Is shore-based recreational fishing in Greece an unregulated activity that increases catch uncertainty?

Abstract

In the current study, data on Greek marine recreational fisheries regarding the number of individual recreational fishing and vessel licenses issued until 2014 are given. Moreover, using information from a questionnaire-based survey, based on 52 responses, recreational catches in two localities in the Aegean Sea (GSA 22: Thermaikos Gulf and Alonissos Island) are presented. According to data from the Port Authorities (Hellenic Coast Guard), an average of 86835 individual and 36120 vessel licenses were issued/renewed in the country in 2014. Concerning recreational catches as recorded, in Thermaikos Gulf the mean number of fishing days per year was 81.4 and the yearly catch per fisher was estimated to be 78 kg. In Alonissos Island, recreational fishers spent more days at sea (104 days/year) and their catch was considerably higher (293 kg/fisher), something that could be attributed to the beneficial effects of the nearby marine reserve. Finally, 29 taxa were caught in both surveyed areas, with European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) exceeding 50% of the catches in Thermaikos Gulf, and white seabream (Diplodus sargus), bogue (Boops boops) and brown meagre (Sciaena umbra) contributing 45% of the total recreational catches in Alonissos Island.

Introduction

Catch data, as in ‘the number or weight of fish caught by a fishery, either the total amount caught or only the amount landed’ (Froese and Pauly, 2018), are indicative of the abundance of fish in the oceans and therefore the health of fisheries (Pauly et al., 2013). One of the major shortcomings of the FAO global capture production database is that, in most cases, it does not include recreational catches and discards (Garibaldi, 2012). The term “recreational fishing” is generally defined as ‘fishing for personal use, entertainment, sport and challenge’ (Froese and Pauly, 2018) and includes subsistence fisheries which are defined as ‘the fishery conducted to supplement the diet’ (Moutopoulos et al., 2013). Other definitions of recreational fishing that may apply better to the Mediterranean Sea recreational fishing practices and particularly Greece, are those of the ICES “the capture or attempted capture of living aquatic resources mainly for leisure and/or personal consumption that covers active fishing methods including line, spear, and hand–gathering and passive fishing methods including nets, traps, pots, and set–lines” and the EU “non-commercial fishing activities exploiting marine living aquatic resources such as for recreation, tourism or sport” (Hyder et al., 2017, Hyder et al., 2018).

Aquatic resources are under the pressure of overexploitation and mismanagement (Tsikliras, 2014) globally (Myers and Worm, 2003, Pauly et al., 2003) and in the Mediterranean Sea (Froese et al., 2018). More and more it is evident that the inclusion of all available information in the stock assessments and ecosystem modeling is a prerequisite for an integrated approach to fisheries management and conservation of the aquatic resources. Until recently, while reconstructing fisheries catches, recreational fisheries was disregarded and focus was restricted on commercial fishing (Pauly and Zeller, 2016). Yet, the assumed magnitude of recreational catches can be as high as 10%–50% of the total catch (Font and Lloret, 2014), or, on occasion, may reach and even exceed the small-scale fisheries catches (Khalfallah et al., 2017). The increasing extent of the activity made the inclusion of recreational fisheries in fisheries management and conservation a necessity.

Research referring to Marine Recreational Fisheries (MRF) has been increasing in the last years worldwide (e.g. Moutopoulos et al., 2013, Tunca et al., 2016, Cashion et al., 2018, Keramidas et al., 2018), mainly due to scientific efforts to fill-in the gap in fisheries statistics. With respect to MRF in Europe, a recent overview was produced, based on data compiled annually by the ICES Working Group on Recreational Fisheries Surveys (Hyder et al., 2018). Data included in the aforementioned overview regarding Greece, are based on a very limited number of available studies, as well as on estimates (on a “personal communication” basis) provided by the National Statistical Service of Greece, General Secretary of Fishery (Hyder et al., 2018).

Moreover, in Greece, unlike other European Countries where legal frames exist (for an overview see Hyder et al., 2017), since 2014 (Anonymous, 2014a) there is no legal framework under which MRF would operate and that would allow the estimation of numbers in terms of catches, fishers and vessels engaged in MRF activities. Additionally, the composition of recreational catches, the abundance and biomass of the species removed from the sea has never been recorded officially (Moutopoulos et al., 2013), as there is no obligation of reporting catches, but only estimated since the 1950’s as reconstructed catches (Moutopoulos et al., 2016). An estimate of recreational fishing vessels in Greece has only been recently provided (Keramidas et al., 2018). Thus, as a significant proportion of the biomass removed from the sea by recreational activities, which are inevitably turning into IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated), still remains unknown, fisheries management of Greek stocks still remains problematic.

It is well acknowledged that fish and invertebrate stocks are overfished in Greek (Tsikliras et al., 2013) as well as Mediterranean waters (for officially assessed stocks see Colloca et al., 2013; for all stocks see Tsikliras et al., 2015, Froese et al., 2018). The data deficiency caused by the IUU activities is partly responsible for this current status, as it adds to the uncertainty of stock assessments biasing any results, that fail to depict the real status of the stocks, and thus making management measures ineffective to a large extent (Pauly and Zeller, 2016, Keramidas et al., 2018). Any study enriching our knowledge of the biomass removed from marine ecosystems per species, that would otherwise have been included in non-reported catches, is valuable. Such information is needed for the reconstruction of Greek and other Mediterranean countries’ fisheries catches (Pauly et al., 2014, Moutopoulos et al., 2015). Towards that direction, within the European Union Data Collection Multi Annual Programme, previously referred to as Data Collection Framework (DCF), a pilot case study for the collection of information on MRF in Greece is planned for the period 2017–2019 (Hyder et al., 2017, Adamidou et al., 2018), in order to create a protocol for recording and monitoring MRF in the country.

The principal objective of the present study was to provide quantitative information on MRF’ catches in the Greek Aegean Sea (GSA 22), thus contributing to the mitigation of the unreported catches, and to provide insighs towards future regulation perspectives. The total recreational catch was calculated using two different estimations of the number of fishers (one based on coastal population and another based on the number of recreational fishing licenses) and the catch rates reported by the fishers. Moreover, data from the Port Authorities (Hellenic Coast Guard), regarding licenses, in order to evaluate the magnitude of MRF in the Greek Aegean Sea, were collected and analyzed. Finally, data on MRF activities within a marine protected area, the National Park of Alonissos-Northern Sporades (NMPANS), are presented.