More than 2,800 colonies have been returned to the sea throughout the project, and the survival rate is considerably high.
This year, the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) in Barcelona has returned more than 1000 gorgonians to Cap de Creus that had been trapped in fishing nets and has applied new measures to reduce their accidental capture in the framework of the ResCap and MitiCap projects, dedicated to the restoration of gorgonians and the mitigation of the impact of artisanal fishing on marine organisms, respectively.
To this end, the ICM scientists have worked closely with the artisanal fishers of the Port de la Selva and Cadaqués fishers' associations, with whom they have been collaborating since 2018 with the aim of restoring the deep sea beds (30-90 m) of the continental shelf of Cap de Creus (Girona), recently declared a Site of Community Interest (SCI) in the framework of the European Union's Natura 2000 Network.
"Over these four years, a valuable synergy has been established between two groups with traditionally opposing views, scientists and fishers, who, thanks to projects like these, have been able to share knowledge, exchange ideas and work to ensure the maintenance and sustainability of the sea in the long term," says the ICM researcher Josep Mª Gili, head of the ResCap and MitiCap projects.
A year of records
This year, the ResCap project has broken the record for the number of gorgonians returned to the sea, with more than 1,100 colonies successfully transplanted during the season. This brings the total number of colonies successfully returned during the project to more than 2,800.
"The increase in the number of colonies restored is partly due to the greater involvement of fishers in the project and the improvement and adaptation of methodologies with the accumulated experience," explains the ICM marine biologist Marina Biel.
The return of the gorgonians has been carried out by attaching different colonies to cobbles and then returning them to the sea from a boat. "This technique, which we have christened the 'badminton effect', has allowed us to return the gorgonians at a very affordable price - 1 euro per colony - in deeper waters than most restoration projects, which use scuba diving techniques that allow us to go down to a depth of no more than 40 metres," adds Biel.
Reducing the impact of fishing
As for the MitiCap project, new measures to mitigate the impact of small-scale fishing have been implemented this year. The 2.5-centimetre mesh size has been found to reduce bycatch of benthic organisms - those that live in contact with the seabed - while at the same time maintaining the catch of commercial species.
"This measure has been very well received by the fisher of Port de la Selva and Cadaqués, who have begun to replace the old 3-centimetre nets with 2.5-centimetre nets," says ICM researcher Guillem Corbera, who is involved in the MitiCap project.
Finally, this year the MitiCap project team has carried out a series of pilot tests on the extraction of fishing gear with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which have led to the drafting of an action protocol for the recovery of lost fishing gear using underwater robotics.
Last phase of the projects
Communication tells me that this sentence should be put like this: During the next season, the Rescap and MitiCap projects, which are being developed with the collaboration of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Pleamar Programme, co-financed by the FEMP, will continue to return gorgonians to the sea and implement awareness-raising and mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of fishing.
This last phase of the projects will serve to determine the survival and reproductive viability of the transplanted colonies over time, establish the correct regeneration of the ecosystem functions that they carry out and, finally, check the state of health of the benthic seabed at Cap de Creus, 5 years after the start of the restoration and mitigation activities.