Operational Oceanography and the Management of Pelagic Resources: The Mediterranean Sea as a Case-Study

Abstract

This chapter provides examples demonstrating the relevance of integrating operational oceanography data from ocean observing systems and ecological and fisheries assessment models to improve the management of marine living resources. Commercial fisheries exploit coastal, demersal, and pelagic marine resources. Many marine organisms merge in the water column and most of them occupy the pelagic habitat as planktonic organisms (egg and larval stages), during which time they are subjected to the highest mortalities of their life cycle as they are transported by oceanic currents. Hence, it is important to determine how environmental processes control survival rates and dispersal patterns of the early life stages of the species. We offer a general view of a multidisciplinary research field that aims at the protection and exploitation/management of marine living resources by documenting some current strategies and recent advances in the Mediterranean Sea. We include a short introduction of the current strategies for the protection and exploitation of living resources and the recent advances of the field and present four practical examples, which show how the integration of operational oceanography into the management of living resources has improved our knowledge of: 1) the spatial distribution of adult fish, 2) the connection among management areas, 3) the redefinition of management areas, and 4) the use of marine protected areas for the conservation of coastal ecosystems.