| Title: |
Decline in Size-at-Maturity of European Hake in Relation to Environmental Regimes: A Case in the Eastern Ionian Sea |
| Authors: |
Aglaia Legaki; Archontia Chatzispyrou; Dimitrios Damalas; Vasiliki Sgardeli; Evgenia Lefkaditou; Aikaterini Anastasopoulou; Aikaterini Dogrammatzi; Konstantinos Charalampous; Caterina Stamouli; Vassiliki Vassilopoulou; George Tserpes; Chryssi Mytilineou |
| Source: |
Animals, Vol 14, Iss 1, p 61 (2023) |
| Publisher Information: |
MDPI AG |
| Publication Year: |
2023 |
| Collection: |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
| Subject Terms: |
Merluccius merluccius; maturation; climate change; regime shift; Mediterranean Sea; Veterinary medicine; SF600-1100; Zoology; QL1-991 |
| Description: |
European hake, Merluccius merluccius L. 1758, is a highly valuable demersal fish species exploited in both the east Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Changes in the size-at-maturity of this species have been reported in various geographic areas. Size-at-maturity is a key parameter in fishery management. Our main goal was to study the trend of the size-at-maturity of European hake in the eastern Ionian Sea (Central Mediterranean) over the last five decades. Utilizing a multi-decadal series of data for various environmental variables, we employed multivariate analyses and non-additive modeling in an attempt to identify shifts in the climatic environment of the eastern Ionian Sea and whether the maturation of the hake population could be affected by these changes. The analyses used suggest a plausible environmental regime shift in the study area in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The decrease in size-at-maturity that was detected in the last two decades may, thus, be associated with environmental changes. However, as many fish stocks already experience fishery-induced evolution, further investigation is necessary to determine whether this environmental effect is an additional stressor on a possibly already fishery-impacted population. The outcomes of this study highlight the importance of investigating the relationship between fish reproductive traits and altered environmental conditions, as the latter are generally ignored during assessments, affecting the robustness of fishery management. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/14/1/61; https://doaj.org/toc/2076-2615; https://doaj.org/article/ac7aa77ee3f54634a9f13337d3430f2d |
| DOI: |
10.3390/ani14010061 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010061; https://doaj.org/article/ac7aa77ee3f54634a9f13337d3430f2d |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.C36DFBB5 |
| Database: |
BASE |