RECREAFISH

Mediterranean coastal ecosystems are exposed to many long-standing anthropogenic pressures, but the rapid growth of marine recreational activities adds another dimension that remains comparatively poorly understood. Snorkelling, scuba diving, recreational fishing, spearfishing, kayaking, paddleboarding and motorised boating intensify markedly during summer, including inside Marine Protected Areas that attract visitors precisely because of their preserved landscapes and biodiversity.

Current monitoring generally describes visitor numbers, water quality or damage to benthic habitats, but provides a much less detailed picture of how recreational uses vary through space and time, how they are perceived by users and managers, and how they affect fishes. Human presence, fishing and underwater noise may influence individual stress, growth and development, but also fish behaviour, abundance and community composition. RECREAFISH therefore approaches Mediterranean coastal areas as socio-ecosystems, in which human uses and ecological responses must be studied together.

RECREAFISH brings together environmental geography, sociology, fish biology, microbiology and ecology to compare sites experiencing contrasting recreational pressure before, during and after the summer peak. These interdisciplinary observations will provide new indicators and methods for the sustainable management of highly visited coastal ecosystems. RECREAFISH asks how recreational activities shape Mediterranean coastal socio-ecosystems, from human uses and perceptions to the physiology, development and biodiversity of fishes.