A case study on blast fishing in illegal small scale fisheries in the Aegean Sea: Catch composition and observed external and internal abnormalities for 18 Osteichthyes fish species

Ulaş A., Özgül A., Göktürk D.

Marine Pollution Bulletin, cilt.203, 2024 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 203
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116414
  • Dergi Adı: Marine Pollution Bulletin
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Artic & Antarctic Regions, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, Environment Index, Geobase, Metadex, Pollution Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Aegean Sea, Blast fishing, Catch composition, Fish abnormalities, Illegal fishing, Small scale fisheries
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Blast fishing is an illegal, ecologically destructive fishing method, fatal for many fish species at large scales. Blast fishing using dynamite is preferred by the fishers, especially small scale fisheries in Turkey, as it requires minimal effort but still results in higher catches. In the current study, demonstration of 20 controlled real-time blasting results involves species composition, size of fish, catch rates, catch composition, commercial/discard ratios, CPUE estimates and clinical observations of external and internal abnormality symptoms of fish species. Blasting trials were carried out with special permission in limited numbers because of its harmful effect. The collected data was tested using PRIMER v6 and diversity indices were also analysed. For the similarity between collected species cluster analysis was used to examine the stability of the results. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was also applied for the assessment of fish species in the catch. A total of 1014 individuals (63.8 kg) were collected and 18 fish species belonging to seven families were examined. According to laboratory examinations, it was found that blasting caused different external and internal abnormality symptoms in the sampled fish species during the study.

Acknowledgement

This study was part of the project 2006/B˙ IL/019 funded by the Ege University Scientific Research Projects. We would like to thank the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Interior Turkish Coast Guard Aegean Regional Command and Urla District Police Department crew. The authors thank the reviewers for their excellent and valuable contribution to improving our study. Also very special thanks to Didem Goktürk’s lovely black cat Aristo, 12 years old, for his patience and emotional support, enabling us to complete this manuscript in good spirits.