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Fishery management in the Channel of Sicily 423

Table 8. Sicilian fishery fleet in the ports of the Channel of Sicily by tonnage classes (2004).

Ports 0–2.99 3–5.99 6–9.99 GRT classes 36–50.99 51–99.99 >100
10–20.99 21–35.99

Mazara del Vallo 65 28 13 1 6 2 22 127

Trapani 74 35 47 3 21 9 13 10

Porto Empedocle 15 17 24 14 24 17 10 2

Licata 35 21 16 19 15 10 1–

Sciacca –– 13 16 4 2 87

Marsala 38 20 21 1 7 10 81

Lampedusa 10 23 28 8 9 5 1–

Favignana 11 8 6 – 1– ––

Pantelleria 15 2 3 – – – – –

Marettimo 931– – – – –

Levanzo 1– 1– – – ––

Total 273 157 161 49 99 57 57 227

Source: Our processing on the EU Fishing Fleet Register database.

parameters. Such differences are due to the varied fishing techniques; each port, in fact, has
its own unique system of fishing.

The Mazara del Vallo boats are specialized in trawling and tuna purse seining. Most of the
fleet (55.7%) uses bottom otter trawls; in fact, there are 153 vessels that use this type of fishing
gear, of which 126 have a tonnage higher than 100 GRT. This would explain the high average
tonnage found in this fishery. The use of gillnets, found almost exclusively in vessels with a
tonnage lower than 10 GRT, occurs in 31.8% of the fleet, while purse seines are the main gear
in 27 boats (8.3%).

In the Trapani fleet, there is a clear prevalence of coastal fishing and purse seining. Of
the different types of gear used, gillnets are by far the most common; used on 92 boats,
they represent the most commonly used technique for the local fleet (43.5%). Next, numer-
ically, are the boats which use bottom otter trawls, equivalent to 60 (28.3%). This section
includes the larger boats in the fleet with an average tonnage of 38.9 GRT. The purse
seine is the main gear for 50 vessels (23.6%); the average tonnage of purse seiners is
19.8 GRT.

In Porto Empedocle, fishing activity is mainly characterized, apart from purse seining, by
the use of small-scale fishing, especially trawling. More than half the fleet (58.5%) uses mainly
bottom otter trawls, while gillnets and purse seines are the main gear of 29.3% and 9.8% of
the vessels, respectively.

In Licata, the fleet is essentially made up of boats which practise small-scale coastal fishing,
with the use of gillnets and bottom otter trawlers with an average tonnage of 22.75. There is
very little use of other gear.

In the port of Sciacca, trawling is a particularly important form of fishing, together with
purse seining and pair trawling. This is seen in the clear prevalence, regarding fishing gear
used by the local fleet, of bottom otter trawls (used by 76.1% of vessels), followed by gillnets
(22.1%) and purse seines (1.8%).

The Marsala fleet employs mainly small-scale fishing, using exclusively gillnets, and alter-
nating them in some cases with longlines. Bottom otter trawls are fairly commonly used
(19.8%), and longlines and beach seines are also fairly frequent.

In Lampedusa, the fleet employs mostly small-scale purse seining and, albeit to a lesser
extent, small-scale coastal fishing and trawling. The main gear used on board the island fleet
is towed lines (29.8%), followed by gillnets (28.6%), trawls (19.0%), purse seines (11.9%),
and fixed longlines (10.7%).