PUTTING THE SCIENCE INTO FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

Putting the science into fisheries management. Sustainable fisheries management starts with scientific research – and an enormous amount of it is taking place across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, supported by the GFCM. Small-scale fishers have a central role to play in the monitoring and data collection activities that inform the work of fisheries scientists, a point explicitly recognized by the Regional Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (RPOA-SSF).

Scientific research is the first of the nine topics covered in the RPOA-SSF, and it merits its place at the top of the list: by increasing knowledge and understanding of the interactions between small-scale fisheries (SSF) and marine resources, it provides the foundation for evidence-based policies that bring about meaningful change. Without a rigorous scientific approach, fisheries management would effectively be based on guesswork.

Crucially, the RPOA-SSF emphasises the importance of engaging fishers in scientific monitoring activities, capitalising on their local ecological knowledge while fostering a participatory management approach. Fishers play an invaluable role working with scientists to gather data, and the GFCM actively develops their capacities, running workshops and making tools available to help them get fully involved. From monitoring catch and effort at sea, to studying broader biological, ecological and socioeconomic impacts of SSF, the data that fishers help to gather will always be needed to ensure management measures remain effective and appropriate in a changing environment.

The RPOA-SSF highlights some areas with a particular need for more research. These include how SSF interact with recreational fisheries, their relationship with vulnerable species, and the potential effects of climate change and increasing numbers of non-indigenous species. It also keeps the economic realities of SSF front and centre, with a focus on building understanding around the species that do most to support fisher livelihoods.

What is the GFCM doing?

With 23 members involved, an enormous range of research is constantly taking place across the GFCM area of application, including regarding the development of monitoring, control and surveillance instruments tailored for small-scale fleets. While this work takes place in the context of myriad local traditions affecting vessel characteristics, fishing techniques and gear types, what’s important is to ensure that research activity contributes to building reliable knowledge on SSF in all countries that is shared across the region. The GFCM works to ensure a level playing field, spreading best practices, developing common methodologies, providing equipment such as standard nets for scientific surveys, and supporting individual members to build technical capacity where it is most required.

Developing scientific monitoring in Lebanon The Lebanese fishing fleet is composed almost entirely of small-scale vessels (<15 m), which fish within a few miles of the coast. This presents a technical challenge when it comes to scientific monitoring, as many vessels have only limited onboard electricity sources, if any at all, while coastal access to satellite data networks is patchy.

For the last four years, the GFCM has been working with the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture to identify monitoring technologies that could nevertheless be used to deliver reasonably detailed data to track the fishing activities of the small-scale fleet in Lebanon. A wide range of potential solutions have been tested and assessed for efficacy and financial sustainability, with initial tests ramping up in 2019 to include additional monitoring features across a wider sample of vessels.

Innovations piloted include winch sensor systems, as well as wireless gear sensors that can be directly installed on nets used by small-scale vessels. Transponder units and sensors that are able to track and report the exact time and geographical position at which gear is deployed have been acquired. This key data is transmitted in addition to other monitoring information such as vessel identity, location, time, speed and course, paving the way for richer datasets to underpin more complex analytical research work on the part of fisheries scientists. The sensors also include a unique identifier for each vessel, which allows patrol boats to monitor remotely whether fishing licences are valid, as well as enabling lost gear to be returned to its owners.

In June 2022, the GFCM staff oversaw the installation of a first batch of transponder units and gear sensors in the port of Oqaibeh, and more units are scheduled for deployment over the summer. To date, the units have been working well and transmitting accurate real-time data.

 In the spotlight: Kristijan Zović, fisher from Croatia

Forty-nine-year old Kristijan Zović lives in a small town near Pula in Croatia, on the southern tip of the Istrian peninsula. When he was 26, he decided to become a professional fisher, which wasn’t easy as he’s not from a fishing family and had no one to inherit knowledge or equipment from. But 22 years later he’s still here, trying to find a balance between hard work and fun.

Over the years Kristijan has seen big changes in the sea and his catches. It’s hard to know the exact reasons – is it because of what we’re doing as fishers? Because of climate change? Because of increasing pollution? Or is there something else altogether? In any case, something needs to be done to keep things sustainable. This is where data, research, and people to process it all are coming into the equation – and that means working with scientists and NGOs.

“Honestly, at first I was wary of WWF as I had the idea that they wanted to ban everything” he declared. But he soon realized that they actually have the same goal. Hand on heart, “we fishers benefit the most from scientific research and NGO support in co-management and advocacy for better policies. Any help is welcome, and we need to work together to get good quality data and find new methods that bring results” he concluded.

One of the most interesting projects he took part in was called ARIEL, which aimed to drive innovation for sustainability in SSF. It included experimenting on set nets for cuttlefish, to see whether they could reduce bycatch of bottom-living species through technical modifications on the nets. “We got amazing results, eliminating bycatch without reducing the catch of targeted species ­­– this helps the ecosystem and makes it easier for us fishers to clean our nets,” said Kristijan.

Unfortunately, it’s a long way from scientific research to policy integration. This is why small-scale fishers rely on help from NGOs, and in Kristijan’s case from WWF. They need them to spearhead science-based efforts to improve fisheries regulations, so innovations can be adopted across the Mediterranean for the benefit of the sea and fishers alike.

Project focus: Sea snail conservation project, Italy

Scientific research is driving innovation in the fishery for Tritia mutabilis, an edible sea snail that is caught by Italian small-scale fishers in the central Adriatic and exported to Spain and France and that represents up to 40 percent of SSF revenues during the fishing season (November-May). Due partly to overexploitation and the growing impacts of climate change, catches had been decreasing for several years, at which point Blu Marine Service, a company specializing in applied marine research, was called in to try to maximize the snails’ reproductive capacities and halt the decline.

Scientists found that intensive dredging in the area had seriously damaged and degraded the hard substrates on which the snails lay their eggs, impairing the snails’ chances of reproduction, so they decided to create miniature artificial reefs to compensate. Following extensive research and development exploring potential structures and materials, their solution was to produce stainless steel pyramids with sides of high-resistance plastic netting that could be anchored to the seafloor.

The seafloor in the central Adriatic is largely composed of sand and mud, so the hard surfaces of the pyramids attract sea snails and numerous other coastal species that rely on hard substrates to reproduce (cuttlefish, octopus, gobies, squid, etc.). The heavy-duty netting on each pyramid can hold more than 1 million snail eggs, and the particular pyramid shape renders the structures stable and resistant to adverse weather conditions. The robust materials used for construction stand up to strong currents, minimize wear and tear caused by wave motion and are expected to last at least 10 years.

The pyramids are installed by small-scale fishers themselves, 40 of whom – from Le Marche, Abruzzo and Emilia Romagna – are participating in the programme. And their participation makes a real difference: data gathered shows that Tritia mutabilis remains abundant in areas where the pyramids have been installed. There’s a clear scope to expand the scheme across the Adriatic through the financial support of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (the pyramids cost just EUR 60 each to manufacture), while Blu Marine Service has also begun to experiment with creating larger habitat structures for other species that reproduce in the spring in shallow coastal waters.