Globally, oceans and coastal areas represent a critical resource to the livelihoods of millions of people that routinely depend on the sea with fisheries and aquaculture being key sectors for the economy and food security. According to the FAO, the total production of fisheries and aquaculture reached a historic record of 214 million tonnes in 2020 and the production of aquatic food is expected to increase by further 15% by 2030. Therefore, the need to balance the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of the sea-related human activities is greater than ever.
Understanding the potential impact of anthropogenic activities on marine habitats, including Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME), is crucial to protect them, maintain or restore biodiversity, and identify the eventual mitigation measures that should be implemented. Nevertheless, the impacts on habitats are still poorly known and therefore new approaches need to be developed and applied to better identify areas where small-scale fisheries (SSF) and aquaculture may be having a detrimental environmental impact.
In the framework of the research project CABFISHMAN (INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme, European Regional Development Fund), a methodology was proposed to assess perceived impacts of all the most commonly use SSF fishing gears on habitats along the European Atlantic Area. For this purpose, a new standardised questionnaire-based approach and multi-criteria analysis was adopted to collect experts’ knowledge and stakeholders’ perception (fishermen, managers, researchers, and NGOs) and generate a fishing gear impact score. The developed evaluation matrix comprises physical-chemical, biological-ecological and fishery components. The diverse impacts and interactions (e.g., sea bottom damage and degradation, nutrient enrichment, threatened or protected habitats and species, litter, and conflicts with other fishing gears) were scored as a function of their frequency, severity, and duration. This work presents and highlights how this evaluation matrix can be applied to assess aquaculture impacts, to rank potential areas for future implementation of aquaculture production, and how this new ecosystem-based approach could be a useful tool for planning and managing human activities in the maritime space.