The legacy of past disturbance: Chronic angling impairs long-term recovery of marine epibenthic communities from acute date-mussel harvesting

Two major concerns affect the way we perceive impacts: first, no ecosystem can still be considered pristine and second, stressors may interact. Untangling the effects of broad-scale anthropogenic stressors is complicated as appropriate unimpacted areas at relevant scales are usually unavailable for contrast with impacted regions. Although the perfect study design in the traditions of small-scale manipulative experiments may not always be possible, many human impacts and the mechanisms associated with ecosystem responses have been highlighted in literature allowing contrasting predictions on expected patterns to be tested. We applied such an approach to the Marine Protected Area of Bergeggi (Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean). Our study aimed at assessing the effects of recreational angling (a presumed chronic stress) on the recovery of epibenthic communities following historical date-mussel harvesting (an extreme disturbance) by making and testing alternative predictions on the structure of epibenthic communities that should be apparent depending on the importance of specific mechanisms. Effects of date-mussel harvesting were still visible 20 years after its cessation, mostly because recovery is hampered by persistent sea-urchin grazing. We hypothesized that fish biomass removal by angling favours high sea urchin abundance. Based on these premises, we assembled information on angling pressure, sea urchin abundance and substratum cover by different trophic guilds to test our predictions. Our study indicates that the interaction between date-mussel harvesting and angling produced a shift, from autotrophic-dominated to consumer-dominated communities as a consequence of cascading trophic effects. Such an outcome implies that chronic recreation fishing pressure is blocking recovery in locations previously impacted by date-mussel harvesting. Testing predictions proved efficient in describing the interaction among stressors when system history is known and represents a valuable approach to provide scientifically sound insight for improved conservation management.