Fishers' Responses Towards the Banning White Grouper Fishery in Turkey
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DOI: 10.22120/jwb.2020.136593.1187 Special issue 50-57 (2020) Challenges for Biodiversity and Conservation in the Mediterranean Region (http://www.wildlife-biodiversity.com/) Research Article Fishers' responses towards the banning white grouper fishery in Turkey the stakeholders. The ban significantly affected 1* 1 Sinan Mavruk , İsmet Saygu , Fethi the demersal longliners who were indignant at Bengil2 the late announcement after making their 1 Fisheries Faculty, Çukurova University, investment for the coming fishing season. Balcalı, Adana, Turkey, Referring our interviews, longliners were 2 Marine School, Girne American University, grouped under three categories based on their Girne, Mersin 10, TRNC via Turkey reflexes towards the ban. Some of the wholly *Email: [email protected] left fishing started to use gill nets or thin Received: 19 September 2020 / Revised: 13 October 2020 / longlines targeting goatfishes, sea breams, and Accepted: 15 October 2020 / Published online: 21 October 2020. particularly invasive threadfin bream Ministry of Sciences, Research, and Technology, Arak University, Iran. (Nemipterus randalli) after the ban. According to the anecdotes of fishery controllers and Abstract fishers' community leaders, illegal fishing on Groupers are important fishes for the coastal groupers continued even after the ban. The ecosystems because of having a key role in the guestimates of the rate of illegal fishing were functioning of marine food webs. Their roughly ranged between 20 % and 40%. In populations are increasingly affected by conclusion, further steps are required for the overfishing, habitat loss, and global warming. conservation of groupers, and in addition to Since a reliable scientific background is lacking, establishing a reliable biological baseline, more their conservation is based on precautionary participatory approaches will be helpful for this approaches, the applicability, and effectiveness purpose. of which are long questioned. Changes in Turkey's grouper fishery legislation constitute Keywords: Conservation, Epinephelus aeneus, an excellent example of how a precautionary Fisheries management, The eastern approach could not gain acceptance among the Mediterranean stakeholders. In Turkey, fishing on white groupers was banned in 2016. Before the ban, Introduction white groupers constituted a vital resource, Groupers (Serranidae, Epinephelini) have key particularly for demersal longliners, who roles in the food webs' structure and functioning strongly objected to the ban. After two years of as important predators of the coastal demersal closure, the ban had to be repealed by habitats. They are long-living species with late policymakers in 2018. In this study, we assessed sexual maturity, sex reversal, slow growth, and the fishers' opinions about these changes in site fidelity (Sadovy de Mitcheson et al. 2013). legislation and investigated shifts in their fishing Such life-history traits increase groupers' practices based on qualitative interviews with vulnerability to anthropogenic factors, like 51| Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity 4 (Special issue): 50-57 (2020) habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and considerable portion of grouper landings was particularly fisheries (Coleman et al. 2000). recorded from the Gulfs of Iskenderun and Consequently, a lot of the grouper species are Mersin, in the northeastern Mediterranean classed under threatened categories of the (Mavruk 2020). International Union for Conservation of Important data gaps exist on the status of the Nature's (IUCN) Red List, suffering from grouper stocks in Turkey. As a consequence of serious declines in their population size (IUCN this, stakeholders could not reach a mutual 2017, Morris et al. 2000, Sadovy de Mitcheson understanding on the regulations of grouper et al. 2013). fishery and related legislations changed two So far, eight grouper species; dusky times since 2016. Before 13.08.2016, the (Epinephelus marginatus), white (E. aeneus), minimum landing size was 45 cm for white and gold-blotch (E. costae), dog-tooth (E. caninus), dusky groupers. Additionally, fishery of both orange-spotted (E. coioides), Haifa species was seasonally banned from 15 Jun to 31 (Hyporthodus haifensis) and mottled groupers Jul (Official Gazette 2012). Following catch (Mycteroperca rubra) along with African hind statistics highlighted abrupt declines in white (Cephalopholis taeniops), are recorded grouper populations, policymakers inhabiting the Mediterranean and the Aegean permanently banned the catch of these two coasts of Turkey (Bilecenoglu et al. 2014, species until 2020 (Official Gazette 2016). Golani et al. 2017). E. coioides and C. taeniops Fishers strongly objected to this regulation and are based on single records (Engin et al. 2016, demanded the repeal of the legislation (Mavruk Gokoglu and Ozvarol 2015, Özcan et al. 2020), 2020). These objections resulted in the way and their establishment statuses are still fishers requested, and fishery management unknown. Based on IUCN's records, white and authority repealed the legislation for white dusky groupers are classed under the threatened grouper in 09.10.2018, two years earlier than categories in the Red List. Although the global the planned abolishing (Official Gazette 2018). conservation status of dusky grouper is In the last legislation, dusky grouper fishery is "Vulnerable" (VU) Pollard et al. 2018a), it is still completely banned, whereas there is a classified as "Endangered" (EN) for the loosening for fishing on white groupers. Mediterranean Sea (Cornish and Harmelin- Recently white grouper fishery is banned in Vivien 2011). White grouper is classified as summer and its minimum landing size is 50 cm. "Near Threatened" (NT) for both global and the Fishing on other groupers in the Epinephelus Mediterranean scale (Pollard et al. 2018b, genus are also forbidden in summer, but there Sadovy et al. 2011). is no regulation on other grouper species Groupers are amongst the most economically (Official Gazette 2020) (Fig.1). valuable species in the Turkish fishery. Based Understanding the reflexes of fishers towards on official landing records, annual grouper the legislation changes is essential to evaluate catches were between 36 and 827 tones in the the success of regulations and, therefore, to last two decades (TUIK, 2019). They are target develop more effective management strategies. species of demersal longlines, traps, spear guns In this study, we investigated how professional and anglers, and by-catch for bottom trawls and and recreational fishers responded to the nets. Particularly demersal thick longlines changes of grouper fishery regulations, what targets white groupers constituting the primary were their opinions on the current legislation source of fishery pressure on them. The and how grouper fishery can be better managed. demersal thick longline fishery is employed by To accomplish this, we gathered information polyvalent fishing vessels in spring and autumn via interviews with stakeholders; fishers, seasons (Mavruk et al. 2018), so-called grouper controllers and sellers working along the fishing seasons, hereafter. In Turkey, the most Mediterranean coast of Turkey. 41| Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity 4 (Special issue): 50-57 (2020) Figure 1. Timeline of legislation changes for grouper fishery in Turkey (Source for illustrations was FAO species catalog *) *:FAO species catalog. Vol.16. Groupers of the world (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalog of the grouper, rock cod, hind, coral grouper, and lyretail species known to date. http://www.fao.org/fi/oldsite/eims_search/advanced_s_result.asp?JOB_NO=T0540 Material and methods Results Asking questions about an illegal activity may In the context of the study, a total of 50 irritate fishers and can cause biased results. interviews were conducted with the managers Therefore, rather than performing a fisherman of fishery cooperatives and leaders of fishers' survey, we gathered information from fishery community (n= 25), fishmongers, fish market cooperatives managers, leaders of fisher' owners, and workers (n= 10), fishery communities, fishery controllers, fish mongers, controllers (n= 8), leaders of recreational and fish market clerks via face to qualitative fishing groups (n= 5), and sport fishing store face interviews performed by the authors of the owners (n= 2),. study. For this purpose, fishing stores, diving The grouper fishery ban in 2016 clubs, fish markets, and fishery ports were In 13.08.2016, just before the grouper fishing visited between September 2016 and December season, fishing of white and dusky groupers 2018. In this context, interviews were held in was announced to be banned entirely until 2020 five cities and 19 fishery ports along the (Official Gazette 2016). Based on interviews, Mediterranean coast of Turkey (Fig. 2). At the longliners had already made their investment beginning of the interviews, the purpose of the for the coming fishing season when the ban was study was explained, and an introduction was announced, and they were indignant at the given on the data gaps, the importance of their timing. reflexes, and opinions on the applicability of The reactions of the longliners towards grouper management strategies. In each interview, we ban can be deemed under three different directed our questions based on an unstructured categories, which were: altogether quitting interview form and recorded fishers' anecdotes fisheries, changing fishing gear or continuing