3. LOCAL OPERATING UNITS (LOUS) IN THE ALBORAN SEA

The Alboran Sea is located in the western end of the Mediterranean Sea (map, Figure 2). It represents one of the management areas of the Mediterranean as defined by the GFCM and was chosen as the pilot study area on the basis of its convenience and because it is broadly representative of Mediterranean fisheries overall. For purposes of this study, its area has been further reduced to cover those fishing grounds whose landings take place to the East of the Strait of Gibraltar (Point of Europe - Tangiers line) up to the Moroccan-Algerian border on the southern coast, and up to the Cape of Gata in the province of Almeria, Spain, on the northern coast.

Biological productivity of the Alboran Sea is relatively high for the Mediterranean, thanks to the positive influence of frequent marine currents that connect it with the Atlantic Ocean. The main species found in the area are:

1. Fish found along the coastline, such as common sea bream, conger or grouper (Epinephelus).
2. Bivalves found along the very coastline, such as shells, truncate donax, venus striped, yesso scallop.
3. Small pelagics, such as sardine, anchovy, horse mackerel and mackerel.
4. Fish, cephalopods and demersal crustaceans that may be found in the coastline shelf such as hake, shrimp, blue whiting (Micromesistius), octopus, red mullet, seabream, cuttlefish, squid and lobsterette.
5. Demersal crustaceans found in deep grounds (below 400 metres.): red prawn, basically.
6. Highly migratory large pelagics that cross the region in certain seasons of the year, such as bluefin tuna, albacore and swordfish, which result in the presence of opportunistic specialised fleet. This has little impact on the structure of the fishing community of the region.

Exploitation of the Alboran fisheries is shared between Spain and Morocco. Although the coastlines of these two countries do not feature an equal degree of development, both are subject to environmental pressures owing to long traditions of fishing, the tourist industry, and unemployment problems. A detailed list of ports or landing sites found along Moroccan and Spanish coastlines is provided in Annex 2.

Figure 2. Study pilot area

The large number of sites and the very small size of many of them, combined with the limited time and means available for the pilot study, made total coverage impossible to carry out. Landing sites were therefore grouped according to sub-areas. In the case of the Spanish coast, where many ports are actually marinas and not true commercial fishing bases, landing sites were grouped together according to their link to a particular fish market. (Such markets feature a system of regular computerised reporting of sales.) This resulted in delineation of ten areas along the Spanish coast. In Morocco, the landing sites were grouped together around one or another of six major seaports/market centres found along the Alboran coastline. The geographical sub-areas delineated for both countries are identified in Table 2.

Table 2. Pilot study area landing site groupings

The fishing fleet within any one local area is composed of different types of units, and analysis of fleet activity must obviously take these various segments or LOUs into account. In order to be useful as for a pilot study, the `fleet segmentation model'must at the same time based on criteria relevant for Mediterranean region as a whole, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Fleet segments of the Alboran Sea

Segment 1 represents the artisanal fleet (OfS), which covers multipurpose vessels below 6 m. These boats have outboard engines (OfS) and use a variety of gear types and fishing techniques. However, their financial structure is rather homogeneous. The main investment (capital invested in vessel and engine) is similar in all boats included in this group. It is in the rest of their investment (gear costs) that differences may arise. One single vessel may combine several gear types. The owner is one of the crew and employs from one to three men. Their catch is usually small, and sold directly for fresh consumption. In the case of Spain, the fleet operates only occasionally, whereas in Morocco the crew is engaged in fishing as their sole source of income. Sale revenues depend on access to markets with high product demand.. Some landing sites in Morocco are rather isolated; catch prices are low because demand is monopsonic and road communications do not ensure product quality.

Segment 2 includes Mediterranean large trawlers. These vessels require significant investment. They range from 15 to 33 metres in length, declare an engine size of 300 HP or more, and may operate in deep fishing grounds or over the continental slope for shrimps, amongst others (putting them in competition with segment 3 vessels). The number of crew depends on the country and on the economic situation. In Morocco crew size ranges from 13 to 16, and in Spain from 5 to 9 in Spain.

Segment 3 includes small trawlers.. Ranging from 8 to 15 metres in length, and with less than 300 HP, they usually operate over the continental shelf (less than 200 m.depth). . Crew numbers may vary from 3 to 7 in Spain and from 10 to 12 in Morocco.

Segment 4 encompasses large seiners, with more than 30 GRT. Their target species are small pelagics and they operate quite far away from the shore. The number of crew may vary from 12 to 15 in Spain and from 20 to 40 in Morocco.

Segment 5 comprises small seiners below 30 GRT. They necessarily work close to the shore in spite of targeting the same species as the large seiners. Crew numbers may vary from 7 to 12 in Spain and from 10 to 20 in Morocco.

Segment 6 includes both surface and bottom longliners of greater than 6 metres in length. Their operation requires an important expense in baits. Long lining can be performed only in certain seasons, and therefore it may be combined with other activities. In Morocco, longliners also use drift nets during some seasons. Moroccan longliners (from 6 to 19 m) have crew numbers ranging from 8 to 12, whereas Spanish longliners (from 9 to 12 metres) are worked by crew of 6 to 7 each.

Segment 7 is peculiar to Morocco. These are long liners that also use specific gear for pelagics with seine nets (from October to January). These vessels exceed 6 metres in length and have onboard engines. They employ from 8 to 12 crew members.

Segment 8 covers dredgers. These vessels do not exceed 10 metres and specialise in catching bivalves in sandy areas. Each has a crew of 2 or 3 persons. Most of them are found in the province of Malaga, Spain.

Finally, Segment 9 is the one called artisanal fleet OnS. These are vessels with lengths between 6 and 10 metres. They target the same species as segment 1, but have onboard engines (OnS). This artisanal fleet segment is multipurpose and exists only in Spain. Unlike group 1, whose vessels in Spain go fishing only occasionally, group 9 goes fishing regularly. The effort in Group 9 is similar to that one of group 1 from Morocco, but it presents a different financial structure, with more investment. Each vessel employs from 2 to 3 crew members.

The fleet distribution across the area of the study is shown in Table 4. Although artisanal-like vessels are numerous, their relevance is much lower in terms of production, added value and invested capital.

It should be emphasised that the period covered by the study data is one year. Only repeated studies of this kind will allow development of a time series and the possibility of analysing long term trends in the fisheries of the study areas.

Table 4. Number of boats by segment and port/area

The fleet segments and LOUs identified above exploit different fisheries resource groups in overlapping ways, as indicated in the following matrix (Table 5). Numerous possibilities for conflict exist, though it must be remembered that different LOUs are operating out of different ports and are not necessarily fishing in the same waters. The most serious possibilities occur where the same type of LOUs from the two different countries are targeting the same species groups in a common fishing area.

Table 5. Potential conflicts between segments

*Key:

A = Fish found along the coastline (common sea bream, conger or grouper (Epinephelus)).
B. = Bivalves found along the coastline (shells, truncate donax, venus striped, yesso scallop).
C. = Small pelagics (sardine, anchovy, horse mackerel and mackerel).
D. = Fish, cephalopods and demersal crustaceans on the coastline shelf (hake, shrimp, blue whiting (Micromesistius), octopus, red mullet, seabream, cuttlefish, squid and lobsterette).
E. = Demersal crustaceans found in deep grounds (red prawn, basically).
F. = Highly migratory large pelagics (bluefin tuna, albacore and swordfish).

⁷ Landing sites serving the inland lagoon of Nador are not included, since this lagoon does not belong to the Alboran Sea and is a separate environment.