Abstract
In Portugal it has been estimated that unreported catches represent one third of total catches. Herein, information on landings and total unreported catches (discards) by commercial métier were disaggregated into high taxonomic detail using published scientific studies. Fish accounted for 93.5% (115493 t) of overall unreported catches per year, followed by cephalopods (2345 t, 1.9%) and crustaceans (1754 t, 1.4%). Sharks accounted for 1.3% of total unreported catches in weight (1638 t/y). Unreported taxa consisted mostly of the commercial landed fish species: Scomber colias, Boops boops, Trachurus picturatus, T. trachurus, Merluccius merluccius, Sardina pilchardus, Liza aurata and Micromesistius poutassou, which together accounted for 70% of the unreported discarded catches. The number of unreported/discarded species was highest in artisanal fisheries, followed by trawl and purse seine. In artisanal fisheries, L. aurata, S. colias, S. pilchardus, Trachinus draco and B. boops accounted for 76.4% of the unreported discards. B. boops, S. colias and S. pilchardus were also among the most discarded purse seine species, together with Belone belone accounting for 79% of the unreported catches. In trawl fisheries, T. picturatus (16%), M. merluccius (13%), S. colias (13%) and M. poutassou (13%) accounted for 55% of the trawl discarded unreported catches. The discarded species that most contribute to overall unreported catches are those that are most frequently landed and that most contribute to overall landings in weight.
Highlights
Coastal and maritime activities have traditionally been important for the national economy and the historical, social, and cultural identity of Portugal (Leitão and Baptista 2017)
There are few studies on reconstruction of unreported discards with higher taxonomic resolution, because of the enormous time required for obtaining sound fisheries information, processing the data and developing/ applying accurate methodologies
After we estimated IUU in a previous study, we reconstructed unreported discard profiles, because enhancing taxonomic information on discards is imperative for fisheries management within the new CFP and the landing obligation directive
Summary
Coastal and maritime activities have traditionally been important for the national economy and the historical, social, and cultural identity of Portugal (Leitão and Baptista 2017). The country has long relied on fishing as a major means of subsistence and many coastal communities depend almost exclusively on small-scale coastal and estuarine fisheries and related activities. In the around 1850, steam-powered vessels were introduced to the fishing fleets, resulting in a reduction of total fishers (Alves 1991). Fishers began to deploy for the first time an industrial gear, the otter trawl, which immediately created conflicts between the small-scale sector and this newly developing industrial sector (Baldaque da Silva 1891, Alves 1991). In mainland Portugal, a variety of gears/métiers are used in the coastal fisheries, ranging from trawls to static gears such as gill nets and traps. As different gear types and métiers target different organisms (Watson et al 2006 a, b), unreported catches such as discards differ from métier to métier
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