Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper highlights the importance of identifying fishing communities for fisheries and ecosystem-based management, which often focuses on fleets and ecological impacts rather than on the communities where fishers live and land their catches. Fishing communities are key to understanding the broader impacts and benefits of fishing, as they support many livelihoods in fleet and trade-related activities. Recognizing these communities, allows for better data collection, analysis, and informed policy-making. ICES WGSOCIAL developed a method to identify fishing communities across ICES ecoregions, first applied in the Celtic Seas and North Sea ecosystem overviews. These overviews describe ecosystems, identify human pressures, and assess their impact. Using fishing ports as proxies, our method links socio-economic indicators (e.g. landings value) to communities. We identify limitations to our methods and explore the complexities of defining a ‘fishing community’ due to its dynamic, multidimensional nature. We discuss next steps for improving our mapping approach and deepening our understanding of the social, cultural, and economic value of fishing, and why these matter for applied marine science in support of policy and management.
Source: ICES Journal of Marine Science
Institutions: Wageningen University & Research, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Marine Institute, Seafish, Instituto de Investigacións Mariñas, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, University of Aveiro, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Centro Oceanográfico de Cádiz, Bord Iascaigh Mharaga, University of Bergen, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Universidade Aberta, University of Coimbra, Wageningen Marine Research
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,686
Awards: G1169335522, G143066982, G1546028650, G2149047050, G2219685250, G2637256346, G2650291291, G2736865772, Rede de Infraestruturas em Investigação Aquática, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, G3171127912, G3534458110, Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, G4090066734, G4631959511, G587154774, G6667535714, G670901311, G7276782832, G7570365653, G7665809008, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, G8805872440
OpenAlex ID: W4412094635