Effects of seasonal closures in a multi-specific fishery

Abstract

27 28In input-controlled multi-specific fisheries, seasonal closure has little biological rationale as a 29 management measure, because it is difficult to adjust such closure for many target species and, in most 30 cases, they are adopted for economic purposes. We aimed to determine effects of closure in biologic and 31 economic terms, using 10-year landing data from two representative trawling ports of the Western 32Mediterranean: Dénia and La Vila Joiosa. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to detect significant 33 differences, before and after the closure, in standardized catch per unit effort (CPUE) at different seasons 34and sale prices at home/closed and neighbour/open ports. ANOVAs showed significantly higher CPUE 35 after the closure for total landings and Mullus spp. of the Red mullet métier, M. merluccius CPUE (in two 36 years) and the total landings of the Norway lobster métier. On the contrary, significant lower values were 37 observed after the closure for total CPUE (in early summer) and A. antennatus of Red shrimp métier. 38

Viability and Management Targets of Mediterranean Demersal Fisheries: The Case of the Aegean Sea

“…Samy-Kamal et al [23], based on landings data from fisheries operating along the Alicante coast (south-western Mediterranean), concluded that a seasonal closure would have positive biological effects for some target species but this depends on its timing. Merino et al [17], who studied the performance of demersal fisheries in the western Mediterranean, found that only drastic fishing effort reductions (48–71%) in terms of days at sea would improve the health of fish stocks and increase the economic profits of the bottom trawl fishery.…”

Daily variation of fishing effort and ex-vessel prices in a western Mediterranean multi-species fishery: Implications for sustainable management

“…days) VPUE (euro•vessel -1 •day -1 ) of the proposed banning day (selected based on the analysis described in section 2.1). Finally, as the ex-vessel prices significantly decrease by the seasonal closure [5], an additional part of the loss produced by the closure was calculated as the difference between the VPUE (euro•vessel -1 •month -1 ) achieved before and after the closure.…”

“…trawl fisheries) for a specified period (1-2 months depending on the port and the year). This normally generates problems, because it requires subsidies for vessels owners and crews to compensate this period without revenue, while it also may cause a drop in prices due the market imbalances [5]. Besides the burden of the subsidies on the administration, closure involves an additional problem in the Mediterranean fisheries that have been criticized as most of these subsidies have been transformed into structural compensations [5,6].…”

“…This normally generates problems, because it requires subsidies for vessels owners and crews to compensate this period without revenue, while it also may cause a drop in prices due the market imbalances [5]. Besides the burden of the subsidies on the administration, closure involves an additional problem in the Mediterranean fisheries that have been criticized as most of these subsidies have been transformed into structural compensations [5,6]. On the other hand, controlling the fishing effort by limiting the number of fishing days per week can have the opposite effect, because it keeps weekly earnings and may lead to short-term price increases by concentrating sales/purchases and could be adopted without subsidies.…”

“…For these reasons, a recent surge of studies in the western Mediterranean has discussed the reduction of effort by banning fishing one more day per week (other than the week-end) instead of the seasonal closure [5,7,8]. This would result in approximately the double annual amount of effort reduction if compared with one month of closure; as well minimize the short-term negative economic effect of seasonal closure on market prices and therefore, on fishers income [5]. Also it is more acceptable by the fishing community to stop fishing one day than a whole month, and can be easily applied without additional costs of subsidies.…”