Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers
Background. While some Lessepsian species provide economic benefits for Mediterranean fisheries, others cause economic losses. Lagocephalus sceleratus known as silver-cheeked toadfish poses a great risk to human health if consumed economic losses for fishers by damaging their fishing gears. This stu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Pensoft Publishers
2015-09-01
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| Series: | Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria |
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| Online Access: | https://aiep.pensoft.net/article/26558/download/pdf/ |
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| author | V. Ünal H. Göncüoğlu D. Durgun Z. Tosunoğlu C. Deval C. Turan |
| author_facet | V. Ünal H. Göncüoğlu D. Durgun Z. Tosunoğlu C. Deval C. Turan |
| author_sort | V. Ünal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background. While some Lessepsian species provide economic benefits for Mediterranean fisheries, others cause economic losses. Lagocephalus sceleratus known as silver-cheeked toadfish poses a great risk to human health if consumed economic losses for fishers by damaging their fishing gears. This study aims to determine the socio-economic impact of silver-cheeked toadfish, with regards to its impact on biodiversity and socio-economic factors for small-scale fisheries. Materials and methods. Face-to-face interviews were completed with a total of 261 fishers from Izmir in the Middle Aegean region to Hatay in the Eastern Mediterranean region, to determine the problems arising from the presence of silver-cheeked toadfish species in the ecosystem and the resulting associated economic losses for a 1-year from 1 January to 30 December 2011. The elements, which should be taken into account in calculating silver-cheeked toadfish related economic losses, are related to fishing gear, labour and the associated losses in catches. However, losses associated with silver-cheeked toadfish predation were beyond the scope of this study. Results. Almost all fishers (91%) agree that silver-cheeked toadfish is a major problem, 82% believe that silver-cheeked toadfish negatively affects biodiversity, and 89% believe it lowers efficiency of their catches. Calculated silver-cheeked toadfish related losses were: 1300 TRY (≈442 EUR) per year, per fisherman; 263 296 TRY (≈89 521 EUR) per year, in total, for the interviewed fishers (261), and 204 fishers suffered economic losses relating to this species; which caused total losses of 6 033 577 TRY (≈2 051 416 EUR) per year in total for the 4719 fishers, which were 78% of all fishers (6051) in the study area. Two-thirds of the study respondents think that the most effective way to battle this problem would be to try to eliminate this species from Turkish waters. Among them, 32% of the fishers believe the most suitable gear to eliminate L. sceleratus from the marine ecosystem is the purse seine and 61% consent to fish L. sceleratus for 4 TRY each as a target species. Conclusion. To start a bounty system and a premium payment for each pufferfish caught will both help to reduce negative impact of the species on the ecosystem and provide an extra income for the fishers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T20:32:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3a28dfee0d45458e9ee18ad75ec025bd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1734-1515 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T20:32:11Z |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria |
| spelling | doaj.art-3a28dfee0d45458e9ee18ad75ec025bd2022-12-22T02:31:08ZengPensoft PublishersActa Ichthyologica et Piscatoria1734-15152015-09-0145323123710.3750/AIP2015.45.3.0226558Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makersV. ÜnalH. GöncüoğluD. DurgunZ. TosunoğluC. DevalC. TuranBackground. While some Lessepsian species provide economic benefits for Mediterranean fisheries, others cause economic losses. Lagocephalus sceleratus known as silver-cheeked toadfish poses a great risk to human health if consumed economic losses for fishers by damaging their fishing gears. This study aims to determine the socio-economic impact of silver-cheeked toadfish, with regards to its impact on biodiversity and socio-economic factors for small-scale fisheries. Materials and methods. Face-to-face interviews were completed with a total of 261 fishers from Izmir in the Middle Aegean region to Hatay in the Eastern Mediterranean region, to determine the problems arising from the presence of silver-cheeked toadfish species in the ecosystem and the resulting associated economic losses for a 1-year from 1 January to 30 December 2011. The elements, which should be taken into account in calculating silver-cheeked toadfish related economic losses, are related to fishing gear, labour and the associated losses in catches. However, losses associated with silver-cheeked toadfish predation were beyond the scope of this study. Results. Almost all fishers (91%) agree that silver-cheeked toadfish is a major problem, 82% believe that silver-cheeked toadfish negatively affects biodiversity, and 89% believe it lowers efficiency of their catches. Calculated silver-cheeked toadfish related losses were: 1300 TRY (≈442 EUR) per year, per fisherman; 263 296 TRY (≈89 521 EUR) per year, in total, for the interviewed fishers (261), and 204 fishers suffered economic losses relating to this species; which caused total losses of 6 033 577 TRY (≈2 051 416 EUR) per year in total for the 4719 fishers, which were 78% of all fishers (6051) in the study area. Two-thirds of the study respondents think that the most effective way to battle this problem would be to try to eliminate this species from Turkish waters. Among them, 32% of the fishers believe the most suitable gear to eliminate L. sceleratus from the marine ecosystem is the purse seine and 61% consent to fish L. sceleratus for 4 TRY each as a target species. Conclusion. To start a bounty system and a premium payment for each pufferfish caught will both help to reduce negative impact of the species on the ecosystem and provide an extra income for the fishers.https://aiep.pensoft.net/article/26558/download/pdf/Lessepsian speciespufferfisheconomic impacts |
| spellingShingle | V. Ünal H. Göncüoğlu D. Durgun Z. Tosunoğlu C. Deval C. Turan Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria Lessepsian species pufferfish economic impact s |
| title | Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers |
| title_full | Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers |
| title_fullStr | Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers |
| title_short | Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), causes a substantial economic losses in the Turkish Mediterranean coast: A call for decision makers |
| title_sort | silver cheeked toadfish lagocephalus sceleratus actinopterygii tetraodontiformes tetraodontidae causes a substantial economic losses in the turkish mediterranean coast a call for decision makers |
| topic | Lessepsian species pufferfish economic impact s |
| url | https://aiep.pensoft.net/article/26558/download/pdf/ |
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