Fishing for space: fine-scale multi-sector maritime activities influence fisher location choice

Tidd, Alex N, Vermard, Youen, Marchal, Paul, Pinnegar, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5061-9520, Blanchard, Julia L and Milner-Gulland, EJ (2015) Fishing for space: fine-scale multi-sector maritime activities influence fisher location choice. PLoS One, 10 (1). ISSN 1932-6203

Preview

PDF (Manuscript) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (842kB) | Preview

Abstract

The European Union and other states are moving towards Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management to balance food production and security with wider ecosystem concerns. Fishing is only one of several sectors operating within the ocean environment, competing for renewable and non-renewable resources that overlap in a limited space. Other sectors include marine mining, energy generation, recreation, transport and conservation. Trade-offs of these competing sectors are already part of the process but attempts to detail how the seas are being utilised have been primarily based on compilations of data on human activity at large spatial scales. Advances including satellite and shipping automatic tracking enable investigation of factors influencing fishers’ choice of fishing grounds at spatial scales relevant to decision-making, including the presence or avoidance of activities by other sectors. We analyse the determinants of English and Welsh scallop-dredging fleet behaviour, including competing sectors, operating in the eastern English Channel. Results indicate aggregate mining activity, maritime traffic, increased fishing costs, and the English inshore 6 and French 12 nautical mile limits negatively impact fishers’ likelihood of fishing in otherwise suitable areas. Past success, net-benefits and fishing within the 12 NM predispose fishers to use areas. Systematic conservation planning has yet to be widely applied in marine systems, and the dynamics of spatial overlap of fishing with other activities have not been studied at scales relevant to fisher decision-making. This study demonstrates fisher decision-making is indeed affected by the real-time presence of other sectors in an area, and therefore trade-offs which need to be accounted for in marine planning. As marine resource extraction demands intensify, governments will need to take a more proactive approach to resolving these trade-offs, and studies such as this will be required as the evidential foundation for future seascape planning.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2015 Tidd et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 2 - zero hunger,sdg 7 - affordable and clean energy,sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/zero_hunger
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	12 May 2016 15:01
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 01:09
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58706
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0116335

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item