Introducing a Regulatory Policy Framework of Bait Fishing in European Coastal Lagoons: The Case of Ria de Aveiro in Portugal
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Date
2018-01-05
Authors
Xenarios, Stefanos
Queiroga, Henrique
Lillebø, Ana I.
Aleixo, Ana
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Fishes
Abstract
The harvesting of bait through digging in coastal mudflats is practiced for recreational
and commercial purposes in European coastal systems including the Ria de Aveiro coastal lagoon
on the northwest Atlantic coast of Portugal. The scale of harvesting in the Ria de Aveiro has
recently increased due to the current economic climate in Portugal, with targeting of the polychaete,
Diopatra neapolitana species or “casulo” as it is widely known in the Aveiro region. The national
authorities have attempted to control casulo digging by issuing a regulation (Ordinance) in 2014 on
the maximum daily catch limit to be caught by each individual. The daily catch limit is intended to
represent the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) for casulo beyond which overfishing will occur.
The monitoring of the regulatory measures is expected to be conducted through on-site inspections in
the digging areas. However, weak law enforcement was noticed, while there is also controversy over
the daily catch limit (quota) stipulated by the Ordinance. To this end, the current study attempted
to assess digging activities through remote monitoring and random inspections for a better policy
enforcement of the national regulation. In addition, different harvesting scenarios were employed
through a simplified bioeconomic model to attribute the current and future harvesting trends of
bait digging in Aveiro coastal lagoon. The study findings indicate that remote monitoring coupled
with some onsite interviews could be a more effective approach for the implementation of the
current bait digging policy. Further, the results point to a distinctive discrepancy between the
daily catch amount (MSY) introduced by the national legislation and the study findings which
should be further scrutinized. The diggers seem to have reached the sustainable harvest identified
by the present research. The current economic hardship in Portugal and the low profitability in
similar employment sectors will possibly attract more diggers and increase harvesting in the near
future. An increased harvest would likely trigger overfishing of D. neapolitana with unknown
consequences for the population of the species as well as the aquatic ecosystem. The socio-economic
and environmental effects are yet to be further clarified with more detailed data and advanced
modeling techniques to ensure the sustainability of the activity.
Description
Keywords
lagoons, catch estimate, catch per unit effort, bioeconomic modeling, management scenarios, Diopatra neapolitana, Portugal
Citation
Stefanos Xenarios, Henrique Queiroga, Ana I. Lillebø and Ana Aleixo. 2018. Introducing a Regulatory Policy Framework of Bait Fishing in European Coastal Lagoons: The Case of Ria de Aveiro in Portugal. Fishes