Trends in productivity and biomass yields in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem during climate change

In this essay we briefly describe climate change in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) using different indices. We further describe the evolution of yearly catches and species composition of the catches in the West (W), Central (C), and East (E) Mediterranean LME during 1970-2010 and the exploitation status of the fisheries resources and review various signals of climate on Mediterranean fisheries. In addition, we explore the mean temperature of the catch in the W, C and E Mediterranean under a scenario considering the catches of species migrating through the Suez Canal. We further review the existing habitat modeling studies at the Mediterranean scale of various species and discuss their response to climate change. Finally, we present the development of a 3-D full life cycle population model and the respective model forecasts of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) biomass at the Mediterranean Sea LME scale. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.