Fishing effort and enforcement in the Azores Marine Protected Areas

Moura, Ricardo; Santos, Nuno Pessanha; Catarino, Maria Eduarda

http://hdl.handle.net/10362/187784

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Autores

Moura, Ricardo

Santos, Nuno Pessanha

Catarino, Maria Eduarda

Resumo(s)

Fishing is a significant global food source, providing protein for millions of people. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is committed to ensuring access to high-quality food, reducing hunger, and promoting sustainable fisheries to address global population growth and hunger. However, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing poses a significant challenge, threatening marine biodiversity and food security. Portugal has the 10th largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with waters around mainland Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira. This research focuses on the Azores region, known for its traditional multispecific fishery around the island slopes and seamounts. The region's fisheries face data scarcity issues and complicating effective management. By combining Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) records from 2016 to 2022 and Portuguese Navy (PoN) Fiscalization Reports (FISCREP) from 2015 to 2022, it was possible to use appropriate metrics to characterize the fishing effort and analyze the effectiveness of the inspections conducted in the Azores EEZ. The Total Boat-Meter (TBM) metric combines the number and length of boats to quantify the fishing effort better. The analysis shows that the fishing effort in the protected areas is very high, highlighting the pressure on the protected ecosystems. The findings aim to assist regulatory institutions and researchers in assessing fishing pressure and promoting sustainable fisheries management in the Azores to preserve marine ecosystems.

Descrição

Funding Information: The research carried out by Nuno Pessanha Santos was supported by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the projects - LA/P/0083/2020 , UIDP/50009/2020 and UIDB/50009/2020 (DOI: 10.54499/LA/P/0083/2020 , 10.54499/UIDP/50009/2020 , and 10.54499/UIDB/50009/2020 ) - Laboratory of Robotics and Engineering Systems (LARSyS) . National funds funded the research conducted by Ricardo Moura through the FCT, I.P., Center for Mathematics and Applications (NOVA Math) under the scope of the projects UIDB/00297/2020 and UIDP/00297/2020 (DOI: 10.54499/UIDB/00297/2020 and 10.54499/UIDP/00297/2020 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Shanghai Ocean University.

Palavras-chave

Azores Data analysis Data visualization Economic risk Fisheries analysis Fisheries inspection Illegal fishing Marine life Marine protected areas Ocean protected areas Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Aquatic Science Ecology SDG 2 - Zero Hunger SDG 14 - Life Below Water