A 25-day study is underway in the Strait of Gibraltar aimed at better understanding the connectivity of selected commercial species in the region.
As part of the research project "TRANSboundary population structure of Sardine, European hake and blackspot seabream in the AlBORAN Sea and adjacent waters: a multidisciplinary approach" (TRANSBORAN), scientists from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), the University of Málaga and the National Institute of Fisheries Research of Morocco (INRH) left Málaga on 20 February aboard the research vessel, Emma Bardán.
"The main objective of the cruise is to describe the spatial structure of the ichthyoplanktonic community as precisely as possible, to help identify the most appropriate stock units for assessment and management,” explained Raúl Laiz, researcher at the IEO Center of Málaga and head of the cruise.
The project will sample larvae and eggs and collect water samples from about 100 stations distributed along the Moroccan and Spanish coasts on both sides of the strait between 30 and 500 metres deep. The results of the project, which began in early 2018 and will run throughout 2020, are expected to reveal whether the currently assumed stock boundaries are the appropriate scales for the management of these species.
The TRANSBORAN project is co-financed by the FAO, through a collaboration between the CopeMed II Fisheries Research Project and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean and the IEO.
