WWF Cover photo - Soufriere Marine Management Association ...

13. Gulf of Castellammare trawl ban, SicilyCo-authored by Carlo Pipitone, CNR-IRMA Laborotorio di Biologia Marina, Castellammare, Italypipitone@irma.pa.cnr.itIn 1990 the Sicilian Regional Government implemented a year-round trawl ban over an area of 200km 2 in the400km 2 Gulf of Castellammare in northwest Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. The closure comprises 55.5% ofthe whole Gulf and its purpose was to rebuild fished stocks in the area and to address the conflict existingbetween the 15 or so commercial trawling vessels and the 150 artisanal vessels using fixed gears. There was alsoconflict between the artisanal fleet and the recreational fleet, and the future of artisanal fishing in the Gulf was indoubt. The fishing ban only applied to towed bottom gear. Artisanal and recreational fishing using other methodswere still permitted in the area. Based on experimental trawl surveys and landings data, before the ban wasimplemented the resources were probably overexploited. The trawl closure is enforced by coastguards, butpoaching has become more common in recent years, especially when the weather is bad and there are less likelyto be police patrols (Pipitone et al. 2000b, 2001b).To assess the effects of this closure, Pipitone et al. (2000a) conducted trawl surveys one year and three yearsbefore the ban (1987 and 1989) and 4 years after the implementation of the ban (1994). They used experimentalfishing, in the form of 30 minute trawls. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) measures for 11 commercial target specieswere analysed from 21 spring hauls before the trawl ban (1987-89) and 30 spring hauls after the trawl ban in1994. Hauls were made in three depths: 10-50m, 51-100m and 101-200m. Seven out of the eleven speciesincreased significantly over the time the ban was in place. Angler fishes (Lophius budegassa and L. piscatorius)increased by nearly 11-fold from 0.29 kg per 30 minute haul to 3.15 (P