Ecological, Social and Economic Aspects of Italian Marine Spearfishing Tournaments (2009-2020)

Abstract

Marine recreational spearfishing is practiced by a small proportion of recreational fishers and ecological, social and economic aspects of such activities are poorly understood with respect to recreational angling. The Italian Federation of Sport Fishing and Underwater Activities (FIPSAS) started in 2009 the collection of catch data related to Italian spearfishing tournaments. Here, we provide the first snapshot of this catch data regarding 48 tournaments organized in 29 different Italian localities from 2009 to 2020. We also developed a survey to collect social and economic information that has been administrated to participants to the tournaments. We retrieved 8843 specimens caught by spearfishers, which accounted for 33 species and a total biomass of 5665 kg (mean individual mass ± standard error; 0.64 ± 0.01 kg). The five most frequently species represented 78% of the specimens caught (white seabream, Diplodus sargus 48%; brown wrasse, Labrus merula 12%; brown meagre, Sciaena umbra 9%, green wrasse, Labrus viridis 5%; salema, Sarpa salpa 4%). The overall catch per unit effort for all the tournaments was 0.47 ± 0.01 kg/spearfisher/h, and we showed interesting effects of type of tournaments and type of displacement on it. We also assessed the accuracy of participants to catch fish in accordance to tournaments-specific minimum weight limits. The five most caught species showed that spearfishers committed errors around 50 g below the weight limit. The survey showed that spearfishers participating to tournaments are trophy-fish oriented (i.e., they would rather catch one or two big fish than ten smaller fish), but not particularly catch oriented (i.e., they are just as happy if they do not shoot the fish they see and a fishing trip can be successful even if no fish are caught). Regarding the motives for fishing, they fish for experiencing adventure, excitement and new and different things as well as to be underwater. Participants spent from 2 to 26 days in the tournament locations (median equal to 7 days), which implies a total expenditure to solely participate to the tournaments ranging from 800 to 3500 Euros (mean ± standard deviation; 1800 ± 591 euros). This study represents the first ecological, social and economic baseline knowledge for an integrative management of contemporary spearfishing tournaments.

Quantifying Catch Rates, Shark Abundance and Depredation Rate at a Spearfishing Competition on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

“…The spearfishing effort and catch of the North Queensland Bluewater Invitation was similar to other Australian and international competitions [ 42 , 43 ]. Italian spearfishing competitions between 2009–2020 comprised between 8–53 competitors for 4–5 h events and captured 33 species with a mean individual mass of 0.64 ± 0.01 kg and overall CPUE for all the tournaments of 0.47 ± 0.01 kg/spearfisher/h [ 42 ].…”

“…The spearfishing effort and catch of the North Queensland Bluewater Invitation was similar to other Australian and international competitions [ 42 , 43 ]. Italian spearfishing competitions between 2009–2020 comprised between 8–53 competitors for 4–5 h events and captured 33 species with a mean individual mass of 0.64 ± 0.01 kg and overall CPUE for all the tournaments of 0.47 ± 0.01 kg/spearfisher/h [ 42 ]. Our study comprised 33 competitors for an approximately 15 h event (over two days) and captured 8 species of eligible fish with a mean individual mass of 7.05 kg The spearfishing effort and catch were small compared with commercial and recreational line fisheries.…”

An Assessment of Spearfishing Catches along the Eastern Adriatic Coast

“…Unfortunately, scientific evidence, especially on recreational spearfishing, is still limited. Studies investigating the impact of recreational fishing on the Mediterranean marine ecosystem focus mainly on angling [5,[10][11][12][13][14], while there are few studies on spearfishing [8,[15][16][17]. The likely reason for the greater attention to anglers is the share of spearfishers in total recreational fishing, where they represent only a small part of fishing activities.…”

“…Many spearfishers participate in competitions, which are an interesting component of recreational marine spearfishing. In addition, recent studies show that spearfishing competitions can contribute to the local economies [17,22]. Spearfishing competitions benefit the general knowledge on spearfishing's impacts because such competitions allow data collection under highly standardized conditions.…”

“…Spearfishing competitions benefit the general knowledge on spearfishing's impacts because such competitions allow data collection under highly standardized conditions. Although the data from competitions can be somewhat biased because they are subject to certain rules (e.g., minimum landing size, limited competition zones, and time periods), in many cases, they can provide a robust estimation of the impact of spearfishing on coastal communities [17].…”