The role of artisanal fishery in Mediterranean coastal zone management: casework on the Sicilian coast.

For the last several decades Mediterranean artisanal fishery has been strongly affected by an increase in fishing effort and the growing development of new activities along the coast. Consequently, investigations need to be developed to formulate strategy concerning socio-economic development in the Mediterranean basin. This study means to valorise collective resources, in this case underused fishery resources, and suggests an experimental model for the improvement of Mediterranean artisanal fishery. Data were collected between October 2006 and September 2007 in three Sicilian sample ports, Milazzo, Selinunte and Siracusa, by "preliminary frame survey" and a "catch-effort survey", in order to investigate several aspects of this fishery. Among the underused species, bogue, European barracuda, Axillary seabream, Grey triggerfish and European conger can be immediately valorised and considered appropriate for the application of the experimental model. At this time we do not know the effects that the proposed experiments could have, but in any event they could play an important role as part of a more complex model in integrated coastal zone management. Considering both the poor knowledge of the coastal system and the unknown response of the environment in the investigated area, the proposed experimental model can be considered a risk-averse fisheries assessment and consequently appears strongly recommendable.