriate data and complete statistics is still one of the main constraints for most of the Adriatic coastal countries, as few countries have in place routinely monitoring programs while others are dealing mostly with estimates. These gaps often have the effect of marginalizing and undervaluing the real role of SSFs in a Blue Growth process.

Reduction of complexity and capacity to evaluate management strategies are important considerations when modelling complex ecosystems. Models of Intermediate Complexity for Ecosystem assessments (MICE) achieve this by representing interactions among a restricted number of crucial species in the ecosystem considered. {MICE} applications are question-driven, heavily dependent on available data for conditioning and aimed at addressing tactical issues. Here we present the development of a {MICE} for the central Adriatic Sea. This area is important ecologically and economically because it supports a commercial stock of Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), and a nursery ground for European hake (Merluccius merluccius), as well as being subjected to high levels of fishing pressure. Here, Italian and Croatian bottom trawl fisheries mainly target Norway lobster while impacting juvenile hake. Single-species stock assessments for the target species indicate fluctuating trends between 2006 and 2013, as do the survey biomass trends of most of their prey, underlining the need for a multispecies management plan. The diet of the target species were examined and prey items partitioned into four groups. Consumption of prey groups by predators was modelled using a Holling Type {II} functional response. A modified biomass dynamic model was used to represent the prey dynamics, projecting them into the future for 10 years (2013-2022) and testing different management strategies, including a discard ban. The most effective management option was the protection of larger individuals, which led to a clear improvement in the stock abundance and spawning stock biomass of both hake and Norway lobster without significant adverse effects on their prey. The discard ban scenario appeared to have knock-on effects on both predators and some of their prey.

It is well known that temporal fluctuations in small populations deeply influence evolutionary potential. Less well known is whether fluctuations can influence the evolutionary potentials of species with large census sizes. Here, we estimated genetic population parameters from as survey of polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci in archived otoliths from Adriatic European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), a fish with large census sizes that supports numerous local fisheries. Stocks have fluctuated greatly over the past few decades, and the Adriatic fishery collapsed in 1987. Our results show a significant reduction of mean genetic parameters as a consequence of the population collapse. In addition, estimates of effective population size (N-e) are much smaller than those expected in a fishes with large population census sizes (N-c). Estimates of N-e indicate low effective population sizes, even before the population collapse. The ratio N-e/N-e ranged between 10(-6) and 10(-8), indicating a large discrepancy between the anchovy gene pool and population census size. Therefore, anchovy populations may be more vulnerable to fishery effort and environmental change than previously thought.

The National Research Council of Italy (CNR) has been undertaking scientific and technological activities aimed at implementing intelligent and automated systems for the collection of data in support of oceanography and fisheries science, as well as providing services for fishing operators. Two independent operational units autonomously developed two original devices, the Fishery Observing System (FOS) and the Information and Communications Technology kit (ICT-kit), recently converging towards a new modular system named the Fishery and Oceanography Observing System (FOOS) that can be adapted to fit the specific research needs of the areas in which it is used. This paper reports the development process and describes the two applications in use in Italy.

36 pages, A trophic mass-balance model was developed to characterise the food web structure and functioning of the Northern and Central Adriatic Sea and to quantify the ecosystem impacts of fishing during the 1990s. Forty functional groups were described, including target and non-target fish and invertebrate groups, and three detritus groups (natural detritus, discards and by-catch of cetaceans and marine turtles). Results highlighted that there was an important coupling between pelagic–benthic production of plankton, benthic invertebrates and detritus. Organisms located at low and medium trophic levels, (i.e. benthic invertebrates, zooplankton and anchovy), as well as dolphins, were identified as keystone groups of the ecosystem. Jellyfish were an important element in terms of consumption and production of trophic flows within the ecosystem. The analysis of trophic flows of zooplankton and detritus groups indirectly underlined the importance of the microbial food web in the Adriatic Sea., Fishing activities inflicted notable impacts on the ecosystem during the 1990s, with a high gross efficiency of the fishery, a high consumption of fishable production, high exploitation rates for various target and non target species, a low trophic level of the catch and medium values of primary production required to sustain the fishery. Moreover, the analysis of Odum's ecological indicators highlighted that the ecosystem was in a low-medium developmental stage. Bottom trawling (Strascico), mid-water trawling (Volante) and beam trawling (Rapido) fleets had the highest impacts on both target and non target ecological groups. On the contrary, purse seining (Lampara) showed medium to low impacts on the ecosystem; cetaceans, marine turtles and sea birds were not significantly involved in competition with fishing activity, This work has been possible under a bilateral Cooperative-Agreement between CNR (Italy) and CSIC (Spain). During the work, M.C. was supported financially by a FPI fellowship from the MYCT of the Spanish Government

21 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, We used a process-oriented model (Ecosim) to characterize changes in marine resources in the north-central (NC) Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean) from 1975 to 2002, and to explore the extent to which these changes were driven by trophic interactions, environment and fishing. Fishing efforts and fishing mortalities were used to drive the ecosystem model, and available biomass and catch data were compared to the model predictions. We calibrated and assessed the fit of the model using the sum of the squared deviations of the observed and predicted biomass values. Trophodynamic indicators were then calculated and used to analyse changes to the ecosystem. Trophic interactions, fishing, and environmental conditions were important driving factors of the ecosystem. Predictions from the model adequately matched observed biomass and catch data for each year. Observed trends and predicted data for biomasses decreased with time for several species, including Norway lobster, hake, red mullets, flatfish, and anchovy. The environmental functions resulting from the fitting procedure predicted that primary production and nutrients increased beyond the baseline from 1975 level, and then showed a decrease. They were negatively correlated with mean sea surface temperature and positively correlated with the Mediterranean Oscillation Index. Our results suggested that the NC Adriatic ecosystem became more degraded over time due to expanding fishing effort, bottom-up effects, and climatic anomalies. Possible mechanisms involved are discussed. Comparing our findings with descriptions of the south Catalan Sea ecosystem showed certain similarities between these 2 Mediterranean ecosystems and revealed unique features of the Adriatic Sea, This work was made possible by a bilateral co-operative-agreement between the Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR), Italy, and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Ciencia e Investigación (CSIC), Spain. The integrated project ’Site Effect Assessment Using Ambient Excitations’ (SESAME) contract no. 036949-2, supported by the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme, Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems, which allowed the continuation of this work, is greatly acknowledged. During part of the work, M.C. was supported financially by doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education and Science, and by Dalhousie University (Canada)

The anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus is an important fishery resource in the Adriatic Sea. Fluctuating recruitment of young fish to the stock over time can be related to changes in the environ- ment. The trend of anchovy recruitment in the northern and central Adriatic from 1975 to 2001 was analysed with the aim of identifying possible effects related to 5 environmental factors: surface air temperature, surface atmospheric pressure, quadrant specific wind stresses, Po River runoff and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. Particular emphasis was placed on 1987, a year of anchovy collapse and fishery crisis. Different types of regression models were applied, both linear and non- linear (simple and multiple), with predictor variables being environmental factors and parental stock abundance. Positive relationships of number of recruits with autumnal SSE and ESE wind stress and both annual and autumnal Po River runoff were found, with a strength comparable to the relationship between recruits and parental stock. Low levels of these environmental factors were observed just before the 1987 collapse, together with a high frequency of occurrence of NE winds and an extreme positive value of the NAO index in the previous autumn (which may have been unfavourable to recruitment in 1987). All 5 environmental factors could be related to increased or reduced food availability for young stages of anchovy in autumn.