An up-to-date systematic review and unofficial codification of the national fisheries legislation was performed, along with an up-to-date systematic review of environmental, archaeological and maritime legislation, about spatio-temporal restrictions of fishing activities by all fishing gears in the Aegean Sea. Spatio-temporal restrictions established by the European Union and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean were also reviewed. A database was built, including detailed information on the Fisheries Restricted Areas (FRAs) being identified. All FRAs were mapped, as polygons in Geographic Information System shapefiles. The national fisheries, environmental, archeological and maritime legal framework comprises of 32, 2, 37 and 43 legal acts respectively; EU and GFCM legislation consists of one Regulation and one Recommendation respectively. A total of 511 national (254 of fisheries, 21 of environmental, 85 of archaeological and 151 of the maritime legislation), 6 EU and 4 international FRAs were identified, out of which 85.2% are located in the Aegean Sea and 14.8% in Crete. Towed or mobile gears are restricted in 88.5% of the FRAs, while static gears are restricted in only 10.2% of FRAs. Fish stocks and Posidonia oceanica beds protection are the most common reasons for regulating fishing activities (25.3% and 25.0% respectively). Most of the FRAs (85.4%) impose permanent closures. National fisheries, environmental, archaeological, maritime, EU and international FRAs cover 25.8%, 1.0%, 1.1%, 0.4%, 13.5% and 22.6% of the study area, respectively. The present study provides valuable information for the Maritime Spatial Planning in the Aegean Sea.
Mapping of ecosystem components (natural and socioeconomic) is a prerequisite for ecosystem-based marine spatial management (EB-MSM). To initiate the process of EB-MSM in the Greek Ionian Sea and the adjacent gulfs, the main relevant ecosystem components were mapped based on existing spatial information and expert judgment. The natural components mapped included habitat types and species targeted for conservation, according to national and European legislation and international agreements. Main human activities/pressures related to fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, and industry were also mapped. In order to assess the quality of data used to map ecosystem components and therefore take into consideration the inherent uncertainty, an assessment of 5 semi-quantitative data indicators based on a pedigree matrix was conducted. Through this qualitative approach we gained information related to the sources, acquisition and verification procedures, statistical properties, and temporal & geographical correlation, along with the collection process quality of the ecosystem components under study. A substantial overlapping between ecological features and human activities was identified, confirming the need for a well-planned approach to marine space management, in order to mitigate conflicts for marine resources and conserve marine ecosystems and their associated goods and services.
In the context of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive and with the intention of contributing to the implementation of a future maritime spatial plan, it was decided to analyze data from the small scale coastal fisheries sector of Greece and estimate the actual extent of its activities, which is largely unknown to date. To this end we identified the most influential components affecting coastal fishing: fishing capacity, bathymetry, distance from coast, Sea Surface Chlorophyll (Chl-a) concentration, legislation, marine traffic activity, trawlers and purse seiners fishing effort and no-take zones. By means of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) conducted through a stepwise procedure, the potential fishing footprint with the corresponding fishing intensity was derived. The method provides an innovative and cost-effective way to assess the impact of the, notoriously hard to assess, coastal fleet. It was further considered how the inclusion of all relevant anthropogenic activities (besides fishing) could provide the background needed to plan future marine activities in the framework of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and form the basis for a more realistic management approach.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.