Abstract
Based on the characteristics of the fishing sector (multispecies and multi-gears) and the stock status of main resources (overfishing and overexploitation), some suggestions to improve the sustainability of demersal and small pelagic fisheries in the Mediterranean are proposed. In fisheries exploiting single or few species, such as small pelagics and deep-water red shrimps, the adoption of a management system based on catch quota approaches is suggested. In the case of mixed fisheries exploiting species with very different biological traits, it is proposed to reduce the fishing effort to a level corresponding to the lower range of the “pretty good yield” of the main target species while improving the status of the most sensitive associated species, adopting technical measures to mitigate fishing mortality. The feasibility of the proposed approaches is briefly discussed, taking into account the different levels of development of the Mediterranean countries.
Highlights
From 1970 to 2010, developing fisheries and fully exploited stocks were declining at rates ranging from 18% (WM) to 24% (CM), whereas the overexploited and collapsed stocks were increasing at rates between 14% (WM) and 18% (CM) per decade (Stergiou et al, 2016)
The European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) [reg. (EU) no. 1380/2013], the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (Directive 2008/56/EC), and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) mid-term strategy (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), 2016) have adopted the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) as the main target for fisheries together with a progressive improvement of practices able to reduce the discards of unwanted fish
In the Strait of Sicily (CM) P. longirostris and giant red shrimps (Aristaeomorpha foliacea) are the main targets of the Italian trawlers, with more than 50% by weight and 61% by value of demersal yield in 2016, FIGURE 2 | Box plots showing the distribution of F0.1, as a precautionary proxy of fishing mortality at MSY (FMSY), for the main target species of the Mediterranean bottom trawling
Summary
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Gorka Merino, Technology Center Expert in Marine and Food Innovation (AZTI), Spain Stefanos G. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece. Based on the characteristics of the fishing sector (multispecies and multi-gears) and the stock status of main resources (overfishing and overexploitation), some suggestions to improve the sustainability of demersal and small pelagic fisheries in the Mediterranean are proposed. In the case of mixed fisheries exploiting species with very different biological traits, it is proposed to reduce the fishing effort to a level corresponding to the lower range of the “pretty good yield” of the main target species while improving the status of the most sensitive associated species, adopting technical measures to mitigate fishing mortality.
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