ECOLOGY OF WILD COMMON OCTOPUS: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AND AQUACULTURE

THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INVESTIGATE IN THE WILD SOME OF THE MAIN BOTTLENECKS THAT PREVENT THE INTEGRAL REARING OF THE COMMON OCTOPUS OCTOPUS VULGARIS: THE ECOLOGY OF THE PRE-SETTLED PLAKNKTONIC PARALARVAE (WITH MORE THAN 3 SUCKERS PER ARM) WASHED TO OFFSHORE WATERS OFFSHORE AS WELL AS THE SUBADULTS ANIMALS (IN MEROBENTHIC ANIMALS, THOSE SMALL ANIMALS ALREADY SETTLED AND WITH SIMILAR PROPORTION THAN ADULTS) ONCE THEY REACH THE FISHING GROUND NEAR THE COAST. THE TROPHIC RELATIONSHIPS OF THE COMMON OCTOPUS IN THESE TWO PHASES OF AN AREA SUBJECTED OF SEASONAL UPWELLING WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO ADVANCE TOWARDS AN ECOSYSTEM APPROACH FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THESE SOCIOECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT OCTOPOD RESOURCE AS WELL AS TO TRASFER THE DATA GATHERED TO OBTAIN AN INTEGRAL CULTURE OF THIS SOCIOECONOMIC IMPORTANT CEPHALOPOD. THE DATA GATHERED DURING THE BIOLOGICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH SURVEY PROPOSED AND THE DIVING SAMPLING WILL ALLOW TO UNDERTAKE THE TASKS PROPOSED DURING ECOSUMA PROJECT. THE FRAMEWORK OF THIS PROJECT MATCH PERFECTLY WITH THE EUROPEAN AND SPANISH CHALLENGES FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS ORIENTED TO THE CHALLENGE 2 OF THE ESTRATEGIA ESPAÑOLA DE LA CIENCIA, TECNOLOGIA Y DE INNOVACION, NAMELY SEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA, AGRICULTURA Y SILVICULTURA SOSTENIBLES, INVESTIGACION MARINA, MARITIMA Y DE AGUAS INTERIORES Y BIOECONOMIA. WE WILL TRY TO ADVANCE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF TWO UNEXPLORED PHASES OF THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE COMMON OCTOPUS IN THE WILD TO TRANSFER THIS KNOWLEDGE FOR OBTAINING A SUSTAINABLE INTEGRAL CULTURE OF THE SPECIES AT AN INDUSTRIAL LEVEL, WHICH IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE SO FAR. ALSO, WE WILL PROSPECT THE ENTERING OF ZOONOTIC PARASITES THOUGH THE MARINE TROPHIC WEB INVOLVING THE COMMON OCTOPUS , A KEY ASPECT THAT PRODUCES THE LOSS OF HUNDREDS OF MILLION EUROS FOR THE FISHING INDUSTRY DUE TO THE INCREASINGLY PREVALENCE NUMBERS IN THE EDIBLE PARTS OF MANY MARINE RESOURCES, WHICH ACT AS VECTORS FOR SOME OF THESE PARASITES, ALSO PRODUCING SERIOUS ALLERGIES AND HARM IN HUMANS. FINALLY, IT HAS TO BE UNDERLINED THAT THE PROJECT IS ALSO RELATED WITH THE CHALLENGE 5, ACCION POR EL CLIMA, MEDIO AMBIENTE, EFICIENCIA DE LOS RECURSOS Y MATERIAS PRIMAS DEALING SINCE WE WILL USE OUR HISTORIC DATA OBTAINED IN PREVIOUS PROJECTS TO INVESTIGATE THE CHANGES EXPERIENCED BY THE ABUNDANCE OF PARALARVAE AND THE CLIMATIC PARAMETERS IN THE AREA WE ARE STUDYING, IMPLEMENTING A BIOBANK UNDER AN ISO 9001 REGULATIONS TO TRACE ALL INCLUDE ALL DATA AND SAMPLES IN AN OPEN-SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE. ADDITIONALLY, THE STUDY OF SPATIAL ECOLOGY OF O. VULGARIS RELATE THE PROJECT WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF MARITIME SPATIAL PLANING (MSP, EU), TO ENSURE HUMAN MARINE ACTIVITIES IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY. THE PLAN FOR DISSEMINATING THE RESULTS WILL BE MULTI–TIERED. AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FIRST BIOBANK HOLDING DATA AND SAMPLES OF PARALARVAE OF CEPHALOPODS AND ZOOPLANKTON IN A MULTIDECADAL SCALE, WE WILL CONTINUE MAKING AVAILABLE THE INFORMATION OF THE PROJECT AND RELATED ACTIVITIES TO THE RESEARCHERS INVOLVED IN THIS FIELD. FINALLY, A WEB PAGE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED TO HOLD OF PROJECT DOCUMENTATION, STUDENTSHIP, MEETINGS, DATA REPORTS AND SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. MORE GENERALLY, WE WILL FOLLOW A POLICY OF PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE MEDIA, SEEKING TO PROVIDE SHORT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR WORK AND THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY IN GENERAL.