With an innovative method, they managed to release more than 3000 marine organisms from fishing nets in Barcelona, Spain.
Gorgonians, corals, and sponges were trapped and were going to die. However, researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences-CSIC implemented a system called “badminton” and rescued them.
All organisms returned to the Mediterranean Sea in good condition. What is this novelty about?
They released 3000 marine organisms from fishing nets: the innovative mechanism
Everything is part of the European project LIFE-ECOREST, this initiative coordinated by ICM-CSIC aims to restore degraded seabeds at depths between 50 and 400 meters.
Collaboration is essential in this project between scientists and fishermen, the latter being the most interested in the recovery of the organisms. They serve as shelter and breeding areas for many marine species, including those used in fishing.
According to El País, the program has been in progress since 2021, but now results have been verified.
Species are reintroduced into the Mediterranean Sea.[/caption>
“It is not easy because it is not the same as terrestrial restoration; here we work at 50, 100, 200 meters. And we are developing a pioneering methodology,” said Joan B. Company, coordinator of the Spanish intervention.
How is it implemented?
The process begins with fishermen who untangle the remains of organisms caught in their nets while capturing other species.
This way, animals that researchers had never seen in Catalonia emerged, such as a species of black coral, Antipathella subpinata.
Once freed from the nets, fishermen transfer the animals to the aquariums installed by the scientists in the fishing guilds, where they recover. When they are in optimal conditions, they are reintroduced into the sea anchored to a cobblestone.
The weight of the stones provides stability and prevents them from being left “lying” on the seabed, which could mean their death because they would fill with sediments.
This method, named badminton and developed by ICM-CSI, is “simple to apply, economical and replicable, which helps make it sustainable over time,” say the researchers.
They are even exporting it to Sicily, Italy, and the Gulf of Cádiz already.
The numbers
So far, 30 different species have been reintroduced in eight of the 14 areas where they plan to develop the project. The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the conservation organization WWF are also participating.
All these are areas where fishing is prohibited, permanently in 12 of them.
Their goal is to reach the maximum number of reintroduced organisms because, for now, they do not reproduce them in captivity, and they hope that they themselves will generate colonies.
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