Human activities are often concentrated in coastal regions, resulting in multiple uses of natural resources for human needs, with fisheries as a significant part. Fisheries are complex ecological and social systems, evolving in time with a shift from a subsistence activity to commercial and towards recreational activity. The management policies have different jurisdictions at regional, national and transnational level and must council the different management tools used to conserve the biodiversity and the social fabric in the coastal zone. We use as an example the Mediterranean coastal fisheries, which are basically traditional small-scale activities of low investment. The entire fleet is comprised of 42 000 small boats playing an important socio-economic role in the European fishing industry, representing 42% of the employment in the EU catching sector and contributing 12% of EU catches, which due to the narrow Mediterranean shelf mostly correspond to coastal waters. Overlapping with the small scale fishery in space and resource use, is a very important and increasingly popular recreational fishery, with more than 2 106 anglers and 3 105 recreational fishing boats in the Mediterranean. The main management actions in the Mediterranean comprise limiting effort, gear selectivity and closed areas and periods, as well as regulations for the commercialization and traceability of the fishing products. Our example provides evidence of the complexity of fishing rights and how they can be adapted into practical fisheries management combining fishing rights, open access recreational fishery, community-based management and biodiversity conservation. This presentation is based on Morales-Nin et al. Ocean & Coastal Management 53 (2010) 99–106

Póster presentado en la ICES Annual Science Conference, celebrada del 20 al 24 de septiembre de 2010 en Nantes (Francia)

Peer Reviewed