Connectivity among Mediterranean fishery stakeholders and scientists resolves connectivity of fishery populations
In this era of fast global change, defining connectivity and adaptive potential of exploited marine stocks while estimating social impacts of change to the livelihood of those who directly exploit the resource are challenging but key requirements towards sustainability of fisheries. Yet, these three levels of information are not captured by traditional management practices: boundaries of stocks are perceived as static, stocks are considered as non-evolving units, and local stakeholders are seldom accounted for at the decision-making level. Here, we create a Mediterranean-based network that includes local stakeholders, social scientists and fisheries scientists, to deliver a framework that will refine the efficiency of fisheries management. The project includes cutting edge genomics techniques - that provide high resolution insights in the connectivity and adaptation - and local stakeholder involvement through all the phases of the framework - to promote the capacity building and knowledge transfer between fishermen and scientists. The concept will be backed-up by a strong social component that will act as a vehicle to bridge and disseminate. This bottom-up approach to fisheries management will permit identification of fishery areas that are critical to preserve, both from a scientific and from a social perspective (local populations), extensively contributing to the sustainability of Mediterranean fisheries.