The surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea is reaching record numbers this summer, close to 29ºC. With these temperatures, it is not surprising that fishermen arrive in port with more and more typical southern species, such as the white shrimp, which luckily is a species of great economic interest.
The climate crisis and other threats such as the large amount of waste in the sea or the drop in fishing catches due to years of overfishing have forced the sector to head towards a balanced situation in order to survive. Although there are always those who see the glass (or the sea) more half empty than half full.
In a technical article published by the Ruralcat portal, industry experts urge measures to be taken against the effects that the marine ecosystem will suffer (and is already suffering) due to climate change, the destruction or alteration of habitats and species, "the plague of plastics”, the increase in the demand for fresh water and the greater demand for animal protein due to population growth. "If a global effort is not made to preserve the state of health of the entire marine environment, it will be very difficult to recover living resources and their sustainable exploitation," they warn. The good news is that these same experts believe that it is possible for the fishing activity to become “sustainable”.
“There has been an excess of fishing effort, which has caused a drop in catches and many vessels have been forced to stop fishing. Now, this excess is being reversed and the fishing fleets are already more viable than ten years ago", explains Joan Baptista Company Claret, from the Department of Renewable Marine Resources of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM/CSIC) and one of the authors of the text. Company points out that “well-regulated fishing has a future because it must and can be sustainable”.
Antoni Abad Mallol, president of the Catalan National Federation of Fishermen's Confraternities, agrees. “If we fished like our grandparents did, fishing wouldn't be viable,” he admits. “We were used to going out, working hard and fishing for everything, whether or not it had economic value. Today it has changed: we are doing things well, respecting catch limits, fishing only for species of commercial interest, at the same time that we are gardeners of the sea, altruistically taking the garbage we collect to port”. Of course, Abad points out that the consumer must understand that all this has a cost that must be paid.
The evolution towards a more selective fishing, to avoid the death of unwanted species, is another of the demands of the Ruralcat article: "Currently, the fisheries of our country capture approximately individuals of 400 species, but only approximately 100 of these species reach the markets. The rest is thrown into the sea.
"The future is complicated, but it's clear that it won't be like before, neither in abundance, nor in species, nor in ways of doing things," adds Cristóbal Aguilera Jiménez, an expert in aquaculture at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA) and another of the authors of the Ruralcat article. As a specialist in aquaculture, Aguilera points out that this is already providing more protein of marine origin than extractive fishing, according to FAO data.
Catalonia, however, has a deficit in both aquaculture and fishing: it is estimated that both activities together fail to satisfy 25%-30% of all local demand for seafood. A situation that will worsen if the Mediterranean Sea does not adapt to the new scenarios and if the climate crisis is not mitigated.
