The study area was the Atlantic Iberian waters that comprises the ICES divisions VIIIc and IXa (Figure 1). The work was focus on the Spanish demersal fleet that operates in the fishing ground called Cantábrico-Noroeste (CN). It is geographical limited by the River Miño and the Cape Higer and includes the coast of Galicia and Cantabrian Sea. Based on its high productivity, the CN is one of the most important fishing areas for pelagic and demersal fisheries of the Iberian Peninsula. The fishing activity is developed by a multi-fleet mixed-species fishery. Attending to the type of gear and its inclusion in separate ship lists, there are defined four fishing modes target to demersal species and operating in CN : bottom trawl, bottom longline, gillnet and artisanal. As of November of 2015, the trawler fleet was composed by 93 registered vessels, with an average LOA of 28 m which were mainly (70 %) based in ports of the Galician coast (2015, MAGRAMA). These trawlers operate in the form of short-distance fishing trips of 1-2 days at sea targeting a variety of pelagic and demersal species. The main species caught by trawlers, in order of volume of catches, are horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), hake (Merluccius merluccius), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), megrims (Lepidorhombus spp.) and anglerfishes (Lophius spp.). Longline fleet comprises 71 vessels with an average LOA of 16 m. Fishing trips of longliners have a duration of 1 day. The Atlantic pomfret (Brama brama) is the main target species together with the conger (Conger conger) and hake (Castro et al., 2011). The gillnet fleet is composed of 81 vessels of 17 m of average LOA that uses two types of gears: volanta and rasco. Both types constitute highly mono-specific fisheries. The catch composition of volanta is dominated by hake, 70% in Division VIIIc, and by anglerfish being the 93% of catches of rasco. The number of boats in fleets operating with trawls, gillnets and longlines has declined in recent years and their effort have been subjected to limitations on the number of fishing days per year since 2005. The artisanal fleet is the most relevant fishing mode in terms of numbers of vessels and employment. It is made up of 4 473 small-sized ships (average LOA: 7 m) owned and crewed by between one and 5 people, frequently relatives, and trips are usually of 1 day. The artisanal fleet is split into 3 categories: gillnet, longline and traps. Vessels included in this mode of fishing can use alternatively different gears and they can adjust the target species depending of the time of the year. Their catches are composed of a high variety of fish, crustacean and mollusca species as hake, sole (Solea spp.), sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and conger. Despite its importance in the area, the knowledge of the artisanal fleet is scarce and the assessment of this activity is limited. During 2014 the total estimated income for fishing activity in CN accounted for over 319 million, corresponding 182 million from demersal fisheries: 80 from trawl fleet, 27 from longline, 29 gillnet and 46 million from artisanal segment (MAGRAMA, 2015b).
2. Participating stakeholders
This work was one of the case studies of the MyFish project (http://www.myfishproject.eu/) and it was started with a group of natural, economic and mathematic researchers to develop a bio-economic model to evaluate the effect of the fishing management measures in the Atlantic Iberian waters fisheries. One of the initial objectives of the project was the validation of the model, as a trusty tool to explain and simulate the fisheries dynamics, by stakeholders. The main stakeholder groups related with this study (management agencies, environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), fishing sector and civil society) were considered to be engaged. The first step was to identify and to contact with the most appropriate stakeholders to be involved. The stakeholder community in Atlantic Iberian waters was mainly composed for 3 NGOs, OCEANA and Seas at Risk with an international level of coverage and LONXANET at regional level. The fishing sector’s is represented by different associations and organizations. The fishermen’s associations, called Cofradias, include all the fishers working in a coastal municipality but there are regional branches in all coastal regions. The Galician Federation of Fishermen’s Associations brings together the Galician cofradias and at the national level the National Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (FNCP) joints most part of the Spanish cofradias. Other associations represent the ship-owners from a particular fishing mode and geographical area, that is the case of Galician Purse-seine Ship-owners’ Association (ACERGA) and Trawls Ship-owners’ Association from Ribeira. Also, the foundation FREMSS (Foundation Minimum Economic Performance, Sustainable and Social) is constituted by most of the institutions, associations and administrations dedicated to fishing sector in Galicia. The Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA) is the principal Spanish trade organization for fishing sector. In the group of management agencies the Spanish Fisheries Administration and the European Commission and European Parliament at international level are considered as the main to be involved. The SWWAC, the Advisory Council for the South Western Waters, is the stakeholder-led organizations to advice the EC on fisheries management in South Western Waters, includes representatives of fishing sector and other interest groups (NGOs, consumers, recreational fishers).
We requested the participation of the key stakeholders , first via e-mail or by telephone and then through informative meetings. There was not a pre-defined schedule of engagement, and stakeholders were involved according to the project needs and new contact opportunities emerge. The stakeholders involved and their level of the participation varied at different stages of the model approach. Table 1 summarizes the engagement actions carried out, the stakeholders involved and the goals in each phase of the study. From April of 2012 to June 2015, 3 types of actions with key stakeholders: workshops, meetings and surveys. The first phase consisted on defining stakeholders objectives and constraints through an international workshop and posterior survey, a meeting with fishing sector and a survey. During the second phase, the analysis and validation of the model was fulfilled in two meetings with the SWWAC. The last phase was an iterative process with an important involvement of the fishing sector, where the model was evaluated, new scenarios were proposed and suggestions about the parametrization and input data were made.
Table 1. Roadmap of the stakeholder’s engagement in the model development process for the management of the Iberian Sea waters fisheries.
Phase Action /Date Stakeholders involved Goal Date
Defining stakeholders’ objectives and constraints
Workshop-Survey Administration Fishing sector
NGOs
Civil society Select objectives and
Constraints 04/2012
Meeting FREMSS -Identify priorities for fisheries management 11/2013
Survey (da Rocha, 2014) Fishers
Ship-owners
Civil society -Identify preferences
-Define scenarios 04/2014
Analyze and validate the model Meeting SWWAC -Evaluate the acceptance of model 09/2013
Meeting SWWAC – Present first results 06/2014
Iteration
Scientists-Stakeholders Meeting FREMSS
Galician Fishermen’s Association
LONXANET – Analyze and evaluate the model
– Present first results
– Receive feedback on data input, model assumptions and scenarios 12/2014
Meeting FREMSS
ACERGA – Present results of scenarios proposed by stakeholders
– Discuss how to move forward : new joint projects, participation on the elaboration of a Multiannual Management Plan 03/2015
Meeting FREMSS – Present results of scenarios simulated for Impact Assessment of Multiannual Management Plan (STECF, 2015) 06/2015
Survey FREMSS -Identify preferred scenarios 06/2015
3. Metodología (Luego)
4. Bio-economic model
The FLBEIA modeling framework (Garcia et al., 2013; Jardim et al., 2013), that follows a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) approach (Punt et al., 2014), was used to build the bio-economic model for the Atlantic Iberian waters. This bio-economic model is capable of incorporating multiple stocks and multiple fleets in a dynamic and stochastic environment. A detailed description of model developed in this study is presented in other article of this volume (García et al., 2017). In this model, the stock dynamics, fishing fleets dynamics and the harvest control rules (HCR) were specifically modeled means available functions (García et al., 2017). The population dynamics of the 8 main stocks with analytical assessment (hake, megrim, four-spot megrim, white anglerfish, mackerel, southern horse mackerel, western horse mackerel and blue whiting) were explicitly included in the model. The fleet dynamics was modeled attending to the effort allocation and two different approaches were designed. A traditional approach in which the effort is constant and equal to the average of the last 3 years and it shares this effort among métiers of the same fleet. And the Profit Maximization approach in which the fishing effort is variable. The HCR was defined in two ways inside the model. One formulation applies the single-stock reference points related to MSY: the fishing mortality target (FMSY) and two SSB reference points (Btrigger and Blim) and a second way uses multi-stock reference points as management rule. These multi-stock reference points correspond to the ones that maximize the Net Present Value (NPV) of the entire fishing activity and were estimated using the bio-economic optimization model developed by DaRocha et al. (2012).
The scenarios used to simulate different management strategies were defined by the combination of the available options for fleet dynamics (traditional or profit maximization), HCR (single-stock or multi-stock reference points) and the implementation of landing obligation (yes or no).
For modeling purposes the fishery was classified in 7 fleets, 4 Spanish fleets (trawlers, gillnetters, hookers and purse seiners) and 3 Portuguese fleets (trawlers, polyvalent and purse seiners). These fleets in turn are divided into métiers created by grouping trips with common gear, target species and mesh size. Data used to formulate the model have been compiled from different sources. Catch and fishing effort by fleet and métier were collected by the corresponding research institutes in Spain (IEO) and Portugal (IPMA), stock population dynamics data came from ICES assessment reports (ICES, 2013a,b,c) and average prices by stock were obtained from the regional government of Galicia (www.pescadegalicia.com).