Fisheries

Fishing has a long history in all European sea basins, and is of particular importance to coastal communities, both economically, socially, and as a food source. 

Capture fisheries have direct and indirect impacts on the marine environment and ecosystems notably through removal of biomass. However, thanks to innovations and regulations put in place over the last few decades within the EU, the state of fish stocks is progressively recovering [1], and conservation measures are expected to result in stock rebuilding.

The sector is regulated by the Common fisheries policy (CFP) [2], that aims at sustainably managing European fishing fleets and conserving fish stocks. Additionally, the Marine Action Plan aims at keeping fish stocks to sustainable levels and reducing the overall impact of fishing [3].

The sector is still facing major challenges and it has been in constant decline in volume for more than 20 years. This is largely due to the sensitivity of the business to the cost of fuel oil, reinforcing the need to decarbonise the sector as quickly as possible. 

Maritime and coastal tourism

Maritime and coastal tourism is a hugely diverse sector. It is key for some European sea basins, such as the Mediterranean, where it generates significant direct and indirect employment and income.

All forms of coastal and marine tourism rely on attractive surroundings, and global environmental quality is an important factor as tourists expect clean, clear water and limited pollution. 

Tourism is a fragmented governance sector, with many local and regional stakeholders. The sector is expected to continue growing in the coming years [4], notably by diversifying its offer, as exemplified by the  increasing trend towards more nature-based and sustainable coastal and marine tourism [5].

For more information about EU blue economy sectors please visit the EU Blue Economy Observatory website. 

For more European statistics and data you can also visit the Eurostat website

The progressive diversification of coastal and maritime touristic offers and activities (e.g., bathing tourism, swimming, sport fishing, boating, yachting, surfing, sailing, snorkelling, diving, cruising) can lead to challenges among different tourist segments at the local level[6], but also amongst other maritime uses happening in the area such as with artisanal fisheries. The presence of fishing activities often requires restrictions to other activities taking place within a certain distance from the fishing grounds. Such restrictions aim at minimising the risk of accidents both for fishers and tourists.

At the same time, intense use of coastal resources and the construction of new marinas to expand the tourist industry might result in changes in water and marine environmental quality due to pollution, noise, and species disturbance, harming aquatic ecosystems and, therefore, fisheries [7].

The negative environmental impacts of tourism on the coastal and maritime areas originate mainly from the construction and use of infrastructure (hotels, second-home residencies, ports and marinas, waste treatment facilities, etc.) and from maritime or coastal recreational activities (nautical tourism, golf courses, water sports, etc.). These negative externalities consist of water and energy consumption for tourism services (e.g. swimming pools, golf courses, accommodation, air conditioning) [8], especially in water sensitive areas [9], where they also lead to land change and artificialisation of the coast, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

Despite there is a high dependency of tourism on the health of natural ecosystems and the services provided by them, tourist activities still pose challenges that sometimes trigger environmental impacts [10].

_{From https://co-evolve.interreg-med.eu/[11]}

Some of these pollution related challenges include:

Noise pollution

Over the last century, human activities in and near the water have increasingly added artificial sounds to this environment [12]. Underwater noise generated by tourism-related maritime transport contributes to an increased level of noise in the ocean. Underwater noise and vibrations affect numerous marine species in several different ways.

Most fish and invertebrates use sound for vital life functions. Very loud sounds of relatively short exposure, , can harm nearby fish. However, more moderate underwater noises of longer duration, such as those produced by the movement of touristic boats, could potentially impact much larger areas, and involve much larger numbers of fish.

Noise impacts on development include body malformations, higher egg or immature mortality, developmental delays, delays in metamorphosing and settling, and slower growth rates. Stress impacts from noise are also not uncommon, including higher levels of stress hormones, greater metabolic rate, oxygen uptake, cardiac output, parasites, irritation, distress, and mortality rate [13]. At the same time, schooling can become uncoordinated, unaggregated, and unstructured due to noise. Feeding patterns and foraging, reproduction and spawning and predation and alarm systems can be affected by noise as fish rely on sound to navigate their environment, find food, reproduce, and avoid predators. In fact, some commercial catches can drop by up to 80% due to noise, with larger fish leaving the area. Bycatch rates also could increase, while abundance generally decreased with noise. Once the population biology and ecology are impacted, it is clear fisheries and even food security for humans are also affected. Noise impacts should be incorporated into population modelling for fish. 

Moreover, it must be noted that the amount of noise generated varies by vessel type: large vessels, such as cruise ships for example, tend to create louder noise with low frequency, which has the potential to be propagated for long distances. Additionally, the shape and functioning of the propeller, as well as the speed of the ship also corelates to the noise emitted (the higher the speed, the higher the noise). 

Accidental spillage of hazardous substances

This category encompasses the accidental discharge of hydrocarbons and oils spills into the ocean. Tourism-related vessels can pose a threat to marine biodiversity through accidental spillage of oil and hydrocarbon. Accidental discharges of large quantities of oil can have major environmental impacts to a wide range of species, causing damage to coastal and marine environments and affecting sectors such as tourism and fishing. Oil spills can cause serious damage to fishery resources through physical contamination, toxic effects on stock and by disrupting business activities. The nature and extent of the impact on fisheries depends on the characteristics of the spilled oil, the circumstances of the incident and the type of fishing activity or business affected. The greater impact is likely to be founded near-shore, where animals and plants may be physically coated and smothered by oil or directly exposed to toxic components over extended periods. In some cases, effective protective measures and clean-up can prevent or minimise damage[14], however, fishing and harvesting restrictions are usually being imposed after an oil spill in order to prevent or minimise contamination of fishing gear and to protect or reassure consumers, with the consequent economic costs to fisheries.

Waste and litter pollution

Marine litter is a critical issue: in some Mediterranean tourism areas, more than 75% of the annual waste production is generated during the summer [15] and is directly correlated to the number of tourists[16]. Such pressures do not solely impact the ecosystems within the proximities to the sources of pressures but impact far away ecosystems, such as by marine plastic litter, , which rapidly disperse with the marine currents. Controlling pollution from numerous diffuse and mobile sources is much more complex than managing discharges from small numbers of fixed identifiable point sources. As such, there appears to be yet significant scope for improvement also to ensure that tourist activities, and their users, are being advised not to throw items overboard (particularly cigarette butts).

Cruise ships and yacht can negatively affect marine ecosystems and associated benthic species through the use of their anchors. The size of the vessel and hence of the anchor play a role in the magnitude of this impact, with effects most pronounced in the case of coral reefs or other fragile habitat structures such as seagrass. Moreover, in shallow areas, bottom sediment is resuspended, with impacts associated with turbidity to surrounding benthic communities.

Although nature-based tourism may be beneficial for some fish, both human–animal contact and food provisioning bring impacts that escalate from physiology to behaviour and then to ecology. As such, fish watching and fish feeding, the two main non-consumptive forms of fish-related tourism could also pose challenges to other types of fisheries as they can impact fish behaviour and population dynamics [17].

_{Figure taken from Bessa, Eduardo & Silva, Fernanda & Sabino, José. (2017). Impacts of Fish Tourism. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320294214_Impacts_of_Fish_Tourism. Infographic by André Morato.}

Protect specific biodiversity hotspots through legislation

The first option used to mitigate the potential adverse effects of tourism on marine life is the creation of protected areas with high ecosystem value where specific regulation concerning human activity such as tourism applies. As the level of protection can range from simple declarations to extensively regulated areas, several different management tools can be implemented with various intensity in the restrictions: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs), Special Areas (MARPOL) Natura 2000 area, Emission Control Areas (ECA), etc. 

Developing sea basin maps of areas with high ecological values

Sea basin maps depicting areas of high ecological value and protected areas (MPA’s for example) greatly help in planning identifying areas to be protected from tourism impacts. Such maps provide detailed insights to the most vulnerable species and habitats and can therefore be used to minimise the impacts caused by maritime and coastal tourism.

Designating specific anchorage areas

To reduce problems related to anchoring, such as habitat destruction, it can be helpful to designate dedicated anchoring areas or permanent moorings away from ecologically sensitive areas.  This can be a good measure to protect vulnerable ecologically valuable marine areas. 

Involving stakeholders of both sectors in developing joint solutions

Maritime and coastal tourism activities involve a wide range of activities and stakeholders that often have divergent values and views and have complex governance models and scattered players. The main challenge in attaining a solid governance of multiple recreational (touristic) and professional activities (i.e. fisheries) relies on involving all relevant actors developing joint solutions to mitigate the impacts of one to the other. Agreements can be thought of between tourism operators and fishing associations or Fishing Local Action Groups (FLAGs) to jointly implement good practices. Additionally, increasing awareness and training efforts for the general public but also notably for vessels’ crews is important. Tools that inform and engage stakeholders may help to improve compliance with mandatory and voluntary measures that are implemented to protect vulnerable species and populations. 

The development of new business activities that show the importance of fisheries and bring tourists and tourism activities closer to the fisheries could also enable the good relationship between tourism and fisheries. As such, newly created business activities such as Pescatourism (fishing tourism on-board of a fishing vessel) and / or Maritime Tourism (tourist using their vessels to see how fishers fish) could foster the co-existence of these two activities in the seas. Fishing tourism is a niche segment of the maritime tourism industry that in recent years is increasing significantly at a worldwide level. On one hand, due to the continuously increasing number of individual tourists that search for different experiences and on the other hand due to the ascertainment that this differentiated touristic product leads to significantly increased revenues [18]. As such, fishing could attract recreational anglers and provide additional tourism revenues for coastal areas [19].

Promoting other sustainable eco-tourism and niche tourism, including activities such as pesca-tourism, culinary tourism, and sport tourism, among other could also foster the co-existence of tourism and fishing in coastal areas. In order to achieve these promotions, countries need to promote fiscal and investment policies to support sustainable coastal and marine tourism. International Financial Institutions, development partners, public and private actors could  prioritise investments overall in the sustainable blue economy, but most notably in the domain of sustainable coastal and maritime tourism, including the protection and valorisation of maritime cultural heritage.