Proper designation of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) is a highly important spatial measure in any management of fishery resources. EFH is defined as those waters and substrates necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity, a definition that includes the physical, chemical and biological properties of marine areas and the associated sediment and biological assemblages that sustain fish populations throughout their full life cycle. This book presents latest advances in EFH mapping and modelling and introduces the environmental approach to EFH identification through the combined use of latest technologies and advanced techniques, such as Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Statistics. The contents of this book include overviews and comparisons of different approaches on species habitat modelling, methods to identify teleconnection patterns between large-scale meteo-oceanic phenomena and local environmental variation, and EFH maps for cephalopod, shrimp, hake, anchovy, sardine, and swordfish resources in the Mediterranean. The aims of this book are to provide accumulated knowledge on marine species essential habitat mapping and to be a source for further developments in the important topic of marine resource management.

Environmental information and systems play a major role in environmental decision making. As such, it is vital to understand the impact that they have on different aspects of sustainable environmental management, as well as to understand the opportunism they might present for further improvement. Environmental Information Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is an innovative reference source containing the latest research on the use of information systems to track and organize environmental data for use in an overall environmental management system. Highlighting a range of topics such as environmental analysis, remote sensing, and geographic information science, this multi-volume book is designed for engineers, data scientists, practitioners, academicians, and researchers interested in all aspects of environmental information systems.

FAO has promoted the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) as an appropriate framework for the sustainable development and management of fisheries worldwide. With a view to contribute to the identification of lessons and good practices for EAF implementation, this publication documents nine case studies that attempted to put into practice some of the key principles and tools of the approach in the Mediterranean Sea. The case studies were selected to cover a broad range of contexts including smallscale and industrial fisheries operating at local, national and sub-regional scales. It was not within the scope of the publication to evaluate the level of implementation of the ecosystem approach. A specific tool for monitoring implementation is proposed and exemplified. Case studies were analysed with a view to draw preliminary lessons regarding the enabling factors that facilitated the progress made as well as the challenges faced in the transition towards EAF-based management systems. Attention is drawn to key enabling conditions such as favourable policies, legislation and regulatory frameworks, the existence of regional mechanisms for cooperation, favourable market dynamics and social processes, and the relatively low complexity of the fishery systems analysed. A set of factors emerged that contributed to progress during implementation, such as the clear definition of fishing rights, the enhancement of mechanisms for compliance, scientific monitoring and adaptation of management measures, as well as the explicit consideration of biological and socioeconomic aspects in management actions. Further progress in the transition towards sustainable management systems is hampered by external and internal factors. External factors are related, for instance, to environmental changes, the poor regulation and control of competing sectors, consumer behaviour and the governance environment. Issues such as stakeholder representation, knowledge gaps and the availability of sustainable sources of funding are among common internal factors. The authors also discuss how slow progress in the implementation of management plans can generate discredit with the institutions and add additional challenges for any future initiatives to engage stakeholders in participatory management. The case-based results and lessons of how the ecosystem approach to fisheries was considered, developed and implemented in the fisheries discussed in this publication not only contribute to the documentation of current practices in the Mediterranean but may also guide future attempts to further develop the field.

Providing a comprehensive analysis of the current legal basis for the establishment and further development of area-based conservation tools in the Mediterranean Sea, this book explores provisions under international law and the relevant region frame works to explore transboundary marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) implemented at sub-regional level. Under the European Union’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, EUmember States will be responsible for designating the additional protected and strictly protected areas, either by expanding or completing the so-called ‘NATURA 2000’ Network or under national protection schemes through the establishment of national MPAs, including possible transboundary MPAs and OECMs established in accordance with the provisions of the relevant regional seas conventions. This book provides a discussion of the juridical status of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas as parts of a wider enclosed or semi-enclosed Mediterranean Sea, followed by an assessment of the interrelation between global, regional, sub-regional and national legal frameworks on MPAs and OECMs. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the legal basis regarding the establishment of national and, where appropriate, transboundary MPAs and OECMs. Discussing relevant examples of good practice related to transboundary and MPAs, the book will provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities related to the establishment of a transboundary Mediterranean Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI), based on the provisions of the relevant Protocol to the Barcelona Convention, as well as on the challenges and opportunities related to the establishment of a transboundary international marine park and on the feasibility of the establishment of one or more Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) within the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, and beyond. The book will be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and academics with an interest in public international law, law of the sea and sustainable ocean governance.