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Caught in the Same Net? Small-Scale Fishermen's Perceptions of Fisheries Interactions with Sea Turtles and Other Protected Species
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Caught in the Same Net? Small-Scale Fishermen's Perceptions of Fisheries Interactions with Sea Turtles and Other Protected Species

Aliki Panagopoulou, Zoë Meletis, Dimitris Margaritoulis and James Spotila
Frontiers in Marine Science, v 4
20 Jun 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00180
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00180View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY V4.0,  Open

Abstract

Aquatic reptiles Bycatch Commercial fishing Conservation Ecosystems Endangered & extinct species Fish Fish stocks Fisheries Fisheries management Fishers Fishing Fishing effort Fishing equipment Fishing vessels Livelihoods Man-induced effects Marine environment Megafauna Mortality causes Processing fishery products Protected species Seals Small-scale fisheries Sustainable fisheries Turtles
Small-scale fisheries are responsible for high numbers of animals caught as bycatch, such as turtles, cetaceans and seals. Bycatch and its associated mortality is a major conservation challenge for these species and is considered undesirable by fishermen. To gain insights on the impact of bycatch on small-scale fishermen and put it in context with other financial and environmental challenges they face, we conducted questionnaire-based interviews on fishermen working on Crete, Greece. We investigated fishermen’s perceptions of sea turtle and other protected species interactions, and the impacts of such interactions on their profession and livelihoods. Our results indicate a connection between declining fish stocks, related increased fishing effort, and reported increased frequency of interactions between fishermen and sea turtles. Respondents believed that their livelihoods were endangered by industrial fishing and environmental problems, but thought that combined interactions with turtles and other marine megafauna species were a larger problem. Responses suggested that extending compensation to fishermen may be a good conservation intervention. Small-scale fishermen hold a wealth of knowledge about the marine environment and its resources. This may be of help to researchers and policy makers as it could be used to achieve a better managed, sustainable fishery. Including small-scale fishermen in the process of developing regulations will both enhance those regulations and increase compliance with them.

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5 Record Views
39 citations in Web of Science
30 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#15 Life on Land
#14 Life Below Water

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Biology
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