Overall Impact of Local and Recreational Fisheries

Abstract

This chapter presents and discusses updated information related to fishing in the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean from a perspective that focuses on three main interchangeable and multidisciplinary issues: a) local/artisanal fisheries, b) recreational fishing and c) marine protected areas. A comprehensive introduction is followed by an updated literature review. Perspectives and solutions show that recreational and artisanal fisheries are clearly understudied and possibly have several impacts that are being unmeasured and often unknown. Another major issue is the lack of a serious long term European compromise to standardize these fisheries since a strong political interference does dominate the whole issue. No solution is possible without knowledge. No knowledge is possible if countries within the Mediterranean basin and NE Atlantic are not strongly and apolitically committed to a wider research scale with the overall interest of small fisheries sustainability and maintenance of healthy stocks as a major goal.