Page 5 - HimesAH(2007)

island. Since the sampling strategy chosen was to census the population, the interviewer
attempted to interview all fishers.
The questionnaire was centred on three open­ended questions:

§ What do you think are the most important resources of the Egadi Islands
(environmental, cultural, and economic) and the human activities that could damage
them?

§ Please describe your own vision of what a successful Egadi Islands Marine Reserve
would be. Complete the fo llowing sentence: In my opinio n, the Egadi Islands Marine
Reserve would be a success in the future if/when …

§ What initiatives would need to be done to achieve your vision of success?

The local fishery

The fishing industry has historically been very culturally and economically important to the
local community of the Egadi Islands. Commercial fishing has been passed down through
generations and has contributed significantly to local income. However, the artisanal fishing
industry in the Mediterranean basin, particularly in Sicily, has intensely declined during the
last 20 years. The causes o f this decline can be attributed, for the most part, to the evo lut ion
of more efficient fishing gear and more powerful fishing vessels and to the subsequent
depletion of most inshore resources. In order to analyse the effects of this on the success of
the EIMR, it is necessary to describe the characteristics of the local fishery.

Combining all three islands, there are 39 fishing vessels that are registered as
commercial fishing boats (table 1). Fishing vessels average 12 m in length and are classified
as a small­scale fishing fleet. Most vessels cannot go farther than 6 nm from shore, the
majority of which stay within 3 nm from shore. Approximately all vessels carry between 1
and 3 crew members, (1=28.1%, 2=43.8%, 3=21.9%) the majority of which carrying 2 crew.
Two vessels reported having a crew of 5 or 6, both of which located at Favignana.

Fishers in each village have access to a port maintained by the provincial government.
During the summer months, the number of recreational fishers increases significantly. In
addition, large trawlers from Marsala, Trapani and Palermo (cities on the mainland of
northwest Sicily) are commonly seen in all waters of the MPA. Fishers typically set their nets
in the waters direct ly adjacent to the island that they live on, for convenience purposes. This
pattern of fishing allows them access to the nearest fishing grounds as well as taking away a
source of conflict that could be presented if fishers from all three villages were fishing in the
same area of the MPA.

Throughout the Egadi Islands, ten types of fishing gear are used (table 2). Trammel
nets and longlining are the most common types of gear used, followed by hand lines,
monofilament and combined gillnets­trammel nets. Each of these is used in Favignana with
additional use of trawling, purse seines and beach seines. Fishers in Marettimo use set nets
and each of these gear t ypes except purse seining and trawling. In Levanzo, fishers only use
trammel nets, hand lines, combined gillnets­trammel nets and set nets.
Local catch consists of 63 species, including nine species that were classified as bycatch by
local fishers. The most commonly caught species in the Egadi Islands are the tub gurnard,
John Dory, scorpionfish, red and striped mullet, octopus, bogue, common dentex, squid,
seabream and moray eels.

Trammel nets are used to catch 49 of the 63 species. Apart from long­lining, which is
used to fish indiscriminately, the other gear types are used to catch very specific species. For
example, cages are used only for lobster; beach seines nets only for saddled seabream, wide
eyed flounder, and Mediterranean sand eel; and trawling generally only for octopus, hake,