Acronym MAREA-BEMTOOL
Category
Fisheries
Title Bio-Economic Modelling TOOLs: Development of an integrated bio-economic modelling tool to develop and support multi-objective approaches for fishereis management Programme DG MARE
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source European Coordinator C. Maravelias Coordinator email cmaravel@hcmr.gr
Coordinator institution
NA
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2012 End year 2012 Funding (€) € 54,050 Website https://imbriw.hcmr.gr/marea-bemtool/ Summary The BEMTOOL project, funded by DG MARE of the European Commission through a specific contract within the framework contract MAREA (www.mareaproject.net), was aimed to develop a new predictive and integrated bioeconomic model useful to support multi-objective approaches for Mediterranean fisheries management. The new model, named BEMTOOL, allows to simulate and predict the effects of management measures and/or harvesting strategies in the short, medium and long-term. Furthermore, optimal levels of fishing effort and/or catches, which maximize the long-term sustainable production (either in physical or economic terms), can be estimated by the BEMTOOL model. Therefore, given the traditional categorisation of bio-economic models in simulation (answering the question "what if") and optimization (answering the question 'what's best') models, both questions can be answered by this new modelling tool. A total of 11 management scenarios can be simulated by the BEMTOOL model. The basic scenario is represented by the Status Quo, where the management system remains unchanged during the simulation period. Other scenarios consist of changes in fishing gear selectivity, changes in fishing effort (in terms of number of vessels and/or days at sea), changes in fishing mortality, and introduction or variation of Total Allowed Catches (TAC). Furthermore, scenarios on Status Quo, changes in gear selectivity and changes in fishing effort can be simulated either assuming or not assuming an active fishermen behaviour affecting the levels of fishing effort. Finally, the single scenarios can be combined to simulate more complex management systems. The outputs of each simulation are represented by all variables included in the logical-conceptual scheme of the model, which values are reported for each year of a simulation period defined by the model user. The BEMTOOL model has been developed taking into account the work already done in previous projects on this topic. The existing bio-economic models specifically developed for or applied to Mediterranean fisheries have been used as a background for the development of the new model. This has allowed the model to be enough flexible to accommodate different features and needs of Mediterranean fisheries. To test this and other model capabilities, seven case studies covering fisheries from Spanish waters to Greece have been subject to simulation and optimization experiments. The seven fisheries selected to test the model reflect the realities of the catching sector in the EU Mediterranean countries. These fisheries differ in terms of size of vessels, types of fishing gears, fishing areas, exploited species and management regimes. A total of 11 scenarios were simulated for each case study. Most of the scenarios were aimed at achieving the optimal level of fishing mortality for a specific stock. However, a scenario directed to extract the maximum economic yield and a scenario aimed to estimate the effects of a change in vessels mesh size were also simulated. The development of the new bio-economic model represents the main achievement of this project. However, other results have also been realized. These can be summarized as follows: (1) A description of the main Mediterranean fisheries with the identification of the main stocks and fleet segments involved; (2) The definition of a methodological approach to disaggregate the economic data collected at EU Member State level into data at Geographical Sub-Area (GFCM-GSA) level (management units in the Mediterranean are generally associated to the GSAs defined in the FAO-GFCM context); (3) The identification of a set of biological and socio-economic indicators to be associated to the different management objectives in the fisheries sector; (4) A review of the existing bio-economic models and biological modelling tools developed for the Mediterranean fisheries; (5) The development of an additional modelling tool (incorporated in the BEMTOOL model) aimed to perform multi-objective analysis and identify the "optimal" management options among a set of possible management measures; (6) The simulation through the BEMTOOL model of 77 management scenarios, 11 scenarios for each of the 7 case studies selected to test the model. The project, carried out in 13 months from January 2012 to February 2013, was organized in the following tasks: (0) Task 0 (Project management) was aimed to coordinate the activities of the project supervising the progress of all project tasks; (1) Task 1 (Multi-objective approach) was aimed at defining indicators and related reference points for each of the main objectives pursued in fisheries management; (2) Task 2 (Model development) was aimed at developing the predictive and integrated multi-objective bio-economic model using information on the existing modelling tools for Mediterranean fisheries as a theoretical support for the development of the model conceptual scheme; (3) Task 3 (Software development) was aimed at producing the model software and the relative documentation; (4) Task 4 (Fisheries identification) was aimed at identifying Mediterranean fisheries and compiling data to be used for simulations; (5) Task 5 (Case studies simulation) was aimed at testing the new bio-economic model and verify its functioning as regards the appropriateness of the model, the simplicity of use and the consistency with the project objectives; (6) Task 6 (Reporting) was finalised to the preparation of the project Interim Report and Final Report.
The main objective of the BEMTOOL project was to develop an integrated bio-economic modelling tool aimed to develop and support multi-objective approaches for fisheries management in the Mediterranean Sea. The capability to evaluate the biological and economic effects of different harvesting strategies directed at extracting the long-term maximum sustainable production while avoiding the risk of recruitment overfishing and modification in the ecological structure and functions of the exploited fish community was expected by the modelling tool. Furthermore, the identification of the optimal level of fishing effort and/or catches per each main segment/metier of the fishing fleet in line with previously defined conservation goals while allowing the possibility to extract the maximum long-term economic value was also expected by the model. To have suitable data for bio-economic modelling, an additional objective of the project was to provide approaches to aggregate economic data, as collected through the data collection regulations, in a way compatible with the spatial stratification of the GFCM-GSAs including, if necessary, merging or splitting of GSAs depending on the fisheries/metier under examinations. Moreover, to allow meaningful integrated bio-economic evaluations for fisheries management, the project was expected to identify the main species and fleet segments for the multispecies multiple gears demersal fisheries carried out in different Mediterranean sub-regions which are adequate in each GSA to cover an acceptable proportion of total catches/landings and total revenues for each of the main metiers involved in the demersal fishery.
Keywords
Exploitation;
Sustainability;
Fisheries management;
Economy;
Indicators;
Marine Region
49
Gulf of Lions (GSA 7)
71
South of Sicily (GSA 16)
62
Aegean Sea (GSA 22)
3
Marine Region Map
