The exploitation of fishery resources acts as a driving force on cetaceans both directly, by determining their fishing mortality or injury as by-catch species, and indirectly, through the lowering the availability of their prey. This competitive overlap between fishing and cetaceans often results in inadequate solutions so that in some cases there have been cases of intentional cetacean culling to maximize fishing production. A modelling approach applied to investigate the ecological roles of cetaceans in the food web could prove more effective to integrate ecological and fishing aspects and to provide suggestions for management. The comparative analysis carried out in the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea) showed that fishing exploitation provides impacts on the investigated food web greater than those due to cetacean predation. Trawling was estimated to be the most negatively impacting fishing gear considering the mortality rates and consumption flows. On the other hand, the striped dolphin was the main impact on the food web due to its highest consumption flows. Analysis showed a negative and non-selective impact on the exploited species due to the fishing gears, while the odontocetes proved to select their prey species and provide a positive impact in the assemblage. In particular, while the fishing gears are primarily size selective, targeting mostly large and economically valuable fish, the odontocetes seem to follow a co-evolution process with their prey, developing a specialization in their resources, providing control of the meso-consumers and ensuring a trophic stability in the ecosystem.

中文翻译：

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塔兰托湾（爱奥尼亚海北部、地中海中部）海洋食物网中鲸类与渔业相互作用的评估

渔业资源的开发既直接通过确定其作为副渔获物的捕捞死亡率或伤害，也通过降低猎物的可用性而间接驱动鲸类动物。捕捞和鲸类之间的这种竞争性重叠往往导致解决方案不充分，因此在某些情况下，会出现有意捕杀鲸类以最大化捕捞产量的情况。应用于研究鲸类在食物网中的生态作用的建模方法可以证明更有效地整合生态和渔业方面并为管理提供建议。在塔兰托湾（爱奥尼亚海北部，地中海中部）表明，捕捞开发对调查的食物网的影响大于对鲸类捕食的影响。考虑到死亡率和消费流量，估计拖网捕捞是对渔具产生最不利影响的渔具。另一方面，条纹海豚因其最高的消费流量而成为对食物网的主要影响。分析表明，渔具对被利用的物种产生了负面和非选择性的影响，而齿鲸则证明了选择它们的猎物物种并对组合产生积极影响。特别是，虽然渔具主要是选择尺寸，主要针对大型且具有经济价值的鱼类，但齿鲸似乎遵循与猎物共同进化的过程，在资源方面发展专业化，