New practices to improve the conservation status of the benthic communities in small-scale fisheries

Abstract

The cooperation EU-ENPICBCMed project ECOSAFIMED (2014-15), carried out in Spain, Italy and Tunisia, aims to promote sustainable artisanal fishing practices to improve the environmental status of the benthic communities in the Mediterranean Sea. The main premise of this project is that relatively well-preserved benthic communities can still be found in areas not affected by the use of commercialfishing gears. Moreover, a good management of the local artisanal fishery is also a key aspect to preservethese habitats and the related economic activities. To minimize the impact of the artisanal fishery over the benthic communities, we carried out different experiments using non-vertebratebycatch species captured in the common selected métier for the three areas (spiny lobster trammel net). We focused in the key engineering species, calculating their survival times onboard of a fishing vessel and the health status of these species when returned at sea. Our results show that the impact over the survivorship of structural species could be minimized if returned in the same location less than 30 minutes after being captured