Intercalibration des campagnes internationales de chalutage démersal en Méditerranée centrale

The increment of the biological information on the fisheries resources in the Mediterranean sea has been considered of fundamental importance by the Community. The surveys were considered the most reliable methods to assess these resources. Therefore a special program (MEDITS) was financed in 1993 in order to realize a standardized trawl survey along the Mediterranean coasts of the European Countries. Four EU countries were initially involved in such project: Spain, France, Italy and Greece. At the same time also this project was financed with the aim to cooperate with the MEDITS program in order to develop a specific sampling trawl to be used for the survey and to intercalibrate the result obtained by the different teams involved. The gear of the MEDITS project was designed by the IFREMER of Sete. The aim was to obtain a high vertical opening of the net (4 m). It was also taken into account that the gear had to work at a wide depth range (from 10 to 800 m) and on every kind of bottom. The gear, after some flume tank tests in Lorient, was for the first time tested at sea in Palma de Majorca in April 1994.Unfortunatelythe weather conditions and the short time available for the tests made it impossible to properly set it for the first MEDITS campaign, which started in June 1994. Inside the MEDITS programme a general protocol for the sampling operation was prepared. A consistent part of this protocol dealt with the rigging and the use of the gear.