Multiple effects of harvesting on populations of the purple sea urchin paracentrotus lividus in north Portugal

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2014

Authors

Iacopo Bertocci (Author) Other; Dominguez, R (Author) Other; Machado, I (Author) Other; Freitas, C (Author) Other; Dominguez Godino, JD (Author) Other; Sousa Pinto, I (Author) FCUP; Goncalves, M (Author) Other; Gaspar, MB (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Fisheries Research

Vol. 150

Pages: 60-65

ISSN: 0165-7836

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 41 Citations

Scopus - 41 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Agrarian Sciences > Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-HQF

DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2013.10.010

Abstract (EN): We compared patterns of abundance and distribution of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus between shores subject to commercial harvesting of this species and unexploited reference shores in north Portugal. Harvesting was associated to a significant reduction in total density and abundance of individuals of commercially valuable size (i.e. larger than 40 mm in test diameter), with patterns, respectively, fully or mostly consistent over a study period of about one year. In addition, the spatial variance in the distribution of the largest individuals was higher under the harvested compared to the reference condition at the scale of sampled shores (i.e. kms apart), while the opposite pattern was documented for the temporal variance of the same response variable. These findings suggest that commercial harvesting has an actual impact on the studied populations of P. lividus, with potential implications for their conservation and for the management of the associated local fishery.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6