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MUrFor- Fertilia (SS), October 2sd 2025. Second round of the Socio-Economic Survey for sea urchin Fishers.
As part of the MUrFor project – Sustainable Management of Sea Urchin Fisheries and Conservation of Marine Forests, the second phase of the socio-economic survey has been completed by Dr. Fabio Madau (University of Sassari) and Dr. Riccardo Vargiu (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn). This phase focused on professional sea urchin fishers in Northern Sardinia.
The survey aimed to build on the information collected during the first meeting by deepening the understanding of fishers’ working, economic, and social conditions, their dependence on sea urchin harvesting, and their expectations for the future of the sector.
The additional details gathered during this second round will enable the finalization of the socio-economic analysis of sea urchin fishery dynamics and provide a solid basis to support the development of sustainable management strategies, aligned with marine biodiversity conservation and ecosystem protection objectives.
The survey activity was kindly hosted by the Coastal Action Group FLAG Nord Sardegna at their headquarters in Fertilia (SS), and in collaboration with Agris Regional Agency offering crucial support for engaging local fishing communities.
MurFor- Brest, July 1st-5th 2025. 14th ITRS25-International Temperate Reef Symposium
MurFor- Brest, July 1st-5th 2025. 14th ITRS25-International Temperate Reef Symposium
Our researchers gathered in Brest to present preliminary results from the MurFor project at the International Temperate Reefs Symposium (ITRS25) — the premier conference for marine scientists focused on temperate hard-bottom habitats.
This international event offered an excellent opportunity to share our latest findings on the ecological and socio-economic processes related to sea urchins that shape rocky reef ecosystems and their associated services — a crucial step toward reconciling conservation goals with the sustainable use of marine resources.
MUrFor- Fertilia (SS), May 26th 2025. Launch of the Socio-Economic Survey for sea urchin Fishers
MUrFor- Fertilia (SS), May 26th 2025. Launch of the Socio-Economic Survey for sea urchin Fishers
As part of the MUrFor project – Sustainable Management of Sea Urchin Fisheries and Conservation of Marine Forests, a socio-economic survey has been launched by Dr. Fabio Madau (University of Sassari) and Dr. Riccardo Vargiu (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn) targeting professional sea urchin fishers in North Sardinia.
The aim is to gather valuable insights into the working, economic, and social conditions of fishers, their dependence on sea urchin harvesting, and their expectations for the future of the sector.
The information collected will help improve understanding of the socio-economic dynamics related to sea urchin fisheries and support the development of sustainable management strategies in line with marine biodiversity and ecosystem protection goals.
The survey activity was kindly hosted by the Coastal Action Group FLAG Nord Sardegna at their headquarters in Fertilia (SS), and in collaboration with Agris Regional Agency offering crucial support for engaging local fishing communities.
MUrFor outreach. Oristano (Italy), April 4th 2024
Discovering the great grazers of Posidonia oceanica
Dr. Simone Farina from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN) was invited to the International Marine Centre Foundation in Torregrande (Oristano), Italy, to give a lecture on sea urchins and their role in the food web of Posidonia oceanica meadows and coastal marine ecosystems more broadly.
A secondary school class attended a short but engaging session focused on the importance of keystone species in ecosystems, the biology and ecology of sea urchins, and how human impacts—particularly fishing different components of the system such as fish and sea urchins—can trigger cascading effects throughout the ecosystem.
The initiative took place as part of the event "THE SEA Revealed – Science and Technology in Oceanography, Physics and Biology," organized by the National Research Council (CNR). Both students and teachers responded with great enthusiasm to the experience.
Mid-term review meeting BiodivProtect Call (12/03/25)
We’re excited to share that our project received excellent feedback during BiodivProtect mid-term review meeting! Reviewers were particularly impressed by the huge amount of data we are collecting combining fieldwork and existing datasets in the study areas. Our efforts in stakeholder engagement and clear communication were also highly appreciated.
We will continue working hard to meet these goals and share our findings with both the scientific community and the public.
Marine Protected Area of Gaiola Submerged Park (Naples), Dic 2024
MUrFor sea urchin monitoring for URCHIN project:
Even in Naples, sea urchins are facing a dramatic decline due to soaring market demand, particularly from the restaurant industry, which drives harmful poaching along the coasts. In Italy, as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) Research Program, the URCHIN project is dedicated to conserving the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus and combating illegal fishing within the captivating Marine Protected Area of Gaiola Submerged Park (www.areamarinaprotettagaiola.it ).
Given the shared objectives between MUrFor-Biodiversa and Urchin Projects, we established a usefull collaboration to monitoring sea urchins in the framework of the URCHIN project and against the illegal fishing inside the MPA. We successfully promoted our protocol to estimate population structures in relation with the different levels of protection and the habitat complexity that characterized the amazing archeological seascapes of the Gaiola Submerged Park .
Tavolara Marine Protected Area (Sardinia), Nov 2024
MUrFor field work for Observadores del Mar-Hidden Desert Project.
Mapping the structural complexity of marine forests—including canopy-forming algae, turf, and bare rock states—and their associated sea urchin population structures is crucial for assessing the ecological status of shallow rocky reefs, conserving marine forests, and maintaining ocean health.
A pilot study was conducted in the fully protected area of the Tavolara MPA to compare various methodologies for assessing sea urchin abundance, population structure, and related habitat states.The goal of this study is to identify the most suitable approaches for site-specific monitoring of shallow rocky reefs based on cost-effectiveness, considering both human effort and financial resources.
This work is developed in the frame of the collaboration between the European Project Biodiversa Murfor and Hidden Desert Project, the Citizen Science Project collecting data regarding extension of barren grounds and sea urchin abundance around the Mediterranean Sea (www.hiddendeserts.com) .
Coast Guard headquarter Olbia (Sardinia), July 2024
MUrFor stakeholder engagement: participative design of management scenarios, the key role of the Coast Guard to model the illegal fishing.
The participative design of management scenarios ensures the active engagement of stakeholders at all critical stages—development, implementation, and finalization—of sea urchin fishery management plans. This approach fosters collaboration between stakeholders and scientists, creating a dynamic feedback loop where scientific insights and stakeholder inputs shape mutually beneficial outcomes.
The Coast Guard plays a crucial role in addressing illegal fishing activities, providing valuable data on the extent of illegal fishing and seizure volumes throughout the fishing season. Integrating the Coast Guard's experience into the modeling approach allows for the enhancement of enforcement strategies, improved stakeholder compliance, and the overall strengthening of the sustainability of sea urchin fisheries.
MUrFor field work. Alghero (Sardinia), July 2024
Population sampling to estimate sea urchin size-weight relationship
The size-weight relationship in sea urchins is a crucial parameter for understanding population dynamics and applying sustainable management models for marine resources. This relationship is based on empirical curves describing the connection between test diameter (external size of the sea urchin) and total weight or gonad weight. These curves allow the conversion of field-recorded abundances into biomass, a key metric for assessing ecological impacts and commercial exploitation potential.
Seasonal growth curves provide a detailed description of the variations in sea urchin weight as a function of size throughout the year, taking into account fluctuations driven by ecological and physiological factors, such as:
Reproduction: Gonads increase significantly before the spawning period, followed by a sharp decrease after egg release.
Food availability: Weight growth is influenced by the quality and quantity of trophic resources, which vary seasonally.
Environmental conditions: Factors such as water temperature, storms, and environmental stressors (e.g., marine heatwaves) affect metabolic capacities and growth rates.
MUrFor outreach. Milan (Italy), May 17th 2024
Sea urchin food web goes to the classroom
Dr. Giovanni Romagnoni from CeOS, University of Kiel (CAU) (https://oceanandsociety.org/en/home), was invited to the Anna Frank Primary School in Binasco, Italy to give a lecture about the sea urchin and its role in the food web in coastal marine ecosystems. Two third-grade classes enjoyed a one hour lecture each, and learned about the importance of keystone species in ecosystems, the biology and ecology of the sea urchin, and how our impacts through fishing different components of the system (fish, sea urchins and others) can cause cascading impacts to the rest of the system. By seeing and touching material including sea urchin shells and other marine organisms, students were stimulated to think and connect with their personal experience. Students and teachers responded enthusiastically to the experience.
Sharing knowledge about our scientific process and observations, and how we scientists—including those of us involved in the MUrFor project—strive to transfer that knowledge to inform management decisions, is paramount in shaping awareness in new generations about the importance of learning and respecting the environment and its functioning. Knowledge sharing is one of the cornerstones of science, and having the privilege to engage with enthusiastic and bright young minds is invaluable for us scientists.
Brest (France), 16-18 April 2024
Brest (France), 16-18 April 2024
The mid-term project meeting has just concluded: the Murfor partnership met for three days to take stock of the work .
The project meeting took place at Ifremer- French Institute for Ocean Science- in Plouzane (Brest, France).
Researchers met to evaluate the efforts done until now on sharing and standarization of data, spatial and temporal analysis, models setting. Particular attention was paid to the state of the important process of the stakeholder engagement. New activities aimed to develop different socio-economic scenarios of fishery were discussed like the upcoming questionanaires prepared for fishermen. Also, prelimiary results of the explorative analysis on the ecological thresholds were carefully exposed. Finally, participants discussed the critical issues they have faced until now, identifying datagaps from this experience.
Nonetheless, the remarkable progress was evident to all, and a climate of confidence was inescapably established for the working group that came back home with renewed energy to dedicate at the project.
Seattle (USA), 3-7 March 2024
9th World Fisheries Congress 2024
Dr. Giovanni Romagnoni participated at the the 9th World Fisheries Congress hosted at the Hyatt Regency Seattle.
In the them of Fish and Fisheries, Giovanni presented how he intends to set his ecosystem model to manage sea urchin fishery in two regions of the Western Mediterranean Sea, as part of the Biodiversa-Murfor project.
Thanks to this initiative, Murfor was presented in one of the most important world meeting to exchange ideas and perspectives about new research, emerging issues, scientific breakthroughs, and governance related to fisheries science, industry, conservation, and management.
Alghero (Italy), 15th December 2023
MUrFor to develop modelling of sustainable sea urchin harvesting around the Capo Caccia Isola Piana Marine Protected Area.
Prof. Giulia Ceccherelli informed local fishermen and administrations about the objectives of MUrFor-Biodiversa, as part of the final meeting of the project "Fish distribution modelling and small-scale fishery management in the Capo Caccia-Isola Piana Marine Protected Area (SPAMI)" and which promotes sustainable fishing in the MPA.
This initiative is supported by the Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica through the SPAMI Twinning programme.
France, October 2023
Inaugural edition of Euromarine researchers in the spotlight series .
Dr. Simone Farina explained in an interview how MuMSUMed Foresight workshop (Euromarine Association Funding) developed the roadmap for holistic fishery management of fish-sea urchin-marine forest systems in Mediterranean Sea . The workshop set the stage for the emergence of MUrFor.
Bilbao (Spain), 11-14 September 2023
ICES Annual Science Conference 2023
Dr. Lotta Clara Kluger participated at the annual congress of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to share the scientific understanding of the socio-ecological networks linked to sea urchin fisheries in the Western Mediterranean Sea. This interesting work represents a first valuable contribution to generate state-of-the-art advice for meeting conservation, management, and sustainability goals of MurFor project.
Blanes (Spain), 26 February - 6 March 2023
MUrFor Kick-off meeting: the international team will develop a sea urchin management system to protect marine forests and foster sustainable fisheries.
The project meeting took place at the Center for Advanced Studies in Blanes (CEAB-CSIC, Girona, Spain).
During the opening meeting of the MUrFOr- Managing sustainable sea URchin fishery and marine FORest conservation (Biodiversa+ call 21) - Italian, Spanish, German, Spanish and French researchers met to outline the steps of this complex interdisciplinary project by combining their different expertises.
The main intent will be to couple and integrate the socio-ecological systems around marine forest habitats to permit the identification of optimal trade-off scenarios between long-term conservation of coastal benthic ecosystems and the viability of small-scale fisheries of both sea urchins and their predatory fish.
The project will be based on the principles of participative management between researchers and stakeholders and it will be carried out mainly in two study areas: Sardina (Italy) and Catalonia (Spain), where sea urchin overharvesting and overfishing has been largely documented during the last decades respectively.
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