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09 / 06 / 2004
Francesc Sardà: “There should be a ban on fishing below one thousand meters in order to protect the seabed”
Various experts on marine science research have presented their findings in the session “Priorities of Research in the Mediterranean Seabed,” part of the 37th Congress of the International on Scientific Exploration in the Mediterranean Sea.
Member of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (Marine Sciene Institute), Francesc Sardà, exaplined that “we must ban fishing below one thousand meters in order to protect the seabed.” Sardà said that in general “species adapt easily to the environment but the conditions at the bottom of the sea are very specific and therefore the organisms living there are very vulnerable.” “It is precisely this vulnerability that means the fishing at the sea bottom can not be regenerated.” Sardà concluded.
Roberto Danovaro, from the University of Ancona based his research on the biodiversity of the seabed. Danovaro explained that in the Mediterranean there is a curve showing that biodiversity decreases from 3000 to 5000 meters. The professor pointed the importance of the relationship between biodiversity and the workings of the ecosystem. Danovaro said “if the diversity of the seabed has been lost, the workings and of the ecosystem could be affected.”
Jean Paul Foucher, of the geo-science department of the Ifremer Institute, explained the new tools, discoveries and issues for the seabed. According to Foucher “the research being done must see if there are other hotspots in the orography of the seabed.”
Alex Lascaratos, from the University of Athens, presented a study about the unexpected rise in water temperature between 1992 and1994 and said that “the Mediterranean is not isolated but rather interrelated with other seas and therefore it is affected by global climatic change.”
Gerhard Herndl, from the Dutch Institute for Marine Research explained in his presentation that “the microorganisms at the bottom of the sea are essential to the marine ecosystem.” Herndl said “the flux between the atmosphere and the sea is thanks indeed to those prokaryote microorganisms that produce oxygen.”
The research presented at the congress can be seen at the exhibition in the lobby of the Forum Convention Center.
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