Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume –Posters
NECTON AND FISHERY COMMITEE
M. SBRANA, C. MARAVELIAS 1 , A. MARIANI 2 , F. MAYNOU 3 , M. SARTINI 2 , P. SARTOR
Consorzio per il Centro Interuniversitario di Biologia Marina ed Ecologia Applicata “G. Bacci” (CIBM),
V.le N. Sauro, 4 - 57128 Livorno, Italy.
msbrana@cibm.it
1 Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Athens, Greece.
2 Consorzio UNIMAR, Rome, Italy.
3 Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC CMIMA), Barcelona, Spain.
EVOMED PROJECT: FISHERMEN INTERVIEWS AS SOURCE
OF INFORMATION TO RECONSTRUCT THE EVOLUTION
OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FISHERIES IN THE 20 TH CENTURY
PROGETTO EVOMED: INTERVISTE AI PESCATORI COME FONTE
DI INFORMAZIONE PER RICOSTRUIRE L’EVOLUZIONE
DELLA PESCA MEDITERRANEA NEL CORSO DEL XX SECOLO
Abstract – The fishermen interviews performed through EVOMED project constituted the first attempt to
collect information in such a way on a wide geographical scale in the Mediterranean. A total of 107
interviews have been carried out in the investigated areas applying a common methodology. Interesting
results have been collected on the fishing capacity indicators, fishing capacity and fishing pattern.
Quantitative variations over time in the commercial landing, abundance of benthic and critical species have
been even investigated.
Key-words: Mediterranean fisheries, management, development, baseline studies, historical account.
Introduction – The present picture of the state of fisheries and marine resources in the
Mediterranean is essentially based on the quantitative information of the last twentyfive
years; the knowledge on the historical evolution of the exploited populations and
marine ecosystems in the last century is still scarce and limited to restricted areas.
It is difficult to generate realistic hypotheses about the dynamics of fisheries only from
the understanding of the present, since all ecosystems have likely changed over time.
Identifying baselines is fundamental to set up correct recovery strategies, not only
directed at biological and ecological goals but also at the preservation and the
improvement of the socio-economic benefits and ecosystem goods and services. The
historical evolution knowledge of the exploited marine populations is fundamental to
reduce the risk of a shifting baseline for management (Pauly, 1995). Defining a
baseline for the Mediterranean resources is a difficult task as exploitation has endured
for millennia, even though its intensive development fully started after the Second
World War.
The main objective of EVOMED project (EU Contract. N° SI2 539097) is to provide
information on the evolution, over the past 100 years, of the Mediterranean demersal
fisheries and exploited populations. One of the main tasks of this study is to collect,
from old (mainly retired) fishermen, information on fishing patterns, as well as on
yields and discards and to evaluate its reliability. According to Freire and Garcia Allut
(1999), fishermen’s traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) should constitute a
complementary source to get new knowledge in fisheries biology and marine ecology.
Materials and methods – Particular attention has been devoted to the preparation of
the questionnaire used to register all the information coming from the interviews.
Appropriated and targeted questions have been selected, in order to extract the more
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