Located in Western Greece, the Amvrakikos Gulf is a unique fjord-like embayment with an area of 405 km² and a maximum depth of 55 m (though most of the marine area exhibits depths below 25 m). Along the coastline of the Gulf there are more than 20 large and small brackish water lagoons; this comprises the largest lagoon complex in the Balkans with an area of 55 km².The lagoons are exploited for fisheries by local professional fishermen cooperatives while there are other professional fishermen who fish along the gulf coastline outside the lagoons.
The information on coastal fishery typology and risks were collected directly from the fishermen by using a face-to-face approach for the completion of structured questionnaires suitable to build mental maps. The study indicated that lagoon fishermen appear more focused with much less identified risks than coastal fishermen. The main focus of the two fishermen groups is also different: coastal fishermen group their interest on fishing cost and the state of the stocks whereas lagoon fishermen are solely interested in the production of the lagoons.
It is evident that coastal fishermen cope with more complicated world in terms of interactions between risks creating negative externalities to their fishing costs and the state of stocks. On the other hand, the lagoon fishermen are obviously business-oriented since they rent the lagoons from the local administration for fisheries exploitation and therefore, their world is dependent on their production and coverage of the demand locally and internationally (since some of the products are exported; e.g. eels).
The information related to this paper was collected within the 7FP research project ARCH-Architecture and roadmap to manage multiple pressures on lagoons. The results of this research were published by Alexis Conides, Shane Hunter, Dimitris Klaoudatos, George Mantas and Branko Glamuzina in the First Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea 27–30 November 2013, St. Julian’s, Malta.
Reported by Dimitris Klaoudatos
