Fishing for cuttlefish with traps and trammel nets: A comparative study in Thermaikos Gulf, Aegean Sea

Abstract

Cuttlefish fishing with traps is practiced in many artisanal small-scale fisheries (SSF) worldwide. In Greece, this métier is absent and cuttlefish fishing by coastal fishermen is mainly carried out with trammel nets. The present study investigates the efficiency of trap fishing and attempts an evaluation of its economic performance and environmental sustainability as a potential new métier for the North Aegean SSF. Fishing with newly designed traps was compared with trammel nets for an entire fishing season regarding species composition, discarding ratio, fishing duration, seasonal fluctuations in daily catches and demographic structure of the cuttlefish catch. Traps displayed lower discards ratio and required lower amounts of fuel than trammel nets. Moreover, their productivity increased from late spring to mid-summer, a period when cuttlefish catches with trammel nets diminished. These findings suggest that trap fishing can offer the opportunity to extend the cuttlefish fishing period, normally ending in May, by at least two months. The introduction of trap fishing for cuttlefish can be both profitable and sustainable for the local SSF, after some necessary improvements in the selectivity and environmental footprint of the tested gear.