Typology of the Albanian Small-Scale Fisheries

Abstract The lack of reliable fisheries statistics hampers full assessment of the status of marine resources. Central to this problem are data-poor fisheries such as the Albanian seas and in particular the SSF sector. The present study aims to portray the small-scale fishery of south Albanian waters based on daily onboard monitoring of fisheries species catches during a two-year period (2016-2018). Results revealed a total of 6 and 11 fishing métiers for the nets and longlines, respectively. The most important target species for nets in terms of catches were Merluccius merluccius, Mullus surmuletus, Pagellus erythrinus, Sepia officinalis and Solea vulgaris. Longline fisheries were categorized into two distinct fishing métiers, one targeting the large pelagics Thunnus thynnus and Xiphias gladius, and the other targeting a wide range of Sparidae species and Epinephelus marginatus. The data and analysis presented here aim to reduce the current lack of quantitative data on a fisheries data-limited case such as the Albanian small-scale fishery and to provide information for developing monitoring for this fishery.