Volume 58
Main Results from the Work Completed by the “Lesser Antilles” Working Group on the Sustainable Development of Moored FADs Fishing and Perspectives
Authors
Diaz, N., V. Drualut-Aubin, K. Frangoudes, O. Guyader, C. Knockaert, Y. LeRoy, L. Nelson, L. Reynal, R. Walters, A. Lagin, J.J. Rivoaden Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2005
Pages: 237-244
Event: Proceedings of the Fifty Eighth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: San Andres
Country: Colombia
Abstract
Moored FADs are highly popular in the Lesser Antilles and beyond because they give small fishing boats access to resources normally accessible by large-scale boats only. Because of this, FAO/COPACO with Ifremer support, set up a Lesser Antilles working group with the aim of achieving the sustainable development of this emergent fishery, and a research project was launched in Martinique. The initial results of the Ifremer project and the working group effort has highlighted the potential impacts of the FADs and their use, but also provides solutions to remedy some of them. Those multidisciplinary studies focused on the FADs design, and a description of the fishing techniques and the catches around the devices. The different aggregations around the FADs were surveyed by acoustic methods together with a description of their behaviour and usage. This article gives those results and introduces the research project to be implemented in all the Lesser Antilles for facilitating the harmonization of the moored FADs fishing management processes.