Effects of a fishing closure area on the structure and diversity of a continental shelf fish assemblage in the NW Mediterranean Sea

Bottom trawling is the most extensive fishing activity affecting continental shelf in Mediterranean waters. This gear has caused negative effects on communities and topography of seafloor. Temporal or spatial closures have been proposed as strategies to reduce disturbances by overfishing for biodiversity recovery restoration ecosystems. The present study used various indicators analyze compare differences between demersal fish assemblages a closure area (FCA) established fishers Roses port (NW Mediterranean) those ground (FG) assess efficiency this strategy two years after cessation fishing. Our findings demonstrated noticeable increase abundance biomass all species FCA, especially small medium size. Thus, our that there were detectable shifts community (composition, rank plots, ABC curves diversity metrics) short time, evidencing slight disturbance also showed positive population structure, which had an larger individuals, although pattern varied species. In particular, European hake stock recruits, presence large adults supported suitability protection measure. Consequently, long time periods are not necessary perceive benefits terms ecosystem some deep marine ecosystems, monitoring from first year very important.