| General info | |
| Project title | International Bottom Trawl Survey in the Mediterranean |
| Project acronym | MEDITS |
| Project website | https://www.sibm.it/SITO%20MEDITS/principalemedits.htm |
| Begin date | 1993-01-01 |
| End date | To present |
| Location | |
| Sea area (C19) | Black Sea,Mediterranean Region,Sea of Azov |
| Description | |
| Data-themes (P08) | Biological oceanography,Chemical oceanography,Cross-discipline,Environment |
| Abstract | The Mediterranean Sea is a complex bio-geographic system including a large variety of specific areas. Due to the small extend of the continental shelf along most of the coasts, benthic and demersal resources are mainly exploited close to the shore. As most of the benthic and demersal fish stocks are defined and exploited at a national level, and as exploitation is strongly distributed in a wide number of units (type of vessels, fishing techniques, landing ports, species caught, etc.), very few global information is available on the status of these resources from the fisheries. The MEDITS survey programme (International bottom trawl survey in the Mediterranean) intends to produce basic information on benthic and demersal species in term of population distribution as well as demographic structure, on the continental shelves and along the upper slopes at a global scale in the Mediterranean Sea, through systematic bottom trawl surveys. At the beginning of the project in 1993, one of the main challenges was the adoption of a common standardized sampling methodology. The basic protocols have been adopted by the four first partners (Spain, France, Italy and Greece) early in 1994, just before the first international survey. These protocols were defined taking into account the characteristics of the areas covered by the first survey, but also in such a way to easily allow for an enlargement of the programme to other Mediterranean areas. They include the design of the survey, the sampling gear (feature and handling), the information collected, the management of the data as far as the production of common standardized analysis of the data. Before the first survey, all the common protocols were brought together in a “Manual of protocols” agreed by the Steering Committee of the programme, distributed to the participants before the first survey (1994), and published later (Anon. 1998) to ensure its distribution. This manual has been established from different experiences, and particularly from that of the IBTS Group (ICES 1992). The protocols have been amended when necessary for the following surveys, and particularly in 1995 to take into account the experience gained during the first survey. The fifth version of the manual adopted during the 2007 MEDITS co-ordination meeting (MEDITS 2007b) identifies the contribution of ten partner countries. It is available through this MEDITS web site. The first formal presentation of the MEDITS surveys (Bertrand et al. 2000) has been done during a symposium held in Pisa in 1998 (Bertrand & Relini 2000). This presentation gives the main specifications of the programme. It has been updated in a paper (Bertrand et al. 2002a) presented in a special volume of Scientia Marina edited in 2002 and dedicated to the MEDITS surveys (Abelló et al. 2002). |
| Coordinator | |
| Coordinating organisation | COISPA Tecnologia & Ricerca
|
| Country of Coordinator | Italy |
| Contact name | Maria Teresa Spedicato |
| Contact organisation | COISPA Tecnologia & Ricerca
|
| Phone | +39 080 543 3596 |
| Email | info@coispa.eu |
| Project partners | |
| Other partners | Agriculture University of Tirana
CNR, Institute for the Marine and Coastal Environment (Sezione Mazara del Vallo)
Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Division of Marine Biology and Ecology
Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology & Aquaculture
IEO-CSIC, Murcia Oceanographic Centre
IEO-CSIC, Balearic Islands Oceanographic Centre
IEO-CSIC, Malaga Oceanographic Centre
Ifremer, Station de Sete
Institute of Marine Biology
Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries
Ministry for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change, Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture
University of Bari
|
| Edmerp metadata | |
| Edmerp id | 13595 |
| Collating centre | National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, Division of Oceanography
|
| Latest update | 2022-06-21 |
