flats, located in the south basin of the lagoon. The rationale of this project is to
involve all interested stakeholders for
successful large-scale restoration programs, which need public and political
support, research, and outreach actions
[13].
Acknowledgements
Project RemediOS is developed with the
collaboration of the Biodiversity Foundation (Spanish Ministry for Ecological
Transition and the Demographic Challenge), through the Pleamar Program,
co-financed by the European Maritime
and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
Fig. 3. European flat oyster (O. edulis) in Mar Menor. Photo taken on February 25th, 2022
106
2018 with densities up to 6 x
cells
mL-1 [9]. Mamiellophyceae also reached
abundance peaks up to 4. x 106 cells
mL-1 in 2016-2017 although this picoeukaryotic group was only present in
sufficient abundance for quantification
in summer or early fall [9]. The different recurrent algal blooms had cascading effects that ended in several mass
mortality episodes and 70% mortality
of seagrasses.
In an attempt to ameliorate the
problems caused by algal blooms, and
contribute to actions that must be put
in place to decrease the introduction of
nutrients to Mar Menor, a new initiative
was launched in 2020 to use bivalves
as a Nature-based Solution to filter the
excess of phytoplankton in the water.
Native European flat oysters (Ostrea
edulis) (Fig. 3) had a population of 135
million oysters in Mar Menor in the late
80s but the last evaluation, carried out
in 2006 reported an almost 10-fold reduction and the current status of the
oyster populations in the lagoon is unknown [10,11]. With the oysters disappearing, the ecosystem services they
provided were also gone. Knowing the
historical natural abundance of the species in the area, and with the support
of NORA (Native Oyster Restoration
Alliance, https://noraeurope.eu/), the
initiative aims to collect local oysters
to use as broodstock, evaluate their
filtration and reproduction potential,
and restore the oyster seed obtained
from an experimental hatchery, back to
Mar Menor waters. Similar actions have
been successfully implemented in lagoons in the USA, such as in Chesapeake
HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 70 / 2022
Bay [12], but this is the first time to be
proposed in a Spanish coastal lagoon.
Recent funding has allowed the launch
of RemediOS project (https://remediosproyecto.wordpress.com/), a proof of
concept for the production of flat oyster seed with local broodstock from the
Mar Menor. Several actions are taking
place including the development of an
experimental hatchery (Fig. 4) with
scientific assessment and multiple outreach activities to engage the local community, fisheries and administrations
associated with the initiative to help
recover Mar Menor. The project collaborates with ANSE Foundation (https://
www.fundacionanse.org/) to grow out
the oyster seed in the Marchamalo salt
References
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Authors
Eve Galimany, Institut de Ciències del Mar
(ICM-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Sebastián Hernandis, Angel HernándezContreras, Francisco Gómez & Marina
Albentosa, Instituto Español de Oceanografía
(IEO, CSIC). Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia.
Varadero, 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar
(Murcia), Spain
Fiz da Costa, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO, CSIC). Centro Oceanográfico de
Vigo. Subida a Radio Faro, 50, 36390 Vigo,
Spain
Fig. 4: Flat oysters in the experimental hatchery. Top: Broodstock; bottom: juveniles from
hatchery larvae
Email corresponding author:
galimany@icm.csic.es
7
Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 70 - July 2022 https://hab.ioc-unesco.org/ Mar Menor lagoon: an iconic case of ecosystem collapse Content Featured articles Mar Menor lagoon: an iconic case of ecosystem collapse, Juan M Ruiz, Jaime BernardeauEsteller, M Dolo
nodosa present in Mar Menor at least in the last decades. Caulerpa contains high levels of toxigenic secondary metabolites and contributes loads of labile organic matter to the sediments. Decomposition of this organic matter fuels anoxic processes and increased levels of reduced carbon, nitrogen and
age basin and is a major source of European winter vegetable production. But the transferred water resources, clearly insufficient to sustain such production, had to be complemented with aquifers that had suffered previous overexploitation and became brackish. These brackish aquifers needed treating
Fig. 3. Satellite image (Sentinel 2) after torrential rainfall in September 12th and 13th in the Mar Menor watershed. Tons of terrigenous sediments, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous are dragged by water runoff from agricultural lands into the Mar Menor lagoon (downloaded from https://www. copernicus
provided by President and Staff of the harbours Club Nautico Lo Pagán, Club Náutico La Puntica and Centro de Actividades Náuticas (San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain). References 1. Ruiz JM et al 2020. Informe de asesoramiento técnico del IEO, 165pp 2. Belando MB et al 2019. Front. Mar. Sci. Conf
The Mar Menor Oyster Initiative, a strategy to prevent algal blooms in a eutrophic lagoon in Spain Fig. 1. Map of study in Mar Menor, Murcia, SE Spain Marine ecosystems are exposed to a wide range of pressures including water quality degradation, habitat decline, overfishing and climate change, in
flats, located in the south basin of the lagoon. The rationale of this project is to involve all interested stakeholders for successful large-scale restoration programs, which need public and political support, research, and outreach actions [13]. Acknowledgements Project RemediOS is developed with
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Is the activity part of, coordinated with, or af4iliated with, other international/regional programs? Yes: ___ No. ____ If yes, give program title: 8. FUNDING Has funding been obtained? Yes: No: (Prospective) source(s): 9. CONTRIBUTION TO UN DECADE OF OCEAN SCIENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 203
Microbial life cycles Microbial life cycles in a changing ocean in a changing ocean Contributions that address the following topics are welcome: Contributions that address the following topics are welcome: Diversity of microbial life cycles in different habitats and environments Diversity of micr