IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/marpol/v53y2015icp149-158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the discard ban in European Mediterranean waters

Author

Listed:
  • García-Rivera, Santiago
  • Sánchez Lizaso, Jose Luis
  • Bellido Millán, Jose María

Abstract

The new Common Fisheries Policy aims to reduce the discard rate in Europe, and one way in which it seeks to achieve this goal is by making it compulsory to land all species subject to catch limits, and some of species managed by minimum catch size. The characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea raise serious concerns over the viability, efficacy and consequences of these measures, and the purpose of this study is therefore to analyse these with a view to improving discard management in this region. The Port of Santa Pola was chosen as a reference fishing port in the Spanish Mediterranean for quantitative analysis, comparing all the species caught with those proposed by the CFP. Additionally, a qualitative SWOT analysis was performed, incorporating the views of fishermen, administrators, NGOs, scientists and entrepreneurs on the regulation. The daily discard rate during the period analysed was 11.7t (All Species) and 1.8t (Regulated Species), with annual discards totalling 2623t (47.3%) (All Species) and 421t (7.6%) (Regulated Species). The regulation was found to have more weaknesses and threats (72.6%) than strengths and opportunities (27.4%). The governing system should take into consideration the contextualisation of discard management according to the specific characteristics of each métier; coordination between stakeholders; and caution about the ecological cost of landing discards. The high logistical, surveillance, monitoring and ecological costs produce a negative outcome despite the objective pursued, the willingness of the fishing industry to reduce discards and the profitable use of the resource by its proposed end users. This may lead to the measure proving unviable in the Mediterranean Sea and its ensuing failure to reduce discards. The alternatives proposed in this paper may help to improve the management of discards and create more sustainable and profitable fisheries.

Suggested Citation

  • García-Rivera, Santiago & Sánchez Lizaso, Jose Luis & Bellido Millán, Jose María, 2015. "A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the discard ban in European Mediterranean waters," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 149-158.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:53:y:2015:i:c:p:149-158
    DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2014.12.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X14003303
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.marpol.2014.12.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crean, Kevin & Symes, David, 1994. "The discards problem: towards a European solution," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 422-434, September.
    2. Johanna Jacomina Heymans & Steven Mackinson & Ussif Rashid Sumaila & Andrew Dyck & Alyson Little, 2011. "The Impact of Subsidies on the Ecological Sustainability and Future Profits from North Sea Fisheries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(5), pages 1-13, May.
    3. Catchpole, T.L. & Frid, C.L.J. & Gray, T.S., 2005. "Discards in North Sea fisheries: causes, consequences and solutions," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 421-430, September.
    4. U. Rashid Sumaila & Daniel Pauly, 2007. "All fishing nations must unite to cut subsidies," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7172), pages 945-945, December.
    5. Petter Johnsen, Jahn & Eliasen, Søren, 2011. "Solving complex fisheries management problems: What the EU can learn from the Nordic experiences of reduction of discards," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 130-139, March.
    6. Jentoft, Svein, 2007. "Limits of governability: Institutional implications for fisheries and coastal governance," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 360-370, July.
    7. Gezelius, Stig S., 2008. "Management responses to the problem of incidental catch in fishing: A comparative analysis of the EU, Norway, and the Faeroe Islands," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 360-368, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Veiga, Pedro & Pita, Cristina & Rangel, Mafalda & Gonçalves, Jorge M.S. & Campos, Aida & Fernandes, Paul G. & Sala, Antonello & Virgili, Massimo & Lucchetti, Alessandro & Brčić, Jure & Villasante, Seb, 2016. "The EU landing obligation and European small-scale fisheries: What are the odds for success?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 64-71.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Condie, H.M. & Grant, A. & Catchpole, T.L., 2014. "Incentivising selective fishing under a policy to ban discards; lessons from European and global fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 287-292.
    2. Cláudia Fernandes, Ana & Pérez, Nélida & Prista, Nuno & Santos, Juan & Azevedo, Manuela, 2015. "Discards composition from Iberian trawl fleets," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 33-44.
    3. Machado, Fábio Luiz Vargas & Halmenschlager, Vinícius & Abdallah, Patrízia Raggi & Teixeira, Gibran da Silva & Sumaila, Ussif Rashid, 2021. "The relation between fishing subsidies and CO2 emissions in the fisheries sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    4. Sigurðardóttir, Sigríður & Stefánsdóttir, Elísabet Kemp & Condie, Harriet & Margeirsson, Sveinn & Catchpole, Thomas L. & Bellido, Jose M. & Eliasen, Søren Qvist & Goñi, Raquel & Madsen, Niels & Palial, 2015. "How can discards in European fisheries be mitigated? Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of potential mitigation methods," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 366-374.
    5. Gullestad, P. & Blom, G. & Bakke, G. & Bogstad, B., 2015. "The “Discard Ban Package”: Experiences in efforts to improve the exploitation patterns in Norwegian fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-9.
    6. Jordan Feekings & Valerio Bartolino & Niels Madsen & Tom Catchpole, 2012. "Fishery Discards: Factors Affecting Their Variability within a Demersal Trawl Fishery," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-9, April.
    7. Chou, Yi & Ou, Ching-Hsiewn, 2016. "The opportunity to regulate domestic fishery subsidies through international agreements," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 118-125.
    8. Kahmann, Birte & Stumpf, Klara Helene & Baumgärtner, Stefan, 2015. "Notions of justice held by stakeholders of the Newfoundland fishery," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 37-50.
    9. Song, Andrew, 2018. "Reconstructing Governability: How Fisheries Are Made Governable," MarXiv zavwc, Center for Open Science.
    10. Voyer, Michelle & Gollan, Natalie & Barclay, Kate & Gladstone, William, 2015. "‘It׳s part of me’; understanding the values, images and principles of coastal users and their influence on the social acceptability of MPAs," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 93-102.
    11. de Vos, B.I. & Döring, R. & Aranda, M. & Buisman, F.C. & Frangoudes, K. & Goti, L. & Macher, C. & Maravelias, C.D. & Murillas-Maza, A. & van der Valk, O. & Vasilakopoulos, P., 2016. "New modes of fisheries governance: Implementation of the landing obligation in four European countries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-8.
    12. Eriksson, Hampus & Conand, Chantal & Lovatelli, Alessandro & Muthiga, Nyawira A. & Purcell, Steven W., 2015. "Governance structures and sustainability in Indian Ocean sea cucumber fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 16-22.
    13. Morandeau, G. & Macher, C. & Sanchez, F. & Bru, N. & Fauconnet, L. & Caill-Milly, N., 2014. "Why do fishermen discard? Distribution and quantification of the causes of discards in the Southern Bay of Biscay passive gear fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 30-38.
    14. Herrera-Racionero, Paloma & Lizcano-Fernández, Emmánuel & Miret-Pastor, Lluís, 2015. "“Us” and “them”. Fishermen from Gandía and the loss of institutional legitimacy," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 130-136.
    15. Barnes, Michele L. & Arita, Shawn & Kalberg, Kolter & Leung, PingSun, 2017. "When does it pay to cooperate? Strategic information exchange in the harvest of common-pool fishery resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 1-11.
    16. Di Lucia, Lorenzo, 2013. "Too difficult to govern? An assessment of the governability of transport biofuels in the EU," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 81-88.
    17. Fauconnet, Laurence & Rochet, Marie-Joëlle, 2016. "Fishing selectivity as an instrument to reach management objectives in an ecosystem approach to fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 46-54.
    18. Fernández-Vidal, Duarte & Muiño, Ramón, 2014. "Fact or fiction? Assessing governance and co-management of Marine Reserves of Fishing Interest in Cedeira and Lira (NW Spain)," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 15-22.
    19. Oliver, Shelby & Braccini, Matias & Newman, Stephen J. & Harvey, Euan S., 2015. "Global patterns in the bycatch of sharks and rays," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 86-97.
    20. Victor Mawutor Agbo & Larry Swatuk, 2023. "From conflict to collaboration: Atewa Forest governance," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(1), pages 134-151, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:53:y:2015:i:c:p:149-158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.