MUrFor final workshop took place in Alghero, Sardinia

The final consortium meeting of the MUrFor project – Managing sustainable sea urchin fishery and marine forest conservation – took place in Alghero, Sardinia, from 27 to 30 October 2026.

Funded via Biodiversa+, MUrFor is an international research project involving partners from Italy, Spain, France and Germany. The project addresses a key challenge for Mediterranean rocky reefs: how to reconcile the conservation of macroalgal communities, the long-term viability of sea urchin populations and the social and economic sustainability of sea urchin fisheries.

Sea urchins play an important ecological role as herbivores, but several species also support culturally and economically important small-scale fisheries. Their populations are affected by multiple and interacting pressures, including harvesting, climate change, predation and changes in habitat condition. Effective management therefore requires an integrated approach that considers ecological, social and economic dimensions together.

MUrFor focuses primarily on two contrasting Mediterranean regions: Sardinia and Catalonia. The project combines long-term ecological data, field surveys, population studies, socioeconomic analyses, stakeholder interviews and ecosystem modelling to improve understanding of the processes affecting sea urchin populations and the habitats in which they occur.

A central element of the project is the development of an integrated management framework based on three complementary thresholds: the condition of marine habitats, the capacity of sea urchin populations to remain self-sustaining, and the economic viability of the fishery. By considering these dimensions together, MUrFor aims to support management strategies that balance the conservation of marine ecosystems with the sustainable use of sea urchin resources.

The Alghero meeting bought together researchers from across the MUrFor consortium to review the work carried out during the project, integrate the different scientific components into consolidated output story lines, and coordinate the preparation of final outputs. The programme included sessions on sea urchin population dynamics, ecological mechanisms and thresholds, sustainable fisheries, illegal harvesting, socioeconomic differences between Sardinia and Catalonia, and the use of models to explore alternative management scenarios.

An important part of the meeting was dedicated to dialogue with stakeholders. Representatives of public administrations, marine protected areas, research institutions, fishers’ organisations, environmental associations and other relevant sectors will be invited to discuss the project’s approach and its potential applications.

The final day then focused particularly on the Sardinian context. Presentations of results were followed by a participatory workshop using the Atlantis ecosystem model to compare management scenarios and explore possible compromises between ecological conservation and fishery sustainability.

The Alghero meeting provided a fruitful opportunity to connect scientific knowledge with the experience and priorities of those directly involved in the management and use of Mediterranean marine resources. A separate communication presenting the main scientific findings and management implications of MUrFor will be prepared following the meeting.

About MUrFor

MUrFor – Managing sustainable sea urchin fishery and marine forest conservation – is an interdisciplinary research project funded through the Biodiversa+ 2021–2022 BiodivProtect call, with a total grant of approximately EUR 1 million.

The project brings together seven research institutions from Italy, Spain, France and Germany: the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn; the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer); Kiel University; the Institute for the Study of Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IAS); the University of Sassari; the University of Barcelona; and the Blanes Centre for Advanced Studies of the Spanish National Research Council (CEAB-CSIC).

By integrating biological, environmental, fisheries and economic data with ecosystem and bioeconomic modelling, the project aims to identify sustainable trade-offs between the long-term conservation of coastal benthic ecosystems and the viability of sea urchin and artisanal fisheries. MUrFor is also developing practical management tools, including guidance for ecological and socioeconomic monitoring, decision-support approaches and interactive tools for exploring alternative management scenarios.

Further information: MUrFor project page on Biodiversa+

https://oceanandsociety.org/en/projects/murfor