Restoring the ecosystem creates wealth. The case of the Northern coast of Tunisia’s deep-water rose shrimp trawl fishery

Abstract

The demersal trawl fishery of the north Tunisian coast primarily targets the deep-water rose shrimp, Parapenaeus longirostris, and secondarily a variety of demersal fish species. These fishes include hake (Merluccius merluccius), common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), red mullet (Mullus barbatus), surmullet (Mullus surmuletus), Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus), bogue (Boops boops), picarel (Spicara smaris) and spotted flounder (Citharus linguatula). A bioeconomic model was used to test management measures through scenarios that ran over eleven years to estimate the viability of the fishery according to biological and economic results. The most beneficial scenario was the combination of several management measures including a temporal closure of two months, the replacement of the 40mm diamond mesh codend with 40mm square mesh, the removal of both the biological recovery tax and of fuel subsidies, and an 83% reduction in fishing capacity. This results in an annual private profit higher by 9.3M TND (Tunisian Dinar) (6.9M USD) that of 2008, and an economic rent that was higher by 13.3M TND (9.9M USD) than by the end of the projected period. Shrimp and fish biomasses have doubled compared with 2008, and trawling damages would be reduced to the equivalent of a five- fold reduction in fishing effort. This study shows that the objectives of improving demersal ecosystems and improving individual and collective wealth can be achieved through the synergistic effects of various regulatory measures.