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Among the many definitions of sustainable fishing we find this one: “sustainable fishing means leaving enough fish in the seas, respecting habitats and ensuring that people who depend on the fishing economy can maintain their livelihoods”. A fairly effective sentence but rather incomplete since it only talks about fish and economy. Pesca sostenibile Gorgonia rossa intotheblue.it
Red gorgonian Gorgonia rossa Paramuricea clavata Sustainable fishing Pesca sostenibile intotheblue.it
To have a definition and a slightly more complete and clear idea we must broaden our minds and talk about what we really mean by sustainable development.
Sustainable development means a development that meets the needs of both the current and future generations. If we replace the word “generation” with “ecosystem” the concept appears more complete, universally acceptable and in line with the United Nations sustainable development goals, including environmental, economic and social areas.
Returning to sustainable fishing it seems that only fish stocks, fishing systems and the protection of an economic and social system are important. Talking about individual and collective responsibilities: culture, awareness and respect for the ecosystem, sea and ocean or more generally the planet, seem like abstract concepts and utopias that are difficult to achieve or even understand.
Red gorgonian Gorgonia rossa Paramuricea clavata Sustainable fishing Pesca sostenibile intotheblue.it
In concrete terms, what we see more and more underwater is an environment that is increasingly exploited, impoverished and damaged by our actions. In our videos we try to document all this, trying to make us all understand that when we lower a hook, a fishing line, a net, a longline, an anchor with dozens of meters and a chain into the sea, all these actions are not without disastrous consequences and effects.
Red gorgonian Gorgonia rossa Paramuricea clavata Sustainable fishing Pesca sostenibile intotheblue.it
In the video you can see a branch of red Gorgonia, Paramuricea clavata, measuring over a meter in length, torn a few days ago from the reef where it was located, lying dying on the muddy seabed. This species and these corals when they manage to reach such dimensions are about a hundred years old. Collecting the coral from the seabed you can still see open and therefore alive polyps.
We therefore invite people to think about the damage that has been done in about a handful of minutes trying to free a net, a fishing line, an anchor from this reef where these corals still thrive.
Red gorgonian Gorgonia rossa Paramuricea clavata Sustainable fishing Pesca sostenibile intotheblue.it – ancora e catena persa – lost anchor and chain
Trying to think of immediate and effective solutions to safeguard these ecosystems the only one that can be implemented is the ban on any type of fishing, or anchoring; therefore we return to saying that marine parks and protected areas are currently the only way to safeguard these reefs that are a fundamental piece to safeguard the biodiversity and health of our sea.
Red gorgonia (Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826)) is a Mediterranean gorgonian of the Plexauridae family.
Description
It appears as an arborescent formation with dense dark red branches, which form fans that can reach dimensions of up to one meter in height. The terminal branches, club-shaped, are sometimes yellow. The skeleton is protein; the surface has calcareous spicules that act as a refuge for the retractable polyps.
Red gorgonian Gorgonia rossa Paramuricea clavata Sustainable fishing Pesca sostenibile intotheblue.it
The colonies take on the appearance of a real submerged forest, among whose branches a notable biodiversity develops, consisting of fish and invertebrates of every species.
Distribution and habitat
It is a typical species of the Mediterranean Sea where it populates the rocky seabeds usually deep from 25-30 up to over 100 meters, favoring the ravines that are poorly reached by light. It is in fact a shade-loving species, that is, it loves the shadows.
Red gorgonian Gorgonia rossa Paramuricea clavata Sustainable fishing Pesca sostenibile intotheblue.it
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classifies Paramuricea clavata as a vulnerable species.
In the past, colonies of red gorgonian were very numerous, today we are witnessing their decline throughout the Mediterranean, especially in surface waters as a result of warming waters.
Other factors that threaten their survival are indiscriminate collection by divers, and damage caused by trawling.
It is a very fragile species and very slow growing. By virtue of these characteristics it is considered a biological indicator of the balance of the marine ecosystem.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramuricea_clavata
https://www.iucn.it/scheda.php?id=1248331264
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