2.8 Conclusions: integrating management with coastal lagoons conservation in the GFCM area

The work carried out within the LaMed-2 project has highlighted the main issues regarding the ecological features of Mediterranean lagoons in light of their intrinsic fragility as well as the environmental concerns recently raised and the management strategies applied in different countries and at different times. Management models have in fact been developed throughout the Mediterranean area, thus making it possible to identify strategies which have been either successful or detrimental.

Traditional management patterns include artisanal capture fisheries typically targeting high-value euryhaline fish. These fisheries are generally supported by natural recruitment, although restocking practices may sometimes be applied to enhance fisheries production thus creating an overlap between artisanal capture fisheries and traditional aquaculture practices.
A common feature of all coastal lagoons in the Mediterranean – and generally the result of increasing pressure on the coastal zones and on lagoons ecosystems – is the progressive decrease of productivity and consequently yields that is caused by the combination of overexploitation and environmental constraints as well as a shift in captures species composition. This has sometimes led to a declining interest shown towards fisheries and lagoon management schemes, not to mention in particular disregard for hydrological interventions. In other situations, socioeconomic factors have fuelled an intensification of exploitation patterns that increasingly favours more specific aquaculture models, often intensified or targeted to new productions.
In both cases, the effects are now tangible in many Mediterranean coastal lagoons at both the ecological and the socioeconomic level, often resulting in further deterioration or even new environmental problems, e.g. the loss of biodiversity. Gaps in the collection of statistical data on production and yields as well as the lack of monitoring programmes in many areas hamper the gathering of exhaustive information to fully assess the status of lagoon fisheries. Moreover, there are increasing reports of conflicts among users of coastal zones and lagoons having sometimes opposite interests.

Against such a backdrop, there is currently a very real risk that many countries of the GFCM area will witness a gradual disappearance of the traditional artisanal fisheries and aquaculture models – which have remained unchanged for centuries and have always been vital local economies and fishing communities.
A contributing factor to the loss of interest towards traditional activities in coastal lagoon management is often a lack of public awareness of the importance of capture fisheries and aquaculture in these areas and a general lack of consensus due to scarce information on the role played by active coastal lagoons management in environmental conservation.
In many cases, this lack of awareness is also due to a scarce involvement of local communities and stakeholders. In some Mediterranean coastal areas, lagoon management regulations or management plans have been sometimes introduced without taking into consideration the local conditions of coastal communities, and participatory policies have rarely been applied, thus generating conflicts among different users.
Throughout the Mediterranean area, however, the importance of coastal lagoons and the need to balance the use and exploitation of natural resources with their conservation are increasingly recognized. The Mediterranean experience shows that there are cases where specific attention has been dedicated to lagoon management, which has sometimes been rediscovered, also taking into consideration conflicting uses of surrounding areas for agriculture, urbanization and tourism purposes.
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There are examples where management practices have been wisely kept based on traditional 9
models or have shifted towards a multifunctional approach integrating fisheries/aquaculture, tourism, nature conservation, recreational activities and involving all stakeholders, fishers in particular. These experiences have helped safeguard or restore the ecological integrity of coastal lagoons, thus giving the possibility for lagoon ecosystems to provide ecological services that are in their potential. For example, greater attention and investments have been dedicated to complex management systems such as the northern Adriatic vallicoltura compared to other coastal lagoons in the southern and northern Mediterranean countries – for a series of historical reasons and due to a regime of exclusive property (that has been recently questioned by a judgment of the Italian Court of Cassation17). Hence, it can be inferred that fish production in the northern Adriatic area have historically contributed to the conservation of these natural environments.
The same considerations apply to traditional management models in other areas. In France, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey, different levels of human intervention in coastal lagoons show that it is possible to find convergent approaches to save these ecosystems by producing seafood in a natural land-based environment. Such kind of management models have brought about a deep manipulation of lagoon environment by man; the valli and similar lagoons where strong human intervention has occurred should therefore be considered as “modified water bodies” characterized by a high degree of “naturalization”. This kind of environmental-oriented management approach and the development of sustainable productive activities lead to consider these semi-natural lagoons both as conservation areas (especially for birds) and as reference models for production while preserving wildlife.

17 Sentenza resa dalle Sezioni Unite della Cassazione in materia di demanio statale (numero 3813 del 16 febbraio 2011). http://www.demaniocivico.it/public/public/914.pdf.
http://www.diritto.net/blog-veneto-ius/11812-la-corte-di-cassazione-dice-che-le-valli-da-pesca-della-laguna-veneta-sono-beni demaniali-per-luso-collettivo.html
Such situations, when achieved, fully meet the principles identified in international instruments defining standards for the conservation and sustainable management and use of living aquatic resources and associated ecosystems (e.g. the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in 1995, etc.) and in ecosystem-based management approaches (EAF and EAA) that account for the ecosystem, its associated resources and human activities as a whole. Moreover, the need for an ecosystem approach in the management of any activity where fishing and aquaculture overlap is even more evident in the case of coastal lagoons.
Mediterranean countries have unanimously recognized that a common Mediterranean strategy and a cooperative approach for the sustainable management and use of coastal lagoons in the GFCM area where highly needed. Consistent with this objective and with the main outcomes of the LaMed-2 Expert Network meeting (Italy, 2011) (see paragraph 1.3), the GFCM promoted at its thirty-sixth session (Morocco, 2012) the elaboration of guidelines for a management plan for Mediterranean coastal lagoons, in particular to: (i) acknowledge the crucial environmental and socioeconomic role of coastal lagoons; (ii) address the conservation of traditional aquaculture and artisanal capture fisheries; (iii) prevent any further degradation of coastal lagoons; and (iv) restore and monitor these productive ecosystems.
These elements also concur with the GFCM approach aimed at achieving a balance between the development of aquaculture and the environmental conservation of coastal lagoons (GFCM, 2012). The GFCM has thus indicated that guidelines for the sustainable management of coastal lagoons in the Mediterranean should address inter alia:
• The identification of models of sustainable use of costal lagoons in the GFCM area, also based on artisanal capture fisheries and traditional aquaculture, in order to preserve the role of these environments in providing food, income and livelihood to local communities;
• The conservation of traditional aquaculture and capture fisheries, with specific reference to artisanal exploitation patterns and to the preservation of the traditional knowledge of coastal communities;
• The transition, based on socioeconomic considerations when possible, towards traditional artisanal models of exploitation and use, and the curtailment of management models focused on intensified production levels and on the introduction of non-native species;
• The prevention of the further of degradation coastal lagoons and/or the recovery of their ecological integrity, reducing habitat loss, improving their quality and recovering the overall system resilience;
• The conservation of biodiversity through responsible capture fisheries and aquaculture practices;
• The interaction between species, also taking into account ichthyophagous seabirds and other non-marine species that play a relevant role in coastal lagoons management due to their impact on fish communities while contributing at the same time to the overall biodiversity and aesthetic value of coastal lagoons;
• The restoration of ecosystems associated to coastal lagoons in the GFCM area, focusing on programmes aimed at recovering the ability of ecosystems to provide goods and services, also taking into account the need to mitigate possible effects of global changes, in a broader perspective.
The development of guidelines for the management of coastal lagoons encompassing these principles would guarantee lagoon productivity through extensive aquaculture and artisanal fisheries while ensuring the conservation of biodiversity and local knowledge and preserving the cultural heritage of Mediterranean coastal lagoons for future generations.