Documents

Face to the lack of precise and reliable data on fisheries and on the local environmental conditions and their variability, the Recopesca project has been implemented. It consists in fitting out a sample of voluntary fishing vessels with sensors recording data on fishing effort and catches, and physical parameters such as temperature or salinity. Recopesca aims at setting up a network of sensors, for scientific purposes, to collect data allowing improving resources assessment and diagnostics on fisheries, and environmental data required for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) or to feed oceanographic models e.g. for circulation of water masses. Specific sensors are implemented on the fishing gears and aboard a sample of vessels representative of the whole fishing fleets.

Recopesca is a concrete achievement of participative approach: through this project, the fisherman acts as a scientific observer. It provides an innovative and integrated tool to collect data.

After the presentation of the project and the equipment implemented onboard, this report presents the strengths and weaknesses of Recopesca for the monitoring of fishing activity in the marine protected areas. Recopesca can also be considered as a tool for integration of stakeholders in the process of spatial management. Finally, the report proposes a set of recommendations for MPA managers and the fishing industry for the implementation of Recopesca on vessels fishing in MPAs.