Small-scale fisheries in Madeira: recreational vs artisanal fisheries

Margarida Hermida,Nuno Gouveia,Francesca Gizzi,Lídia Gouveia,Roi Martínez-Escauriaza

doi:10.3989/scimar.05180.022

Abstract

Small-scale recreational and artisanal fisheries are popular activities in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and to date no information is available on their impact on regional coastal ecosystems. Through fishers’ surveys and official registers of fish landings, we described and characterized these fisheries in Madeira, comparing artisanal and recreational fisheries. In 2017, artisanal boats landed 91 species in fishing ports, while recreational catches landed 58 species. The most frequent catches were Dentex gibbosus, Phycis phycis and Pagrus pagrus for artisanal fishery and P. pagrus, Serranus atricauda and Diplodus spp. for recreational fishery. Comparing the same techniques, artisanal fishery always showed higher catch per unit effort values than recreational boat fishery. Nevertheless, the low number of artisanal fishery boats in comparison with the recreational ones reflected the lower total landings of the artisanal fishery, which in 2017 were 62.3 t, compared with the 509.8 t estimated catches for the recreational fishery. Though the estimated recreational fishing data were based on surveys and thus subject to various biases, this activity seems to negatively affect coastal ecosystems and, together with artisanal fishing, exerts a combined pressure on targeted species. Improved legislation for both fisheries is essential for an appropriate management of resources.

Highlights

Coastal habitats are one of the most productive and valued ecosystems in the world (Costanza et al 1997), but they are seriously threatened by factors such as habitat loss and degradation, pollution, overexploitation, species introduction, climate change and fisheries (Suchanek 1994, Cooke and Cowx 2006)
Recreational and artisanal fisheries are often concentrated in coastal regions, where multiple uses of natural resources and continued overexploitation and degradation by human activities require increased efforts on the part of fisheries and coastal management (Lazzari et al 2021)
Recreational boat fishing together with the artisanal fishery are included in the category of small-scale fisheries (SSF), which is defined by the Common Fisheries Policy as “fishing carried out by fishing vessels of an overall length of less than 12 m without using towed fishing gear” (European Parliament 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Coastal habitats are one of the most productive and valued ecosystems in the world (Costanza et al 1997), but they are seriously threatened by factors such as habitat loss and degradation, pollution, overexploitation, species introduction, climate change and fisheries (Suchanek 1994, Cooke and Cowx 2006). Recreational and artisanal fisheries are often concentrated in coastal regions, where multiple uses of natural resources and continued overexploitation and degradation by human activities require increased efforts on the part of fisheries and coastal management (Lazzari et al 2021). Recent studies have shown that in some areas recreational catches are similar or even higher (Cooke and Cowx 2004, Zeller et al 2008, Pita et al 2018). SSF affects the fish populations from coastal regions (even if on a smaller scale than large-scale fisheries) and contributes to the decline of global fish stocks (Coleman et al 2004, Cook and Cowx 2006, Morales-Nin et al 2010, Castro et al 2019)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion