1.2.2 Biodiversity and Ecosystems Distribution
The second block of chapters addresses biodiversity and endemism in different
ecosystems. Chapter 8 reviews the taxonomic, origin, history, and current conservation status of seaweeds and seagrasses populations. Chapter 9 offers a general
overview of benthic habitats, as well as their associated biota from the Alboran Sea.
Some of these habitats host very complex communities in comparison to similar
ones that are located northwards in the Atlantic Ocean or eastwards in the Mediterranean Sea and the current conservation status of those habitats. Chapter 10 reviews
the importance of invertebrates as the main components of Alboran Sea biodiversity,
also include an analysis of current conservation status. Chapters 8, 9, and 10,
together, provide an in-depth review of the status of benthic habitats, as well as of
habitat-building species from the Alboran Sea. Chapter 11 analyses the biogeographical aspects (both historical and macroecological) that have favored a high
biodiversity of species in the Alboran Sea. Chapter 12 is dedicated to patterns
of linkage or isolation, which determine the very development and abundance of
certain species within the Alboran Sea. Thus, the oceanographic peculiarities of the
Alboran Sea are linked with the biological cycles of some species to explain these
patterns.
1.2.3 Fisheries Resources and Aquaculture
Due to the high biodiversity of the region and high productivity, there is an important
fishery activity in the area since historical times. The third block of chapters reviews
the fisheries in the region.
Chapter 13 analyze the main causes of the decline of small pelagic fishes from the
Alboran Sea. Chapters 14 and 15 are dedicated to the artisanal fisheries in Spain,
northern Alboran Sea, and Morocco, southern part, analyzing the traditional gears
deeply rooted in the region and the main target species, an essential element of
coastal communities’ activity, revenues, and culture. Currently, landings of sardine
and anchovy in northern Alboran are low. Chapter 16 put the focus on the small
pelagic fisheries of two species, Sardine and Anchovy, in the Northern Alboran Sea
exploited by a Spanish purse seiner fleet based in a long historical series of landings
from the 1940s to the present.
Chapter 17 revises main tuna fisheries carried out in Alboran currently by
Morocco and Spain, and the effect of climatic oscillation such as the North Atlantic
Oscillation on the tuna fisheries.
Demersal resources and their exploitation are reviewed in Chap. 18, based on the
high biodiversity of the Alboran Sea, due to the confluence of fauna from the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean biogeographic regions.
Blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), an important commercially exploited
fish for the Spanish and Moroccan fleets that operate in the Strait of Gibraltar is
1 Introduction: Thinking the Future from Now
5
The second block of chapters addresses biodiversity and endemism in different
ecosystems. Chapter 8 reviews the taxonomic, origin, history, and current conservation status of seaweeds and seagrasses populations. Chapter 9 offers a general
overview of benthic habitats, as well as their associated biota from the Alboran Sea.
Some of these habitats host very complex communities in comparison to similar
ones that are located northwards in the Atlantic Ocean or eastwards in the Mediterranean Sea and the current conservation status of those habitats. Chapter 10 reviews
the importance of invertebrates as the main components of Alboran Sea biodiversity,
also include an analysis of current conservation status. Chapters 8, 9, and 10,
together, provide an in-depth review of the status of benthic habitats, as well as of
habitat-building species from the Alboran Sea. Chapter 11 analyses the biogeographical aspects (both historical and macroecological) that have favored a high
biodiversity of species in the Alboran Sea. Chapter 12 is dedicated to patterns
of linkage or isolation, which determine the very development and abundance of
certain species within the Alboran Sea. Thus, the oceanographic peculiarities of the
Alboran Sea are linked with the biological cycles of some species to explain these
patterns.
1.2.3 Fisheries Resources and Aquaculture
Due to the high biodiversity of the region and high productivity, there is an important
fishery activity in the area since historical times. The third block of chapters reviews
the fisheries in the region.
Chapter 13 analyze the main causes of the decline of small pelagic fishes from the
Alboran Sea. Chapters 14 and 15 are dedicated to the artisanal fisheries in Spain,
northern Alboran Sea, and Morocco, southern part, analyzing the traditional gears
deeply rooted in the region and the main target species, an essential element of
coastal communities’ activity, revenues, and culture. Currently, landings of sardine
and anchovy in northern Alboran are low. Chapter 16 put the focus on the small
pelagic fisheries of two species, Sardine and Anchovy, in the Northern Alboran Sea
exploited by a Spanish purse seiner fleet based in a long historical series of landings
from the 1940s to the present.
Chapter 17 revises main tuna fisheries carried out in Alboran currently by
Morocco and Spain, and the effect of climatic oscillation such as the North Atlantic
Oscillation on the tuna fisheries.
Demersal resources and their exploitation are reviewed in Chap. 18, based on the
high biodiversity of the Alboran Sea, due to the confluence of fauna from the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean biogeographic regions.
Blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), an important commercially exploited
fish for the Spanish and Moroccan fleets that operate in the Strait of Gibraltar is
1 Introduction: Thinking the Future from Now
5