Inventory of Artisanal Fishery Communities in the ... - Fao - Copemed

A certain number of communications concerning studies undertaken in this field were also
presented. These, geographically localised, helped to assess the situation and status of this
research in the Mediterranean Sea.
Among others things, it is important to mention the following:
Y The artisanal fisheries in Toscana (Italy).
Y Th artisanal fisheries in Andalusia.
Y Characterisation of the artisanal fishery in a zone of Alicante (Impact analysis on the use
of artificial reefs, impact de l'utilisation de récifs artificiels).
Y The small-scale fisheries in the Central Adriatic (Marche)
Y The dolphin fish fishery in Sicily
Y Application du Système d'Information Géographique (SIG) aux pêcheries artisanales dans
le nord de la mer d'Alboran (Méditerranée occidentale).
For the needs of the Copemed programme the metiérs (vessel/gear) to be considered as the
starting point for artisanal fishery were finally agreed on. The main difficulty encountered was the
fact that in this sector deals with a heterogeneous population in space, in time, the gear and use of
the same, etc.
To start with, artisanal fishery includes all the metiérs that are not typically or strongly industrial,
such as the following, which are excluded.
Y trawl nets,
Y large seines for small pelagics (other than those using lampara),
Y gear targeting great migratory species (purse seines, longlines, drift nets, stationary
uncovered pound nets –madragues-, tuna rods, trolling lines)
Y hydraulic dredges for shellfish,
Y “large” long liners (a Moroccan specificity; the term large should be clarified)
Based on the papers presented and the discussion generated, it was stressed that further reflection
was needed to see how it would be possible to define artisanal fishery in the region, covering all,
or most, of the characteristics and peculiarities of the single national and local fishery practices. In
fact, in most cases, the different terms used to define an artisanal fishery activity: artisanal
fisheries, petit pêche, piccola pesca, pêche cotiere, pesca costiera, etc. were not only a matter of
semantics or translation. Different countries, in the same region, use different criteria to classify
artisanal fishery considering different notions simultaneously, from the economical and socioeconomical
environment, to the type and size of the boat and the engine, the target species, fishing
habits and tradition. As a matter of fact, in each country anyone can include or exclude metiérs
that in other countries are considered.
2.3 Effort to define the artisanal fishery in the Copemed area.
The most important step, after the presentation and discussion of the national reports, was
to encompass the different components of artisanal fisheries in the various countries of the Region
into a practical definition for the needs of Copemed.
Artisanal fishery includes very diverse fishing techniques and practices, used by very varied boats
and work platforms. The objective here is not to propose a definition, but to make the readers
aware of this diversity. The list below, which is not intended to be complete, includes a certain
number of elements that describe artisanal fishery.
Special mention should be made to the Copemed countries belonging to the EC, since there are
great expectations that the results of the work programmed help to give more visibility to the
6