DIASPARA

Objectives

Improving scientific knowledge on the European eel and Atlantic/Baltic salmon to strengthen the scientific basis of management decisions under the Common Fisheries Policy.

Project website: https://diaspara.bordeaux-aquitaine.inrae.fr/

Summary

Despite legal commitments for their conservation, the Atlantic salmon and the European eel are currently endangered. This is partly due to their ecological characteristics. Firstly, the two species share their life cycle between marine and continental ecosystems, as well as inside and outside Europe. Despite behaving like independent units during their continental phase, they are biologically mixed during their marine phases, which requires co-ordination of regional and international management and assessment processes (data collection and availability, use of appropriate assessment methods, etc.). Moreover, these species are impacted by many human pressures (e.g., fisheries, habitat degradation and fragmentation).

In this context, DIASPARA will build on pre-existing roadmaps and aim to provide tools to enhance the coherence of the scientific process from data collection to assessment, with the final objectives of supporting more holistic advice and of better informing regional management. 

• First, DIASPARA will undergo an inventory of available data and make recommendations for potential improvement in the collection, based on a spatiotemporal analysis of key biological parameters. 
• Then, DIASPARA will develop database structures in order to store data required for the assessment. This will include not only biological data and fisheries data but also data to monitor the impact of dams and hydropower plants. This work on dams will support the river continuity restoration targeted by other EU Regulations (e.g. WFD and the free-flowing rivers target of the EU Biodiversity Strategy).
• Finally, the stock assessment methods should explicitly handle the complex spatial structure and the life-cycle specificities of the species. This results in complex and time-consuming models. DIASPARA will benchmark different tools and statistical assumptions to enhance the performance of the analytical methods to enhance the quality of the data and to allow more comprehensive robustness tests and short-term forecasts exploration.

Organisation of the project

The project is organised in four work packages (WPs), one transversal and three technical. The three technical WPs focus on the different steps of the scientific advice process, from data collection to stock assessment.

• WP1: Project management and coordination
• WP2: Spatiotemporal analysis of life history traits to facilitate an effective collection, management and use of biological data
• WP3: Creating an international pan-European spatial database of migratory fish habitats to support a holistic and transparent assessment
• WP4: Enhancing spatialised stock assessment models

Project factsheet

• Project name: DIAdromous Species: moving towards new PARadigms to achieve holistic scientific Advice
• Project acronym: DIASPARA
• Call: EMFAF-2023-PIA-FisheriesScientificAdvice
• Topic: EMFAF-2023-PIA-FisheriesScientificAdvice
• Project number: 101155914
• Type of action: EMFAF Project Grants
• Granting authority: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
• Starting date: 1st May 2024
• Duration: 2 years
• Total costs of the project: €747,047.27
• Max. grant amount: €597,637.71 

Partners

Beneficiaries

• INRAE: https://www.inrae.fr/
• SLU: https://www.slu.se/en/
• LUKE: https://www.luke.fi/en
• AZTI: https://www.azti.es/
• Wageningen Research: https://www.wur.nl/nl/en/onderzoek-resultaten/onderzoeksinstituten/marine-research.htm
• Institut Agro: https://halieutique.institut-agro-rennes-angers.fr/fr
• Thünen Institute: https://www.thuenen.de/en/institutes/fisheries-ecology
• Eaux & Vilaine: https://www.eaux-et-vilaine.bzh/
• Inland Fisheries Ireland: https://www.fisheriesireland.ie/

Associate Partners

• Office Français de la Biodiversité: https://www.ofb.gouv.fr/
• Marine Institute: https://www.marine.ie/
• University of Rome: http://ecologia.uniroma2.it/

Funding

The project is funded through an EMFAF Project Grant (call EMFAF-2023-PIA-FisheriesScientificAdvice; project number 101155914). The EU is not responsible for the content of the project.