Evidence of large increases in sedimentation rates due to fish trawling in submarine canyons of the Gulf of Palermo (SW Mediterranean)
Paradis, Sarah (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Lo Iacono, Claudio (Instituto de Ciencias del Mar)
Masqué Barri, Pere (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Puig i Alenyà, Pere (Institut de Ciències del Mar)
Palanques, Albert (Institut de Ciències del Mar)
Russo, Tommaso (University of Rome Tor Vergata. Department of Biology)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Bottom trawling in submarine canyons can affect their natural sedimentation rates, but studies addressing this issue are still scarce. In the Gulf of Palermo (SW Mediterranean), bottom trawling occurs on the slope around Oreto, Arenella and Eleuterio canyons. Analyses of excess 210Pb concentrations and grain size fractions in sediment cores from their canyon axes revealed that sedimentation rates and silt contents increased in all canyons in the 1980s, due to the expansion of more powerful trawlers (>500 HP) to deeper fishing grounds. In Eleuterio and Arenella canyons, sedimentation rates increased by an order of magnitude (0. 1-1. 4 cm·yr-1), whereas they increased less (0. 1-0. 7 cm·yr-1) in Oreto Canyon, since the enhanced trawling-derived sediment fluxes into this canyon are affected by sediment resuspension from trawling along its axis. Considering the global expansion of bottom trawling, we anticipate similar alterations in other trawled canyons, with ecological consequences that should be addressed by management strategies.
Grants:	European Commission 312762 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTM2015-65142-R Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-863 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1588 Agencia Estatal de Investigación RTI2018-096434-B-I00 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2019-000928-S European Commission 890815
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Bottom trawling ; Mediterranean ; NW Sicily ; Pb-210 ; Sedimentation rates ; Submarine canyons
Published in:	Marine pollution bulletin, Vol. 172 (November 2021) , art. 112861, ISSN 1879-3363

DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112861
PMID: 34523427

11 p, 4.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles