Systematics, Biometrics and Biology of Marine Organisms Laboratory
Operations related to the processing of commercial fish species, collected under numerous research programs, including also experimental campaigns (MEDITS) and commercial fleet monitoring (CAMPBIOL) under the “National Program for Fishery Data Collection (PNRDA)” are carried out in this lab. The laboratory’s main activities involve taxonomic identification of specimens, surveying biometrics and meristics, assigning sex and sexual maturity conditions, and taking bone structures (otoliths, vertebrae, spines) for age estimation in fish. This information provides insight into the distribution, abundance, and biological and demographic characteristics of the species being fished and provides useful indications for the management of the fishery compatible with the renewability of the resources themselves. The sampling of catches from the commercial fleet, both the sold and discarded fraction (undersized individuals of commercial species and species of little or no commercial interest such as benthic megainvertebrates) is done in close collaboration with fishermen from the major fisheries located along the southern coast of Sicily. Therefore, in addition to species of commercial interest, the number and weight composition of all species that make up benthic communities has been recorded in the laboratory since the early 2000s, which is important for understanding the health of the marine ecosystem as a whole in terms of both the impact of fishing activity and climate change.
