Implications of small-scale fisheries in Istrian waters on cartilaginous species

In small-scale fishing in the northern Adriatic region, a certain percentage of catches consists of cartilaginous fish, and is still considered as bycatch. Despite global concerns about their overfishing, they are still understudied. In order to obtain data on the presence of cartilaginous fish in catches, 13 fishing trials using trammel nets were carried out from October 2020 to March 2021 at three fishing locations along the Istrian coast (northern Adriatic): Umag, Poreč and Cape Kamenjak. Nets were set in the afternoon and hauling was performed the next day. The stretched mesh sizes of the bottom trammel nets were 80 and 140 mm and the total length of the nets was 30,700 m. Among the 33 species with 403 specimens recorded in the total catch, six species with 23 specimens were cartilaginous: Dasyatis pastinaca, Mustelus mustelus, Prionace glauca, Scyliorhinus canicula, Scyliorhinus stellaris, Torpedo marmorata. Since our preliminary results show that cartilaginous species are common in Istrian waters, we suggest more accurate record keeping of their catches, considering existing fisheries management strategies.