Search results for "FISHERIES"
showing 10 items of 1163 documents
Discard ban: A simulation-based approach combining hierarchical Bayesian and food web spatial models
2020
12 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, 2 appendixes, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103703
The ability of fish ecolabels to promote a change in the sustainability awareness
2021
Abstract Researchers, environmentalists, as well as fisheries and retailers, have been focusing their attention on the design, use and effects that fish ecolabels have on sustainability. The fish processing industry and large retailers have rapidly adopted several market-based standards, with consequences for two major stakeholders: fishermen and consumers. Although the standards have shown rather positive results, from the perspectives of marine biodiversity conservation, the fish industry and trade, it is not clear how they are able to support a change in people’s awareness about sustainability. For this reason, the present work reviews and analyses the literature, produced in the last te…
Assessing multiple sources of data to detect illegal fishing, trade and mislabelling of elasmobranchs in Greek markets
2020
Abstract Elasmobranchs, extremely charismatic and threatened animals, still are an important economic source for fishers in many parts of the world, providing significant income through trade. Even though Greek seas host at least 67 elasmobranch species, our knowledge about their biology and ecology is to a large extent unknown. In the present study the integration of conventional (legislation, official data from fisheries landings and fish market value and import/export data) and unconventional (social media) sources of data, accompanied with the use of genetics, aim at outlining the elasmobranch fisheries and trade in Greece and identifying “weak spots” that sabotage their conservation. R…
Small-scale shrimp fisheries bycatch: a multi-criteria approach for data-poor situations
2020
Abstract Bycatch and discards from small-scale fisheries (SSF) are usually ignored when compared with industrial fisheries, not only by policy-makers, but also by scientists. Therefore, SSF social, economic and ecological impacts are poorly known and especially in the context of incidental catches, regardless of whether they become bycatch or discards. Such neglect is worrisome due to the role that SSF play in food security and poverty alleviation, particularly in coastal and rural communities in developing countries. In this study, a combination of sampling data and the fishers' behavior (specifically the basis of their decision on where to fish) were used. Bayesian models were applied to …
Impediments to fisheries recovery in Canada: Policy and institutional constraints on developing management practices compliant with the precautionary…
2020
The status of many Canadian fisheries is poor, a consequence of inadequate implementation of sustainable fishery policy within the context of the Precautionary Approach (PA). A key component of implementation lies with the provision of science advice. Scientists are responsible for advising on options likely to meet policy intent and objectives. Here, we examine PA-compliance in the role of science in Canada's fisheries management decision-making. We distinguish science-based from science-determined decisions and processes. Science-based decisions emerge from consultation processes involving stakeholders; science need not always have a clear and accountable role that can be transparently se…
Integrating fishing spatial patterns and strategies to improve high sea fisheries management
2018
Fishing activity in waters beyond national jurisdiction generates multiple management issues, such as data poor fisheries, management of straddling fish stocks and lack of impact assessments on deep-sea Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Fishing strategy is the key to understanding and managing high seas fisheries, targeting highly migratory resources that are widely distributed. An international fleet, including Spanish flag bottom trawlers, operates along the Patagonian shelf in Southwest Atlantic waters, which includes an unregulated strip of continental shelf beyond national jurisdiction. The Spanish fleet’s fishing strategy was analyzed, and based on on-board observer data collected …
Eliciting expert knowledge to inform stock status for data-limited stock assessments
2019
Data-limited fisheries are a major challenge for stock assessment analysts, as many traditional data-rich models cannot be implemented. Approaches based on stock reduction analysis offer simple ways to handle low data availability, but are particularly sensitive to assumptions on relative stock status (i.e., current biomass compared to unperturbed biomass). For the vast majority of data-limited stocks, stock status is unmeasured. The present study presents a method to elicit expert knowledge to inform stock status and a novel, user-friendly on-line application for expert elicitation. Expert opinions are compared to stock status derived from data-rich models. Here, it is evaluated how expert…
Ecosystem processes are rarely included in tactical fisheries management
2015
Fish stock productivity, and thereby sensitivity to harvesting, depends on physical (e.g. ocean climate) and biological (e.g. prey availability, competition and predation) processes in the ecosystem. The combined impacts of such ecosystem processes and fisheries have lead to stock collapses across the world. While traditional fisheries management focuses on harvest rates and stock biomass, incorporating the impacts of such ecosystem processes are one of the main pillars of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM). Although EAFM has been formally adopted widely since the 1990s, little is currently known to what extent ecosystem drivers of fish stock productivity are actually imp…
Filling gaps: closing the life cycle of the endangered Mediterranean limpet Patella ferruginea Gmelin, 1791 (Gastropoda, Patellidae)
2020
Several reproductive issues and the larval development of the ferruginous limpet, Patella ferruginea Gmelin, 1791, an endangered species endemic from the western Mediterranean Sea, were studied to fill gaps in the knowledge of its life cycle. Average diameter of mature oocytes was 141.83 μm and mean oocyte density in the ovary was 283,800 oocytes/gram. No significant correlations were found between both oocyte diameter or density and female shell length. Female fecundity (number of oocytes per gonad) was significantly correlated with shell length and varied between 189,200 oocytes in a 40.0 mm female and 5,019,200 oocytes in an 86.4 mm female. However, there was considerable variability, in…
Designer ecosystems : A solution for the conservation-exploitation dilemma
2016
Increase in human population is accelerating the rate of land use change, biodiversity loss and habitat degradation, triggering a serious threat to life supporting ecosystem services. Existing strategies for biological conservation remain insufficient to achieve a sustainable human-nature relationship and this situation has fueled a debate on the conservation-exploitation dilemma. We need to devise novel strategies, in a mutually inclusive way, which can support biological conservation and secure economic development of deprived populations. Here we propose the use of designer ecosystems which can ensure ecological sustainability while providing ample and some new means of livelihood to loc…