DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIESB POLICY DEPARTMENT AgricultureAgriculture and Rural and Development Rural Development STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES B CultureCulture and Education and Education Role The Policy Departments are research units that provide specialised advice Fisheries to committees, inter-parliamentary delegations and other parliamentary bodies. Fisheries RegionalRegional Development Development Policy Areas TransportTransport and andTourism Tourism Agriculture and Rural Development Culture and Education Fisheries Regional Development Transport and Tourism Documents Visit the European Parliament website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies PHOTO CREDIT: iStock International Inc., Photodisk, Phovoir DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES FISHERIES FISHERIES IN SICILY NOTE This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries. AUTHOR Irina POPESCU Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies European Parliament B-1047 Brussels E-mail: [email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN Translations: BG, DE, EL, ES, FR, IT, PT. ABOUT THE EDITOR To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its monthly newsletter please write to: [email protected] Manuscript completed in February 2010. Brussels, © European Parliament, 2010. This document is available on the Internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES FISHERIES FISHERIES IN SICILY NOTE Abstract This note was requested by the Committee on Fisheries for its Delegation to Sicily (29-31/03/2010). The note provides a review of the main characteristics of the Sicilian fisheries sector, with a focus on issues such as the legal and institutional framework, resource management, catches, the fishing fleet, fishing industry, external trade, employment, aquaculture and marine research. IP/B/PECH/NT/2010-02 February 2010 PE 431.596 EN Fisheries in Sicily CONTENTS Contents 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4 LIST OF TABLES 5 LIST OF FIGURES 5 LIST OF MAPS 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 1. INTRODUCTION 9 2. LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 13 2.1. Law 13 2.2. Institutions 13 3. FISHERIES RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 15 3.1. EU level 15 3.2. National level 16 3.3. Regional level 16 3.4. Marine Protected Areas 17 4. CATCHES 19 5. FISHING FLEET 23 6. FISHING INDUSTRY, EXTERNAL TRADE, EMPLOYMENT 27 7. AQUACULTURE 31 8. MARINE RESEARCH 35 REFERENCES 39 ANNEX: Fishing ports in Sicily 41 3 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CFP Common Fisheries Policy CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche ENEA Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations IAMC Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero ICCAT International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ICRAM Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca scientifica e tecnologica Applicata al Mare IREPA Istituto di Ricerche Economiche per la Pesca e l’Acquacoltura IRMA Istituto di ricerche sulle Risorse Marine e l’Ambiente ISTAT Istituto Nazionale di Statistica ITTP Istituto di Tecnologia della Pesca e del Pescato MAGP Multi-Annual Guidance Programme MIPAAF Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali MPA Marine Protected Areas STECF Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries TAC Total Allowable Catches 4 Fisheries in Sicily LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Key data 7 Table 2: Marine Protected Areas in Sicily 17 Table 3: Species landed in Sicily in 2008 19 Table 4: Catches in Sicily in 2008 as a function of fishing methods 21 Table 5: Fishing gear used by the Sicilian fleet 23 Table 6 The main fishing ports in Sicily 25 Table 7 Trade figures in the fisheries sector in Sicily (in thousands of Euros) 28 Table 8. Inshore aquaculture farms in Sicily in 2008. 32 Table 9. Aquaculture farms in floating cages in Sicily in 2008. 32 Table 10. Hatcheries of euryhaline fish in Sicily in 2008. 33 Table 11. Tuna fattening farms in Sicily in 2008. 34 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Evolution of the Sicilian fishing fleet in terms of number of vessels, gross tonnage and engine power 26 Figure 2: Evolution of the trade balance in the fisheries sector in Sicily 28 Figure 3: Trends in exports of the fisheries sector in Sicily 29 Figure 4: Trends in imports of the fisheries sector in Sicily 29 Figure 5: Employment in fisheries and aquaculture in Sicily 30 5 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies LIST OF MAPS Map 1: Topography of Sicily 9 Map 2: Seafloor morphology around Sicily 10 Map 3: The Region of Sicily (Italy) and its provinces 11 Map 4: Italian territorial waters 11 Map 5: Location of Marine Protected Areas in Sicily 18 Map 6: The fleet capacity in the Sicilian provinces (% of the total gross tonnage) 24 Map 7: Location of the main fishing ports in Sicily. The gross tonnage is indicated. 25 Map 8: Location of the MEDITS hauls in the Mediterranean and around Italy 37 Map 9: Transect grid of the MEDIAS echosurvey in the Strait of Sicily (Italy and Malta) 37 6 Fisheries in Sicily EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sicily is the largest region of Italy (Table 1) and has an autonomous special status with wide political, administrative and financial powers. Fisheries matters are among the competences of the Region of Sicily, under the responsibility of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food Resources (Fisheries Department). The Region of Sicily can thus rule on fisheries-related issues, with the exception of the fleet policy, which is regulated at a national level. Table 1: Key data Area 25 711 km2 Population 5 040 301 (at 31/08/2009) Flag Capital Palermo Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Provinces Ragusa, Siracusa and Trapani Seas Ionian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Strait of Sicily Source: Diverse Sicilian total catches reached a total of 43 301 t in 2008 and include a large number of species, with a highly heterogeneous character. Fish species account for 69% of the total catches, while crustaceans and molluscs represent 10% and 21% of the catches respectively. Several stocks are considered by the STECF as overexploited (hake, red mullet, Norway lobster, deepwater rose shrimp). In terms of value of the landed catches, the Sicilian fisheries are dominated by bottom trawling and small scale fishing. • The largest volume of captures is small pelagic fish: anchovy (12.9%) and sardines (5.8%). • The main demersal species landed are hake (3.9%), red mullet (3.2%) and surmullet (3.4%). • The main large pelagic fish species are swordfish (6.8%), albacore tuna (4.3%) and bluefin tuna (2%). • The molluscs catches are shared between flying squid (2.3%), cuttlefish (1.9%), common octopus (1.6%), musky octopus (1.5%), squid (1.2%) and horned octopus (1.1%). • The large majority of crustacean landings consist of deepwater rose shrimp (14.5%), followed by red shrimp (3.3%) and Norway lobster (1.6%). The Sicilian fishing fleet currently comprises 3323 vessels and represents by far the largest regional fleet in Italy, both in terms of number of vessels (24.4% of the national fleet) and total capacity (33.1% of the gross tonnage and 25.2% of the engine power). • Most of the boats use set longlines, purse seines and bottom otter trawls. • Only 16% of the vessels are considered to be specialised (no subsidiary gear is declared). This category represents 55% of the gross tonnage of the Sicilian fleet and includes mainly bottom otter trawlers and set gillnets. 7 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies • The remaining 84% declare several types of gear. The most common combinations are set longlines (main gear) - set gillnets (39%), and purse seines (main gear) - set longlines (22%). • The Sicilian fleet shows a high social and economic dependency on small scale fisheries. The small vessels (less than 12 m long) represent two thirds of the number of vessels, have a low level of specialisation and commonly use fixed gear. • Sicily is an important area for trawling. Most of the bottom trawlers are based in Mazara del Vallo, which is the main fishing port in Sicily, and also the most important landing point in Italy. In the context of the regional Sicilian economy, fisheries and aquaculture represent 0.58% of the total economy, compared to a value of 0.17% in the other Italian Convergence Re- gions (Basilicata, Calabria, Campania and Puglia) and to 0.08% in the Italian Regions not considered under the Convergence Objective of the EU. In terms of processing, Sicily has the largest number of companies dealing with fish conservation in Italy (32%), and the highest number of jobs in this field (27%). Sicily is one of the few regions in Italy where the fisheries sector has a positive trade balance. The most important export country for Sicilian products is Japan (more than half of the exports), followed by Spain, Greece and France. Most of the imports to Sicily come from the EU, mainly from Spain and France, but also from Greece. As regards employment in the fisheries sector, Sicily is the region which provides most jobs in Italy (26% of all seamen and 18% of those employed in the fishing industry). The fishing industry employs 18 135, of which 58% are employed directly by the sea fishing sector, 8% in processing, 1% in fish farming and 33% in connected activities such as sales, port services and other. Aquaculture in Sicily represents ca.