Where did the vessels go? An analysis of the EU fishing fleet gravitation between home ports, fishing grounds, landing ports and markets.

Steven Holmes,Fabrizio Natale,Giacomo Chato Osio,Maurizio Gibin,Jordi Guillen,Michele Vespe,Alfredo Alessandrini,Athanassios C Tsikliras

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230494

Abstract

The mobile nature of fishing activity entails dynamic spatial relations and dependencies between coastal communities and fishing grounds drawn by the movement of fishing vessels. Analysing these spatial relations is essential to allocate the socio-economic impact of the fishing activity into the relevant coastal communities. In addition, such spatial information gives the possibility, on the one hand, to assess the impacts from fisheries on the marine environment and, on the other, to manage competing uses of the sea space between different activities. In this paper, we use AIS data, which is individual vessels’ positioning data, to examine the activity of the EU large-scale fishing fleets, their home ports, high intensity fishing areas (i.e., main fishing grounds), main ports and coastal communities involved.

Highlights

The mobile nature of fishing activity entails dynamic spatial relations and dependencies between coastal communities and fish species in a given area
Competing interests among the different sectors are increasingly regulated through spatial measures such as Maritime Spatial Plans (MSPs), Territorial Use Rights for Fishing (TURF) or Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) [1]
In this paper we examined the activity of the European Union (EU) large-scale fishing fleets using individual vessels’ positioning data to identify the homeport and define spatial relations between homeports, High Intensity Fishing Areas (HIFA) and other ports

Summary

Introduction

The mobile nature of fishing activity entails dynamic spatial relations and dependencies between coastal communities and fish species in a given area (fishing grounds) Analysing these dynamics is essential in order to allocate the economic effects, usually expressed in terms of gross value added (GVA) and employment opportunities, to the relevant coastal communities. Such information gives the possibility, to assess the impacts from fisheries on the marine environment and to manage the use of the sea space between the competing interests of fisheries, other maritime economic sectors and environmental protection objectives. In the case of the European Union (EU), this means managing fisheries under the Common Fishery Policy (CFP)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion