In the face of global overfishing of wild-caught seafood, ocean fish farming has augmented the supply of fresh fish to western markets and become one of the fastest growing global industries. Accurate reporting of quantities of wild-caught fish has been problematic and we questioned whether similar discrepancies in data exist in statistics for farmed fish production. In the Mediterranean Sea, o...

Archival bottom-mounted audio recorders were deployed in nine different areas of the western Mediterranean Sea, Strait of Gibraltar, and adjacent North Atlantic waters during 2006–2009 to study fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) seasonal presence and population structure. Analysis of 29,822 recording hours revealed typical long, patterned sequences of 20 Hz notes (here called “song”), back-beats...

HE WATER quality characteristics and some heavy metals cations (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Pb) of Damietta estuary and in front of Mediterranean coastal shoreline were evaluated through four successive cruises (February 2008 to November 2008). Twelve sites were selected from the two sectors. The results obtained showed that serious deterioration of quality of water at Damietta estuary compared with Med...

Swordfish (Xiphias gladius L., 1758) is an apex predator, highly migratory meso-pelagic fish widely distributed in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean. As top predators, this fish may be the end reservoir of the bioaccumulation of trace elements in a food chain because they occupy higher trophic levels and are an important food source, causing them to be potentially hazardous to consume. This ...

The geographical location, the shape and the circulation pattern makes the Mediterranean Sea an ideal laboratory to study the interplay between different climatic systems, abrupt climate changes and the response of marine ecosystems. The Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 was drilled in the Northwestern part of the Sicily Channel, the sill that divides the western from the eastern Mediterranean Se...

To investigate the origin and maintenance of the genetic discontinuity between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the common sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) we analysed the genetic variation at a fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence for 18 population samples. The result were also compared with new or previously published microsatellite data. Seven mitochondrial haplotypes and ...

A Saharan soil, considered as a proxy for Saharan aerosols, was used to perform radio-labelled phosphate adsorption experiments using PO4 : leached particles were exposed to poisoned western Mediterranean seawater for varying lengths of time. The measured adsorption capacity of Saharan dust for phosphate was 0.13 μmol g. Considering this value and an annual Saharan dust deposition of 12.5 t km ...

Appendix III of MARPOL ́s Annex VI sets out the criteria and procedures for designating an emission control area (ECA).This criteria includes: a clear delineation of the proposed ECA; land and sea areas at risk; emission quantification and impact assessment; prevailing weather conditions; data on marine traffic; and land based measures concurrent with the ECA adoption. This paper analyses one of...

[1] Water column stratification increased at climatic transitions from cold to warm periods during the late Quaternary and led to anoxic conditions and sapropel formation in the deep eastern Mediterranean basins. Highresolution data sets on sea-surface temperatures (SST) (estimated from U37 k0 indices) and dO of planktonic foraminifer calcite (dOfc) across late Pleistocene sapropel intervals sh...

Background Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is an autosomalrecessive disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and serositis. It is common in eastern Mediterranean population. There are only few FMF patients in Slovenia and Macedonia and the mutation carrier rate is not known. So far, over 80 disease associated mutations have been identified in MEFV gene; the most common are M694V,...