Fluctuations of landings and environmental conditions in the north-western Mediterranean Sea

• Published in: Fisheries Oceanography
• Main Authors: Lloret, Josep, Lleonart, Jordi, Solé, Ignasi, Fromentin, Jean-Marc
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley & Sons 2001
• Subjects: Box-Jenkins models; Ebro River; Gulf of Lions; Gulf of Roses-Cape Creus; Mediterranean fisheries; Muga River; NAO index; Rhône River; Wind; NAO; Hake; Muga; Prat; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/18511; https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2419.2001.00151.x

18 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables Most of the monthly catches and CPUE of 13 studied commercial species in the coastal waters of the northwestern Mediterranean were signi®cantly positively correlated with run-off of local rivers (RhoÃne and Muga) and the wind mixing index during the spawning season, with time lags of less than a year (transfer function analyses). RhoÃne and Ebre interannual ¯uctuations in run-off were synchronous and were related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), river runoffs being negatively correlated to high NAO episodes. The fluctuations of river discharges and the wind mixing index were cyclic but not related. The results showed that enhanced hydroclimatic conditions in the NW Mediterranean were favourable for the productivity of the ®sh and invertebrate stocks, and suggest the presence of linkage between recruitment of Mediterranean species and local (river discharges, wind conditions) and global (NAO) environmental conditions This research was funded in part by the D.G. XIV of the European Union under project `Impact of fishery and environment on hake recruitment in northwestern Mediterranean' (contract FAIR CT-97). Josep Lloret was ®nancially supported by the D.G. Research of the Government of Catalonia. Our sincere thanks to many people of the Polytechnical University of Catalonia and the Institute of Marine Sciences±CSIC who contributed to the development of this paper. We especially thank Dr Albert Prat and Dr Josep Mã Catot for providing the software and Josep Pascual, RomaÁ Corcoll, Fco. PeÂrez, MeÂteÂo-France, the Catalan Meteorological Of®ce, the Catalan Hydrological Service, the Ebre's Hydrological Confederation and the Fishermen's Organization of Roses for providing data Peer reviewed