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Riverine communities and management systems for anadromous fisheries in the Iberian Peninsula: global strategy, local realities

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Abstract

Anadromous fish challenge human jurisdictions and are exposed to cumulative pressures originating in the marine, freshwater, and terrestrial realms. Here, a detailed questionnaire survey to anadromous fishers (river Mondego, n = 35; international river Minho/Miño, n = 38) assesses and compares perceptions on sustainability and management for important small-scale estuarine and inland fisheries in the NW Iberian Peninsula. There are differences in the governance and fisheries management of the two systems, but exploitation patterns are similar. Revenue importance of fishing, professional exclusivity, and geographic mobility in the last two generations significantly decline upstream in both rivers. The intangible “contact with nature” is the most valued dimension of fishing, common across rivers and longitudinal position. A long tradition in the fishing profession and a strong generational continuity are still detected, especially in the river Minho, but there are signs of diminishing likelihood of hand-over to younger generations. Fishers detect environmental degradation (e.g., perceptions of increase in exotic species and pollution in both rivers, increase in siltation in the river Minho) and overexploitation (perception of decrease in allis shad abundance in the river Minho and increase in sea lamprey poaching in the river Mondego) that will require reactive governance under external drivers that intensify such problems. Better communication, to clarify and improve fishery rules, and more deliberation, to legitimize fisheries management and increase its capacity to contribute towards integrated approaches at the level of watersheds, are locally explored solutions that can have global relevance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all fishers and their associations in the river Mondego (FIGPESCA) and the international river Minho/Miño (Caminha and Vila Nova Cerveira in Portugal, A Guarda, San Miguel de Tabogan in Spain) that collaborated in this study. The contribution of YS comes under the project PPCENTRO (MAR-01.03.02-FEAMP-0007). The study in Mondego was performed within the project AN@DROMOS.PT—Operational Plan for the Monitoring and Management of Anadromous Fish in Portugal (MAR-01.03.02-FEAM-0002) and was also funded by FCT–Foundation for Science and Technology via project UIDB/04292/2020 and a PhD scholarship attributed to AFB (SFRH/BD/123434/2016). Thanks are due to the Municipality of Caminha and the Aquamuseu do Rio Minho, Municipality of Vila Nova de Cerveira for logistic support to perform the survey in Minho (project COOPERMINHO, Mar2020). We also acknowledge institutional support in Mondego (ICNF and DGRM) and Minho (International fisheries commission for the river Minho/Miño) for establishing contacts with fishers. Finally, YS acknowledges his home institution and its scientific council for a sabbatical leave during the study in Mondego.

Funding

FCT, PT, SFRH/BD/123434/2016, Ana Filipa Belo, UIDB/04292/2020, Pedro Raposo de Almeida, MAR2020, PT, MAR-01.03.02-FEAM-0002, Pedro Raposo de Almeida, MAR-01.03.02-FEAMP-0007.

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YS: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft preparation; CA: methodology, writing—review and editing, funding acquisition; CC: methodology, investigation, writing—review and editing; FB: methodology, writing—review and editing; PRA: methodology, writing—review and editing, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Yorgos Stratoudakis.

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Stratoudakis, Y., Antunes, C., Correia, C. et al. Riverine communities and management systems for anadromous fisheries in the Iberian Peninsula: global strategy, local realities. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 33, 875–892 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-022-09742-7

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