Topic
Fishing
About: Fishing is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26543 publications have been published within this topic receiving 455552 citations. The topic is also known as: angling.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a method that is comparable between and across national/regional fishing fleets was used to define small and large-scale fishing operations in the Azores, and the two sectors were compared in a number of policy-relevant parameters in order to better understand their socioeconomic importance, issues that are fundamental for the development of future policies that are based on a holistic and ecosystem approach to fisheries management.
114 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a follow-up study assessing the status and recovery of a deep-sea fisheries closure and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) at ~1000m water depth in the NE Atlantic, eight years after designation, was presented.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the recent data on Mediterranean fishing fleets and landings, results from stock assessments and ecosystem models to provide an overview of the multiple impacts of fishing exploitation in the different Mediterranean geographical sub-areas (GSAs).
Abstract: This review focuses on the recent data on Mediterranean fishing fleets and landings, results from stock assessments and ecosystem models to provide an overview of the multiple impacts of fishing exploitation in the different Mediterranean geographical sub-areas (GSAs). A fleet of about 73.000 vessels is widespread along the Mediterranean coasts. Artisanal activities are predominant in South Mediterranean and in the eastern basin, while trawling features GSAs in the western basin and the Adriatic. The overall landings of fish, crustaceans and cephalopods, after peaking during mid ‘90s at about one million tons, declined at about 700.000 in 2013. However, while landings are declining in EU countries since the 90s, in non-EU a decreasing trend was observed only in the last 5-10 years. The current levels of fishing effort determine a general overexploitation status of commercial stocks with more than 90% of the stock assessed out of safe biological limits. Indicators obtained from available ecosystem models included primary production required to sustain fisheries (PPR), mean trophic level of the catch (mTLc), the loss in secondary production index (L index) and the probability of the ecosystem to be sustainably fished (psust). In areas exploited sustainably (e.g. Gulf of Gabes, Eastern Ionian and Aegean Sea) fishing pressure was characterized by either low number of vessels per unit of shelf area or the large prevalence of artisanal/small scale fisheries. Conversely, GSAs in Western and Adriatic showed very low ecosystem sustainability of fisheries that can be easily related with the high fishing pressure and the large proportion of overfished stocks obtained from single species assessments. We showed that the current knowledge on Mediterranean fisheries and ecosystems depict a worrisome picture where the effect of poorly regulated fisheries, in combination with the ongoing climate forcing and the rapid expansion of non-indigenous species, are rapidly changing the structure and functioning of the ecosystem with unpredictable effects on the goods and services provided. Although this would call for urgent conservation actions, the management system implemented in the region appears too slow and probably inadequate to protect biodiversity and secure fisheries resources for the future generations.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined an area subject to a voluntary agreement between these two sectors of the fishing industry such that some areas are used exclusively by fixed-gear fishers, some are shared seasonally by both sectors, and others are open to all methods of fishing all year.
Abstract: When two commercially important marine species coexist in the same habitat, conflict may arise between different sectors of the fishing industry. A good example of this situation is when fishers using towed bottom-fishing gear (scallop dredges, beam trawls, and otter trawls) operate in the same areas in which fixed-bottom gear (crab pots) are deployed. We examined an area subject to a voluntary agreement between these two sectors of the fishing industry such that some areas are used exclusively by fixed-gear fishers, some are shared seasonally by both sectors, and others are open to all methods of fishing all year. This agreement was enacted to resolve conflict between the two sectors of the industry. An additional possible benefit of this agreement is the protection of the seabed from towed bottom-fishing gear, which is one of the greatest sources of anthropogenic disturbance of seabed habitats worldwide. Previous studies have demonstrated that com- plex emergent epifaunal communities are substantially altered by such activities. This habitat alteration in turn influences closely associated species, some of which may be of commercial importance. We undertook comparative surveys of the benthic habitat and communities within the area covered by the agreement and compared different areas subjected to a range of fishing disturbance regimes. Communities found within the areas closed to towed fishing gears were significantly different from those open to fishing either permanently or seasonally. Abundance-biomass curves demonstrated that the communities within the closed areas were dominated by higher biomass and emergent fauna that increased habitat complexity. Areas fished by towed gear were dominated by smaller-bodied fauna and scavenging taxa. Scallop dredges and beam trawls used on more stable habitats appear to have greater impacts on the environment than lighter otter trawls used in shallower water with less stable sediments. It would appear from our data that conflict management in the form of gear-restriction measures has the added benefit of conserving habitats and benthic fauna sensitive to bottom-fishing disturbance.
113 citations