Identifying sustainability priorities among value chain actors in artisanal common octopus fisheries

The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science highlights a need to improve the way in which scientific results effectively inform action and policies regarding the ocean. Our research contributes to achieving this goal by identifying practical actions, barriers, stakeholder contributions and resources required to increase the sustainability of activities carried out in the context of artisanal fisheries to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) Global Action Plan (GAP) Pillar targets. We conducted a novel ‘social value chain analysis’ via a participatory workshop to elicit perspectives of value chain actors and fisheries stakeholders associated with two Spanish artisanal common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) fisheries (western Asturias—Marine Stewardship Council [MSC] certified, and Galicia—non-MSC certified) about their priorities regarding sustainable octopus production and commercializationOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Cephs and Chefs Project (https://www.cephsandchefs.com/) funded by the European Regional Development Fund (https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/erdf/) through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme grant number EAPA_282/2016. CP, TF, KR and DC would also like to acknowledge financial support to CESAM by FCT/MCTES (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds. CP acknowledges the FCT research contract 2020.02510.CEECIND. SV and PP acknowledge the financial support from the Xunta de Galicia (https://www.xunta.gal/portada) (RECREGES II project under Grant 1400 ED481B2018/017 and Grupo de Referencia Competitiva GI-2060 AEMI, under Grant 1401 ED431C2019/11). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscriptS

Identifying sustainability priorities among value chain actors in artisanal common octopus fisheries

30 pages, 6 figures, 1 table.-- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International LicenseThe United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science highlights a need to improve the way in which scientific results effectively inform action and policies regarding the ocean. Our research contributes to achieving this goal by identifying practical actions, barriers, stakeholder contributions and resources required to increase the sustainability of activities carried out in the context of artisanal fisheries to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) Global Action Plan (GAP) Pillar targets. We conducted a novel ‘social value chain analysis’ via a participatory workshop to elicit perspectives of value chain actors and fisheries stakeholders associated with two Spanish artisanal common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) fisheries (western Asturias—Marine Stewardship Council [MSC] certified, and Galicia—non-MSC certified) about their priorities regarding sustainable octopus production and commercialization. Our adapted Rapfish sustainability framework emphasised the importance of economic, environmental, ethical, institutional, social, and technological indicators to different actors across the value chain. We mapped participants’ shared sustainability priorities (e.g. integrated fisheries management, knowledge-based management, product traceability) to six Rapfish indicators, seven IYAFA Pillars and twelve SDGs to reveal how our results can inform ocean policy and actions. This identified how certification incentives and other cooperative approaches can facilitate environmental, economic and social sustainability (e.g. value-added products, price premiums for producers, gender inclusive organisations); support IYAFA priority outcomes (raised awareness, strengthened science-policy interface, empowered stakeholders, partnerships); and help to achieve UN SDG targets (e.g. SDG 14.b, SDG 17.17). The results can inform actors, stakeholders and policymakers about how different actors contribute to efforts to achieve the SDGs and how to manage priorities for sustainable actions within artisanal fisheries and their value chains. We recommend inclusive and equitable participatory knowledge transfer and governance platforms as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science and beyond where participants can create theories of change towards sustainability involving the development of multi-sectoral ocean policies framed at the level of the value chain and supported by appropriate governance structuresOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Cephs and Chefs Project (https://www.cephsandchefs.com/) funded by the European Regional Development Fund (https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/erdf/) through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme grant number EAPA_282/2016. CP, TF, KR and DC would also like to acknowledge financial support to CESAM by FCT/MCTES (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds. CP acknowledges the FCT research contract 2020.02510.CEECIND. SV and PP acknowledge the financial support from the Xunta de Galicia (https://www.xunta.gal/portada) (RECREGES II project under Grant 1400 ED481B2018/017 and Grupo de Referencia Competitiva GI-2060 AEMI, under Grant 1401 ED431C2019/11)Peer reviewe

The traditional small-scale octopus trap fishery off the Galician coast (Northeastern Atlantic): Historical notes and current fishery dynamics

14 pages, 10 figuresCommon octopus is a worldwide important cephalopod resource fished by both industrial and small-scale fleets which has gained market value in recent decades. In Galicia (NW Iberian Peninsula), common octopus (Octopus vulgaris sensu stricto) has been exploited since ancient times in intertidal and subtidal areas using multiple methods and fishing gears. A vast artisanal fleet using traps has been exclusively dedicated to catching this species since the 1970s. However, a comprehensive description of current fishery dynamics and production is lacking. A total of 1255 vessels had permission to deploy traps in 2016, though effective license usage was considerably lower and has steadily decreased since 2004. The fleet, in recent years, was largely composed of vessels of ∼4.5 t of average gross tonnage (GRT) although the proportion of vessels per GRT segment has changed showing a decrease in vessels of lower and greater segments of GRT, whereas intermediate and more polyvalent segments, mainly between 2.5 and 4.99 GRT, increased notably. On average, the fleet deploys ∼66 traps per haul usually set on a given day and hauled the next one yielding from 0.13 kg trap−1 in the south to 0.25 kg trap−1 in the north. Fishing operations (i.e. number of traps deployed, soak time, fishing depth, and trip length) varied seasonally and along the coast and depended on vessels’ size. Similarly, fishing strategies (i.e. alternation of traps with other gears) also differed along the coastline and during the year. Fishing effort estimated as the number of deployed traps has decreased slightly since mid 2000s and so has expected catches though more pronounced in the northern coast as compared to the south. Furthermore, estimated catches were notably higher than official reported values regardless of the zone. This article provides new insights into the current fishery dynamics of an important small-scale fishery that should be useful for the development and implementation of new assessment and management plans for common octopus in the north-west coast of SpainThis study was partially funded by the ICES Science Fund (CASGASS Project). Additional funding came from the agreement between CSIC and Xunta de Galicia to analyse the fisheries- dependent data from the monitoring program of the small-scale fish- eries in Galician waters (Agreement No. RCN-ECC201600021)Peer reviewe