Role of onshore infrastructure on fishing effort and overfishing: example of the Canary Islands.

Abstract

Although the fishery management policy in the Canary Islands has been based on the limitation of fishing effort (limiting the type and quantity of certain fishing gear and reducing the number of fishing boats), it has not been successful in reducing overcapacity and overfishing. The increase in fishing capacity as a result of improvements in vessels and the onshore infrastructure to assist the artisanal fleet, as well as the intensification of recreational fishing, has led to a significant growth in the effective fishing effort despite progressive decrease in the number of artisanal fishing vessels and professional fishermen by 59.1% and 80%, respectively, between 1968 and 2012. The fishing overcapacity has far exceeded the productive capacity of the island waters; thus, the various stocks have been subjected to a progressive decrease in their biomass, which may be the prelude to the collapse of the small-scale fishery. Between 1969 and 2008, the average abundance of bentho-demersal species targeted by the artisanal trap fishery decreased by 89.9%.