Rodrigo Riera, researcher of the BIOCON group of the ECOAQUA institute of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, participated last week as a guest speaker at the National Seminar of Marine Sciences and Technologies (SENALMAR) in Colombia, invited by the University of Magdalena, in Santa Marta, a scenario where students, scientists, teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, leaders and politicians meet every two years to promote the protection and sustainable development of the ocean and marine-coastal spaces.
Riera during his speech at SENALMAR.
The doctor in Marine Ecology, specialising in Zoology and professor at the ULPGC, was in charge of giving the keynote talk ‘Rising temperatures and declining fisheries: consequences of crossing the tipping point in a small pelagic fishery’, on Friday 13 September, in which he analysed the effects of rising ocean temperatures on a company on the island of Madeira, focusing on its two main resources: mackerel and horse mackerel.
During his intervention, Rodrigo Riera went into the consequences that global warming is having on these fishery resources in terms of landings (physical weight expressed in tonnes or kilograms of the catches taken from the fishing vessel or transport vessel) and also on the implications that a reduction in the size of individuals and changes in their maturation stages are entailing.
Rodrigo Riera during his speech at SENALMAR.
He also explained that, despite the implementation of management measures for this fishery under study, a sharp decline in catches of these small pelagics had been observed in recent years. And this decline had been accompanied by a shortening in the size of spawners of these species, and the presence of mature individuals during the months of April and May of the two target species of this study.
Dr Rodrigo Riera concluded that the key to a future solution lies in developing management measures that include strategies to adapt to climate change, such as the capture and gradual integration of other species with an affinity for warmer waters or the implementation of longer temporary closures to preserve mature specimens.
Rodrigo Riera during his speech at SENALMAR.