Laura Recasens is a researcher in the Ecology and Conservation of Living Marine Resources group at the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), a group whose goal is to provide a scientific basis for the sustainable use and conservation of living marine resources and their habitats. Her research, within the framework of the Catalan Institute of Marine Governance Research (ICATMAR), a cooperation body between ICM-CSIC and the Government of Catalonia, mainly focuses, although not exclusively, on the Mediterranean Sea and the Catalan coast, an area where many fish stocks, including some of great commercial interest such as hake, Norway lobster, or shrimp, are overexploited.
1. How can marine resources be managed and this situation reversed?
There are several solutions already being implemented. One of them is reducing the days when fleets can fish, implementing closed seasons. Another, which we are trying to promote at ICATMAR, is improving the selectivity of fishing gear, meaning making the mesh size such that it cannot capture small organisms, and only those of a certain size can be fished. A third solution would be fish reserves, which can be of two types: temporary, protecting the area only during a fraction of the species' life cycle; or permanent, protecting the entire habitat year-round, thus prohibiting fishing at any time. In the case of the Catalan coastline, all are permanent.
2. How many are there currently in Catalonia?
At present, published in the BOE, there are twenty reserves covering a protected area of 462 km2. To give you an idea of their size, it would be equivalent to the surface area of Andorra. All of them are at a certain depth, mostly between 80 and 400 meters, so they are areas that only professional fishermen access. There are other more coastal reserves, such as the Medes Islands, for example, which are areas that must also consider other actors such as divers or recreational fishing, besides professional fishermen.
3. How is the location of a fish reserve decided?
In Catalonia, fish reserves operate under a co-management model, meaning they are established based on an agreement, primarily between us, the scientific community, and the fishermen's cofradía, but also with the public administration and NGOs. Since boats come and go from the port and generally fish “close to home,” what is done is to see with each cofradía which species they are interested in protecting and agree on the area where fishing will be stopped.
4. Are the fishermen satisfied with the creation of these reserves?
Yes. In the end, they want more fish to be able to fish more. Therefore, creating them together is the best thing you can do because they understand how they work, why it is done, how it can benefit them... and thus they respect them. If they do not see it positively, it could happen that they go there and fish, even if it is not allowed, but that is not the case. They are happy, and some even request to expand them.
5. How do you monitor them to know if they are being effective?
Since these are permanent reserves, we cannot access them to check if the species are recovering, but there are two methods to monitor them: an indirect one, which consists of going around the reserve and seeing what catches are made there and if there is a gradient of more to less as we move away from the reserve; another method, direct, consists of sending underwater robots into the reserve to film its state.
6. Do the results show any benefit?
Well, the marine reserves in Catalonia are very recent. To scientifically analyze whether they fulfill their function, at least ten years must pass, and so far, many have only two or three. In the older reserves, which are Roses and Palamós, there has been an increase in biodiversity, some species show spillover, that is, biomass export outside the reserve, but it is still early to draw conclusions. Nevertheless, we are confident that they will.
7. So, are we still in time to recover these species?
I believe so. First of all, because before a species disappears, its fishing will have stopped being profitable, and humans will have ceased to exploit it, but still, action is needed to improve the exploitation system. In the end, not only fishing affects biodiversity, but also climate change, mainly through the increase in sea water temperature, low rainfall... all this affects biodiversity, and if a population is healthier, it will also respond better to these changes.
Examples of alliances between fishermen, scientists, administration, industry, and NGOs
The co-management of fishery resources involves the collaboration of fishermen, scientists, administrations, industry, and NGOs. Among the successful cases is that of the sonso, the first fishery co-management plan in Catalonia, which involved the Administration, sonsera fishermen, scientists, and NGOs, and received the WWF Conservation Merit Award in 2013.
Another success case is that of the red shrimp in Palamós. Facing a critical fishing situation, the Palamós Cofradía, in collaboration with teams from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), adopted changes such as using a net that reduces the capture of small individuals, modifying trawl nets not to touch the seabed, reducing fishing hours, and limiting the power of boats. The result has been an increase in fish reserves and a notable reduction in the overfishing index.
Similarly, it has been demonstrated that the measures adopted by the fishermen of Roses have contributed to the recovery of the European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the Mediterranean. Laura Recasens was one of the ICM-CSIC researchers involved in this project that R+D CSIC covered in this article.
According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food at the end of 2023, the Marine Reserve Network in Spain consists of 12 protected areas totaling over 105,000 hectares. Over the years, “the good coexistence between artisanal fishing and the good conservation and protection of natural resources and biodiversity has been demonstrated,” say ministry sources. The support of the fishermen’s cofradías is fundamental, being “a key part of the entire process.”
More recently, the International Seafood Foundation (ISSF) published its 2023 annual report, which highlights the organization’s successes towards more sustainable tuna fishing, especially through collaboration with tuna fishermen, fishers, and other industry partners.