Bio-economic analysis of the Mar Menor (Murcia, SE Spain) small-scale lagoon fishery

Abstract

Summary An integrated fisheries management tool based on a bio‐economic model was applied to the demersal fishery in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon in SE Spain, with the objective of exploring solutions to ensure the sustainability of this activity. The hypothesis is that excess harvesting in recent years by fishers trying to offset growing production costs has led to the inefficient use of lagoon fishery resources. The authors established the basic bio‐economic conditions of the fishery in 2012 by means of field sampling and personal interviews with producers, and analyzed the response of several biological and economic indicators (target species biomass and yield, fleet profits) to a management scenario based on limiting the fishing season of one of the main types of fishing gear (fish traps, locally known as ‘paranzas’). Results show that a reduction in fishing mortality of two overexploited species (Sparus aurata and Lithognathus mormyrus) will help recover the biomass of these stocks by more than 40% as well as increase the economic value of the fishery, with profits increasing by 17% over a 4‐year period.

Fishing effort alternatives for the management of demersal fisheries in the western Mediterranean

“…MEFISTO has been applied preferentially in Mediterranean demersal fisheries, but also in pelagic fisheries, e.g. a bottom trawl fishery in the Balearic Islands (Merino et al 2015); small-scale and bottom trawl fisheries in the northern Aegean Sea (Maravelias et al 2014); a small-scale lagoon fishery in the western Mediterranean (Maynou et al 2014); and a small pelagic fishery in the northern Adriatic Sea (Silvestri and Maynou 2009). MEFISTO is an age-based model that is multispecies and multigear.…”

Untitled

“…This has resulted in recommendations to reduce fishing effort and capacity in most Mediterranean fleets (e.g., Ulman et al, 2013;Maouel et al, 2014;Maynou et al, 2014;Dereli et al, 2015;Merino et al, 2015;Samy-Kamal et al, 2015a,b). However, previous fishing effort and capacity reductions in the Mediterranean have proven insufficient.…”

To Fish or Not to Fish – Economic Perspectives of the Pelagic Northeast Atlantic Mackerel and Herring Fishery

“…It is well established that many aspects, such as changes in the environment, economy and political decisions, influence the behavior of fishermen and hence the profitability of fleets (e.g., Pascoe et al, 2008;Hamon et al, 2014;Maynou et al, 2014;Bartelings et al, 2015;Spijkers and Boonstra, 2017). The pelagic fisheries for Northeast Atlantic (NEA) mackerel and North Sea autumn spawning (NSAS) herring have very high economic value in the European (EU) pelagic fishery sector, i.e., 21% (herring) and 32% (mackerel) of total value (pelagic EU fleets, average of 2013-2017; Scientific, Technical, and Economic Committee for Fisheries [STECF], 2019).…”

“…Recently, dynamic age-structured bio-economic models were used as tools for fisheries management. They incorporate and integrate anthropogenic as well as natural processes to generate a better understanding of feedback mechanisms between the two systems (Bastardie et al, 2013;Tahvonen et al, 2013;Maynou et al, 2014;Simons et al, 2015;Pascoe et al, 2016;Nielsen et al, 2017;Da-Rocha et al, 2017). Equilibrium or "end-toend" models such as Atlantis, Ecosim with Ecopath (EWE) or SMART, usually have an increased focus on the complexity of the whole ecosystem, including food webs, detailed functional groups and different human uses (e.g., Fulton et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2015;D'Andrea et al, 2020).…”