Small-Scale Fisheries in Portugal: Current Situation, Challenges and Opportunities for the Future

Abstract

A large portion of the Portuguese fisheries is characterised as small-scale fisheries, since 85% of the fleet is comprised of small-scale vessels employing static gears. Small-scale fisheries in Portugal target multiple species and employ a wide range of fishing gear, such as set gillnets, trammel nets, set longlines, handlines, pole-and-lines, and pots and traps. Fish landed by the small-scale fleet has a high quality and is commercialised fresh in the national market or exported to European and North American countries. Small-scale fisheries in Portugal have a high social, economic and cultural importance; with Portuguese culture and traditions deeply rooted in fishing and with fishing being the economic basis of many communities characterised by low economic diversification. However, there is a general lack of information about the environmental and human dimensions of small-scale fisheries, which hampers the sustainable management of the fleet, resources and ecosystems where fisheries take place. Furthermore, small-scale fisheries have traditionally been neglected, and this has resulted in, and is also a consequence of, small-scale and artisanal fishers being poorly organised, weakly represented and often ignored in local, regional and national decision-making processes that regulate their fisheries. This chapter describes small-scale fisheries in Portugal. It gives an overview of the status and trends of the sector, its socioeconomic and cultural importance, the management of small-scale fisheries, and the current challenges and opportunities for small-scale fisheries.