Medits 2001: Technical and Biological Report for the Region M3 (Italian coasts - South Tyrrhenian Sea and Strait of Sicily).

The 2001 Medits survey (hereby MED'01) in the M3 region commenced on April 23rd with the loading of equipment. This survey started earlier than the previous one due to the earlier deadline of the programme. The MED'01 was carried out using the professional stern trawler "Sant'Anna". As in MED'00, the Maltese waters (herein defined as sub-region M3d) were included in the survey. Initially, the northern side of the M3 study region had been surveyed, i.e. the grounds of the Central and Southern Tyrrhenian Sea facing Campania (Volturno river) and Calabria (Capo Suvero) regions respectively. This sub-region (M3a) has been investigated, from April 26th to May 8th, by the scientific staff of the "COISPA - Technologiae e Ricerca" of Torre a Mare (Bari). The second sub-region covered was the central part of M3 study region (M3b), i.e., the grounds of the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea off Calabria (Capo Suvero) and the Northern coasts of Sicily (Capo S. Vito). This sub-region has been surveyed, from May 9th to May 16th, by the scientific staff of the "Istituto Talassografico - CNR" of Messina. Finally, the trawler moved to the region known as the Strait of Sicily (M3c), which was surveyed from May 19th to June 1st by the scientific staff of the "Istituto di ricerche sulle Risorse Marine e l'Ambiente, IRMA-CNR" of Mazara. During this period, the waters around Malta (M3d) were explored in collaboration with the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences from May 24th to May 25th. The MED'01 ended with the unloading of the equipment in Mazara del Vallo on June 2nd. An overall of 150 valid hauls were performed in the whole M3 region; in particular, 57, 28 and 56 hauls were performed along the Italian coasts (M3a, M3b and M3c respectively) whilst 9 hauls were performed in Maltese waters (M3d). Some problems arose during the survey in the M3b subregion: in particular one set of gear equipped with MINILOG -TD was lost. Furthermore, 7 hauls were not considered to be valid: 1, 4 and 2 in M3a, M3c and M3d respectively. In almost all hauls, a miniature data logger (MINILOG -TD), recording both temperature and depth, was mounted on the head rope of the gear. Due to the malfunctioning of the spare MINILOG , it was not possible to record these data in the M3b subregion. The gear performance was not directly monitored; however, haul duration was recorded according to average effective time on bottom and the horizontal opening of the gear in each haul was estimated on the basis of the formula derived from previous trials carried out by IRPEM-CNR (Ancona, Italy) technicians using SCANMAR equipment. Both haul registration and processing of biological samples were accurately performed according to MEDITS protocol.