Research Objectives

"The gradual elimination of discards and by-catches and to facilitate the transition to the exploitation of living marine biological resources in accordance with Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and to reduce the effects of fishing on the marine environment and the effects on protected predators". It should be noted that mussel farming is a form of aquaculture which in our country is based exclusively on captured-based aquaculture, a process that also contributes to the indirect trapping and biodeposition of other species such as pinna fish which until now it is treated as "rejected" despite its designation as "endangered". Our proposal gives an alternative approach to discarding the pinna fry by utilizing it for the purpose of its pre-breeding and the final enrichment of the wild stocks which are under extreme pressure if not extinction.
The proposed action is in line with the priorities of the European Fisheries and Maritime Fund (EMFF) as it proposes innovative actions-adaptations of existing aquaculture technologies to support the recovery of endangered pinna populations.
The project is generating new knowledge about the physiology, pathology, genetics, ecology and biology of the pinna. At the same time, it organizes the protection of the species with an innovative approach based on the corporate-professional social responsibility of the professionals of the sea (especially shellfish producers-shellfish collectors) as well as contributing to the study of the pathology of the species.
These actions are in line with the EMFF specifications as they "aim to develop or introduce new technical or organizational knowledge to reduce the impact of fishing activities on the environment". The proposal is a holistic approach to reducing the impacts of mussel farming on endangered natural pinna populations, while at the same time proposing solutions through a series of synergistic actions and contemporary tools to "enrich" selected relocation sites (low salinities and temperatures) based on conditions limiting the transmission of the causative agents of mass mortality (haplosporidia & mycobacteria).
The proposal aims at "a more sustainable use of marine biological resources and coexistence with protected predators". The pinnae P. nobilis, although it is not included in the predators (benthic bivalve) is not only a protected species but also an endangered species in the Mediterranean (critically endangered according to the IUCN Red list of threatened species). Under strict conditions of protection it is listed in the Protocol on Biological Diversity of Special Protected Areas (Annex II) and included in Annex IV of the Barcelona Convention (UNEP) (1996). The combination of proposed synergistic actions, particularly the collection and care of pinna juveniles (which bioaccumulate in mussel farms to enhance natural stocks) constitutes a sustainable use of natural resources of both commercially exploitable and endangered mussel brood stocks and protected fins.
It contributes to the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy until 2020. The project is fully aligned with EU biodiversity protection strategies as it aims at actions to protect and enhance the recovery of natural stocks of the endangered pinna.
It is in line with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (Marine Strategy Framework Directive) Directive 2008/56/EC aims to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of the EU. The proposed action for the endangered pinna contributes to the protection of biodiversity and combines the protection of biological resources by marine professionals and their sustainable use by social partners.