The stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes fishery at Reserva Natural das Berlengas (Portugal): temporal variation of the harvesters perspective
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1
Laboratory of Marine Sciences, School of Science and Technology, University of Évora, Portugal
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2
Departamento de Biologia, Escola de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Portugal
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3
Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Portugal
The stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes is a cirriped crustacean that inhabits very exposed rocky shores. It can be considered the most important ecological resource on rocky shores of North Spain and continental Portugal and it is highly prizes and heavily exploited.
Berlengas archipelago is situated ~10Km from Cape Carvoeiro (Peniche, Portugal) and its composed by three main groups of islands: Berlengas, Estelas and Farilhões. In 1981, Berlengas and Estelas were declared a Natural Reserve (RNB), that was reclassified in 1998 to include Farilhões. From 1989 to 2000, P. pollicipes harvesting was forbidden in RNB, but barnacles were exploited and its surveillance was considered to be ineffective [1]. In 2000, RNB was the first area in Portugal to be managed for this fishery by implementing a management plan that allowed professional fishers to harvest at RNB and that included spatial and temporal closures, a limited number of harvester’s licenses, size and bag limits, and catch reports in logbooks (specific rules have changed in 2011). In 2011, RNB was declared by the Man and Biosphere Program (MAB) of UNESCO as a biosphere reserve.
The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the perception of the licenced barnacle harvesters at RNB about: the state of P. pollicipes; the agreement and sense of fulfilment of the management plan in practice; and the harvester’s concordance about the implementation of a co-management system to manage this resource at RNB.
The temporal variation of the harvester’s perception was evaluated by individual and direct interviews to professional barnacle harvesters that have licence to harvest at RNB. These interviews were performed in 2005 (n=38), 2013 (n=32) and 2018 (n=39).
The state of P. pollicipes was evaluated by inquiring the fishers on their perception of change in the amount, size, quality and overexploitation in the 5 years prior to each interview. The percentage of harvesters that considered that there was a decrease in the amount of barnacles was 50% (2005), 66% (2013) and 59% (2018). The percentage of harvesters that considered that there was a decrease in the barnacle’s size was 34% (2005), 63% (2013) and 56% (2018). Regarding the quality of the barnacles, the majority of the harvesters considered that there has not been a change in the quality of the barnacles in the 5 years prior to the interview (59% in 2019, and 69% in 2013 and 2018). The interviews also revealed an increasing percentage of harvesters that considered that P. pollicipes is overexploited at RNB (66% in 2013 and 78% in 2018; no data from 2005). Overall and considering the amount, size and overexploitation perception of the harvesters, these data revealed a negative tendency of the state of this resource.
About the agreement with the management plan, several questions revealed an increasing concordance of the harvesters over the years about the regulation in practice, namely about the temporal closures, the bag and size limits, the catch reports in logbooks and the maximum limit of 40 licenses. However, the harvesters revealed an increasing discordance, overtime about the existence of no-take zones (44% in 2013, 72% in 2018).
Regarding the sense of nonfulfilment of each management rule, a negative tendency for the temporal and spatial closures rules was observed (weekly closure- 51% (2005), 40% (2013), 79% (2018); monthly closures- 50% (2013), 91 % (2018), no data for 2005; no-take-zones-59% (2013), 92% (2018), no data for 2005).
Finally, most of the harvesters agreed with the implementation of a co-management system to manage barnacle harvesting at RNB (81% in 2013 and 97% in 2018) and consider that this change could bring advantages to their activity.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Programa Operacional Mar2020 (MAR-01.03.02-FAMP-0018), by the Programa Operacional da Pesca 2007 e 2013 (PROMAR), supported by European Fisheries Fund (31- 03-05-FEP-11) and by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (POCTI/BIA-BDE/58206/2004). Host institution was supported by FCT through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE. AS was supported by an FCT doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/135872/2018). AS, DJ, NP and DP were supported by PROMAR grants.
References
[1] Cruz, T., 2000. Biologia e ecologia do percebe Pollicipes pollicipes (Gmelin, 1790) no litoral sudoeste português. PhD thesis Universidade de Évora. 306.
Keywords:
Stalked barnacles,
Pollicipes pollicipes,
Reserva Natural das Berlengas,
Management,
fishery
Conference:
XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Fisheries, Aquaculture and Biotechnology
Citation:
Sousa
A,
Jacinto
D,
Penteado
N,
Pereira
D,
Silva
T,
Castro
JJ,
Leandro
S and
Cruz
T
(2019). The stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes fishery at Reserva Natural das Berlengas (Portugal): temporal variation of the harvesters perspective.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) .
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00183
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Received:
14 May 2019;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Mx. Alina Sousa, Laboratory of Marine Sciences, School of Science and Technology, University of Évora, Sines, Portugal, alinasousa@gmail.com