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An overview of small-scale fisheries in the Northern Portuguese coast

Cláudia Mendes1*, Sérgia C. Costa-Dias1*, Catarina Teixeira1, 2, António Afonso1, 2 and Adriano Bordalo1, 2
  • 1 Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
  • 2 Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

Small-scale fisheries play a major role in the Northern Portuguese Coast with small vessels (<10 m) comprising 70% of the fisheries licenses in 2017. Multi-gear are common among small-scale fisheries and deploy a combination of a variety of fishing gears. Despite the socio-economic relevance of multi-gear fisheries in the Northern Portuguese Coast, data focusing on different fishing gear types and respective target species is still scarce. The project “RecBio - Contribution to the management and conservation of the biological resources of the Portuguese North coast”, aims to integrate scientific data and local knowledge from fishermen communities, towards a participative management plan contributing to the conservation of marine biological resources in the Northern Portuguese coast. In a first approach, we reviewed literature data on local fisheries over an 80 km coastal stretch, from Caminha to Matosinhos. Main fishing gears and target species were identified and will provide the basis for further actions. A time-series between 1995 and 2017 (INE 2019) was used to investigate temporal trends of the nominal catch (in metric tons), in the most officially important fishing harbours: Viana do Castelo, Póvoa do Varzim, and Matosinhos. The major harbour of Matosinhos (17 042 t) represented the majority of the total landings of the Northern Portuguese Coast (20 706 t), while the smaller harbours of Viana do Castelo and Póvoa do Varzim, accounted for the remaining (2 397 t, and 1 267 t, respectively). The landings composition differed between these harbours when considering the average nominal catches from 1995 to 2017 (Figure 1). The sardine Sardina pilchardus was the main species in Matosinhos (15 608±6 476 t), and Póvoa do Varzim (1 056±1 499 t), and a major species landed in Viana do Castelo (334±275 t). Sardine catch has been decreasing drastically through the years, being the stock condition addressed by the European Union through fishing quotas. The octopus Octopus vulgaris fisheries assumed a major role in the small harbours of Póvoa do Varzim (420±223 t), and especially Viana do Castelo (565±188 t), where it represented the most landed species. The Atlantic horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus was also an important component of the fisheries in the Northern Portuguese Coast (Viana do Castelo: 185±129 t; Póvoa do Varzim: 207±116 t; Matosinhos: 3 023±1 934 t). In Matosinhos, the Atlantic chub mackerel Scomber colias (1 336±1 468 t) catch has been increasing. Considering the fishing gears, purse-seine (73%), and multi-gear (18%) were the dominant fisheries in Matosinhos in terms of total nominal catch (INE 2019). Purse-seine fisheries are mainly used for sardine fisheries, as well as the Atlantic horse-mackerel. In the other two harbours, multi-gear fisheries accounted for 81% of the total nominal catch in 2017 (INE 2019). Main fishing gears used by small-scale fisheries in the North of Portugal comprised longline fisheries for conger and pouting, trammel nets for flatfish Solea spp., flounder Platichthys flesus and rays Rajidae. Artisanal traps are used for octopus fisheries. Gill nets were also used for pouting, hake, and sardine fisheries (Gaspar et al. 2014). Fisheries patterns of the target species have been investigated in the Portuguese Coast (e.g. Leitão et al. 2016; Lourenço and Pereira 2006; Pita et al. 2015), although most studies have primarily focused on the Southwestern and Southern Portuguese Coast (e.g. Braga et al. 2017; Sonderblohm et al. 2017). Therefore, further studies are required to ascertain spatial and temporal trends in the use of these artisanal fishing gears in the Northern Portuguese Coast. In the future, this information could be integrated with knowledge on the biology and ecology of the main targeted species (e.g. Malta et al. 2016; Moreno et al. 2014; Santos et al. 2018), as well as valuable inputs from local fisherman communities towards the co-management of the marine biological resources of the Northern Portuguese Coast.

Figure 1
Image

Acknowledgements

Project RecBio - Operation MAR-01.04.02-FEAMP-0025, co-founded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), through the Operational Program MAR2020.

References

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Keywords: Fisheries, Artisanal, Fishing gears, Multi-gear, Fisheries policy, CatCh, landings

Conference: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Fisheries, Aquaculture and Biotechnology

Citation: Mendes C, Costa-Dias SC, Teixeira C, Afonso A and Bordalo A (2019). An overview of small-scale fisheries in the Northern Portuguese coast. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) . doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00109

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Received: 19 Jun 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019.

* Correspondence:
Mx. Cláudia Mendes, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, cvmendes@icbas.up.pt
Mx. Sérgia C Costa-Dias, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, scdias@icbas.up.pt