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Chemistry and Ecology
August 2006, Vol. 22 (Supplement 1), pp. S411–S432

Political and economic ﬁshery management in the
Channel of Sicily

V. BORSELLINO*, M. CRESCIMANNO and V. DE STEFANO

Dipartimento di Economia dei Sistemi Agro-Forestali (ESAF), Università degli Studi di Palermo,
Viale delle Scienze 13, 90128 Palermo, Italy

(Received 23 February 2005; in ﬁnal form 16 November 2005)

Fishery activities in the Mediterranean Sea are characterized by a number of distinctive features which
include relative extension of national to international waters, straddling and shared stocks, overall
characteristics of ﬁshing activities, availability of scientiﬁc information and the absence of a policy
ﬁsheries management in many coastal States. Therefore, the principal objective of this paper is to
portray a framework on the politics of management of the ﬁsh resources in the Channel of Sicily, by
examining both the CFP in the Mediterranean or the Italian–Tunisian relationship, and then to inspect
the ﬁshing effort of the Sicilians and Tunisian productive structures to carry out a comparative analysis.
We also analysed the economic performance of the representative segments of the island ﬂeet in the
Channel of Sicily. The information gained from the economic results can be used by local institutions
to draw up plans for intervention following European requirements.

Keywords: International cooperation; Sicily; Tunisia; Fishing effort; Economic parameters

1. Introduction

The world of ﬁshing is going through dramatic changes worldwide, largely due to technical
innovation, new powers emerging in the ﬁeld, and the legitimate aspirations of many
developing countries hoping to develop a competitive structure in the ﬁshing sector. Facing a
situation of over-ﬁshing, which has caused a reduction in catches since the 1990s, it has become
of vital importance to ensure the sustainable management of the sector’s development, based
on the balance between exploiting resources and the environment [1].

The contribution made by the 25 EU countries has become an ever-decreasing proportion of
world catches. In the 20 yr from 1982 to 2002, it fell from 10.7% to 6.7%. In the Mediterranean
Sea, which represents 8% of EU catches (2002), the fall in catches from EU countries is equal
to 28.4%, compared with a fall of 16.4% in non-EU countries (according to FAO data) [2].

This paper seeks to outline the state of ﬁshing in the Channel of Sicily. Following a
brief examination of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), with particular reference to the

*Corresponding author. Email: valeria.borsellino@unipa.it

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/02757540600572214

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