It is possible to get continuous fleet landings since the Spanish Civil War
(1936–1939), although there is also data available with some gaps as early back as
1925. This information can be found in the annual publications of the Spanish
government: Estadística Pesquera for period 1940–1970 and later in Anuario de
Pesca Marítima for period 1971–1986.
The production of landing statistics stops after the latter period. However, the
primary source of data continues being produced by wholesale markets and gillnetters and processed by FROM (Spanish acronym for the regulation and organization
fund for the fish and sea farm product market) on a monthly frequency. Particularly,
the Andalucía regional government collected, cleaned up, and published the monthly
series by port in the statistical publication Producción Pesquera Andaluza for the
period 1985–2006. This time series has been rebuilt since 1999 by means of the first
sale information system of Andalusian wholesale markets.
The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been collecting monthly catch
and fishing effort data according to its sampling framework. IEO measured fishing
effort by number of fishing trips and by port since 1982 for the Northern Alboran
Sea, first for a few ports and later for the whole area. It should be noted that there are
some discrepancies between the IEO time series and the aforementioned data set
because there was not distinction between first and second sales in Malaga and
Almeria wholesale markets until 1999 and, to a lesser extent, because of the use of
different conversion rate of fishing box weight used in wholesale markets.
Aggregation of time series is an important concern when approaching Northern
Alboran Sea catches time series. Data published until 1961 refers to the Spanish
South Mediterranean fishing region which coincide with the Northern Alboran Sea
but Ceuta and Melilla ports located in the Southern Alboran Sea (GSA 3).
5 Some
monthly time series of catches were published in periods 1962–1972 and 1978–1986
per fishing districts, whereas time series of period 1973–1977 are only
non-aggregated for Malaga and Almeria districts so that landings of smaller fishing
ports can be distinguished. In summary, data on capture up to 1999 should be
interpreted cautiously despite the cleaning up process implemented in this chapter.
Figure 22.2 shows the landings of fish, molluscs, and crustaceans by the Northern
Alboran Sea (GSA 1) fishing fleets in period 1940–2018. It depicts an increasing
trend of landings in tonnes (T) for the period 1940–1960, reaching a global maximum value of 125,000 tonnes in 1985 that represents 15.84% of all Spanish
landings. Later on, landings fluctuated due to the high variability of pelagic landings
in the range 85,000–110,000 T/year until 1983 when catches started to decrease.
Thereafter in the 1990s, landings were hardly greater than 50,000 T and rather
decreased sharply after 1999. Nowadays, regional landings fetch around 20,000 T/
year and represent only 2% of total Spanish landings. Obviously, the ports of
Algeciras, Malaga, or Almeria where the fleets fish on Moroccan grounds are
5 IEO built non-aggregated 9 years of catches, fleet, and fishing effort for some wholesale markets
and ports in period 1940–1961 (Giráldez and Abad 2000).
22 Fisheries Economics and Management Under the Impact of Human and Varying. . .
761
(1936–1939), although there is also data available with some gaps as early back as
1925. This information can be found in the annual publications of the Spanish
government: Estadística Pesquera for period 1940–1970 and later in Anuario de
Pesca Marítima for period 1971–1986.
The production of landing statistics stops after the latter period. However, the
primary source of data continues being produced by wholesale markets and gillnetters and processed by FROM (Spanish acronym for the regulation and organization
fund for the fish and sea farm product market) on a monthly frequency. Particularly,
the Andalucía regional government collected, cleaned up, and published the monthly
series by port in the statistical publication Producción Pesquera Andaluza for the
period 1985–2006. This time series has been rebuilt since 1999 by means of the first
sale information system of Andalusian wholesale markets.
The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been collecting monthly catch
and fishing effort data according to its sampling framework. IEO measured fishing
effort by number of fishing trips and by port since 1982 for the Northern Alboran
Sea, first for a few ports and later for the whole area. It should be noted that there are
some discrepancies between the IEO time series and the aforementioned data set
because there was not distinction between first and second sales in Malaga and
Almeria wholesale markets until 1999 and, to a lesser extent, because of the use of
different conversion rate of fishing box weight used in wholesale markets.
Aggregation of time series is an important concern when approaching Northern
Alboran Sea catches time series. Data published until 1961 refers to the Spanish
South Mediterranean fishing region which coincide with the Northern Alboran Sea
but Ceuta and Melilla ports located in the Southern Alboran Sea (GSA 3).
5 Some
monthly time series of catches were published in periods 1962–1972 and 1978–1986
per fishing districts, whereas time series of period 1973–1977 are only
non-aggregated for Malaga and Almeria districts so that landings of smaller fishing
ports can be distinguished. In summary, data on capture up to 1999 should be
interpreted cautiously despite the cleaning up process implemented in this chapter.
Figure 22.2 shows the landings of fish, molluscs, and crustaceans by the Northern
Alboran Sea (GSA 1) fishing fleets in period 1940–2018. It depicts an increasing
trend of landings in tonnes (T) for the period 1940–1960, reaching a global maximum value of 125,000 tonnes in 1985 that represents 15.84% of all Spanish
landings. Later on, landings fluctuated due to the high variability of pelagic landings
in the range 85,000–110,000 T/year until 1983 when catches started to decrease.
Thereafter in the 1990s, landings were hardly greater than 50,000 T and rather
decreased sharply after 1999. Nowadays, regional landings fetch around 20,000 T/
year and represent only 2% of total Spanish landings. Obviously, the ports of
Algeciras, Malaga, or Almeria where the fleets fish on Moroccan grounds are
5 IEO built non-aggregated 9 years of catches, fleet, and fishing effort for some wholesale markets
and ports in period 1940–1961 (Giráldez and Abad 2000).
22 Fisheries Economics and Management Under the Impact of Human and Varying. . .
761