Elsevier

Ocean & Coastal Management

Volume 201, 15 February 2021, 105425
Ocean & Coastal Management

Baseline data for marine protected areas planning and fisheries monitoring: Potential conflicts between recreational IUU and commercial fisheries in the proposed “Taza” MPA (Algeria, SW Mediterranean)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105425Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We evaluate the potential conflicts between recreational IUU and commercial fisheries in the proposed “Taza” MPA.

  • A comparison between recreational and professional boats was highlighted in terms of catches and fishing effort.

  • Recreational IUU has a significant impact on the socioeconomic and environmental situation in the study area.

  • Baseline data is crucial for MPA planning and fisheries monitoring.

Abstract

Nowadays, recreational fisheries (REC) have a great impact on marine ecosystems and create conflicts with other human coastal activities such as commercial small-scale fisheries (SSF). In the proposed “Taza” marine protected area (MPA) (Algeria, SW Mediterranean), recreational boat fishing is poorly regulated and its catches remain unmonitored. In addition, a significant number of REC fishers sell their catch illegally, an activity we could refer to as IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) fishing. This study is a good opportunity to evaluate the potential conflicts between recreational IUU and commercial fisheries and can be extremely valuable in terms of MPA planning and fisheries monitoring by providing baseline data for setting up sound fisheries management and conservation plans. Two fishing harbors are located near the proposed “Taza” MPA: Boudis and Ziama. Illegal REC boats from Ziama harbor were studied via a direct observation method of landings developed by the Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea). A comparison between illegal REC and SSF boats was highlighted in terms of catches and fishing effort. A total of 54 taxa belonging to 24 families were observed in the catches of the 32 recreational active boats in this harbor between May 2013 and April 2014. The proportion of the harvest attributed to illegal REC represented about 50% of the SSF harvest. Illegal REC in the proposed “Taza” MPA is an important socioeconomic activity which is intensively practiced throughout the year. From November to April, the mean catch was almost the same for both fishing categories. Strong competition between recreational and professional fishers for the natural resources was highlighted as 81% of the 54 caught taxa were present in the catches of both fishing categories (i.e. 44 taxa). Moreover, 4 species of high commercial value were caught exclusively by recreational fishers. Finally, the managers of the proposed “Taza” MPA must address and regulate all fishing activities and use the best available information in order to provide important benefits to marine ecosystems, fishers, and the local population.

Introduction

Nowadays, there is growing concern about the impact of recreational fisheries (referred to as REC throughout this article) on marine ecosystems (Lloret et al., 2019) and the related conflicts with other human activities, such as commercial fisheries (Cooke and Cowx, 2006; Arlinghaus and Cooke, 2009). While commercial fisheries are the dominant fisheries worldwide (McPhee et al., 2002; Post et al., 2002; Cooke and Cowx, 2004), a growing portion of many harvested fish stocks over the world is carried out by recreational fishers (Coleman et al., 2004; Arlinghaus and Cooke, 2005; Lewin et al., 2006). According to Hyder et al. (2018), in some European countries, fish removals by marine REC for northern European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and western Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks, represent 27% of the total catches (recreational and commercial). In 2012, recreational fishers were responsible for up to 53% of the total fish removals of European sea bass in Belgium (Hyder et al., 2018). In the Mediterranean, REC represent an important share of the fish caught and may locally amount up to 50% of the total commercial catches (European Commission, 2004; FAO, 2008; Font et al., 2012), however they are still poorly managed and less studied compared to commercial fisheries (Font and Lloret, 2014; Prato et al., 2016; Pita et al., 2020). An increasing number of studies supports the idea that the increasing REC effort can have similar, or even higher effects on fish populations than artisanal fishing (Cooke and Cowx, 2006; Lloret et al., 2008; Zischke et al., 2012).

During the summer, the human population increases considerably in coastal areas, when the pressure of local tourism is highest. Consequently, aquatic leisure activities such as scuba-diving and REC (i.e. boat angling, shore angling, and spearfishing) have flourished on the Mediterranean shores and their additional impact on coastal and maritime ecosystems has grown (Morales-Nin et al., 2005). Therefore, fisheries managers need to consider all forms of harvesting if they are to manage these resources sustainably by improving national data reporting of recreational catches (Hyder et al., 2014; Ryan et al., 2016; Freire et al., 2020).

In Algeria, to practice REC only boat-owners are required to have recreational fishing authorizations (licenses), while spearfishers need an individual license (Babali et al., 2018). These licenses are issued by local fisheries authorities after payment of an annual fee and must be renewed each year. Up until December 2014, in the department of Jijel (SW Mediterranean, NE Algeria) where the proposed “Taza” MPA is planned (Fig. 1), the fishing fleet had a capacity of 776 fishing boats (309 professional and 467 recreational), with only 292 updated licenses for recreational boat-owners (of these, 59 individual licenses are for spearfishers) issued by the DPRH (Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture) of Jijel (DPRH, 2014). Nevertheless, recreational boats have started to become more important since 2012, with their number doubling in a very short timeframe and almost filling the carrying capacity of Ziama fishing harbor (Boubekri and Djebar, 2016). Moreover, the impact of REC on coastal ecosystems can be greater in marine protected areas (MPAs), given the increasing number of visitors fishing for pleasure (Cooke and Cowx, 2006). MPAs are often seen as a way to develop and demonstrate the benefits of management methods that allow multiple-use to coexist sustainably in areas that are subjected to a variety of pressures (Lester et al., 2009; Pike et al., 2010; Horta e Costa et al., 2013).

The recent data on the number of recreational fishers and fishing effort within the European Mediterranean countries has been estimated to be approximately 2.8 million and 20.9 million sea fishing days per year, respectively (Hyder et al., 2018). However, the estimates in non-European Mediterranean countries remain scarce or totally absent despite the popularity of REC in these countries (Belhabib et al., 2013; Babali et al., 2018; Ben Lamine et al., 2018). In Algeria, the REC sector is poorly regulated and its catches remain unmonitored (Babali et al., 2018). More recently, efforts are underway in Algeria to reconstruct preliminary estimates of recreational catches, based on catch data reported by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Between 1970 and 2010, the total estimated landings from recreational boats increased globally until the early 2000s, peaked at 1200 t year−1 in 2002, and began declining thereafter to about 1000 t year−1 in 2010 (Belhabib et al., 2013), raising concerns that the Algerian coastal resources may be overexploited. Another study also highlighted the great economic impact of REC which deprives the Algerian national treasury - through lost tax, license income, and revenues from illegal sales of fish - of 45 million USD annually (Babali et al., 2018). In addition, recreational fishers have been without legal restrictions for a long time (Abdelguerfi, 2002).

The most popular REC technique in Algeria by far is the recreational boat fishing (referred to as RBF throughout this article) which means fishing on board of recreational boats. According to Belhabib et al. (2013), RBF in Algeria represents 80% of REC. The term “recreational fisheries” can be considered as part of “small-scale fisheries” even though many differences between the two fishing categories are pointed out (Table 1). In the present study “professional fisheries” indicates any fishing exercise reserved for fishers holding certificates of registration to a professional category without any reference to fishing boat categories, while “small-scale fisheries” indicates strict implication of the “professional fisheries”. In the Algerian context, the difference between recreational and professional fisheries is so highly nuanced - with many recreational fishers selling illegally their landings - that we could refer to “IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) recreational fishing”. Throughout this article we will refer to “illegal REC” due to the common usage of this term in the Algerian context as well as to SSF (Small-Scale Fisheries) when referring to “commercial fisheries” because all the small-scale boats surveyed were practicing commercial fishing.

The increase in REC effort can have similar or even greater effects than that of commercial fishing on the structure of some fish populations (Bianchi et al., 2000; Coll et al., 2004; Lewin et al., 2006), and also on the conservation status of certain species (Lloret et al., 2018), such as endangered and vulnerable ones (Morales-Nin et al., 2010; Lloret et al., 2012; Biton-Porsmoguer and Lloret, 2018). Unfortunately no statutory instrument has yet been adopted to date for the creation of the “Taza” MPA and this situation can result in a huge conflict over the exploitation of resources and the use of space between recreational and professional fishers in the near future.

The zoning plan of the proposed “Taza” MPA comprises 2 no-take zones (Fig. 1). The regulatory proposal for the no-take zones stipulates the authorization of boat navigation without mooring and scientific research, while prohibiting recreational and commercial fisheries as well as all the other marine extractive uses (e.g. extraction of aggregates for construction). However, both REC and SSF are allowed in the buffer and the peripheral zones where fishers can use only lines and trammel nets (Boubekri and Djebar, 2016). Thus, the benefits of the proposed “Taza” MPA in terms of protection and sustainable management of commercial fish stocks can fail if the basic data on REC are missing (e.g. effort and catches). Alongside the ecological impact of REC on coastal fish stocks and the potential risks of overfishing arising from the use of forbidden gears, the illegal selling of recreational catches in the local market is creating unfair competition and conflict between REC and SSF fishers in the area of the proposed “Taza” MPA.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential conflicts between illegal REC and commercial SSF and to compare their catches and fishing effort in the area of the proposed “Taza” MPA. This study can be extremely valuable in terms of MPA planning and fisheries monitoring by providing baseline data for the managers of this proposed MPA in their work to set up sound fisheries management and conservation plans. To this end, SSF data were used together with REC data from the perspective of the development of integrated fisheries management plans. Therefore, the future management plan of this MPA will serve as a scientific reference for ensuring both safeguarding of the commercial fisheries, especially SSF which is the main socio-economic activity in the study area (Chakour, 2012), and the sustainability of the REC which become increasingly important in the economies of a number of Mediterranean countries (Pita et al., 2017; Babali et al., 2018; Lloret et al., 2018). Moreover, the study is geographically focused on the southern part of the Mediterranean basin, a region where little is known about REC and on a forthcoming MPA that will play a crucial role to stimulate the implementation of specific measures for enhancing fisheries management in this region.

Section snippets

Study area

Two fishing harbors are located near the proposed “Taza” MPA: Boudis (latitude 36° 49′ 6″N, longitude 5° 46′ 27″E) and Ziama (latitude 36° 40′ 37″N, longitude 5° 28′ 44″E) pending the completion of work to build a third port in the municipality of El-Aouana (Fig. 1). This study was conducted in the fishing harbor of Ziama, located in the South-Western Mediterranean Sea off the Gulf of Béjaia in Algeria (Fig. 1). In 2009, with the support of the network of MPA managers in the Mediterranean

Illegal REC fleet composition

In total 1839 fishing trips, covering 16 fishing grounds were completed during the study year and 32 recreational boats were found to be active.

RBF in the area of the proposed “Taza” MPA was carried out by 46 boats. 70% of these boats (32 boats) were considered in this study (Table 2). This is the total number of recreational boats that sold their catches to sale operators inside the fishing harbor of Ziama and involved in illegal REC.

Gears used and target species

The illegal REC fishers of Ziama Harbor use a variety of

Discussion

The present study provides relevant information on the illegal REC in the area of the proposed “Taza” MPA (SW Mediterranean, NE Algeria). Illegal recreational fishers use all fishing gears SSF fishers use except the purse seine (Boubekri et al., 2018), they compete in some target species and sell their catch illegally rather than using it for personal or family consumption. This finding is in agreement with what Ben Lamine et al. (2018) have reported at two future MPAs in Tunisia (SW

Conclusion

This study highlights the importance of the characterization of REC in a proposed MPA considering the annual dynamic of the fishing effort and the resulting catches in order to set up a sustainable fisheries management, one which takes into account the global picture of the fishing pressure on coastal resources. Our results show the presence of an important illegal REC in the study area with a great potential impact on the coastal resources, but also on the socioeconomic situation because of

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

This work was produced within the framework of the Unit of Excellence LabexMed --- Social Sciences and Humanities at the heart of multidisciplinary research for the Mediterranean --- which holds the following reference 10---LABX---0090. This publication has received funding from Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University - A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d’Avenir” programme. The authors acknowledge the cooperation of the fishers of Ziama. The principal author was a Postdoctoral

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