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Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture Exploitation in the Aegean Sea Archipelago

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Part of the The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry book series

Abstract

The Aegean Sea is an insular archipelago in North Mediterranean Sea. It exhibits 60 inhabited islands, more than 1,400 small islands and more than 2,500 outcrops and rocks. Its total area is in excess of 215,000 km2. Fisheries and aquaculture are the second most important economic activities after tourism, from the point of view of contribution to the national GDP. However, as segments of the primary production, they are more important than tourism for job and income security of the numerous rural fishery-dependent communities in the region, as tourism activity is limited in certain areas and islands. The fishing fleet in the Aegean Sea amounts to 11,580 vessels approximately from which 95% belongs to the small-scale fishery segment and operates from over 100 ports, harbours and fishing refuges on the mainland and the islands. Fisheries production reached almost 69,000 t in 2018. Aquaculture in Greece is a fast developing industry with export orientation. The total national aquaculture production today amounts to 133,000 t of sea bass and sea bream for 2016, compared to 400 t in 1984. Aquaculture production in the Aegean Sea amounts to 83,000 t (63% of total) and fetching approximately 370 million €. From the economic point of view, the fisheries sector in the Aegean Sea faces many challenges. Even though demand for high-quality fishery products is stable and increasing, mainly due to tourism, the market structure is such that net income margins for capture fisheries are low between 8 and 12% at the producer level. Aquaculture suffers from very low prices close or seasonally below production cost levels due to the market competition of aquaculture production of the same species (whole, fresh or chilled sea bass and sea bream) by most Mediterranean States. Finally, fishery product processing industry faces drops in the demand of traditional products in the region (canned in oil, smoked) and low market prices for other types of products (fillets, frozen, etc.) which has forced many companies to diverse their production to vegetables and other local high-market value produce.

Keywords

  • Aegean Sea
  • Capture fisheries
  • Marine aquaculture
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Socioeconomics

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Attika, Greece

    Alexis Conides, Miltiadis Kalamaras & Costas Papaconstantinou

  2. University of Thessaly, School of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment (DIAE), Volos, Greece

    Dimitris Klaoudatos, Nikolaos Neophytou, Athanasios Exadaktylos & Spyros Klaoudatos

Authors
  1. Alexis Conides
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  2. Dimitris Klaoudatos
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  3. Miltiadis Kalamaras
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  4. Nikolaos Neophytou
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Correspondence to Alexis Conides .

Appendices

Annex 1. Fisheries Legislation

• Ministerial Decree 4189/340423/2020 – OJ 35/Β/17-1-2020

• Ministerial Decree 3380/86293/2017 – OJ 3214/Β/14-9-2017

• Ministerial Decree 6718/146057/2016 OJ 4348/Β/30-12-2016

• Ministerial Decree 46/11830/2016 – OJ 285/Β/12-2-2016

• Ministerial Decree 984/14241/2014 – OJ 276/Β/10-2-2014

• Ministerial Decree 5088/78186/2013 – OJ 1680/Β/9-7-2013

• Ministerial Decree 249837/1998 – OJ Β-503/26-5-1998

Fishing regulations for bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and swordfish

• Ministerial Decree 4065/330700/2019 – OJ 6/Β/9-1-2020

• Ministerial Decree 6719/146097/2016 – OJ 4348/Β/30-12-2016

Approval of the derogation plan for beach seine

Ministerial Decree 1921/134933/2019 – OJ 2346/Β/18-6-2019

Fishing permits for deep sea shrimps Aristaeomorpha foliacea and Aristeus antennatus

• Ministerial Decree 1783/116963/2019 – OJ 2047/Β/4-6-2019

• Ministerial Decree 1177/57236/2019 – OJ 1263/Β/15-4-2019

Fisheries management plan for the shrimp Plesionika narval

Ministerial Decree 2142.1/34656/2019 – OJ 1833/Β/24-5-2019 (Codex)

Regulation about the use of vessel management systems (VMS)

Ministerial Decree 2054/131362/2018 – OJ 4421/Β/4-10-2018

National measures for the gear beach seine

• Presidential Decree 48/2018 – OJ 90/Α/22-5-2018 (Codex)

• Law 4647/2019 – OJ 204/Α/16-12-2019

Regulation for the fishing of Holothuria species

Presidential Decree 24/2018 – OJ 51/Α/21-3-2018

Prohibition of fishing hake south of Thasos island

• Presidential Decree 9/2018 – OJ 15/Α/31-1-2018

• Presidential Decree 228/2006 – OJ 229/Α/24-10-2006

Prohibition of fishing in the area between Kos and Kalymnos islands

Ministerial Decree 9623/152724/2014 – OJ 637/Β/13-3-2014

Fishing permits

Ministerial Decree 271/2576/2014 – OJ 58/Β/16-1-2014

Approval of the management plan of the trawl gear

Presidential Decree 174/2013 – OJ 277/Α/17-12-2013

Regulation of static net use

• Presidential Decree 124/2011 – 258/Α/9-12-2011

• Presidential Decree 497/1988 – OJ Α-225/5-10-1988

• Presidential Decree 338/1980 – OJ Α-96/24-6-1980

Fishing management in Maliakos Gulf

• Presidential Decree 68/2009 – OJ-90/12-6-2009

• Presidential Decree 25/1993 – OJ 9/Α/5-2-1993

Fishing management in Thermaikos Gulf and the Gulf of Thessaloniki

• Ministerial Decree 282135/2007 – OJ 1228/Β/18-7-2007

• Presidential Decree 86/1998 – OJ Α-78/10-4-1998 (Codex)

• Presidential Decree 227/2003 – OJ 198/Α/11-8-2003

• Presidential Decree 86/1998 – OJ 78/Α/

Shellfish fishing

• Ministerial Decree 162612/2007 OJ Β-70/26-1-2007

• Royal Decree 50/1967 – OJ 13/Α/30-1-1967

• Royal Decree 817/1966 – OJ Α-209/15-10-1966 (Codex)

• Royal Decree 917/1966 – OJ Α-248/27-9-1966 (Codex)

• Royal Decree 28-12-1946/8-3-1947 – OJ 38/Α/8-3-1947

Incorporation of Reg. 1967/2006

• Presidential Decree 157/2004 – OJ Α-126/9-7-2004

• Ministerial Decree 249341/1998 – OJ 358/Β/15-4-1998

Fishing with traps

Presidential Decree 109/2002 – OJ 92/Α/29-4-2002

Bait fishing

Ministerial Decree 292288/2002 – OJ 12/Β/14-1-2002

Further measures for fishing with trawl

Presidential Decree 353/1994 – OJ Α-189/15-11-1994

Prohibition of fishing using purse seine in Antikyra gulf

Presidential Decree 40/1993 – OJ Α-14/12-2-1993

Prohibition of the use of driftnets

Presidential Decree 58/1990 – OJ Α-25/7-3-1990

Fishing measures for Argolikos Gulf

• Presidential Decree 373/1985 – OJ Α-131/22-7-1985 (Codex)

• Presidential Decree 491/1978 – OJ Α-105/24-6-1978

Sport fishing

Presidential Decree 550/1981 – OJ Α-142/3-6-1981

Prohibition of purse seine fishing around Skopelos Island

Presidential Decree 1064/1980 – OJ Α-268/27-11-1980

Prohibition of using trawls in Korinthian Gulf

Presidential Decree 739/1979 – OJ Α-219/18-9-1979

Prohibition of using trawls close to Evros river mouth

Presidential Decree 554/1979 – OJ Α-174/31-7-1979

Prohibition of surrounding nets in Vistonis Gulf

Presidential Decree 1094/1977 – OJ Α-356/18-11-1977

Prohibition of the use of monofilament nets

• Law 420/1970 – OJ Α-27/31-1-1970 (Codex)

• Law 4646/2019 – OJ 201/Α/12-12-2019 (Codex)

Fishing Codex

Royal Decree601/1968 – OJ Α-203/13-9-1968

Fishing of shrimps in Thermaikos Gulf

Annex 2. Aquaculture Legislation

Law 4282/2014 – OJ 182/Α/29-8-2014 (Codex)

Aquaculture development

Ministerial Decree 170225/2014 – OJ 135/Β/27-1-2014

Required documentation for the EIA Studies for the Category A activities

• Ministerial Decree 1958/2012 – OJ 21/Β/13-1-2012

• Ministerial Decree 2307/2018 – OJ 439/B/14-2-2018

Categorisation of public and private projects in accordance to the article 1, paragraph 4 of the Law 4014/2011 (OJ A 209)

Ministerial Decree 646/69401/2017 – OJ 2284/Β/5-7-2017

Documentation required for the issue, renewal or change of aquaculture farm licences

Ministerial Decree 158/16825/2018 – OJ 406/B/9-2-2018

Procedure for the rental of areas for floating aquaculture farms

Presidential Decree 28/2009 – OJ 46/Α/16-3-2009 (Codex)

Hygienic control of aquaculture products and measures for diseases (2006/88/EU and 2008/53/EU)

Ministerial Decree 50129/1392/2013 – OJ 2405 B/26-9-2013

EIA requirements for category 2 public and private works “Aquaculture” (Annex VΙΙΙ of the. 1958/2012 OJ 21 B) Ministerial Decision)

Ministerial Bulletin 822/50278/22-4-2013/Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food

Enforcement of the special cadastral plan for sustainable aquaculture

Ministerial Decree 17239/OJ 1175 Β’/11-09-2002

Procedures for the establishment of areas devoted for organised aquaculture development

Ministerial Decree 31722/OJ 2505 Β/04-11-2011 (to be revised in 2020)

Approval of the Special Cadastral Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture and its strategic EIA

Ministerial Bulletin 445/28217/5-3-2013/Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food

Procedure for environmental licensing, rental and operational licensing of aquaculture farms

Ministerial Bulletin 9230.2/15/11/26-1-2012/ Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food

Rental of marine areas for aquaculture

Ministerial Bulletin 9242.14/21/2011/2011/Ministry of Marine Affairs, Islands and Fisheries

Approval of minimum distance from shoreline and sea depth for aquaculture farms

Ministerial Bulletin 9232.1/1/11/11-1-2001/Ministry of Marine Affairs, Islands and Fisheries

Measures for the licensing of marine aquaculture fattening farms and hatcheries

• Ministerial Decree 140476/OJ 357 B/19-2-2001

• Royal Decree 14/13-5-1853

• Royal Decree 7/1940

• Law 1809/OJ 249 A/1-10-1942

• Law 1511/OJ 176 A/13-7-1942

• Law 476/OJ 192 A/19-7-1945

• Law 2004/OJ 50 A/4-3-1952

• Law 1740/OJ 221 A/14-12-1987

• Law 3208/OJ 303 A/24-12-2003

• Ministerial Decree 141217/OJ 650 B/27-4-2007

Licensing and bestowal of geographic locations for aquaculture

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Conides, A. et al. (2020). Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture Exploitation in the Aegean Sea Archipelago. In: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_663

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_663

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