Chapter 18
Demersal Resources
María González Aguilar, Cristina García Ruiz, Teresa García Jiménez,
José M. Serna Quintero, Cristina Ciércoles Antonell, and
Jorge Baro Domínguez
18.1 Introduction
Fishery in the Mediterranean has been around for centuries, so the current fishery
model is the result of this long history, and not only the result of a specific
management policy. Several Greek and Latin authors attest to fishing activities in
the Mediterranean, among which the works of Aristotle and Pliny should be
highlighted. For example, Pliny dedicates the Book IX of his Natural History to
aquatic animals and to describe the places where fishing was exercised using the
concurrence of dolphins (Camiñas et al. 2004). As for the Alboran Sea, numerous
salsary piles, created in Roman times to make garum, have been found around the
coast (Camiñas et al. 2004). Technological progress and new techniques developed
over centuries have gradually increased the fishery capacity of coastal peoples, but
the expansion in the use of engine 100 years ago saw a significant increase in fishery
pressure, with serious consequences for the state of the resources (Lleonart 2011).
Total landings in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea increased irregularly from
about 1 million tons in 1970 to almost 2 million tons in 1982. They remained
relatively stable during most of the 1980s before declining abruptly in 1989 and
1990, largely due to the collapse of pelagic fisheries in the Black Sea. In the
Mediterranean, landings continued to increase until 1994, reaching 1,087,000 tons,
and subsequently declined irregularly to 787,000 in 2013 (Fig. 18.1). Algeria,
Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine are together responsible for
slightly more than 80 percent of total landings in the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea (FAO 2016).
M. González Aguilar (*) · C. García Ruiz · T. García Jiménez · J. M. Serna Quintero ·
C. Ciércoles Antonell · J. Baro Domínguez
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Fuengirola (Málaga),
Spain
e-mail: maria.gonzalez@ieo.es
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. C. Báez et al. (eds.), Alboran Sea - Ecosystems and Marine Resources,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65516-7_18
589
Demersal Resources
María González Aguilar, Cristina García Ruiz, Teresa García Jiménez,
José M. Serna Quintero, Cristina Ciércoles Antonell, and
Jorge Baro Domínguez
18.1 Introduction
Fishery in the Mediterranean has been around for centuries, so the current fishery
model is the result of this long history, and not only the result of a specific
management policy. Several Greek and Latin authors attest to fishing activities in
the Mediterranean, among which the works of Aristotle and Pliny should be
highlighted. For example, Pliny dedicates the Book IX of his Natural History to
aquatic animals and to describe the places where fishing was exercised using the
concurrence of dolphins (Camiñas et al. 2004). As for the Alboran Sea, numerous
salsary piles, created in Roman times to make garum, have been found around the
coast (Camiñas et al. 2004). Technological progress and new techniques developed
over centuries have gradually increased the fishery capacity of coastal peoples, but
the expansion in the use of engine 100 years ago saw a significant increase in fishery
pressure, with serious consequences for the state of the resources (Lleonart 2011).
Total landings in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea increased irregularly from
about 1 million tons in 1970 to almost 2 million tons in 1982. They remained
relatively stable during most of the 1980s before declining abruptly in 1989 and
1990, largely due to the collapse of pelagic fisheries in the Black Sea. In the
Mediterranean, landings continued to increase until 1994, reaching 1,087,000 tons,
and subsequently declined irregularly to 787,000 in 2013 (Fig. 18.1). Algeria,
Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine are together responsible for
slightly more than 80 percent of total landings in the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea (FAO 2016).
M. González Aguilar (*) · C. García Ruiz · T. García Jiménez · J. M. Serna Quintero ·
C. Ciércoles Antonell · J. Baro Domínguez
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Fuengirola (Málaga),
Spain
e-mail: maria.gonzalez@ieo.es
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. C. Báez et al. (eds.), Alboran Sea - Ecosystems and Marine Resources,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65516-7_18
589