– Recovery plan for bluefin tuna following the mandate of ICCAT (Regulation
(EU) No. 2016/1627 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
14 September 2016)
There was an agreement on a proposal of a multi-annual plan for some demersal
fish stocks at risk in the Western Mediterranean Sea (COM(2018)115/F1) in 2018
that aims at the sustainability of them in the Northern Alboran Sea. Demersal species
included in this proposal are blue and red shrimp (Aristeus antennatus), deep-water
rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris), European hake (Merluccius merluccius),
and red mullet (Mullus barbatus).
The aforementioned proposal set targets, conservation reference points, and
safeguards to reach sustainability through effort controls and technical measures. It
also provides that the Council shall adopt complementary management measures
based on total allowable catches when STECF advice shows that the fishing effort
regime is not sufficient to meet management objectives.
As noted before, most of management measures implemented in the Alboran Sea
are set at the national level, in the case of Northern Alboran Sea through the adoption
of community-level management plans, national management plans, and the specific
regulation of MPA. In this sense, it is worth noting that following the EU regulations
(Art. 19, Regulation (EU) No. 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 11 December 2013), Spain may adopt measures for the conservation of
fish stocks in Union waters provided that those measures fulfil all of the following
requirements:
– they apply solely to fishing vessels flying the flag of that Member State or, in the
case of fishing activities which are not conducted by a fishing vessel, to persons
established in that part of its territory to which the Treaty applies;
– they are compatible with the objectives set out in Article 2;
– they are at least as stringent as measures under Union law.
Spain currently implements a comprehensive multi-annual management plan
(2013–2019) for purse seiners, bottom trawlers, and passive and other artisanal
fishing gears in GSA 1 which set an exploitation rate (total mortality of 0.4 that
includes natural and fishing mortality) for small pelagics (i.e., anchovy (Engraulis
encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus)), a specific management for the
aforementioned fleet segments according to the mandate of the EU. Table 22.2
shows the main management measures that are being implemented in the Northern
Alboran Sea for the major fleet segments. The most important management measures
consist of fishing effort restrictions and technical measures, but in the case of the
purse seine fleet, they are combined with vessel catch limits (VCL) per day for
anchovy and per week for sardine. The latter combination could be interpreted in
certain conditions as a management framework that adjusts fishermen’s incentives
instead of blocking them like in the case of bottom trawling.
Two other fisheries are subject to specific management frameworks; this is the
case of the red seabream fishery (Pagellus bogaraveo) of the Strait of Gibraltar and
the tow rake and mechanized dredge fleet that target different kind of bivalves in the
756
J. J. García-del-Hoyo and D. Castilla-Espino
(EU) No. 2016/1627 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
14 September 2016)
There was an agreement on a proposal of a multi-annual plan for some demersal
fish stocks at risk in the Western Mediterranean Sea (COM(2018)115/F1) in 2018
that aims at the sustainability of them in the Northern Alboran Sea. Demersal species
included in this proposal are blue and red shrimp (Aristeus antennatus), deep-water
rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris), European hake (Merluccius merluccius),
and red mullet (Mullus barbatus).
The aforementioned proposal set targets, conservation reference points, and
safeguards to reach sustainability through effort controls and technical measures. It
also provides that the Council shall adopt complementary management measures
based on total allowable catches when STECF advice shows that the fishing effort
regime is not sufficient to meet management objectives.
As noted before, most of management measures implemented in the Alboran Sea
are set at the national level, in the case of Northern Alboran Sea through the adoption
of community-level management plans, national management plans, and the specific
regulation of MPA. In this sense, it is worth noting that following the EU regulations
(Art. 19, Regulation (EU) No. 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 11 December 2013), Spain may adopt measures for the conservation of
fish stocks in Union waters provided that those measures fulfil all of the following
requirements:
– they apply solely to fishing vessels flying the flag of that Member State or, in the
case of fishing activities which are not conducted by a fishing vessel, to persons
established in that part of its territory to which the Treaty applies;
– they are compatible with the objectives set out in Article 2;
– they are at least as stringent as measures under Union law.
Spain currently implements a comprehensive multi-annual management plan
(2013–2019) for purse seiners, bottom trawlers, and passive and other artisanal
fishing gears in GSA 1 which set an exploitation rate (total mortality of 0.4 that
includes natural and fishing mortality) for small pelagics (i.e., anchovy (Engraulis
encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus)), a specific management for the
aforementioned fleet segments according to the mandate of the EU. Table 22.2
shows the main management measures that are being implemented in the Northern
Alboran Sea for the major fleet segments. The most important management measures
consist of fishing effort restrictions and technical measures, but in the case of the
purse seine fleet, they are combined with vessel catch limits (VCL) per day for
anchovy and per week for sardine. The latter combination could be interpreted in
certain conditions as a management framework that adjusts fishermen’s incentives
instead of blocking them like in the case of bottom trawling.
Two other fisheries are subject to specific management frameworks; this is the
case of the red seabream fishery (Pagellus bogaraveo) of the Strait of Gibraltar and
the tow rake and mechanized dredge fleet that target different kind of bivalves in the
756
J. J. García-del-Hoyo and D. Castilla-Espino