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Managing coastal zone fisheries: A Mediterranean case study
Ocean & Coastal Management 53 (2010) 99–106
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Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman
Managing coastal zone fisheries: A Mediterranean case study Beatriz Morales-Nin a, *, Antoni M. Grau b, Miquel Palmer a a b
IMEDEA (CSIC/UIB), Miquel Marque´s 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain ´ n General de Pesca del Govern de les Illes Balears, Foners 10, 07004 Palma, Illes Balears, Spain Direccio
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Available online 7 January 2010
Coastal fisheries are complex ecological and social systems, evolving in time with a shift from commercial towards recreational effort. We describe the coastal fisheries of Mallorca (W Mediterranean) and the management policies implemented to show the challenges faced at regional level to handle the different management tools used to conserve biodiversity and the social fabric in the coastal zone. Our example provides evidence of the complexity of fishing rights and how they can be adapted into practical fisheries management by combining fishing rights, open access recreational fishery, community-based management and biodiversity conservation. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The state of exploitation of the main fish stocks in the world shows overexploitation or full exploitation for most stocks with no room expected for further expansion [1]. The main causes of fisheries overexploiting resources are economic and institutional. The first and most important of these causes is the natural human tendency towards excessive, competitive harvesting of commonpool resources, unlike other natural resources, which increases with the value and rareness of the resource. The renewable nature of fish resources increases the complexity of the problem by making it dynamic [2]. Fish in the sea are not allocated a priori to individual owners in the absence of specifically designed access rules. However, as soon as they are caught, marine fish become the private property of those who have caught them [3]. In any fishery, the potential catches of an individual operator will depend not only on their own fishing effort, but also on the fishing effort of all the other operators in the fishery. Hence there is an interaction, or cross-externality, between the individual decision to fish in a competitive, openaccess environment and an investment in fishing capacity larger than what would be required to achieve a certain level of production [2,3]. Moreover, the capacity of fish resources to grow and renew themselves is an important characteristic, as the catches of a given operator will affect future catches due to their impact on the growth and reproductive capacities of a fish stock. High fishing
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 971611721; fax: þ34 971611761. E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Morales-Nin). 0964-5691/$ – see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2010.01.003
pressure leads to ecological changes, decreases fish stocks and modifies their demographic structure [4]. Human activities are often concentrated in coastal regions, resulting in multiple uses of natural resources for human needs, with fisheries making up a significant part. Due to the growing demand and ongoing overexploitation and degradation of coastal areas, fisheries and coastal management have been increasingly coming into the spotlight [5,6]. Mediterranean coastal fisheries are basically traditional, smallscale, low investment activities. The entire fleet is comprised of 42,000 small boats (8% registered in the Spanish Mediterranean) which use diverse fishing gears and disembarking ports [7]. Mediterranean fisheries play an important socioeconomic role in the European fishing industry, representing 42% of the employment in the EU catching sector and contributing 12% of EU catches, which due to the narrow Mediterranean shelf mostly correspond to coastal waters [8]. Overlapping with the small-scale fishery in space and resource use, is a very important and increasingly popular recreational fishery, with more than 2 106 anglers and 3 105 recreational fishing boats in the Mediterranean [3,7]. Moreover, the impact of recreational fisheries on coastal resources has been recognized [3,9–12] but not included in any assessment. Therefore, the actual state of the coastal resources has not been specifically evaluated and may vary depending on the species. The main management actions in the Mediterranean comprise limiting effort, gear selectivity and closed areas and periods [13,14], as well as regulations for the commercialization and traceability of fishing products. The size of the small-scale fleet is decreasing [15] due in part to the effort reduction measures, but probably also due to other socioeconomic factors. Several rules apply to the recreational fishery, such as bag limits and gear selectivity; however, angling is
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increasing as leisure time is also increasing. The role of recreational fishing as a fisheries resource competitor has not been estimated. Although some descriptive works on Mediterranean fisheries are available, mainly for the professional sector [15,16 and cites therein], and a few for the recreational fisheries [3,9,11,12], none of these describes the management options and evolution of the coastal fisheries including both fishing modalities. The intensification in recreational activities changes traditional uses patterns, which in turn change feedback links and management practices [17]. Therefore, the coastal ecosystem faces new challenges that may affect the delivery of ecosystem services. In this paper, we examine the management practices in coastal fisheries to link the social and ecological components of the system of resource use in the Balearic Archipelago and specifically the Island of Mallorca (W Mediterranean). The aim is to provide information for sustaining or transforming current centralized management [18] to fit the dynamics of ecosystems and social systems across scale [19]. Hence, using grey literature, own data, expert knowledge and published papers, we describe and analyze existing use rights in coastal fisheries, including the rules defining access and withdrawal rights. The ongoing shift from commercial to recreational fishing is examined by studying changes in number of fishers, different types of fishing categories, and the target species. The objective here is to highlight the features of the linked socialecological system related to fisheries in the Balearic Islands and we discuss some of the challenges and implications of the changing use patterns on coastal fisheries management.
species and fishing gears depending on season and species availability [21,22]. The main targets of the trammel net fishery are fully exploited [15]. The artisanal fishery took a capture of 587.31 tn in 2008 and the target species in order of importance (in weight) were: Coryphaena hippurus, Sepia officinalis, Scorpaena scrofa, Raja spp., Palinurus elephas, Mullus surmuletus, Scorpaena porcus, Dentex dentex, Pagrus pagrus, Aphia minuta, Spicara smaris and Seriola dumerili. The recreational fishery with around 7 104 people fishing (from a total population of 7 105), representing an annual total of 1,527,219 fishing days and with a capture of 1209 tn in 2004 is a relevant coastal activity [3]. The target species are in order of importance: Xyrichthys novacula, Serranus scriba, Serranus cabrilla, Trachinus draco, Diplodus annularis, Diplodus vulgaris, Diplodus sargus, Seriola dumerili, Coryphaena hippurus, Coris julis, Symphodus tinca, Oblada melanura, Salpa salpa, Mugil spp., Epinephelus marginatus, Sciaena umbra, Labrus viridis and Octopus vulgaris. The effort is distributed in 3 main categories: 63% fishing from boats, 33% fishing from land and 4% spear fishing. The fishing modalities are very varied depending on the species targeted and the season. The spatial distribution of the effort is very homogeneous around the island, although some areas such as bays are more intensely exploited. The temporal variation of the effort showed more intense exploitation in summer and concentrated at weekends [3].
2. The Balearic Islands fishery
By definition the marine coastal zone is limited to 12 nm (nautical mile) off the coast, and the coastal fleet comprises those vessels spending more than 75% of their time in the coastal zone. However, in the Balearic Islands (Fig. 1) the small-scale fishery may operate seasonally outside this limit when fishing for dolphinfish ´n and lobster. The Regional Fisheries Administration (Direccio General de Pesca del Govern de les Illes Balears, DGPGIB) defines the coastal fleet as the fleet with fishing trips shorter than 24 h, i.e. coming back to port each day. Almost the entire fleet of the Balearic Islands corresponds to this classification, except the pelagic longliners (Table 1).
The Balearic Islands are made up of four main islands (Fig. 1) and 164 small reefs and islands, thus for a total surface of 5 103 Km2 there are 1341 Km of coast line, although the area consists of a single fishery management unit [20]. The artisanal fishery includes 496 boats in the Balearic Islands and 164 in Mallorca (Table 1). Trammel nets are used by around 138 of the boats in Mallorca, targeting a large pool of commercial species or categories. The boats employed in this fishery correspond to group C (minor gear with engine), as defined by the SAC of the CGFM. The usual fishing practice is to rotate target
3. Management of the coastal commercial fishery in the Balearic Islands
Fig. 1. The Balearic Archipelago with the coastal water extension.
B. Morales-Nin et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 53 (2010) 99–106 Table 1 Summary of the number of coastal vessels according to fishing modalities in the Balearic Islands in 2008. Fishing modality
Mallorca Ibiza þ Formentera Menorca Total number
Purse seiners 9 Pelagic long-liners 5 Demersal long-liners 7 Small-scale 209 Trawlers 39 Coral fishing 1
0 0 0 66 9 0
1 0 3 75 7 0
10 5 10 350 55 1
Source: DGPGIB.
The fishery is regulated and managed by several authorities and organizations (Table 2). Management is carried out by a series of measures (Fig. 2) that can be described as regulating fishing access and conservation. The fishermen operating in the Balearic Archipelago could be classified in three main categories: i) full time fishermen who rotate gears and exploit many species; ii) seasonal fishermen, who mainly operate in summer, due to weather conditions and the small market on Ibiza, Formentera and Menorca Islands; which only improves on the tourist season, and iii) fishermen who may have part time employment and only fish sporadically. To be classified as professional fishermen, they have to sell fish to the Central Fishing Warf a minimum number of days (N ¼ 90) or earn an amount equal to the minimum interprofessional salary. 3.1. Ownership rights Access to the fishery requires individual fishing authorizations which are linked to the boat and are transferable. In Spain, their number is closed for each administrative fishing area. The administration uses economic measures to reduce the fleet as part of the European Union Fisheries Common Policy (FCP). Removing boats, preferentially trawlers and pelagic long-liners, has been supported for decades by economic incentives in proportion to the vessel GTR. Under the new FCP, retiring boats follows an administrative management plan. This policy, together with fishermen retiring or changing activity, has resulted in a notable reduction in the Balearic Islands fleet (Table 3). However, technological developments have allowed a similar amount of landings (Fig. 3) to be maintained over time despite the fleet being almost halved.
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Although boat and fishing permits are also linked to a geographical area and port, the Mediterranean administrative region encompasses the entire Spanish Mediterranean (mainland coasts and Balearic Archipelago), where vessels can move from one region or port to another after applying for a permit. Thus, there is a degree of mobility that depends on the abundance of the resources, for instance 107 trawlers based on the Spanish mainland are allowed to fish for Aristeus antennatus and associated species in Ibizan waters. Every Friday, the Spanish Ministry of Fisheries send a communication to the DGPGB with the list of boats that wish to fish in Ibizan waters. There is a maximum of 40 boats allowed to fish simultaneously, the average being 15. These boats fish deeper than 150 m and sell part of the daily catch at the Ibiza market and the rest when they return to the mainland. Pelagic long-liners are allowed to fish in the entire Spanish Mediterranean without being linked to a specific port. In each port there is a Fishermen’s Guild (‘‘cofradia’’) that provides services to the fishermen. In return, a small amount of the revenues from selling the fish is paid to the guild. In the Balearic Islands a 3-month permit to be registered in another port guild is frequent, during this period the selling percentage is paid to the new guild. Unofficial data show that 5% of boats fish in waters that do not correspond to their registration port. The individual transferable fishing permit has an economic value that depends on resource abundance. For instance, in the Balearic Islands the most valuable permits correspond to 80 smallscale boats which have traditionally fished in Cabrera National Park and have special permission to keep fishing in the park, where large sized predators are abundant [12]. 3.2. Spatial access Each port guild has a territorial domain but access to this domain is open except for the set fish traps and Fishing Aggregation Devices (FADs). The fixed positions of these traps and FADs are randomly allocated among the guild members who have registered for the year’s fishery. Other spatial regulations apply to fishing activity according to the distance from the coast (1.5 nm for trawlers), depth (<60 m for trammel nets except during the spiny lobster season, and >50 m for trawlers) or geographical locations (purse seines cannot fish in Bays
Table 2 Authorities and organizations involved in regulating and managing fishing in Balearic Islands waters, divided in organization levels. Communitarian Level (international) Authority/organization EU’s Common Fisheries Police CGPM Shore waters Authority/ organization Fisheries General Directorate (regional)
Example of influence in coastal fishery Overall responsibility for fish resources and fisheries, issuing regulations, MPAs, closed areas, minimum sizes, enforcement, monitoring and research only in shore waters
Guardia Civil del Enforcement Mar Biodiversity Environmental care, Natura 2000 General Directorate (regional) IMEDEA (UIB/ Scientific assessment, MPAs monitoring CSIC), COB-IEO, UIB, LIMIA-FGD Local level (commercialization) Authority/organization Fishers Guilds
Example of influence in coastal fishery Main regulations (Effort control, subsidies, commercialization, etc) in all the waters Population Off-shore waters Authority/ Example of influence in coastal fishery organization Secretary of Overall responsibility for fish resources and fisheries, issuing Maritime regulations, MPAs, closed areas, minimum sizes, monitoring and Affairs research only in off-shore waters (national) Guardia Civil Enforcement del Mar Secretary of Environmental care, Natura 2000 Maritime Affairs (national) CSIC, IEO, Scientific assessments and monitoring others
Example of influence in coastal fishery Commercialization quotas
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Control Variable: EFFORT Control Method: Administrative Selectivity of catches
Direct or ind irect limitation of total catch
F is h e r ie s management
Control Variable: Daily catch for some species
Producers guild
Access regulation
Li mit at ion of operators
Control Method: Administrative
Incentives for fuel Incentives for effort reduction Incentives for less damaging gears
TACS
Control Variable: Number of authorizations Control Method: Administrative
Re gulation of spatial access
Fish ing time Gear selectivity norms
Control Method: Economic
Conservation measures
Individual transferable authorizations
Control Variable: Sp a t i al a l l o c at io n Control Method: Administrative Control Method: E c on om i c
Individual transferable authorizations
Acc ess t o sp eci al a reas Individual gears allocation permit& rules
Incentives
Fig. 2. Approaches to managing coastal commercial fisheries in the Balearic Islands.
except in Palma Bay). Trawling on mae¨rl and coralligenous bottoms is not allowed. In the Balearic Islands there are a series of protected areas (>60.000 Ha MPAs) and a National Park where fishing is limited (see above); the protected areas represent 21% of the sea domain. Smallscale fishing is allowed in these areas with some restrictions and with closed areas. The regulation method is administrative, but there are some economic incentives for guilds with MPAs in their domain to compensate for the extra bureaucratic burden this involves. Therefore, the general ownership right is related to the access to the fishery but not strongly linked to a specific fishing area except in MPAs, while the Spanish Mediterranean is their geographic limitation. Naturally, the mobility of the coastal fleet is limited by the boat size not being feasible to move from the Archipelago to the mainland. 3.3. Conservation measures 3.3.1. Effort control Controlling the operators’ activity is the main management action. There are numerous measures (Fig. 2) that combine administrative and economic control methods. Table 3 Evolution of the number of coastal fishing vessels over time in the Balearic Archipelago. Yea
Purse seiners
Small-scale þ demersal long line
Pelagic long line
Trawlers
Total
1970 1980 1986 2000 2008
15 16 16 14 10
698 804 706 602 360
0 2 4 4 5
85 84 79 61 55
798 906 805 682 430
[Source: 27,28].
Each boat is registered for a determined fishing mode: trawling, pelagic long-liners, demersal long-liners, purse seiners and smallscale boats (which use a multitude of gears and target many species [21]). The boats have a size regulation linked to the fishing modality. For instance, small-scale boats are restricted to 12 m maximum, while long-liners have to be larger than 9 m. Since 1988, engine power cannot exceed 500 Hp, this rule is probably the one most frequently broken, and unofficial data suggest that some trawlers use 1200 Hp motors. In the small-scale fleet only one gear can be on board for a fishing day. The size of the gears is regulated for the small-scale fishery by the number of fishermen on board, generally 1–3. For instance, for trammel nets the maximum net length allowed is 2000 m/fisher with a maximum of 5000 m/boat. Mesh size and hook size are also regulated for each fishing modality. Another effort control measure is fishing time. Boats can be at sea for a maximum of 16 h each day, with a weekly stop of 30 h. Economic control is based on incentives for changing to less damaging gears and reducing effort by retiring boats. However, there is a supporting measure that works contrary to this effort reduction. Fishing fuel is exempt from taxes and moreover there is an additional EU based measure giving individual grants of up to 30,000 V/boat per year. This positively discriminates the boats that use more fuel, as some of the small-scale boats do not reach the minimum fuel consumption needed to obtain this incentive. 3.3.2. Limits on total catch A Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is not really determined except for Bluefin Tuna: the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) determines this TAC as the fleet that targets this species belongs to an international, high seas fishery. However, in the Balearic Islands the Administration and the Producers Guild,
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a
103
7000 6000
Tons
5000 4000 3000 2000 1000
19 69
19 67
19 65
19 63
19 61
19 59
19 57
19 55
19 53
19 51
19 49
19 47
19 45
19 43
19 41
0
b 7000 6000
Tons
5000 4000 3000 2 00 0 1 00 0
20 06
20 04
20 02
20 00
19 98
19 96
19 94
19 92
19 90
19 87
19 85
0
Fig. 3. Time series of landings in the Balearic Islands. a) source: [27].b) source: [28].
formed by the Port Guild Association, have fixed a maximum daily catch for some species. This limit is based on economic sustainability to maintain prices, and is not based on the assessment of population dynamics. The Administration regulates daily catches of gobids such as Aphia minuta (25 kg/day boat) and Pseudophya ferrreri (40 kg/day boat). The Producers Guild has set a limit on Sardina pilchardus (300 kg/day boat) and S. smaris (100 kg/day boat). There also used to be a limit on clams (Chamelea gallina) (45 kg/day per boat), but this has been lifted, as catches have been low since 2001.
A telephone survey in 2001 found that 5.14% of the population of Mallorca Island (>35,000 anglers) practised fishing as a leisure activity [9]; this participation level corresponds with the number of licenses. Nearly all recreational anglers always used the same fishing method: 92.76% of shore-anglers always fished from shore, while a smaller percentage (72%) of boat-anglers always fished from a boat. This flexibility can most probably be attributed to the fact that most boat-anglers (90%) are boat-owners, and therefore have more options when it comes to choosing a fishing method.
4. Management of recreational fishing
25000 s pear fis hing Individual permit s 20000
Number
Fishing for recreation has two main modalities: sport fishing operating offshore (at distances of 30 nm or more) which targets large predators such as albacore, bluefin tuna, swordfish and marlins, and the coastal recreational fishery. Coastal recreational fishing can be classified in spear fishing, fishing from shore and fishing from a boat. Fishing requires a specific permit with a 2 yr duration for angling and 1 yr for spear fishing; thus, the annual number of licenses is an indicator of the fishing pressure. The evolution of the number of fishing permits shows a large increase over time (Fig. 4). It rose from 11,367 permits in 2000–24,933 in 2006, and the mean annual increase was 2261 licenses for fishing from shore or from a boat. The increase in the number of spear fishing licenses has been smaller, from 810 in 2000–1417 in 2006, with a mean increase of 100 licenses per year. In 2007, a new boat permit was introduced which allows as many anglers as can fit in the boat, and individual permits are not necessary.
15000
10000
5000
0 2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fig. 4. Evolution of the number of recreational fishing permits for spear divers and anglers.
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The recreational fishery in the Balearic Islands is highly seasonal, which is mainly due to leisure time, seasonal variability in abundance of the key target species and variations in the fishing methods used, and weather conditions [3]. The target and incidental species vary not only with season but also with fishing method, bottom substratum type, fishing depth and gear characteristics. 4.1. Management The recreational fishery is open, there are no limitations on the total number of permits, and permits are very cheap. Therefore, management is based on conservation measures (Fig. 5) and spatial access. MPAs, Cabrera National Park and closed zones represent nearly 63,500 Ha of protected coastal zone with 16,500 Ha totally closed to all fisheries. Fishing in the semi-protected areas of MPAs is only allowed on certain days, and special rules apply to gears and certain species which cannot be fished inside MPAs. The conservation measures are basically catch selectivity, bag limits and closed seasons for pearl razor fish (Xyrichthys novacula) and amberjack (S. dumerili) juveniles. 31 species are protected with minimum lengths (MLS); catches under this length have to be returned to the sea. However, for some target species the catches are mostly made up of undersized fish (70–80% for Diplodus annularis, 94% for Lithognathus mormyrus [23]). Recent studies show that fish mortality due to being caught and released may be high, depending on handling conditions and hook size [17,18]. Therefore this conservation measure might fail due to this mortality and the high proportion of fish caught under the MLS [24].
The maximum bag allowed depends on the species, but in general it is 5 kg/angler per day. For cephalopods and pearl razor fish there is a limitation on number (10 cephalopods, 50 pearl razor fish/day) without going over the 5 kg bag limit. The authorized gear is mainly hand lines and some small traditional hand nets are allowed in restricted areas. Gear used by the commercial fishery is banned. There are limitations on the number of rods (2 maximum), hooks in hand lines (6 maximum), and jigging lures for cephalopods (6 maximum) per angler. Squid fishing carried out at night cannot use lights. Spear fishing has to be done without the aid of SCUBA diving, aqua lungs or torpedoes and using only mechanical traction guns. There is no regulation on time spent fishing, except for spear fishing that cannot operate at night. Recently, hook size has been regulated in the buffer MPA zones with a minimum size of 7 mm and 5.4 mm for pearl razor fish. These measures are based on selectivity and survival studies funded by the DGPGIB; the anglers have accepted these measures showing goodwill towards adaptive management [23,24]. Besides the mandatory release of undersized fish, the DGPGIB is promoting a voluntary catch-and-release practice as a sustainability measure, which is a pioneer approach in marine Mediterranean fisheries. A set of management measures has been imposed on recreational tournaments, which are very popular during summer months. These comprise an MLS for all species, a hook minimum size (7 mm), and the use of ecologic leads. Moreover, the catch-andrelease strategy is also being promoted for these tournaments. All the data collected are computerized and provided for research purposes.
Control Variable: MLS
Selectivity of catches
Control Variable: EFFORT
Control Variable: BAG SIZE
Fisheries management
Conservation measures
Direct or indirect limitation of total catch
Control Variable: CATCH AND RELEASE
Closed seasons Access regulation Control Variable: SPECIFIC SPECIES
Regulation of spatial access
Control Variable: SPATIAL ALLOCATION
Fig. 5. Approaches to managing the recreational coastal fisheries in the Balearic Islands.
B. Morales-Nin et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 53 (2010) 99–106
Other use regulations are based on avoiding competition with the commercial fishery, maintaining a minimum distance of 250 m from any commercial fishing gear and maintaining a distance from other stakeholders for their security (not fishing on beaches during the day, either onshore or by boat). Fishing inside harbours and marinas is also restricted. However, angling in the FADs of the dolphinfish fishery is a common infraction. 5. Discussion Fishery management relies on two complementary sets of regulations, 1) conserving fish stock production, and 2) regulating access to fishing possibilities. While these measures are indispensable, their effectiveness remains limited due to the fact that they do not tackle the economic and institutional roots of the problem of overexploitation. The coastal fishery represents most of the fishing in the Balearic Islands, which is managed by combining different, mostly administrative, approaches aimed at improving the socioeconomic wellbeing of the community as well as preserving the resources. The success of these measures depends on the particular resource. Available information shows different exploitation patterns for the commercial fishery. The trammel net fisheries for red and black scorpionfish, red mullet and cuttlefish are near the maximum sustainable yield [15], while most of the evaluated species are overfished [14]. Whilst the commercial coastal fishery is declining in numbers (Table 3) the landings remain stable (Fig. 3), yet the livelihood of fishermen does not improve, probably due to commercialization [15] and market problems [25]. The coastal fisheries effort is shifting to recreational activity; even though it is less effective in catches its impact is not negligible [3]. Regulation of this open activity, responsibility of the regional Government, is achieved by conservation measures. Besides the large area devoted to MPAs, a series of pioneer angling management measures have been applied for the first time in the Mediterranean, including promoting catch-and-release practices and regulating MLS. However, these last two practices may not be successful due to the large amount of undersized catches and the high mortality associated with releasing fish [24]. There are no evaluations of the exploitation level of non-commercial species, or the effects on communities. Nevertheless, the rapid recovery of E. marginatus populations – which are very affected by spear fishing [9,12] due to the prohibition of recreational fishing in Cabrera National Park is an indicator of current overexploitation. Interactions related to harvesting fish resources in the coastal zone fall into different categories. First, coastal fishermen themselves interact with a potentially larger degree of complexity due to the polyvalence of coastal fleets. This complexity is increased by the interactions with offshore fishermen due to the fact that the coastal fleet may target the same straddling species (i.e. tunas or bonitos). Second, coastal fleets interact with anglers, mainly spearfishers, for the same fish resources. Third, commercial fishing in the coastal zone also interacts with the other users of this zone, which may become competitors for space or may cause ecological changes that are detrimental to fishing. There is considerable competition for space with nautical tourism; there are many areas where buoys and moorings have been installed to anchor the numerous boats both from the Archipelago and from island visitors during summer. Fishing is not possible in these areas, or in the areas where fleets anchor, for obvious reasons. The large tourist nautical fleet (>1 105 visitors on 2007, CAEB 2008) and the tourists themselves (>10,106/year) might also occasionally fish as a leisure activity: neither their activity nor their catches are known.
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Other practices, such as sand extraction for beach replenishment, have affected some fish stocks. The small goby fishery in Palma Bay collapsed for 10 years after sand extraction from their demersal spawning grounds in 1988–1989 (DGPGIB unpublished data). All these interactions are negative externalities for the coastal fisheries sector. As long term sustainable benefits for the coastal fishery cannot be based on increased production, fishery policy tools are generally limited to: i) limiting the efficiency of harvesting; ii) increasing management and iii) making allocation (distributive) decisions to determine who has access to the available fish [23]. Management aims to increase the efficiency of harvesting, measured as net social benefits such as better revenues (better commercialization, fuel subsidies, bag limits, etc.), better training and port facilities for fishermen, and less damage to the environment (reduced effort, gear selectivity, etc). Distributive decisions only take into account the professional fisheries (commercial sector) and do not include the growing open access recreational fishery. Therefore, new strategies are necessary to manage the Balearic Islands Fishery. These should encompass the three kinds of policy objectives, or the ‘‘triangle paradigm’’ [23] of conservation, rationalization and socioeconomic enhancement, and avoid extreme positions to find solutions in the middle ground. However, enforcing management rules is traditionally very weak in the Mediterranean. For instance, for the entire Balearic Archipelago there are 10 fisheries inspectors and 2 Sea Guard boats that are engaged in many other tasks (drug traffic control, illegal migration, etc). Therefore, there is little control of maritime activities. In the areas with the means for enforcing the rules, such as MPAs and Cabrera National Park, the marine resources have shown a marked recovery [9]. Mallorca coastal fisheries are going through a transition from dominant small-scale commercial fishing to recreational fishing, creating complexity at management levels. Furthermore, the varying contexts of use rights, heterogeneity among users related to diverse interests and resource use patterns, and the dynamics of the coastal ecosystem supporting fisheries are some of the challenges facing fisheries management to cope with declining fish populations. This diversity and complexity call for the multilevel arrangements presently enforced in Mallorca. The management is based on classic command sensu [26], inclusive in MPAs with Management Commissions with ample stakeholder participation in which a consultation process is developed. Realising that maintaining the coastal fishery requires societal support and knowledge integration, the future of the management has to be developed through a sustained process of testing and improvement.
Acknowledgements This paper is a result of the Spanish funded MICINN project CGL2008-00958. David March provided Fig. 1.
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[6] The´baud O, Boncoeur J, Berthou P. Regulationg access to marine fisheries in the coastal zone: key issues. AMURE RG Working Papers Series 2007;D-22– 2007:20 pp. [7] Morales-Nin B, Moranta J, Garcı´a C, Tugores P, Grau AM. Evaluation of the importance of the recreational fisheries on a Mediterranean Island. American Fisheries Society Symposium 2007;49:587–92. [8] Farrugio H, Oliver P, Biagi F. An overview of the history, knowledge, recent and future research trends in the Mediterranean fisheries. Scientia Marina 1993;57(2–3):105–19. [9] Coll J, Linde M, Garcia-Rubies A, Riera F, Grau AM. Spear fishing in the Balearic Islands (west central Mediterranean): species affected and catch evolution during the period 1975–2001. Fisheries Research 2004;70:97–111. [10] Chavoin O, Boudouresque CF. An attempt to quantify spearfishing catches in a French Rivera Mediterranean area. Scientific Reports of Port-Cros National Park, France 2004;20:161–71. [11] Cardona L, Lo´pez D, Sales M, de Caralt S, Dı´ez I. Effects of recreational fishing on three fish species from the Posidonia oceanica meadows off Minorca (Balearic archipelago, western Mediterranean). Scientia Marina 2007;71(4):811–20. [12] Coll J, Garcia-Rubies A, Moranta J, Stefanini S, Morales-Nin B. Sport-fishing prohibition effects on the population structure of Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834) (Pisces, Serranidae) in the Cabrera archipelago National park (Mallorca, W. Mediterranean). Bolletı´ Societat D’Histo`ria Natural Balears 1999;42:125–38. [13] Pilling GM, Apostolaki P, Failler P, Floros C, Large PA, Morales-Nin B, et al. Assessment and management of data-poor fisheries. In: Advances in fisheries science. 50 years on from Beverton and Holt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing; 2008. A.Payne, J.Cotter, T.Potter (eds) p. 280–305. xxi þ 547 pp. [14] Lleonart J, Maynou F. Fish stock assessments in the Mediterranean: state of the art. Scientia Marina 2003;67:37–49. [15] Merino G, Morales-Nin B, Maynou F, Grau AM. Assessment and bioeconomic analysis of the Mallorca (NW Mediterranean) trammel net fishery. Aquatic Living Resources 2008;21(2):99–107.
[16] Colloca F, Crespi V, Cerasi S, Coppola SR. Structure and evolution of the artisanal fishery in a southern Italian coastal area. Fisheries Research 2004;69:359–69. [17] Charles AT. Fishery conflicts. A unified framework. Marine Policy 1992;16(5): 379–99. [18] Charles E, Boude JP, Murria A, Paquotte P. Coastal fishing: resource’s enhancement and preservation. Ocean & Coastal Management 2003;46:421–37. [19] Gordon HS. The economic theory of a common property resource: the fishery. Journal of Political Economy 1955;63:124–42. ˜ ones O. Demersal resources assemblages in trawl fish grounds off [20] Massutı´ E, Ren Balearic Islands (W Mediterranean). Scientia Marina 2005;69:167–81. ˜ ones O, Morales-Nin B. Three small-scale fisheries [21] Iglesias M, Massutı´ E, Ren based on the island of Mallorca (NW Mediterranean). Monografies Bolleti Societat D’Histo`ria Natural Balears 1995;37:35–58. [22] Llabre´s M, Martorell JM. La pesquerı´a de artes menores de las Islas Baleares. Conselleria de Agricultura i Pesca, Govern Balear (Mimeo); 1984. 220 pp. [23] Alo´s J, Palmer M, Grau AM, Deudero S. Effects of hook size and barbless hooks on hooking injury, catch per unit effort, and fish size in a mixed-species recreational fishery in the western Mediterranean Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science 2008;65(9):1620–5. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsn067. [24] Alos J, Cerda M, Deudero S, Grau AM. Influence of hook size and type on shortterm mortality, hooking location and size selectivity in a Spanish recreational fishery. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 2008;24(6):658–63. [25] Lleonart J, Maynou F, Recasens L, Franquesa R. A bioeconomic model for Mediterranean fisheries, the hake off Catalonia (western Mediterranean) as a case study. Scientia Marina 2003;67:337–51. [26] Gibbs MT. Network governance in fisheries. Marine Policy 2008;32:113–9. [27] Massutı´ M. Evolucio´n de los esfuerzos y rendimientos de pesca en la regio´n Balear entre los an˜os 1940 y 1970. Publicaciones Te´cnicas Junta Estadisticas Pesca 1970;123:37–53. [28] Massutı´ M. El Libro Azul de la Pesca Balear. In: Conselleria de Agricultura i Pesca (ed.)Palma de Mallorca, 1989: 253 pp. ISBN:84–7535-143-3.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman
Managing coastal zone fisheries: A Mediterranean case study Beatriz Morales-Nin a, *, Antoni M. Grau b, Miquel Palmer a a b
IMEDEA (CSIC/UIB), Miquel Marque´s 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain ´ n General de Pesca del Govern de les Illes Balears, Foners 10, 07004 Palma, Illes Balears, Spain Direccio
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Available online 7 January 2010
Coastal fisheries are complex ecological and social systems, evolving in time with a shift from commercial towards recreational effort. We describe the coastal fisheries of Mallorca (W Mediterranean) and the management policies implemented to show the challenges faced at regional level to handle the different management tools used to conserve biodiversity and the social fabric in the coastal zone. Our example provides evidence of the complexity of fishing rights and how they can be adapted into practical fisheries management by combining fishing rights, open access recreational fishery, community-based management and biodiversity conservation. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The state of exploitation of the main fish stocks in the world shows overexploitation or full exploitation for most stocks with no room expected for further expansion [1]. The main causes of fisheries overexploiting resources are economic and institutional. The first and most important of these causes is the natural human tendency towards excessive, competitive harvesting of commonpool resources, unlike other natural resources, which increases with the value and rareness of the resource. The renewable nature of fish resources increases the complexity of the problem by making it dynamic [2]. Fish in the sea are not allocated a priori to individual owners in the absence of specifically designed access rules. However, as soon as they are caught, marine fish become the private property of those who have caught them [3]. In any fishery, the potential catches of an individual operator will depend not only on their own fishing effort, but also on the fishing effort of all the other operators in the fishery. Hence there is an interaction, or cross-externality, between the individual decision to fish in a competitive, openaccess environment and an investment in fishing capacity larger than what would be required to achieve a certain level of production [2,3]. Moreover, the capacity of fish resources to grow and renew themselves is an important characteristic, as the catches of a given operator will affect future catches due to their impact on the growth and reproductive capacities of a fish stock. High fishing
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 971611721; fax: þ34 971611761. E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Morales-Nin). 0964-5691/$ – see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2010.01.003
pressure leads to ecological changes, decreases fish stocks and modifies their demographic structure [4]. Human activities are often concentrated in coastal regions, resulting in multiple uses of natural resources for human needs, with fisheries making up a significant part. Due to the growing demand and ongoing overexploitation and degradation of coastal areas, fisheries and coastal management have been increasingly coming into the spotlight [5,6]. Mediterranean coastal fisheries are basically traditional, smallscale, low investment activities. The entire fleet is comprised of 42,000 small boats (8% registered in the Spanish Mediterranean) which use diverse fishing gears and disembarking ports [7]. Mediterranean fisheries play an important socioeconomic role in the European fishing industry, representing 42% of the employment in the EU catching sector and contributing 12% of EU catches, which due to the narrow Mediterranean shelf mostly correspond to coastal waters [8]. Overlapping with the small-scale fishery in space and resource use, is a very important and increasingly popular recreational fishery, with more than 2 106 anglers and 3 105 recreational fishing boats in the Mediterranean [3,7]. Moreover, the impact of recreational fisheries on coastal resources has been recognized [3,9–12] but not included in any assessment. Therefore, the actual state of the coastal resources has not been specifically evaluated and may vary depending on the species. The main management actions in the Mediterranean comprise limiting effort, gear selectivity and closed areas and periods [13,14], as well as regulations for the commercialization and traceability of fishing products. The size of the small-scale fleet is decreasing [15] due in part to the effort reduction measures, but probably also due to other socioeconomic factors. Several rules apply to the recreational fishery, such as bag limits and gear selectivity; however, angling is
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increasing as leisure time is also increasing. The role of recreational fishing as a fisheries resource competitor has not been estimated. Although some descriptive works on Mediterranean fisheries are available, mainly for the professional sector [15,16 and cites therein], and a few for the recreational fisheries [3,9,11,12], none of these describes the management options and evolution of the coastal fisheries including both fishing modalities. The intensification in recreational activities changes traditional uses patterns, which in turn change feedback links and management practices [17]. Therefore, the coastal ecosystem faces new challenges that may affect the delivery of ecosystem services. In this paper, we examine the management practices in coastal fisheries to link the social and ecological components of the system of resource use in the Balearic Archipelago and specifically the Island of Mallorca (W Mediterranean). The aim is to provide information for sustaining or transforming current centralized management [18] to fit the dynamics of ecosystems and social systems across scale [19]. Hence, using grey literature, own data, expert knowledge and published papers, we describe and analyze existing use rights in coastal fisheries, including the rules defining access and withdrawal rights. The ongoing shift from commercial to recreational fishing is examined by studying changes in number of fishers, different types of fishing categories, and the target species. The objective here is to highlight the features of the linked socialecological system related to fisheries in the Balearic Islands and we discuss some of the challenges and implications of the changing use patterns on coastal fisheries management.
species and fishing gears depending on season and species availability [21,22]. The main targets of the trammel net fishery are fully exploited [15]. The artisanal fishery took a capture of 587.31 tn in 2008 and the target species in order of importance (in weight) were: Coryphaena hippurus, Sepia officinalis, Scorpaena scrofa, Raja spp., Palinurus elephas, Mullus surmuletus, Scorpaena porcus, Dentex dentex, Pagrus pagrus, Aphia minuta, Spicara smaris and Seriola dumerili. The recreational fishery with around 7 104 people fishing (from a total population of 7 105), representing an annual total of 1,527,219 fishing days and with a capture of 1209 tn in 2004 is a relevant coastal activity [3]. The target species are in order of importance: Xyrichthys novacula, Serranus scriba, Serranus cabrilla, Trachinus draco, Diplodus annularis, Diplodus vulgaris, Diplodus sargus, Seriola dumerili, Coryphaena hippurus, Coris julis, Symphodus tinca, Oblada melanura, Salpa salpa, Mugil spp., Epinephelus marginatus, Sciaena umbra, Labrus viridis and Octopus vulgaris. The effort is distributed in 3 main categories: 63% fishing from boats, 33% fishing from land and 4% spear fishing. The fishing modalities are very varied depending on the species targeted and the season. The spatial distribution of the effort is very homogeneous around the island, although some areas such as bays are more intensely exploited. The temporal variation of the effort showed more intense exploitation in summer and concentrated at weekends [3].
2. The Balearic Islands fishery
By definition the marine coastal zone is limited to 12 nm (nautical mile) off the coast, and the coastal fleet comprises those vessels spending more than 75% of their time in the coastal zone. However, in the Balearic Islands (Fig. 1) the small-scale fishery may operate seasonally outside this limit when fishing for dolphinfish ´n and lobster. The Regional Fisheries Administration (Direccio General de Pesca del Govern de les Illes Balears, DGPGIB) defines the coastal fleet as the fleet with fishing trips shorter than 24 h, i.e. coming back to port each day. Almost the entire fleet of the Balearic Islands corresponds to this classification, except the pelagic longliners (Table 1).
The Balearic Islands are made up of four main islands (Fig. 1) and 164 small reefs and islands, thus for a total surface of 5 103 Km2 there are 1341 Km of coast line, although the area consists of a single fishery management unit [20]. The artisanal fishery includes 496 boats in the Balearic Islands and 164 in Mallorca (Table 1). Trammel nets are used by around 138 of the boats in Mallorca, targeting a large pool of commercial species or categories. The boats employed in this fishery correspond to group C (minor gear with engine), as defined by the SAC of the CGFM. The usual fishing practice is to rotate target
3. Management of the coastal commercial fishery in the Balearic Islands
Fig. 1. The Balearic Archipelago with the coastal water extension.
B. Morales-Nin et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 53 (2010) 99–106 Table 1 Summary of the number of coastal vessels according to fishing modalities in the Balearic Islands in 2008. Fishing modality
Mallorca Ibiza þ Formentera Menorca Total number
Purse seiners 9 Pelagic long-liners 5 Demersal long-liners 7 Small-scale 209 Trawlers 39 Coral fishing 1
0 0 0 66 9 0
1 0 3 75 7 0
10 5 10 350 55 1
Source: DGPGIB.
The fishery is regulated and managed by several authorities and organizations (Table 2). Management is carried out by a series of measures (Fig. 2) that can be described as regulating fishing access and conservation. The fishermen operating in the Balearic Archipelago could be classified in three main categories: i) full time fishermen who rotate gears and exploit many species; ii) seasonal fishermen, who mainly operate in summer, due to weather conditions and the small market on Ibiza, Formentera and Menorca Islands; which only improves on the tourist season, and iii) fishermen who may have part time employment and only fish sporadically. To be classified as professional fishermen, they have to sell fish to the Central Fishing Warf a minimum number of days (N ¼ 90) or earn an amount equal to the minimum interprofessional salary. 3.1. Ownership rights Access to the fishery requires individual fishing authorizations which are linked to the boat and are transferable. In Spain, their number is closed for each administrative fishing area. The administration uses economic measures to reduce the fleet as part of the European Union Fisheries Common Policy (FCP). Removing boats, preferentially trawlers and pelagic long-liners, has been supported for decades by economic incentives in proportion to the vessel GTR. Under the new FCP, retiring boats follows an administrative management plan. This policy, together with fishermen retiring or changing activity, has resulted in a notable reduction in the Balearic Islands fleet (Table 3). However, technological developments have allowed a similar amount of landings (Fig. 3) to be maintained over time despite the fleet being almost halved.
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Although boat and fishing permits are also linked to a geographical area and port, the Mediterranean administrative region encompasses the entire Spanish Mediterranean (mainland coasts and Balearic Archipelago), where vessels can move from one region or port to another after applying for a permit. Thus, there is a degree of mobility that depends on the abundance of the resources, for instance 107 trawlers based on the Spanish mainland are allowed to fish for Aristeus antennatus and associated species in Ibizan waters. Every Friday, the Spanish Ministry of Fisheries send a communication to the DGPGB with the list of boats that wish to fish in Ibizan waters. There is a maximum of 40 boats allowed to fish simultaneously, the average being 15. These boats fish deeper than 150 m and sell part of the daily catch at the Ibiza market and the rest when they return to the mainland. Pelagic long-liners are allowed to fish in the entire Spanish Mediterranean without being linked to a specific port. In each port there is a Fishermen’s Guild (‘‘cofradia’’) that provides services to the fishermen. In return, a small amount of the revenues from selling the fish is paid to the guild. In the Balearic Islands a 3-month permit to be registered in another port guild is frequent, during this period the selling percentage is paid to the new guild. Unofficial data show that 5% of boats fish in waters that do not correspond to their registration port. The individual transferable fishing permit has an economic value that depends on resource abundance. For instance, in the Balearic Islands the most valuable permits correspond to 80 smallscale boats which have traditionally fished in Cabrera National Park and have special permission to keep fishing in the park, where large sized predators are abundant [12]. 3.2. Spatial access Each port guild has a territorial domain but access to this domain is open except for the set fish traps and Fishing Aggregation Devices (FADs). The fixed positions of these traps and FADs are randomly allocated among the guild members who have registered for the year’s fishery. Other spatial regulations apply to fishing activity according to the distance from the coast (1.5 nm for trawlers), depth (<60 m for trammel nets except during the spiny lobster season, and >50 m for trawlers) or geographical locations (purse seines cannot fish in Bays
Table 2 Authorities and organizations involved in regulating and managing fishing in Balearic Islands waters, divided in organization levels. Communitarian Level (international) Authority/organization EU’s Common Fisheries Police CGPM Shore waters Authority/ organization Fisheries General Directorate (regional)
Example of influence in coastal fishery Overall responsibility for fish resources and fisheries, issuing regulations, MPAs, closed areas, minimum sizes, enforcement, monitoring and research only in shore waters
Guardia Civil del Enforcement Mar Biodiversity Environmental care, Natura 2000 General Directorate (regional) IMEDEA (UIB/ Scientific assessment, MPAs monitoring CSIC), COB-IEO, UIB, LIMIA-FGD Local level (commercialization) Authority/organization Fishers Guilds
Example of influence in coastal fishery Main regulations (Effort control, subsidies, commercialization, etc) in all the waters Population Off-shore waters Authority/ Example of influence in coastal fishery organization Secretary of Overall responsibility for fish resources and fisheries, issuing Maritime regulations, MPAs, closed areas, minimum sizes, monitoring and Affairs research only in off-shore waters (national) Guardia Civil Enforcement del Mar Secretary of Environmental care, Natura 2000 Maritime Affairs (national) CSIC, IEO, Scientific assessments and monitoring others
Example of influence in coastal fishery Commercialization quotas
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Control Variable: EFFORT Control Method: Administrative Selectivity of catches
Direct or ind irect limitation of total catch
F is h e r ie s management
Control Variable: Daily catch for some species
Producers guild
Access regulation
Li mit at ion of operators
Control Method: Administrative
Incentives for fuel Incentives for effort reduction Incentives for less damaging gears
TACS
Control Variable: Number of authorizations Control Method: Administrative
Re gulation of spatial access
Fish ing time Gear selectivity norms
Control Method: Economic
Conservation measures
Individual transferable authorizations
Control Variable: Sp a t i al a l l o c at io n Control Method: Administrative Control Method: E c on om i c
Individual transferable authorizations
Acc ess t o sp eci al a reas Individual gears allocation permit& rules
Incentives
Fig. 2. Approaches to managing coastal commercial fisheries in the Balearic Islands.
except in Palma Bay). Trawling on mae¨rl and coralligenous bottoms is not allowed. In the Balearic Islands there are a series of protected areas (>60.000 Ha MPAs) and a National Park where fishing is limited (see above); the protected areas represent 21% of the sea domain. Smallscale fishing is allowed in these areas with some restrictions and with closed areas. The regulation method is administrative, but there are some economic incentives for guilds with MPAs in their domain to compensate for the extra bureaucratic burden this involves. Therefore, the general ownership right is related to the access to the fishery but not strongly linked to a specific fishing area except in MPAs, while the Spanish Mediterranean is their geographic limitation. Naturally, the mobility of the coastal fleet is limited by the boat size not being feasible to move from the Archipelago to the mainland. 3.3. Conservation measures 3.3.1. Effort control Controlling the operators’ activity is the main management action. There are numerous measures (Fig. 2) that combine administrative and economic control methods. Table 3 Evolution of the number of coastal fishing vessels over time in the Balearic Archipelago. Yea
Purse seiners
Small-scale þ demersal long line
Pelagic long line
Trawlers
Total
1970 1980 1986 2000 2008
15 16 16 14 10
698 804 706 602 360
0 2 4 4 5
85 84 79 61 55
798 906 805 682 430
[Source: 27,28].
Each boat is registered for a determined fishing mode: trawling, pelagic long-liners, demersal long-liners, purse seiners and smallscale boats (which use a multitude of gears and target many species [21]). The boats have a size regulation linked to the fishing modality. For instance, small-scale boats are restricted to 12 m maximum, while long-liners have to be larger than 9 m. Since 1988, engine power cannot exceed 500 Hp, this rule is probably the one most frequently broken, and unofficial data suggest that some trawlers use 1200 Hp motors. In the small-scale fleet only one gear can be on board for a fishing day. The size of the gears is regulated for the small-scale fishery by the number of fishermen on board, generally 1–3. For instance, for trammel nets the maximum net length allowed is 2000 m/fisher with a maximum of 5000 m/boat. Mesh size and hook size are also regulated for each fishing modality. Another effort control measure is fishing time. Boats can be at sea for a maximum of 16 h each day, with a weekly stop of 30 h. Economic control is based on incentives for changing to less damaging gears and reducing effort by retiring boats. However, there is a supporting measure that works contrary to this effort reduction. Fishing fuel is exempt from taxes and moreover there is an additional EU based measure giving individual grants of up to 30,000 V/boat per year. This positively discriminates the boats that use more fuel, as some of the small-scale boats do not reach the minimum fuel consumption needed to obtain this incentive. 3.3.2. Limits on total catch A Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is not really determined except for Bluefin Tuna: the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) determines this TAC as the fleet that targets this species belongs to an international, high seas fishery. However, in the Balearic Islands the Administration and the Producers Guild,
B. Morales-Nin et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 53 (2010) 99–106
a
103
7000 6000
Tons
5000 4000 3000 2000 1000
19 69
19 67
19 65
19 63
19 61
19 59
19 57
19 55
19 53
19 51
19 49
19 47
19 45
19 43
19 41
0
b 7000 6000
Tons
5000 4000 3000 2 00 0 1 00 0
20 06
20 04
20 02
20 00
19 98
19 96
19 94
19 92
19 90
19 87
19 85
0
Fig. 3. Time series of landings in the Balearic Islands. a) source: [27].b) source: [28].
formed by the Port Guild Association, have fixed a maximum daily catch for some species. This limit is based on economic sustainability to maintain prices, and is not based on the assessment of population dynamics. The Administration regulates daily catches of gobids such as Aphia minuta (25 kg/day boat) and Pseudophya ferrreri (40 kg/day boat). The Producers Guild has set a limit on Sardina pilchardus (300 kg/day boat) and S. smaris (100 kg/day boat). There also used to be a limit on clams (Chamelea gallina) (45 kg/day per boat), but this has been lifted, as catches have been low since 2001.
A telephone survey in 2001 found that 5.14% of the population of Mallorca Island (>35,000 anglers) practised fishing as a leisure activity [9]; this participation level corresponds with the number of licenses. Nearly all recreational anglers always used the same fishing method: 92.76% of shore-anglers always fished from shore, while a smaller percentage (72%) of boat-anglers always fished from a boat. This flexibility can most probably be attributed to the fact that most boat-anglers (90%) are boat-owners, and therefore have more options when it comes to choosing a fishing method.
4. Management of recreational fishing
25000 s pear fis hing Individual permit s 20000
Number
Fishing for recreation has two main modalities: sport fishing operating offshore (at distances of 30 nm or more) which targets large predators such as albacore, bluefin tuna, swordfish and marlins, and the coastal recreational fishery. Coastal recreational fishing can be classified in spear fishing, fishing from shore and fishing from a boat. Fishing requires a specific permit with a 2 yr duration for angling and 1 yr for spear fishing; thus, the annual number of licenses is an indicator of the fishing pressure. The evolution of the number of fishing permits shows a large increase over time (Fig. 4). It rose from 11,367 permits in 2000–24,933 in 2006, and the mean annual increase was 2261 licenses for fishing from shore or from a boat. The increase in the number of spear fishing licenses has been smaller, from 810 in 2000–1417 in 2006, with a mean increase of 100 licenses per year. In 2007, a new boat permit was introduced which allows as many anglers as can fit in the boat, and individual permits are not necessary.
15000
10000
5000
0 2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fig. 4. Evolution of the number of recreational fishing permits for spear divers and anglers.
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The recreational fishery in the Balearic Islands is highly seasonal, which is mainly due to leisure time, seasonal variability in abundance of the key target species and variations in the fishing methods used, and weather conditions [3]. The target and incidental species vary not only with season but also with fishing method, bottom substratum type, fishing depth and gear characteristics. 4.1. Management The recreational fishery is open, there are no limitations on the total number of permits, and permits are very cheap. Therefore, management is based on conservation measures (Fig. 5) and spatial access. MPAs, Cabrera National Park and closed zones represent nearly 63,500 Ha of protected coastal zone with 16,500 Ha totally closed to all fisheries. Fishing in the semi-protected areas of MPAs is only allowed on certain days, and special rules apply to gears and certain species which cannot be fished inside MPAs. The conservation measures are basically catch selectivity, bag limits and closed seasons for pearl razor fish (Xyrichthys novacula) and amberjack (S. dumerili) juveniles. 31 species are protected with minimum lengths (MLS); catches under this length have to be returned to the sea. However, for some target species the catches are mostly made up of undersized fish (70–80% for Diplodus annularis, 94% for Lithognathus mormyrus [23]). Recent studies show that fish mortality due to being caught and released may be high, depending on handling conditions and hook size [17,18]. Therefore this conservation measure might fail due to this mortality and the high proportion of fish caught under the MLS [24].
The maximum bag allowed depends on the species, but in general it is 5 kg/angler per day. For cephalopods and pearl razor fish there is a limitation on number (10 cephalopods, 50 pearl razor fish/day) without going over the 5 kg bag limit. The authorized gear is mainly hand lines and some small traditional hand nets are allowed in restricted areas. Gear used by the commercial fishery is banned. There are limitations on the number of rods (2 maximum), hooks in hand lines (6 maximum), and jigging lures for cephalopods (6 maximum) per angler. Squid fishing carried out at night cannot use lights. Spear fishing has to be done without the aid of SCUBA diving, aqua lungs or torpedoes and using only mechanical traction guns. There is no regulation on time spent fishing, except for spear fishing that cannot operate at night. Recently, hook size has been regulated in the buffer MPA zones with a minimum size of 7 mm and 5.4 mm for pearl razor fish. These measures are based on selectivity and survival studies funded by the DGPGIB; the anglers have accepted these measures showing goodwill towards adaptive management [23,24]. Besides the mandatory release of undersized fish, the DGPGIB is promoting a voluntary catch-and-release practice as a sustainability measure, which is a pioneer approach in marine Mediterranean fisheries. A set of management measures has been imposed on recreational tournaments, which are very popular during summer months. These comprise an MLS for all species, a hook minimum size (7 mm), and the use of ecologic leads. Moreover, the catch-andrelease strategy is also being promoted for these tournaments. All the data collected are computerized and provided for research purposes.
Control Variable: MLS
Selectivity of catches
Control Variable: EFFORT
Control Variable: BAG SIZE
Fisheries management
Conservation measures
Direct or indirect limitation of total catch
Control Variable: CATCH AND RELEASE
Closed seasons Access regulation Control Variable: SPECIFIC SPECIES
Regulation of spatial access
Control Variable: SPATIAL ALLOCATION
Fig. 5. Approaches to managing the recreational coastal fisheries in the Balearic Islands.
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Other use regulations are based on avoiding competition with the commercial fishery, maintaining a minimum distance of 250 m from any commercial fishing gear and maintaining a distance from other stakeholders for their security (not fishing on beaches during the day, either onshore or by boat). Fishing inside harbours and marinas is also restricted. However, angling in the FADs of the dolphinfish fishery is a common infraction. 5. Discussion Fishery management relies on two complementary sets of regulations, 1) conserving fish stock production, and 2) regulating access to fishing possibilities. While these measures are indispensable, their effectiveness remains limited due to the fact that they do not tackle the economic and institutional roots of the problem of overexploitation. The coastal fishery represents most of the fishing in the Balearic Islands, which is managed by combining different, mostly administrative, approaches aimed at improving the socioeconomic wellbeing of the community as well as preserving the resources. The success of these measures depends on the particular resource. Available information shows different exploitation patterns for the commercial fishery. The trammel net fisheries for red and black scorpionfish, red mullet and cuttlefish are near the maximum sustainable yield [15], while most of the evaluated species are overfished [14]. Whilst the commercial coastal fishery is declining in numbers (Table 3) the landings remain stable (Fig. 3), yet the livelihood of fishermen does not improve, probably due to commercialization [15] and market problems [25]. The coastal fisheries effort is shifting to recreational activity; even though it is less effective in catches its impact is not negligible [3]. Regulation of this open activity, responsibility of the regional Government, is achieved by conservation measures. Besides the large area devoted to MPAs, a series of pioneer angling management measures have been applied for the first time in the Mediterranean, including promoting catch-and-release practices and regulating MLS. However, these last two practices may not be successful due to the large amount of undersized catches and the high mortality associated with releasing fish [24]. There are no evaluations of the exploitation level of non-commercial species, or the effects on communities. Nevertheless, the rapid recovery of E. marginatus populations – which are very affected by spear fishing [9,12] due to the prohibition of recreational fishing in Cabrera National Park is an indicator of current overexploitation. Interactions related to harvesting fish resources in the coastal zone fall into different categories. First, coastal fishermen themselves interact with a potentially larger degree of complexity due to the polyvalence of coastal fleets. This complexity is increased by the interactions with offshore fishermen due to the fact that the coastal fleet may target the same straddling species (i.e. tunas or bonitos). Second, coastal fleets interact with anglers, mainly spearfishers, for the same fish resources. Third, commercial fishing in the coastal zone also interacts with the other users of this zone, which may become competitors for space or may cause ecological changes that are detrimental to fishing. There is considerable competition for space with nautical tourism; there are many areas where buoys and moorings have been installed to anchor the numerous boats both from the Archipelago and from island visitors during summer. Fishing is not possible in these areas, or in the areas where fleets anchor, for obvious reasons. The large tourist nautical fleet (>1 105 visitors on 2007, CAEB 2008) and the tourists themselves (>10,106/year) might also occasionally fish as a leisure activity: neither their activity nor their catches are known.
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Other practices, such as sand extraction for beach replenishment, have affected some fish stocks. The small goby fishery in Palma Bay collapsed for 10 years after sand extraction from their demersal spawning grounds in 1988–1989 (DGPGIB unpublished data). All these interactions are negative externalities for the coastal fisheries sector. As long term sustainable benefits for the coastal fishery cannot be based on increased production, fishery policy tools are generally limited to: i) limiting the efficiency of harvesting; ii) increasing management and iii) making allocation (distributive) decisions to determine who has access to the available fish [23]. Management aims to increase the efficiency of harvesting, measured as net social benefits such as better revenues (better commercialization, fuel subsidies, bag limits, etc.), better training and port facilities for fishermen, and less damage to the environment (reduced effort, gear selectivity, etc). Distributive decisions only take into account the professional fisheries (commercial sector) and do not include the growing open access recreational fishery. Therefore, new strategies are necessary to manage the Balearic Islands Fishery. These should encompass the three kinds of policy objectives, or the ‘‘triangle paradigm’’ [23] of conservation, rationalization and socioeconomic enhancement, and avoid extreme positions to find solutions in the middle ground. However, enforcing management rules is traditionally very weak in the Mediterranean. For instance, for the entire Balearic Archipelago there are 10 fisheries inspectors and 2 Sea Guard boats that are engaged in many other tasks (drug traffic control, illegal migration, etc). Therefore, there is little control of maritime activities. In the areas with the means for enforcing the rules, such as MPAs and Cabrera National Park, the marine resources have shown a marked recovery [9]. Mallorca coastal fisheries are going through a transition from dominant small-scale commercial fishing to recreational fishing, creating complexity at management levels. Furthermore, the varying contexts of use rights, heterogeneity among users related to diverse interests and resource use patterns, and the dynamics of the coastal ecosystem supporting fisheries are some of the challenges facing fisheries management to cope with declining fish populations. This diversity and complexity call for the multilevel arrangements presently enforced in Mallorca. The management is based on classic command sensu [26], inclusive in MPAs with Management Commissions with ample stakeholder participation in which a consultation process is developed. Realising that maintaining the coastal fishery requires societal support and knowledge integration, the future of the management has to be developed through a sustained process of testing and improvement.
Acknowledgements This paper is a result of the Spanish funded MICINN project CGL2008-00958. David March provided Fig. 1.
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