The Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries Lab (MEFL) is located at the School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. MEFL people have been conducting research in fish biology, ecosystem modelling, stock assessment and fisheries management. Our team of undergraduate and postgraduate (MSc and PhD) students, postdoctoral researchers and research fellows, is involved in research projects that deal with assessing Mediterranean fisheries and stock status, monitoring marine populations, promoting ecocentric fisheries management, studying marine mammal populations and their interactions with fisheries, modelling marine ecosystems and developing the digital twin of the ocean.
Research
MEFL follows a broad, interdisciplinary approach to promote an ecocentric understanding of marine ecosystem functioning and dynamics under external drivers such as fisheries exploitation and climate change.
Fish biology
and ecology
MEFL has a long history in studying the biology (maturity, fecundity, spawning, ageing, growth, mortality, weight-length relationships, feeding and trophic level) of marine fishes in the Aegean Sea including energetic trade-offs and species trophic interactions.
Monitoring of
marine populations
MEFL studies the structure and dynamics of marine populations and their interactions with external drivers such as fisheries and climate change/variability.
Stock assessment and
fisheries management
MEFL is involved in assessing the status of Mediterranean fisheries by applying fish population dynamics models to predict stock status and fisheries exploitation patterns within the MSY concept.
Ecosystem
modelling
MEFL staff have developed three ecosystem models in the Aegean Sea using EwE (Ecopath with Ecosim) and performed simulations in time and space aiming to evaluate a number of fisheries management hypotheses involving the use of marine protected areas and harvest control rules.
Projects
Our research projects deal with assessing Mediterranean fisheries and stock status, monitoring marine populations, promoting ecocentric fisheries management, studying marine mammal populations and their interactions with fisheries, modelling marine ecosystems and developing the digital twin of the ocean.
EU funding
MEFL has participated in a broad range of EU projects mainly focused on marine ecosystems and fisheries management but also on marine protected areas, oceanography, digital twin of the ocean.
National funding
National funding only covers a very small proportion of MEFL’s grants and the single nationally funded project deals with the biology of four alien fish species in the Greek Seas.
Private funding
MEFL has been involved in several small projects funded by national and international philanthropic foundations and organisations, mainly focused on stock assessments, marine protected areas and the impact of fisheries on marine populations.