Today Silvia interviewed her 100th fisherman in the Gulf of Corinth, Nikos Moutsakitis of Glifada. Apart from answering all questions, he reported the interesting story of a dolphin who came to die in the port.
Overall, a total of 106 artisanal fishermen were approached (6 declined) across 44 ports and moorings throughout the Gulf. We collected information including damage caused by dolphins, occurrence of dolphin bycatch in fishing gear, sightings and captures of rare species, the perceived impact of polluting industries, fish farming and commercial fishing, and much more (our standard questionnaire contains 25 questions).
Silvia was able to establish friendly relationships, and several fishermen now know about our work and can be contacted again for collaborative studies – or simply to drink an ouzo together.
In future blogs we will post more about this work, as we find the world of artisanal fishing truly fascinating. While we are aware that fishing has caused so much damage – worldwide – small-scale fishing with traditional boats of the kind found in the Gulf of Corinth has little if anything to do with the destruction caused by purse seiners, bottom trawlers and the like.
Fishermen, as a category, are indeed as diverse as "farmers" or "scientists". It may be the 80-year old owner of a 5 m wooden boat, the seasonal immigrant working on a seiner for pennies, or the businessman who counts the money made by his supertrawler wiping out someone elses' food resources and future off the coast of West Africa.
(Photo by G. Bearzi)
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