Variability of physical factors relevant to fisheries production in the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea
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Recent publications have shown that river runoff and wind mixing are two major environmental
factors affecting productivity of fish populations in subtropical and tropical areas, as opposed
to water temperature in colder waters. In the present paper, we compare the variability of
seawater temperature, river runoff and wind mixing in three different seas: a subtropical sea (the
Mediterranean) and two cold seas (the North Sea and the Baltic). Temperature variability decreased
from colder to warmer areas. The highest temporal variability in the river runoff corresponded
to rivers flowing into the Mediterranean, and the lowest corresponded to rivers flowing
into the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The variability in the wind mixing index (cube of the wind
speed) depended on the area under consideration, and attained maximum values in the Cap
Béar station (northwestern Mediterranean). The effect of these regional variability differences in
environmental factors on fisheries production is briefly discussed
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