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Fisheries mismanagement in a Natura 2000 area in western Greece
Author(s) -
GONZALVO J.,
MOUTOPOULOS D. K.,
BEARZI G.,
STERGIOU K. I.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fisheries management and ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1365-2400
pISSN - 0969-997X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2400.2010.00764.x
Subject(s) - fishing , fishery , natura 2000 , demersal zone , overfishing , pelagic zone , marine protected area , geography , fisheries management , biomass (ecology) , environmental science , biodiversity , ecology , habitat , biology
The impact of fisheries within a Natura 2000 area in western Greece was assessed over a 12‐month period in 2007. The estimated total biomass removed annually by 307 fishing boats averaged 3503.5 t. Purse seiners, beach seiners and trawlers took 70% of the total landings. Purse seiners, contributing 3% of the total fishing fleet, were responsible for 33% of total biomass removed. Beach and purse seiners primarily caught small pelagic species, whereas trawlers and trammel netters mostly demersal species. A mismatch was found between the Common Fisheries Register (CFR) and an in situ assessment of the active fishing fleet; the number of industrial fishing boats exceeded those registered in CFR for the three administrative ports involved, and a large proportion of the CFR netters were small and effectively inactive. Fishery management measures for the recovery of an ecosystem considerably damaged by overfishing are proposed.