Small-scale Artisanal Fisheries Research Articles

Predicting <em>Pollicipes pollicipes</em> (Crustacea: Cirripedia) abundance on intertidal rocky shores of SW Portugal: a multi-scale approach based on a simple fetch-based wave exposure index

Understanding and predicting patterns of distribution and abundance of marine resources is important for conservation and management purposes in small-scale artisanal fisheries and industrial fisheries worldwide. The goose barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes) is an important shellfish resource and its distribution is closely related to wave exposure at different spatial scales. We modelled the abundance (percent coverage) of P. pollicipes as a function of a simple wave exposure index based on fetch estimates from digitized coastlines at different spatial scales. The model accounted for 47.5% of the explained deviance and indicated that barnacle abundance increases non-linearly with wave exposure at both the smallest (metres) and largest (kilometres) spatial scales considered in this study. Distribution maps were predicted for the study region in SW Portugal. Our study suggests that the relationship between fetch-based exposure indices and P. pollicipes percent cover may be used as a simple tool for providing stakeholders with information on barnacle distribution patterns. This information may improve assessment of harvesting grounds and the dimension of exploitable areas, aiding management plans and supporting decision making on conservation, harvesting pressure and surveillance strategies for this highly appreciated and socio-economically important marine resource.

Can an aggregation-fishery be responsible for recruitment overfishing? A case study on cuttlefish stock associated with moored fish aggregation devices (FADs)

The use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) has intensified markedly throughout the world’s tropical and sub-tropical oceans since early 1990s. While information on large-scale industrial FADs focusing on capturing large oceanic resources are documented, there is little data on the consequences of use of traditional-FADs targeting spawning aggregations. In the eastern Arabian Sea, moored FADs composed of natural floating objects were designed and employed in isolated coastal rocky stretches to enhance small-scale artisanal fisheries. Recent increase in export demand for cuttlefishes has resulted in a renewed interest in extensive and unregulated use of FADs in cuttlefish fisheries transitioning from subsistence to market-oriented production. While the FAD-associated cuttlefish fishery has expanded rapidly by taking advantage of the spawning aggregation of the most abundant cuttlefish, Sepia pharaonis, there are many uncertainties with respect to the information on the characteristics of the exploited resource and the vulnerability of the spawning stock biomass (SSB) to fishing pressure. The biological characteristics of S. pharaonis exploited near FADs were compared with those of free-schools exploited by commercial trawling with respect to catch rates, size composition and reproductive status. We also assessed the impact of the aggregation-fishery on SSB and recruitment. Results suggested that the free-schools were assemblages of immature, maturing, spawning and spent individuals. On the other hand, the FADs aggregated larger spawning cuttlefish. Consequently, the annual spawning stock biomass (SSB) reduced from 17,862t in 2008 to 1467t in 2013. The number of recruits also reduced from 93.2 million in 2008 to 35.6 million in 2013. The occurrence of only gravid animals in FAD-associated fishery indicated that the cuttlefishes were attracted to the FADs for attaching their eggs. The analysis strongly suggested that (1) the spawning cuttlefish population is vulnerable to FAD-associated fishing; (2) the aggregation-fisheries harvested cuttlefish prior to spawning (high gonado-somatic index); (3) the removal of spawners having high reproductive value led to recruitment overfishing; and (4) aggregations may be more valuable when unexploited, as fishing on pre-spawning individuals can have adverse effects that go beyond the removal of biomass. As a sustainable management strategy, the FAD-based cuttlefish fishery was prohibited by the Fisheries Administration in 2012.

A popular and potentially sustainable fishery resource under pressure–extinction risk and conservation of Brazilian Sciaenidae (Teleostei: Perciformes)

Croakers (Sciaenidae) are major fishery resource in Brazil; constituting 22% of marine and 9% of freshwater fishery landings. Croakers are subject to heavy fishing pressure throughout Brazil, but habitat alteration is also an important threat to regional populations. In this regional Sciaenidae assessment, each species was analyzed for relative risk of extinction, including the identification and quantification of the impact of major threats and existing conservation measures, based on application of the Categories and Criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Of the 52 species of Sciaenid fishes (34 marine and 18 freshwater) present in Brazilian waters, the majority are at low risk of extinction, with 10 species classified as Data Deficient (DD) and 36 as Least Concern (LC). However the Southern black drum (Pogonias cromis), listed as Endangered (EN) is the most threatened species in the region, while three other species are classified as Near Threatened (NT). A large portion of Brazilian croakers is landed by small-scale artisanal fisheries, which are scattered along coastal and riverine communities. However, our assessments reveal that available fishery landing statistics may have greatly underestimated the artisanal fishery production and by-catch of Sciaenids. We recommend establishing, with adequate enforcement, coastal and riverine protected areas as well as strategic fishing seasons to improve and maintain the conservation status of Sciaenids and sustainable Sciaenid fisheries.

Effects of ocean acidification on larval development and early post-hatching traits in Concholepas concholepas (loco)

Larval stages represent a bottleneck influencing the persistence of marine populations with complex life cycles. Concholepas concholepas is a gastropod species that sustains the most important small-scale artisanal fisheries of the Chile-Peru Humboldt Coastal current system. In this study, newly-laid egg capsules of C. concholepas collected from 3 localities along the Chilean coast were used to evaluate the potential consequences of projected near-future ocean acidification (OA) on larval development and early post-hatching larval traits. We compared hatching time, hatching success and early survivorship of encapsulated larvae reared under contrasting average levels of pCO2: 382 (present-day), ca. 715 and ca. 1028 μatm CO2 (levels expected in near-future scenarios of OA). Moreover, we compared morphological larval traits such as protoconch size, thickness and statolith size at hatching. Some of the developmental traits were negatively affected by pCO2 levels, source locality, female identity, or the interaction between those factors. Meanwhile, the effect of pCO2 levels on morphological larval traits showed significant interactions depending on differences among egg capsules and females. Our results suggest that OA may decouple hatching time from oceanographic processes associated with larval transport and reduce larval survivorship during the dispersive phase, with a potential impact on the species’ population dynamics. However, the results also show geographic variability and developmental plasticity in the investigated traits. This variation may lead to an increased acclimatization ability, facilitate the persistence of natural populations and mitigate the negative effects that OA might have on landings and revenues derived from the fishery of this species.

Exportation of excess feed from Mediterranean fish farms to local fisheries through different targeted fish species

AbstractCoastal fisheries and sea cage aquaculture coexist along the coastal zone, and it has been suggested that wild fish feed on excess feed around farms. If this occurs, the condition of wild fish can increase and their lipid profile can become modified. However, the influence of fishfarming on coastal fisheries has not been described in detail. Four targeted species of different trophic gilds, Sardinella aurita, Caranx rhonchus, Mullus barbatus, and Pomatomus saltatrix were studied and the lipid profiles of individuals captured by coastal fisheries and around fish farms were compared. Results show that fish captured at farms showed increased levels of total lipids and/or the terrestrial fatty acids contained in feed pellets. Individuals with increased terrestrial fatty acid proportions were detected in the catch of small-scale artisanal fisheries but not among trawled fish. Consequently, this study demonstrates the influence of fishfarming on coastal fisheries through the exportation of excess feed in the shape of wild fish biomass.

The Challenges of Pro-Poor Fisheries Reform

Small-scale artisanal fisheries account for an estimated 40 MMT of catch annually, employing approximately 40 million workers. The promise of rationalization, realized in developed countries, is that good management may generate significant rents. But an important issue for developing countries is: will the rents from rationalization accrue to the poor? I investigate connections between fisheries rationalization, income distribution, and poverty reduction drawing on a model from A.D. Scott (1957). Under open access, a fixed amount of labor is employed such that the value of marginal product (VMP) in agriculture is equal to the value of average product (VAP) in the fishery. Reform is then modeled with a dynamic optimization model, which identifies conditions that generate a high potential payoff to the poor. Whether potential payoffs are translated into actual gains to the poor depends upon political economy factors. I discuss the political economy barriers to pro-poor fisheries reform and potential institutions for sustaining rational fisheries use.

Using a no-take zone to assess the impacts of fishing: Sessile epifauna appear insensitive to environmental disturbances from commercial potting

Aside from effects on target populations and/or by catch, there is widespread interest in the physical impacts of fishing activity on marine systems. Frequently, it is the effect of mobile gear such as dredges and trawls which are of principal concern. The ecological consequences of passive/static gear such as pots and traps on benthic communities are far less understood. The establishment of a Sanctuary Zone/No-Take Zone at Lundy Island in 2003 allowed us to test the idea that if potting for crustaceans has an impact on benthic assemblages, then on the cessation of potting, assemblages should become different from those where potting continues. A concurrent study using experimental potting within the No-Take Zone allowed a separate test of this idea, but with a controlled fishing effort. This is the first longer-term study into the effects of lobster potting on benthic assemblages in the northern Atlantic. Multivariate analyses on patterns of change in assemblages over the 4years of the study indicated no differences in how assemblages changed over time between areas subject to potting and those not fished. From the results, we conclude that potting for lobsters and crabs in inshore waters seems to have no detectable effects over the timescale of the experiment. In addition to being management goals/tools in their own right, strongly protected areas such as Sanctuary/No-Take Zones provide an opportunity to test experimental hypotheses about the effects of fishing. Our study shows there were no conservation benefits, in terms of the investigated species, arising from exclusion of potting in this Marine Protected Area (MPA). For some MPAs it may be possible to permit limited potting to allow small-scale artisanal fisheries to persist.

Consuming Diversity: Analysis of Seasonal Catch Patterns in Multispecies Artisanal Reef Fisheries in North Sulawesi, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract: Despite the socioeconomic as well as ecological importance of smallscale fisheries in developing countries, there is a dearth of information on the state of artisanal fisheries in different regions of the tropical Indo-Pacific. In this study, catch patterns in small-scale artisanal fisheries within an area of high marine biodiversity in the western Pacific were analyzed using data gathered directly from the main fish market in Manado, North Sulawesi, eastern Indonesia. Of a total of 350 species identified among harvested fishes, the majority of species (ca. 90%) were closely associated with shallow reef habitats (<50 m), and open/deep-water species constituted a small proportion. There was a clear preponderance of relatively small (<50 cm) fish species among marketed fishes, with a steep decline in abundance of larger species, suggesting the possibility of overfishing. Faunal complementarity or distinctness between wet (November—March) and dry (April—October) season was lower for reef-associated...

International workshop on developing strategies for monitoring data-limited deepwater demersal line fisheries in the Pacific Ocean

Deepwater demersal line fisheries occur within all ocean basins and are typically focused upon seamounts, reef slopes and deep reefs. In tropical and subtropical regions, most are small-scale artisanal and subsistence fisheries with snappers (Lutjanidae) being the dominant group caught, followed by groupers (Epinephelidae) and emperors (Lethrinidae). Although harvest levels are low relative to industrial scale fisheries, most deepwater species are vulnerable to fisheries impacts (Cheung et al. 2007) as many species are long-lived, slow growing and mature late in life (Fry et al. 2006; McClanahan and Hicks 2011; Kalish et al. in press). Assessing the status of deepwater stocks is becoming a greater priority for fisheries managers in the Pacific Islands region, although the spatial and social complexity in these fisheries makes it difficult to obtain basic catch and effort data needed for sustainable fisheries management. In the Pacific Islands region, deepwater fish have been exploited on a subsistence basis for many generations (Dalzell and Preston 1992). Development of small-scale commercial deepwater fisheries in the south Pacific region commenced during the 1970s, mainly to reduce pressure on shallow inshore reef fish populations (Dalzell and Preston 1992) and to establish new export opportunities. Over time, fisheries for deepwater species became established in Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Guam, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and American and Western Samoa (Dalzell and Adams 1994). However, by the early 1990s, only Tonga, and, to a lesser extent, both Samoas and Fiji, had maintained significant effort in their respective deepwater fisheries. More recent efforts to develop the fisheries in PNG and the Solomon Islands were also not sustained. In some Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) moves to license larger commercial vessels has driven demand for improved information on which to base stock assessments and management decisions. A. J. Williams (&) S. J. Nicol P. G. Williams F. Magron G. M. Pilling I. Bertram M. Batty Secretariat of the Pacific Community, BPD5-98848, Noumea, New Caledonia e-mail: ashleyw@spc.int

Fishing for a Future: Searching for a new maxim

Brian O’Riordan has been engaged in fisheries related work for over 30 years, initially in small-scale artisanal fish catching, commerce and fish farming. For the last 20 years his work has focussed on small-scale artisanal fisheries in the developing countries, and for the last 10 years on policy advocacy work in support of small-scale artisanal fisheries and on promoting equitable North-South relations in fisheries. He is currently employed as the secretary, ICSF Belgium Office, a post he has held for 10 years. In 2003, ICSF was awarded the Margarita Lizaraga Award by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for its contribution to the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. In 2005, the Swedish Trade Association Svensk Fisk conferred the Kungsfenan Swedish Seafood Award for Sustainable Fishing on ICSF.

Patterns of investment in reproductive and somatic tissues in the loliginid squid Loligo forbesii and Loligo vulgaris in Iberian and Azorean waters

The veined squid, Loligo forbesii, is found throughout the northeast Atlantic, including the waters off the Iberian Peninsula, and is a socio-economically important cephalopod species, sustaining several small-scale commercial and local artisanal fisheries. This study uses Iberian and Azorean trawl survey and fishery landings data from 1990 to 1992 and employs additive modelling to examine the relationships amongst somatic growth, season and gonad growth, in an attempt to determine the relative importance of intrinsic (e.g. nutritional state and body size) and extrinsic (temperature and daylight) factors which contribute to maturation in L. forbesii. We compare the results with those from a comparative analysis of contemporaneous data on Loligo vulgaris from the Iberian coast, and with a re-analysis of previously published results for L. forbesii in Scottish waters. Reproductive organ weight in both sexes of L. forbesii from all ports shows seasonal patterns with a fall/winter peak in maturation, as is expected with the animals’ year-long life cycle. Two maturity peaks (spring and winter) were found for both Azores L. forbesii males and females, possibly evidence of two breeding cohorts, with males maturing approximately 1 month earlier than females in both seasons. For L. vulgaris, three annual peaks in reproductive weight were identified. With the exception of L. forbesii males from Scottish waters, in all study animals, the partial effect of mantle length and mantle weight on reproductive weight is positive up to large body sizes. The relationship between nutritional status and reproductive weight is also generally positive. Geographic variation in the relationships, as seen between Scottish males and samples from the other study areas, is hypothesised to be largely attributable to local differences in environmental conditions (productivity, food availability, temperature, upwelling), although differences between L. forbesii from the Azores, Scotland and mainland Europe may also relate to previously documented genetic differences.

Capture fishery in northern Todos os Santos Bay, tropical southwestern Atlantic, Brazil

Information on marine and estuarine capture fishery activity in northern Todos os Santos Bay, northeastern Brazil, based on daily data collected between September 2003 and June 2005 is presented. Small-scale artisanal fishery in this area includes the use of traditional vessels both nonmotorized and motorized for locomotion, being carried out mainly by canoe or on foot, and involves many different kinds of gear, including gillnet, hook and line, seine nets, and traps. A total of 113 taxa were grouped into 77 resources, including 88 fish, 10 crustaceans, and 15 mollusks. Data on nominal catches of fish, crustaceans and mollusks are presented by month and location. A total of 345.2 tonnes of fishery resources were produced (285.4 tonnes of fish, 39.2 tonnes of fresh invertebrates, and 20.6 tonnes of processed invertebrates). Temporal variation in the fish catch was associated with the life cycle of the species or with the hydrographic conditions. The first-sale value of this catch amounted to around US$ 615,000.00, fishes representing 71.3% of it. A table of the average price of each fishery resource is presented. The results produced in this study may be considered a reference for future monitoring programs of fishery resources in the area.

Trawling regime influences longline seabird bycatch in the Mediterranean: new insights from a small-scale fishery

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 420:241-252 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08847 Trawling regime influences longline seabird bycatch in the Mediterranean: new insights from a small-scale fishery K. Laneri1,7,*,**, M. Louzao1,2,8,*,**, A. Martínez-Abraín1, J. M. Arcos3, E. J. Belda4, J. Guallart5, A. Sánchez3, M. Giménez 3, R. Maestre3,6, D. Oro1 1IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Miquel Marquès 21, 07190 Esporles, Mallorca, Spain 2Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, Catedrático Rodrigo Uría s/n, 33071 Oviedo, Spain 3SEO/BirdLife, C/Múrcia 2-8, local 13, 08026 Barcelona, Spain 4Instituto de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Zonas Costeras, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Ctra. Nazaret-Oliva s/n, 46730 Gandia, València, Spain 5Laboratorio de Biología Marina, Departamento de Zoología, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot, València, Spain 6Institut d’Ecologia Litoral, Jacinto Benavente 21, 03560 El Campello, Alicante, Spain 7Present address: Fundació Institut Català de Ciències del Clima (IC3), Doctor Trueta 203, 08005 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 8Present address: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany *‑Corresponding authors. Email: karinalaneri@gmail.com, maite.louzao@ufz.de**These authors contributed equally to this work ABSTRACT: Unintended mortality in longlines emerged in the early 1990s as one of the most important threats for pelagic seabirds worldwide. Most of the studies were focused on highly developed industrial fisheries, overlooking bycatch in small-scale artisanal fisheries. However, bycatch in small-scale fisheries might have negative effects similar to those of industrial fisheries when they overlap with hotspot areas of top predators. Moreover, different types of fishing gear coexist in the same oceanographic area, particularly in highly exploited marine ecosystems such as the western Mediterranean. We quantify for the first time the influence of trawling regime on Cory’s shearwater Calonectris diomedea bycatch in the western Mediterranean longline artisanal fishery. The availability of trawling discards has substantial influence on the foraging and breeding ecology of many seabirds, and trawling inactivity may drive shearwaters to seek alternative food resources, such as baits used in longline fishing. Based on our previous knowledge of the system, we also tested other variables affecting bycatch over 8 yr (1998 to 2005). Within this 2-fishery framework, we found that trawling regime, longline fishing time and breeding stage were key factors explaining shearwater attendance to longline vessels, but mainly trawling regime and fishing time increased the incidental capture of Cory’s shearwaters. More specifically, during the pre-breeding and chick-rearing periods, bycatch dramatically increased during sunrise sets in the absence of trawling activity. Importantly, this study indicates the need for an integrated multi-fisheries management approach for the conservation of seabirds and highlights the necessity of banning longline fishing during periods of trawling inactivity. KEY WORDS: Small-scale fishery · Interactions between fisheries · Multi-fisheries management · Trawling inactivity · Cory’s shearwater · Mitigation measures · Western Mediterranean Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Laneri K, Louzao M, Martínez-Abraín A, Arcos JM and others (2010) Trawling regime influences longline seabird bycatch in the Mediterranean: new insights from a small-scale fishery. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 420:241-252. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08847Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 420. Online publication date: December 16, 2010 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2010 Inter-Research.

How does the accuracy of fisher knowledge affect seahorse conservation status?

O’Donnell, Pajaro & Vincent (2010) provide an interesting contribution to the study of indigenous/traditional knowledge and its modern relevance to marine conservation in insular south-east Asia, particularly given the rapid pace of socioeconomic change and ecological degradation in the region. The article examines how accurately fishermen in the Philippines report declines of the seahorse Hippocampus comes over a period of several decades by comparing fishermen’s interviews of past and current declines with daily fishermen logbook data. Given the dissonance between the results of these two datasets (due to retrospective bias), the authors conclude that caution should be exercised when fishermen’s knowledge regarding the status of a fishery are incorporated into quantitative conservation assessments. The conclusions of this particular case study are reasonable and important to consider when reconstructing historical trends in small-scale data-less artisanal fisheries. I would suggest, however, that researchers also need to consider ethnoecological knowledge in the context of a peoples’ holistic understanding of the local environment, rather than on peoples’ understanding of single-species trends only, which may suffer from retrospective bias as suggested by this paper. For fishers, an in-depth and holistic assessment of the local ecosystem affords an adequate cognitive framework to exploit its productive potential. Therefore, a complete analysis of human use of a particular marine environment depends on the study of its ecological structure and processes, as well as on the appraisal of its human ecology more generally. Consequently, researchers need to analyze the productive practices exerted by local inhabitants on the marine environment including an analysis of spatio-temporal human resource exploitation patterns (e.g. seasonal changes in fishing gear), human responses to variability in inter- and intra-habitat relative productivity and the influence of this variability on subsistence and economic fishing strategies, and human threats to particular marine habitats. In sum, only a holistic approach to the biological and social nature of a people’s cognition and use of a given seascape will allows us to design managerial schemes that are more comprehensive. This, in turn, will enhance local participation in the management and conservation of single and/or multiple tropical inshore species.

Seamount Fisheries: Do They Have a Future?

Today, seamount fish populations are in trouble following a 30-year history of overexploitation, depletion, and collapse, with untold consequences for global biodiversity and the complex, delicate, but poorly understood, open-ocean food webs. Seamount fishes are especially vulnerable to fishing because their boom-and-bust life history characteristics can be exploited by heavy, high-technology fisheries. We estimate present global seamount catches to be about 3 million tonnes per annum and increasing-vastly in excess of estimated sustainable levels. Unfortunately, most seamount fisheries are unmanaged. In a few developed countries, precautionary management regimes have recently been introduced, including protection from bottom trawling. Small-scale artisanal fisheries using less-harmful fishing gear, spatial closures, and low catch levels provide an attractive model for improved seamount fishery management that could foster the reconstruction of previously damaged seamount ecosystems. Such restored systems might one day support a substantial global sustainable fishery, although, like many other fisheries, the prognosis is poor.

Seagrass Importance in Food Provisioning Services: Fish Stomach Content as a Link between Seagrass Meadows and Local Fisheries

The links between ecosystem processes and functions and ecosystem services (i.e. the humanbenefits from those) are elusive. In this paper, the food provisioning service of seagrass meadows isoperationalized through the study of the stomach contents of 13 important commercial fish species inChwaka Bay, Zanzibar. Using local fishers’ knowledge on bait, scientific knowledge about the structureof the meadows (associated flora and fauna), stomach content analysis and multivariate statistics, the foodprovisioning service associated with seagrasses and its importance for fish (as important diet component)and for humans (in small-scale artisanal fisheries) are described. The study presents the food items for 13commercial fish species identified at the lowest possible taxonomical level and compares with previousliterature findings. In addition, differences in stomach contents of Siganus sutor and Leptoscarus vaigiensiscaught with both drag-nets and dema basket traps are investigated in order to explore bait presence andindirectly evaluate fishers’ knowledge on bait preference. The results show that most of the items consumedby commercial fishes are associated with seagrass beds and that there are clear indicators that the baittraditionally used seems to be effective. The paper elaborates on the consideration of seagrass ecosystemsin a holistic perspective, the difficulties in valuation of ecosystem services and finally the crucial importanceof these aspects for human well-being and sustainability in coastal communities of the Western IndianOcean.

An interdisciplinary evaluation of fishery production systems off the state of Pará in North Brazil

Summary The performance of 20 fishery production systems off the state of Para in the northern region of Brazil was compared using the ‘RAPFISH’ methodology, with 57 identified attributes distributed among five evaluation fields: economics, sociology, ecology, technology and politics. The results indicated the existence of three large groups of fishery sectors: (i) industrial (red snapper with traps, the Laulao catfish, shrimp trawl) and semi-industrial (lobster) fisheries; (ii) large-scale artisanal fisheries (acoupa weakfish, red snapper with lines, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, coco sea catfish); and (iii) small-scale artisanal fisheries (shellfish, crab, estuarine longline, fish traps, etc.). While the industrial and large-scale artisanal systems demonstrated greater sustainability from an economic and social standpoint, small-scale fisheries appeared to be more ecologically sustainable. Based on the results, a reduction in industrial fishing efforts is recommended, along with the establishment of licensing quotas for fishing vessels, as well as an increased investment in research on proper guidance and management of the semi-industrial and large-scale artisanal fisheries sectors. For small-scale artisanal fisheries, economic incentives are suggested for the aggregate value of the products and to assist fishers in the development of an appropriate social organization. Finally, it is believed that a greater stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process would improve management actions for all modalities.

Catch statistics in the bloodworm fishery in Maine

Though they are of critical importance as tools for fisheries managers, catch statistics of small-scale artisanal fisheries are rare. The bloodworm ( Glycera dibranchiata) fishery in Maine has lacked catch data since the 1970s, and the extent of the disturbance to the mudflats from which they are dug has never been examined. We tested the hypothesis that worm catch rates have declined since the 1970s. Using both interviews with diggers and observational data, we gathered catch per unit effort data on the time diggers spend digging per tide, worms dug per digger-tide, area dug per digger-tide, and the size of harvested individuals. We found that an average digger digs about 90 m 2/h for roughly 2 h each tide. Diggers, however, averaged longer tides and dug larger areas in 2007 than in 2004–2005. Also, diggers harvested an average of 702 (±36S.E.) worms per tide in 2007, more than twice the average for 2004–2005 (328 ± 24). This is most likely due to higher worm density (5.6 worms/m 2 in 2007 vs. 0.3 worms/m 2 in 2004–2005 at the Worm Conservation Area, Wiscasset, ME). Harvested worms in the past few years have been on the order of 10% larger than worms dug during the 1970s. While managers should consider the extent of disturbance caused by bloodworm digging, from the standpoint of the removal of the target species, the industry at present appears to be sustainable.

Characterizing a small-scale, data-poor, artisanal fishery: Seahorses in the central Philippines

Small-scale artisanal fisheries that target sedentary stocks have been largely ignored by fisheries management agencies, despite their great importance for food security and livelihoods. We characterized the fishing effort and biological parameters of one such fishery for seahorses in the central Philippines from 1996 to 1999. We found that catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) was very low, particularly when compared with historical accounts. There were significant seasonal differences in CPUE, with higher catches and more juveniles in February–April. Fishers differed in their skill at catching seahorses but fishing grounds did not differ in seahorse catches. We found increases in the mean size of landed seahorses during the study but decreases in the proportion of brooding males. We interpret these data in terms of potential co-management options for the fishery.

Application of the Gómez-Muñoz model to estimate catch and effort in squid fisheries in Scotland

The Gómez-Muñoz model, which utilises interview data obtained from fishermen, was developed to aid the management of small-scale artisanal fisheries, where there may be a dearth of catch and effort data, and has been successfully used in the estimation of catch per unit effort (CPUE) in this type of fishery in Galicia. The suitability of applying the model to two cases in Scotland, a non-targeted by-catch fishery off the northwest coast of Scotland and a directed squid fishery in the Moray Firth, is explored. The interview information returned from the directed fishery is generally of higher quality. In order to study the model behaviour, an alternative parameterisation is carried out. In general, the model was found to be most sensitive to parameters having a direct effect on catch and effort. Calculated confidence intervals are rather wide but could be improved by refining the interview protocol with emphasis placed on reducing the timing from monthly to weekly. A database of 671 individual vessels’ landings into Scottish ports in 2000 is created and, from this, an index of fishing effort calculated, which displays a close approximation with official data. The results from the by-catch fishery are extrapolated to larger areas. In all cases, the predicted catches are higher than official figures although similar trends are evident.