Acknowledgments

  The participants are specially thankful to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) for its rapid and positive response to the funding request by the working group of this project (Intramural Especial 200430E599: Análisis y seguimiento del impacto ecológico del temporal extreme de San Esteban, 26-12-2008, sobre los ecosistemas litorales del norte del levante español). It has permitted to assess the effects on the storm on the ecosystem right after passage of the event.

Specifically, the project has funded in full or in an important part the ‘after storm’ studies reported in chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 16. The rest have received non or negligible funds from the project. Emphasis has to be made in the fact that all ‘before storm’ information and the 8 other chapters not listed above, has been contributed by the authors in a complete unselfishly way. Funding institutions and persons supporting these studies are mentioned below.

Thanks are due to the Department of Public Works of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Puertos del Estado of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works for supplying wave data. José Antonio Jiménez autor of Chapter 1 collaborated within the context of the VuCoMa research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Research and Innovation (CTM2008-05597/MAR).

Part of the study presented in Chapter 4 has been funded by the “Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas” (PIEC 200430E599) and part by the "Direcció General de Pesca Marítima", the "Departament de Medi Natural", the "Generalitat de Catalunya", and by the "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación", projects CGL2007-66757-C02-01/BOS and CTM2006-01463.

The authors of Chapter 8 are grateful for the field assistance received from Boris Weitzmann. The works in this chapter have been supported in part by the “Agència Catalana de l’Aigua” (Generalitat de Catalunya) and in part by this Project.

The PADI Foundation funded part of the works in Chapter 10. The authors would like to thank also Josep Pascual for providing meteorological data.

The authors of Chapter 11 are grateful to MICINN for funding their study within the project “Evaluación experimental de la influencia de atributos del paisaje sobre interacciones funcionales entre elementos del mosaico de ecosistemas costeros” (CTM2010-22273-C02-01 and CTM2010-22273-C02-02).

The authors of Chapter 12 are grateful to Submon, subcontracted by the “Parc Natural del Montgrí, les Illes Medes i el Baix Ter”, for making the major part of the observations in Medes-Montgrí of the populations of Pinna nobilis.

The authors of Chapter 13 thank to the “Agència Catalana de l’Aigua” for providing the framework of the case studies and the access to data. Thanks are also due Simone Mariani and Maria Paola Mura for their help in the identification of species. 

The authors of Chapter 16 are grateful to the members of all the research teams involved in the various monitoring programmes in the Medes Islands for sharing many of the dives required for this study.

Chapter 18 was developed within the framework of the PROMETEO Project (CTM 2007-66316-C02-02/MAR). The authors wish to thank the other teams of the project and the crew of Garcia del Cid for helping in deployment and collecting of traps during the cruises.

The authors of Chapter 19 wish to thank the collaboration of the “Federació Catalana d’Activitats Subaquàtiques” (FECDAS), especially Carles Font (FECDAS territorial delegate in Girona) and Oscar Sagué (Head of the Dept. of Environment of FECDAS) for the distribution of survey forms among underwater fishermen and sport divers. In this task has also actively collaborated the staff of the “Àrea Marina Protegida de les Illes Medes” (Medes Islands Marine Protected Area), its director, Àlex Lorente, and the enthusiastic Manel Llenas from the “Centre d'Activitats Subaquatiques de la Costa Brava” (CAS Costa Brava). Josep Lloret (Universitat de Girona) was key in getting data on commercial fishing in Cadaqués and Àngel Luque (head of maintenance of CEAB) gave us access to the local fishermen in Blanes. Francesc Benaiges (Patró Major, Confraria de Pescadors de Palamós) provided all facilities to conduct the survey among fishermen of Palamós. They also want to acknowledge the cooperation of all those spear fishermen, sport divers and fishermen who have completed the survey making it possible to conduct the study in Chapter 18.

Finally, we would like to highlight that part of the monitoring studies have benefit from the support of the “Generalitat de Catalunya” to the leading researchers through the funding assigned to the Consolidated Research Group (Ref. 2009SRG665).