Economic, social and ecological attributes of marine recreational fisheries in Galicia, Spain

There are growing concerns about the impact of Marine Recreational Fishing (MRF) on marine ecosystems and its combined effects with other human activities, such as commercial fishing, especially on the higher trophic levels. Conversely, recreational fishers provide considerable economic benefits through their expenditure on many things including fishing tackle, boats, licenses, travel, and accommodation. However, research on MRF in Europe is limited, particularly in Southern countries. In Galicia (Northwest Spain) detailed information on MRF is still needed to support management and to reduce growing conflicts between recreational fishers and other stakeholders including the commercial fishing sector. This paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of MRF in Galicia including the economic, social, and ecological impacts, from a survey of 363 recreational fishers. It was estimated that there are 60 000 recreational fishers, comprised of 45 000 shore anglers, 12000 boat anglers and 3 000 spear fishers. Each year, they spend 86 EM on fishing gear and other expenses, while boat owners spend another 11 EM. Fishers activity is higher in summer and spring, especially in the case of boat anglers. Recreational fishers reported catching 38 species, but the most common were ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), and white seabream (Diplodus sargus). Annual recreational catch is about 7 500 t (5-13% of commercial and recreational landings of the same species); shore anglers are responsible for 50% of total MRF catches, boat anglers for 40%, and spear fishers for 10%. The results are discussed in the context of management that could improve the socio-ecological sustainability of MRF.

The authors acknowledge the valuable comments and suggestions received at the 8th World Recreational Fishing Conference in July 16-20th, 2017 at Victoria, Canada. PP thanks the financial support from Xunta de Galicia (RECREGES project under Grant ED481B2014/034-0), and to Paz Brage, Eugenia Rodriguez, Ma Jose Cancelo, Ma Nazaret Diaz, Pablo R. Fernandez, and Carmen de Benito from Xunta de Galicia for providing information about recreational fishing licenses. Also, thanks Jose. A. Beiro and Francisco J. Nunez, chairmen of FEDPEMAR and FEGAS respectively, for their help and support. SV is grateful to the Xunta de Galicia for financial aid through project GPC 2015-045, and ICES Science Fund Project "Social transformations of marine social ecological systems". MR wishes to acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through the post-doctoral grant SFRH/BPD/116307/2016. CP would like to acknowledge FCT/ MEC national funds and FEDER co-funding, within the PT2020 partnership Agreement and Compete 2020, for the financial support to CESAM (Grant No. UID/AMB/50017/2013).