Aylin Ulman

Mersea Marine Consulting

The Mediterranean Sea is home to over 2/3 of the world's charter boat traffic and hosts an estimated 1.5 million recreational boats. Studies elsewhere have demonstrated marinas as important hubs for the stepping-stone transfer of non-indigenous species (NIS), but these unique anthropogenic, and typically artificial habitats have largely gone overlo...

• Factors shaping non-indigenous species (NIS) richness are tested in the Mediterranean. • There is a higher trend of NIS richness going from east to west in the Mediterranean. • NIS richness in marinas is mainly influenced by proximity to other major vectors. • NIS similarities between marinas are more influenced by environmental factors. • The Su...

The Mediterranean Sea is classified as a “data-poor” region in fisheries due to its low number of assessed stocks given its biodiversity and number of exploited species. In this study, the CMSY method was applied to assess the status and exploitation levels of 54 commercial fish and invertebrate stocks belonging to 34 species fished by Turkish flee...

Invasive species pose threats to either human health or inflict ecological and/or economic damage. The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus), a Lessepsian species, is one of the most harmful species in the Mediterranean Sea, because of its potent neurotoxin, impacts on marine biodiversity, and the increased costs and labor they inflict...

The highly toxic orange-spotted toadfish Torquigener hypselogeneion (Bleeker 1852) [conspecific Torquigener flavimaculosus Hardy & Randall, 1983] is now a very common invasive fish in the Eastern Mediterranean. Its small size, well under 20 cm, may have concealed the danger it represents, and little is known about its biology or ecology. Here, the...

Fisheries are of immense importance to Mediterranean countries, for protein, employment and livelihoods. Studies addressing the factors affecting fish price dynamics are of interest to examine their drivers as prices often dictate target fisheries. This study investigates fish market prices in relation to landings and fish sizes from Türkiye's larg...

Various studies have recently been carried out to assess the condition of the Sea of Marmara's ecosystem and fish stocks. In this section, i) The results obtained from these studies are synthesized to reveal the ecosystem change and fisheries status; ii) The relationship between the mucilage event and the fisheries, and the status of the important...

Son yıllarda, Marmara Denizi ekosistemi ve balık stoklarının durumunu ortaya koymak için önemli çalışmalar yapılmıştır. Bu bölümde, i) Bu çalışmalardan elde edilen sonuçlar sentezlenerek Marmara Denizi’nin ekosistem değişimi ve balıkçılığının durumu ortaya konmuş, ii) Marmara Denizi’nde gerçekleşen müsilaj olayının balıkçılıkla ilişkisi ve bu deniz...

Ecosystem regime shifts can alter ecosystem services, affect human well-being, and trigger policy conflicts due to economic losses and reductions in societal and environmental benefits. Intensive anthropogenic activities make the Sea of Marmara ecosystem suffer from nearly all existing available types of ecosystem pressures such as biological degra...

Purse seiners generally try to maximize their revenues by targeting multiple species, starting with the most valuable ones available. The technology and capacity of purse seiners can be exceptionally high for the stocks found in the Marmara Sea, Turkey’s only inland sea, due to its small size and nearly totally enclosed nature. Due to their large c...

In this Collective Article on alien and cryptogenic diversity in the Mediterranean Sea we report a total of 19 species belonging to nine Phyla and coming from nine countries. Several of these records concern fish species, and of particular interest are the first records of: Terapon puta for Italian waters; Pteragopus trispilus from Malta; Plotosus...

The effects of multifilament gillnet twine thickness on selectivity and catching efficiency for the common carp fishery were investigated in this study. Sampling was carried out with multifilament gillnets of two different twine thicknesses (with 210d/2 and 210d/3) on 140, 150, 160, 180, 200 mm mesh sizes between June 2015 and December 2016 in Marm...

The Aegean Sea features an important archipelago in the Eastern Mediterranean, consisting of 60 inhabited islands, more than 1400 uninhabited islands, about 60-70 commercial marine taxa, along many vulnerable species. Fisheries are mainly coastal and are exploited by Greek and Turkish fishers. The multi-species and multi-gear fisheries operate with...

Major invasions of Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) are underway in the Western Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. While the establishment of lionfish in the Western Atlantic is perhaps the most well-studied marine fish invasion to date, the rapidly expanding invasion in the Mediterranean is more recent and has received...

Common carp Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758) is a very important freshwater commercial species in Turkey, but landings there decreased by 73 % from 2008 to 2019. There are knowledge gaps regarding the reproductive biology of the species and the selectivity of fishing gear types in Turkish lakes. This study aims to determine appropriate management m...

The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is the most invaded sea on the planet, with 666 nonindigenous species now recorded in the region. However, not all of these become successful in their new environments. Success here is defined by wide geographical spread, increased abundances, and larger maximum sizes than their native range. The silver-cheeked toadfis...

Elasmobranchs are highly threatened globally; 25% of species are estimated to be endangered by the IUCN. This disturbing trend is more significant in the Mediterranean, where over half of the species represented in the basin are at risk. Yet, there is still a considerable knowledge gap about distribution, abundance, and critical habitats of Elasmob...

A new action plan for Critically endangered angel sharks in Turkey

The invasive Rapa whelk, Rapana venosa in the Black Sea presents a complex governance problem posing a diverse set of positive and negative impacts on marine ecosystems as well as on coastal communities. While some marine scientists perceive the Rapa whelk as a fishery to be sustainably managed, others are more concerned about the threats it poses...

The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus, from the pufferfish family Tetraodontidae) and the Pacific red lionfish (Pterois miles, family Scorpaenidae) have recently invaded the Mediterranean Sea. Lagocephalus sceleratus has spread throughout this entire sea with the highest concentrations in the eastern basin, while more recently, Ptero...

This third edition of the State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries provides a comprehensive overview of the status of fisheries in the region, looking at their main features and trends, in order to better inform their management and better examine current and future challenges that they will face in the near future. The aim of this report is...

This study uses surplus production model-based methods to assess data-poor stocks and estimate key reference points for Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda) and bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) in the Black Sea. Our results demonstrate that the catch maximum sustainable yield (CMSY) method, using catch data only, yields similar results to the more accurate...

Detection of new non-indigenous species is often delayed when taxonomically challenging taxa are involved, such as small-sized marine organisms. The present study highlights the relevance of scientific cooperation in the early detection of the invader amphipod Stenothoe georgiana. Originally described from North Carolina (USA), the species was rece...

Seasonal fishery closures, are an input control measure to reduce fishing pressure on spawning stocks in fisheries management. Despite the huge foregone economic losses from such closures, the efficacy of them has yet to be examined in Turkey. This study compares the monthly landed catch distribution for commercial marine species averaged for 12 ye...

A timeline of commercial fisheries extinctions and a list of threatened or extirpated marine species are presented to document the rapidly declining abundance of marine resources in the Turkish part of the Black Sea and Marmara Sea. Turkish nationally reported fisheries data were compared over a 50-year period from 1967 (the first year data were sp...

Detection of new non-indigenous species is often delayed when taxonomically challenging taxa are involved, such as small-sized marine organisms. The present study highlights the relevance of scientific cooperation in the early detection of the invader amphipod Stenothoe georgiana. Originally described from North Carolina (USA), the species was rece...

The amphipod Ericthonius didymus Krapp-Schickel, 2013 is reported for the first time outside its type locality in European waters, from the French Atlantic coast and from the Azores, Portugal. In particular, a large population was recorded in Arcachon, France. Molecular analyses were made to confirm the validity of three closely related Ericthonius...

The Turkish small-scale fishing fleet consists of 13,193 vessels. This represents over 90% of the commercial fleet in terms of the number of vessels. Moreover, approximately 30,000 fishers are organized into 572 fishery cooperatives in Turkey, and most of these fishers are from the small-scale fisheries sector, which also includes fisherwomen. Howe...

The lionfish invasion in the Western Atlantic is understood to be one of the worst marine invasions in history, and they have recently just invaded the Mediterranean. Lionfish are a marine ‘pest’ species in invaded areas, mostly due to their venomous spines combined with their insatiable appetites. The devil firefish’s (Pterois miles) Mediterranean...

A newly established population of the fouling polychaete Spirobranchus cf. tetraceros is reported from the western Mediterranean (Valencia Port). Despite previous intensive surveys, this is the first record for the taxon in the Iberian Peninsula. Molecular analyses revealed that S. cf. tetraceros from Valencia are genetically identical to specimens...

Supplementary material of the article entitled "First large-scale Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea stock assessment reveals a dramatic decline" published in Frontiers in Marine Science. Here, we present, all outputs of CMSY stock assessment analysis for 54 stocks from Black, Marmara and Levantine Seas. Each stocks represented with graphs in two...

The Mediterranean and Black Sea host the most intense overfishing and Turkey has the largest commercial fisheries in them (when both seas considered). However, the state of the Turkish fisheries is in critical condition as both the quality (i.e, in number of caught species, value and sizes of fish) and quantity of fisheries catches have been rapidl...

Symplegma is a genus of compound ascidians (Fam. Styelidae) with warm water affinities and distribution in tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The first record of this genus (as S. viride) in the Mediterranean was from 1951 in the Levantine Sea, presumably entering the basin from the Red Sea through the Suez...

Despite the Mediterranean being both a hotspot for recreational boating and for non‐indigenous species (NIS), no data currently exists on the recreational boating sector's contribution to the spread of NIS in this Sea. To improve the basis for management decisions, a wide‐scale sampling study on the biofouling communities of recreational vessels an...

A large-scale analysis of fouling assemblages from 367 recreational boat hulls was carried out in 2015-2016 in 20 Mediterranean marinas from France, Italy, Malta, Greece and Turkey. A total of 155 species, including native, cryptogenic and non-indigenous species (NIS), were identified. On the average, 2.5±1.9 NIS were collected from boat hulls, and...

Many stressors, such as climate change, overfishing, pollution and biological invasions, are currently devastating the marine domain. The role of recreational boating in facilitating marine bioinvasions urgently necessitated a proper evaluation, especially in the Mediterranean Sea which hosts 2/3 of global charter boat traffic and is also the globa...

Little is known about the giant devil ray (Mobula mobular), an endangered species endemic to the Mediterranean. Gaza is the only region where this species is targeted, hence, this fishery was studied to address the knowledge gap on fishery interactions, species behavior, and life-history traits. Devil rays have been frequenting this maritime area f...

A rapid assessment of the fouling community in the harbour of Piran, Slovenia, was carried out in September 2017. A total of 59 species were collected, from which 6 were non-indigenous species, all representing new records for Slovenia and 2 of which are also new records for the Adriatic Sea. The usefulness of rapid assessment monitoring programmes...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3954.].

Supplementary Data: Specimen Photos.

Supplementary Data: Key Taxonomic Characters used for identification and Table with the number of visiting vessels per annum per marina.

In this study we present new data regarding the distribution of non-indigenous amphipods in both marinas and recreational vessels across the Mediterranean Sea. We observed six non-indigenous amphipod species, two of which are firstly reported for the Mediterranean Sea. The caprellid Caprella scaura occurred in most of the inspected marinas.

The marine fisheries catches of Malta were reconstructed for the period 1950-2014, including for reported and previously unreported commercial large- and small-scale catches, unmonitored fisheries catches, i.e., subsistence and recreational fisheries, as well as major discards. The present study updates and improves a previous catch reconstruction...

This study presents a reconstruction of the total catch of Bulgarian marine fisheries in the Bulgarian Exclusive Economic Zone for the time period 1950–2013, including previously unreported landings, discards, recreational and subsistence catches. The landings data officially reported by Bulgaria to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unit...

Recreational boating is a major vector of introduction of non-indigenous species worldwide and ascidians are some of the most abundant introduced taxa. Nine ascidian species have been identified in two recreational marinas near Lisbon (Alcântara and Oeiras), sampled during February 2016, following rapid assessment survey (RAS) protocols. Different...

Recreational boating is a major vector of introduction of non-indigenous species worldwide and ascidians are some of the most abundant introduced taxa. Nine ascidian species have been identified in two recreational marinas near Lisbon (Alcântara and Oeiras), sampled during February 2016, following rapid assessment survey (RAS) protocols. Different...

Nine non-indigenous species and seven cryptogenic species were recorded in the marina of Rome in 2015 in the framework of a Mediterranean-wide survey of non-indigenous species in marinas. The non-indigenous bryozoan Amathia verticillata was by far the most abundant fouling species in the marina, also occurring on many boats.

The Turks and Caicos Islands’ total marine fisheries catches were estimated for 1950-2012 using a catch reconstruction approach, estimating all removals, including reported catch destined for export, and unreported domestic artisanal and subsistence catches. Total reconstructed catch for the period is approximately 2.8 times that reported by Turks...

Theme: Biological Invasions Keywords: alien, non-­‐indigenous species, NIS, Mediterranean, recreational boating. This study seeks to identify the hotspots for the secondary spread of non-­‐indigenous species (NIS) resulting for recreational boating travel patterns across the Mediterranean Sea, and investigate the potential for internal spread withi...

This poster is describing the objectives and sampling strategy of a PhD project on marine bioinvasions. 30 marinas will be sampled for alien species across the Mediterranean, along with at least 20 recreational boats from each marina. From this data, recreational boating connectivity patterns will be learned along with the marinas presenting the hi...

This study seeks to identify the hotspots for the secondary spread of non-indigenous species (NIS) resulting for recreational boating travel patterns across the Mediterranean Sea, and investigate the potential for internal spread within each study region. Three Mediterranean regions will be sampled for: 1) NIS richness in the marinas and NIS richne...

2015. Reconstruction of Syria's fi sheries catches from 1950–2010: Signs of overexploitation. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 45 (3): 259–272. Background. The global community infers trends in fi sheries through the catch data assembled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from its member countries. Thus, inferences depend on...

Total marine fisheries catches were estimated for France in the Mediterranean Sea for the 1950-2010 time-period using a catch reconstruction approach, which included best available data on catches of the industrial, artisanal, recreational, and subsistence sectors, as well as discards. The total reconstructed catch for the 1950-2010 time period exc...

Ukraine's marine fisheries catches were re-estimated for the 1950-2010 time period using a reconstruction approach which estimated all unreported fisheries removals, i.e., catches from the industrial, artisanal, recreational, and subsistence sectors, as well as discards from major fisheries. The reconstructed total catch for the 1950-2010 time peri...

The Turks and Caicos Islands total marine fisheries catches were estimated for the 1950-2012 time period using a catch reconstruction approach, which estimated all fisheries removals, including the reported fish catch destined for export as well as all unreported domestic small-scale commercial (i.e., artisanal) and subsistence catches. All data we...