Bycatch Dynamics from a Small-Scale Shrimp Trap Fishery in the Mediterranean Sea

Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) in the Mediterranean and Black seas play a significant social and economic role, representing 84% of the fishing fleet (70,000 vessels), 26% of total revenue (USD 633 million) and 60% of total employment (150,000 people), with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diversity (Basel) 2022-04, Vol.14 (4), p.292
Main Authors: Kalogirou, Stefanos, Dimitriadis, Charalampos, Maravelias, Christos D., Poursanidis, Dimitrios, Margaritis, Mihalis, Miliou, Helen, Pihl, Leif
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdomen
biodiversity
Biomass
Bycatch
Commercial fishing
Crustaceans
discards
Ecology
Ekologi
Employment
Endangered species
Fish
Fisheries
Fisheries management
Fishery resources
Fishing
incidental catch
management
Market prices
natural resources
Revenue
revenues
Small-scale fisheries
Species classification
Spring
Spring (season)
Summer
Threatened species
Winter
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Summary:Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) in the Mediterranean and Black seas play a significant social and economic role, representing 84% of the fishing fleet (70,000 vessels), 26% of total revenue (USD 633 million) and 60% of total employment (150,000 people), with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently taking important initiatives to sustain livelihoods. Effective management of important natural fisheries resources that sustain livelihoods requires a holistic approach accounting for all parts of the catch. Quantitative data on seasonal catch dynamics together with classification of bycatch species to IUCN vulnerability status and associated revenues from retained incidental catch were used to reveal the effect of a small-scale shrimp trap fishery on bycatch. We use three main quantitative variables (i.e., density, biomass and number of bycatch species) and show a positive correlation between bycatch and the seasonal catch dynamics of the target species during late spring and summer. On the contrary, discards were proportionally lower during winter, with the majority of discarded fish species not considered endangered. Six retained species in spring–summer and five discarded species in winter were found to modulate the structure of species’ assemblage. Out of 55 bycatch species, 26 were retained and 29 discarded. Only four species were considered threatened, all of which were caught in very low numbers (
ISSN:1424-2818
1424-2818
DOI:10.3390/d14040292