Disentangling the Dynamic of the Moored Fish-Aggregating Devices (Mfads) Fleet in Guadeloupe Using a Stock-Flow Analysis
2024
Janin, Margaux | Guyader, Olivier | Merzereaud, Mathieu
Fish-aggregating devices (FADs) have been used in centuries to attract fish and facilitate their captures. If drifting FADs developed at a large and industrial scale, moored fish-aggregating devices (MFADs) are mostly used by artisanal fishers and often implemented to shift the pressure away from depleted coastal fish stocks and toward large migratory pelagic fish populations. Indeed, as pelagic fish aggregate around these devices, MFADs allow small-scale fishers to access this resource and improve their income. If there are many studies on the development of MFADs, the underlying assumption that the development of the MFAD fishery leads to the redeployment of the coastal fleet toward large pelagic species remains unproven. In the French archipelago of Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles (FAO area 31), an important small-scale MFADs fleet targeting dolphinfish and tuna species developed since the end of the 80s. We used a stock-flow framework to analyse fleet and sub-fleet dynamics and allocation of fishing effort between coastal and MFADs fisheries over the 2008-2019 period. We found that, in the context of a multi-purpose fleet, vessels operating on MFAD tend to decrease their coastal fishing effort and that MFAD fishery remained more attractive for younger fishers. Nevertheless, this fishery failed to attract enough newcomers to compensate the outflows of ageing fishers as working conditions and barrier to enter the fishery remains key issues. Improving attractiveness and fair access to the MFADs fishery requires better regulation and management.
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