Ecologically and economically sustainable mesopelagic fisheries

Informations

Funding country

Portugal

Acronym

MEESO

URL

https://www.meeso.org/

Start date

9/1/2019

End date

2/29/2024

Budget

6,396,634 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

The mesopelagic zone, at depths between 200 and 1 000 metres below the ocean’s surface, could contain a total fish biomass that is 100 times the annual catch of all existing fisheries. The EU-funded MEESO project will quantify the spatio-temporal distributions of biomass, production and ecosystem role of mesopelagic resources. It will assess options to sustainably exploit them. Mesopelagic organisms are one of the largest unexploited resource left in the world’s oceans. MEESO will develop new tools and technologies for abundance estimation, such as submersible acoustics and fine meshed trawls, as well as assessment and management roadmaps. MEESO will explore new technologies for commercial fishing and processing and map contaminant and nutrient contents to explore the basis for a viable and sustainable fishery. Its aim will be to find a balance between exploitation, sustainability and viability of the mesopelagic resources.