‘Reported’ versus ‘likely’ fisheries catches of four Mediterranean countries

Daniel Pauly,Marta Coll,Elise Bultel,Chiara Piroddi,Aylin Ulman

doi:10.3989/scimar.04020.17a

Abstract

The fisheries catch statistics that member countries report annually to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations were compared, for the years 1950 to 2010, with ‘reconstructed’, and more likely catch data from the Mediterranean coasts of mainland Spain, France, Italy and Turkey. Reconstructed catches were 2.6 times higher than those submitted to the FAO by these countries in the 1950s, and 1.8 times higher since 2000. If discarded by-catch is ignored they were 2.3 and 1.6 times higher, respectively. The contributors to the reconstructed catch from 1950 to 2010 were large-scale industrial fisheries (46%), discards (29%), artisanal fisheries (10%), recreational fisheries (9%) and subsistence fisheries (6%). The non-reported catch was high in all fishing sectors, including industrial, artisanal and recreational fisheries. The non-inclusion of discards in national and FAO statistics undermines the transition to ecosystem-based fisheries management, but needs to be overcome, as discards must be tracked before discarding itself is eliminated. The systematic underestimation of small-scale fisheries is part of a global phenomenon that will have to be overcome if the potential of these fisheries for sustainable exploitation of coastal systems is to be realized, perhaps in the context of reducing overall fishing capacity, which is excessive in the Mediterranean Sea as elsewhere in the world.

Highlights

The Mediterranean has been described as an ecosystem “under siege” (Coll et al 2012)
Most importantly for the fisheries and their resource exploitation, is the fact that most Mediterranean countries do not fully monitor their fisheries in such a way that all withdrawals of biomass are accounted for over time, as is required for ecosystem-based management of fisheries (Pikitch et al 2004). This is true for small-scale fisheries, whose catches are suspected to be systematically underestimated throughout the world (Pauly 2006), the Mediterranean being no exception, and for recreational fisheries, which are rarely accounted for in official statistics
The Mediterranean catch from the small-scale and industrial fisheries of Spain, France, Italy, and Turkey (Fig. 1) were ‘reconstructed’ for 1950-2010 based on concepts in Pauly (1998) and the approach outlined in Zeller et al (2007)

Summary

Introduction

The Mediterranean has been described as an ecosystem “under siege” (Coll et al 2012). Most importantly for the fisheries and their resource exploitation, is the fact that most Mediterranean countries do not fully monitor their fisheries in such a way that all withdrawals of biomass (i.e. landings plus discards) are accounted for over time, as is required for ecosystem-based management of fisheries (Pikitch et al 2004). This is true for small-scale fisheries, whose catches are suspected to be systematically underestimated throughout the world (Pauly 2006), the Mediterranean being no exception, and for recreational fisheries, which are rarely accounted for in official statistics. The scale of this underestimation is usually not known, and alternatives to the national/FAO datasets are rarely available

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion