Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia

Worldwide, states are gazetting new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to meet the international commitment of protecting 30% of the seas by 2030. Yet, protection benefits only come into effect when an MPA is implemented with activated regulations and actively managed through continuous monitoring and adaptive management. To assess if actively managed MPAs are the rule or the exception, we used the Mediterranean and Black Seas as a case study, and retrieved information on monitoring activities for 878 designated MPAs in ten European Union (EU) countries. We searched for scientific and grey literature that provides information on the following aspects of MPA assessment and monitoring: ecological (e.g., biomass of commercially exploited fish), social (e.g., perceptions of fishers in an MPA), economic (e.g., revenue of fishers) and governance (e.g., type of governance scheme). We also queried MPA authorities on their past and current monitoring activities using a web-based survey through which we collected 123 responses. Combining the literature review and survey results, we found that approximately 16% of the MPA designations (N = 878) have baseline and/or monitoring studies. Most monitoring programs evaluated MPAs based solely on biological/ecological variables and fewer included social, economic and/or governance variables, failing to capture and assess the social-ecological dimension of marine conservation. To increase the capacity of MPAs to design and implement effective social-ecological monitoring programs, we recommend strategies revolving around three pillars: funding, collaboration, and technology. Following the actionable recommendations presented herein, MPA authorities and EU Member States could improve the low level of MPA monitoring to more effectively reach the 30% protection target delivering benefits for biodiversity conservation.

Skin spots play an essential role as a visual stimulus in the social behaviour of fishes, particularly in gregarious species. Several studies have demonstrated that the characteristics of some flank signals are used as conspicuous visual cues for different aspects of intraspecific communication, as well as shaping the interactions among individuals, and reflecting the features of individuals. Here, we analyse the spatial pattern of spots in the European grayling Thymallus thymallus(Actinopterygii, Salmonidae) (Linnaeus, 1758) (Salmonidae, subfamily Thymallinae), which are usually gregarious. Adult individuals are characterised by conspicuous black spots on their sides, generally restricted to the front half of the flank. By sampling 55 individuals in Slovenia, Croatia and Norway, we tested the possible influence of environmental factors (e.g. water velocity, water depth, position in the pool/stream) and/or individual characteristics (sex and length) on the characteristics and spatial pattern of graylings’ spots. Spottiness did not show any relationship with sex or body size, but the numbers of both spots and spotted lines appeared to be correlated with some physical properties of the river: more highly spotted graylings seemed to inhabit faster and deeper waters, and were positioned at the head of pools and streams. We suggested that in gregarious fish, spottiness may signal the status (e.g. quality and/or dominance) of individuals, which has a role in determining the spatial arrangement of individuals along the river bed and, consequently, within the group.

Cobitis elongata Heckel et Kner inhabits the rivers Sava, Kolpa, Krka, Gracnica and Hudinja (the Danube river basin). The species is common in its distribution area. In the Red List of endangered Pisces and Cyclostomata in Slovenia, it is classified as endangered. Status and distribution data of the species from previous reports and recent research were summarized. A total of 31 specimens from the river Kolpa were morphologically studied. Sixteen morphometric and four meristic characteristics were analysed using standard numerical taxonomic techniques. 99.8% of the total variation of standard length was explained by preanal distance, dorsal and ventral fin lengths as well as minimum body height.