ARTISANAL FISHERIES IN THE CANARY ISLANDS (EASTERN-CENTRAL ATLANTIC): DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS OF THEIR ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION, CURRENT THREATS, AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Background. Fishing is a primary activity of great importance in the Canaries and has traditionally played an important role in reducing poverty, in job creation, strengthening food security and sovereignty, and increasing the value of its products. This study is needed to analyze fishing contribution in a region strongly based on tourism. Aims were: to update the inventory of fishing techniques, to detail the biodiversity involved, and for the first time to analyze the contribution of the landings. We also identify threats to the activity and draft a plan with strategic actions for its sustainability. Materials and methods. Data on the fisheries and the 2007–2018 series of landings were taken from the regional government website. Once the database was refined, data were analyzed in main four environmental resource categories: shellfish (SHS), demersal fish (DMF), coastal pelagic fish (CPF), and oceanic pelagic fish (OPF). To analyze the economic contribution of the fisheries, first-sale reference prices were compiled from fisheries entities. To estimate the contribution of this sector to the regional GDP, its economic value was compared with the mean value of GDP for 2014–2018 GDP. Results. The versatility is the main characteristic of the fleet, which was stabilized around 600 vessels within 2016–2018. Fishing techniques vary enormously, and eight categories of fishing gear were identified. Total landings ranged between 5560 t in 2007 and 15 466 t in 2016, with a mean value of 11 254 t · y–1. SHS reached a mean value of 111 t, representing only 1%, DMF 1683 t (16%), CPF 1926 t (17%), and OPF 7533 t (65%). Biodiversity targeted by these fisheries throughout the 2007–2018 period involved about 200 species. As a primary sector, the Canary Islands’ fishing activity made a mean value of the economic contribution of €73.19 million per year at first-sale in 2007–2018, contributing 0.19% of the regional GDP overall during 2014–2018. When the fishing activity is considered together with other local socio-economic sectors in the added-value chain of seafood, it contributes acceptably to the regional economy. Conclusion. Overexploitation of fish stocks is the greatest problem to solve, followed by poaching and the growth of intense recreational fishing. Ad-hoc strategic and structured actions for the sustainable development of the fishing activity are proposed.


INTRODUCTION
The Canary Islands (eight inhabited islands covering a total of 7500 km 2 ) are an overseas Spanish territory and an outermost European piece of land situated in the eastern-central Atlantic Ocean. With more than 2.2 million inhabitants, the Canary economy is mainly based on the tourism industry, receiving in recent years about 16 million visitors and tourists per year.
The archipelago is close to the African continent (104 km from Morocco) but separated from it by depths generally not exceeding 1500 m (Fig. 1). The age of the islands varies from east to west between 21 and 0.7 million DOI: 10.3750/AIEP/02963 years. Their volcanic characteristics are seen in their lack of wide insular shelves, often with a mean bottom depth of 200 m near the coast. This archipelago has nearly 1600 km of coastline and is washed by the oligotrophic ocean (Braun and Molina 1984).
Within the currently established 66 Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) of the World (Sherman 2006), the Canary Current includes a major cool upwelling off the coast of north-west Africa, stretching from the Straits of Gibraltar to Guinea-Bissau (Belkin et al. 2009), bordered by Morocco and southwards to Guinea-Bissau, and by the Canary and Cabo Verde Islands. Oceanographically, the Canaries are under the influence of the subtropical gyre of the eastern-central Atlantic, which facilitates the transport of plankton and rafting organisms to the archipelago. The mean seawater temperature around the islands is 18.5°C in February, rising up to 24°C within August-September (Barton et al. 1998). Mesoscale distribution of larval communities was described in filaments of the upwelling system from the African coast that reaches the archipelago (Landeira et al. 2010). As a result, there is a thermal gradient of up to 2°C between the eastern islands-closest to Africa and with cooler sea surface temperatures-and the western islands. A similar phenomenon occurs with the salinity of surface waters, which increases in locations progressively further away from the north-west African coast (Mascareño 1972, Brito 1984. The Canary region is characterized by the presence of three water masses in the first 1000 m of depth, the Eastern North Atlantic Central Water, the Antarctic Intermediate Water, and the Mediterranean Water, located at different depths and with characteristic thermohaline properties (Hernández-Guerra et al. 2002). These water masses generate changes in salinity and particularly in temperature, resulting in the presence of density and thermal barriers that affect the distribution of decapod crustacean  and fish species (Pajuelo et al. 2016) in the region.
The geomorphological, geographical, and oceanographic particularities of the Canary archipelago may explain the great diversity in the biogeographic patterns of the biota inhabiting this area. These physical and biodiversity characteristics, together with the climatic conditions of the Canary Islands-a temperate-subtropical area-compared with the surrounding region highlight the uniqueness of the Canary Islands and their oceanographic connectivity with the adjacent waters (González et al. 2012a, González 2016. The Canary Islands are the southernmost archipelago in Macaronesia, i.e., the Azores-Madeira-Canaries ecoregion (Spalding et al. 2007, González 2018, within the Lusitanian biogeographic province of the Temperate Northern Atlantic realm. However, a marine multi-taxon biogeographical approach (coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropods, brachyurans, polychaetes, and macroalgae) has recently redefined the Macaronesia biogeographic unit, and a newly proposed ecoregion-Webbnesiacomprises the archipelagos of Madeira, Selvagens, and the Canary Islands (Freitas et al. 2019).
The fishing activity is a primary sector of great social importance in the Canary Islands, and this archipelago is the only Spanish region where fishing is entirely artisanal (Fig. 2). This sector has traditionally played an important role in reducing poverty, in job creation, strengthening food security and sovereignty, and increasing the value of regional production and gastronomy. Fresh fish constitutes an important source of animal protein commonly consumed by the Canary population and highly in demand from visitors.
Economically, official data sources provide estimates that the regional fishery sector accounts for a modest percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). However, taking into account the contribution of socioeconomic activities related to fishing, as well as fish processing and commercialization, the impact of the fisheries sector on GDP is far beyond its importance merely as primary   production. According to official statistics, the potential employment was estimated at 1600 jobs in artisanal extractive fishing and aquaculture for 2017-2019. However, it is necessary to consider the generation of employment by the fish processing industries, fish commercialization, and other indirect jobs, namely those related to the activities of stowage, storage, construction, and repair of marine equipment for fishing (ISTAC, the Canary Institute of Statistics 2019 * ).
The presently reported study had the following objectives: • to update the inventory of fishing techniques in the Canaries; • to describe the biodiversity involved in fisheries activity; and • for the first time in the region, to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the contribution of their landingsin terms of weight and economic value-according to environmental groups and resources exploited. Moreover, here we identify current and potential threats to the continuity of the activity and recommend an ambitious plan with ad-hoc strategic actions to further its sustainability.

MATERIAL AND METHODS Study area.
This study covers all marine artisanal fisheries and their target fish and shellfish species in the Canary archipelago from the intertidal zone to deep waters. The study area is bounded by the 30°N and 27°N parallels, the 19°W meridian and, in the Canaries-Africa channel, the 13°W meridian. This area occupies a band of about 600 km from east to west and about 330 km from north to south. The depth is generally not exceeding 1500 m; in the north and west it is greater than 4000 m and on the southern edge greater than 3500 m (Fig. 1). Information sources. The authors have extensive experience in the study and field observation of the artisanal fisheries of the Canary Islands, having participated in previous descriptive works, research actions and fishing campaigns, visits to fisheries communities and markets, and also in the activity of official fishing control (González 1991, Mena et al. 1993, Bas et al. 1994, González et al. 1995, González and Lozano 1996, Rico et al. 1999, González unpublished ** , González Pajuelo unpublished *** ). Other pioneer publications on this subject (García Cabrera 1970, Anonymous 1977, Santana et al. 1987, Franquet and Brito 1995 were also consulted. The present inventory of the recent and current artisanal fishing gears in the Canary archipelago follows the FAO and related classification and nomenclature for the small-scale fisheries, which are based on the mode of capture of the targeted fisheries resources (Anonymous 1972, Nédélec andPrado 1987), adapted to the peculiarities of this region. Taxonomic nomenclature of the fisheries families and species follows FishBase (Froese and Pauly 2019), Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke et al. 2020), and World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board 2020).
The available data on the fishing vessels, fishermen, and different aspects of the organization of fishing activity (fishing communities, ports, and infrastructure), as well as the 2007-2018 time series of landings, were taken from the official website of the regional department for fisheries of the Canary Islands Government **** .
Artisanal fisheries landings are defined as the catches of marine fish and shellfish caught by the local fleet in the  Canary and adjacent waters and then landed in domestic ports, with the regional aquaculture production not covered by presently reported study.
The first-sale reference prices for the majority of fished species during 2014-2018 were taken from three fishery entities based in western, central, and eastern islands of the archipelago, i.e., the Sociedad Cooperativa del Mar PescaRestinga (PescaRestinga Professional Fishermen's Cooperative) on El Hierro, the Cooperativa de Pescadores de San Cristóbal (San Cristobal Professional Fishermen's Cooperative) on Gran Canaria, and the fish processing company Inver Pescatron Lanzarote on Lanzarote.
The information on regional GDP and its contribution to the tourism industry for the 2014-2018 period were taken from the ISTAC (Canary Institute of Statistics 2019 * ) and the non-profit group Exceltur (Alliance for Excellency in Tourism). Data analysis. According to FAO guidelines by Caddy and Bazigos (1985) and authors' experience, data on fisheries landings were checked, treated, and classified. Thus, once the 2007-2018 database of regional fish landings was refined, data were analyzed by four widely-accepted environmental categories of fishery resource species: shellfish (SHS) (mainly crustaceans and mollusks), demersal fish (DMF) (both benthic and benthopelagic), coastal pelagic fish (CPF), and oceanic pelagic fish (OPF). In general, each of these ecological groups of species is closely related to the main groups of local fishing techniques as follows. Shellfish were collected by a range of small-scale harvesting methods and some selective traps; demersal fish were exploited by traps, gill nets, hook-and-line, and other minor fishing gear; small and medium-sized coastal pelagics by means of purse seines and other minor techniques; and finally, large-sized oceanic pelagics with very specialized hookand-line methods. In a second approach, fishing landings were calculated for the most fished zoological families of resources. Lastly, in a third approach, landings were calculated for the most fished species, that is, fisheries resources at the species level.
For each environmental category, the 2014-2018 mean landings [kg · y -1 ]-i.e., for the last 5 years of the available historical series-were calculated for the most important species exploited. Then, using the reference prices compiled [€ · kg -1 ] the mean economic contribution per year [€ · y -1 ] was calculated.
The sums of the economic contributions of the species were calculated for each of the four established environmental categories. Finally, the sum of these four sub-totals provided the economic value [€] of the fishing activity as a primary sector in the Canary Islands. To reach a wider public, columns with the Spanish vernacular names used in the Canaries and with the zoological families are included.
To estimate the weight/contribution [%] of the local fisheries sector in the regional GDP, the economic value [€] of fishery activity was compared with the 2014-2018 mean GDP generated in the Canary Islands.

RESULTS
Fishing vessels and organizational aspects of fisheries activity. Fishing vessels in the Canary Islands vary notably in terms of size and on-board equipment. Their level of technology and sophistication ranges from undecked boats with little equipment to purse-seiners with a power block head to haul in the nets and on-board fish-detection systems.
Small vessels, 3-4 m in length with a crew of 1-2 fishermen, are used as auxiliary boats in beach-seine operations-they do not usually carry a motor, and are propelled by oars-or operate independently with jigs and fishing poles for coastal demersal fish. Medium-sized vessels, 4-12 m in length with a crew of 2-5 fishermen, operate with large cast nets, gillnets (gillnetters), traps (trappers), pole-and-line gears, and short longlines for coastal demersal fish species. Large-sized vessels, 12-30 m in length with a crew of up to 14 fishermen, operate with longlines for deep-water demersal fish species (longliners), purse seines (purse-seiners), and poleand-line gears for tunids (tuna-bait vessels). Seasonally, several large surface longliners from mainland Spain work in Canary waters.
However, versatility or polyvalence is the main characteristic of the Canary Islands' fishing vessels. Medium-sized boats are able to operate alternating seasonally, or even daily in some cases, between cast nets, gillnets, traps, pole-and-line, and small longlines. Most large-sized boats combine the characteristics and equipment/systems of purse-seiners and tuna-bait vessels, sometimes operating as pure purse-seiners on coastal pelagic fish or sometimes as tuna-bait vessels fishing tunas and allied species. In general, these boats practice rotation in the use of fishing gear according to the availability of the different fishery resources, but also within a strategy of maximizing catches and their economic value.
According to the official data from the Spanish Ministry for Fisheries, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, and first-sale records in fish markets, the Canary Islands artisanal fleet was stabilized around 600 units in the triennium of 2016 to 2018.
Within the archipelago, the eight populated islands have fishing activity from those with the highest (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote) to the least fishing activity (La Gomera and La Graciosa). There are between one and many landing ports and sheltered bays on each island. Fishing ports are adequately equipped with the necessary infrastructure to support fishing activity, including cold storage and freezing facilities as well as an administrative structure. Fishermen are organized in fishermen' guilds/ fraternities and cooperatives, to which groups of boats are attached according to their geographical proximity or economic interest. Each island has between one and several establishments (lonjas de pescado) where landings from fishing boats are veterinary and statistically monitored and then sold daily, but there is no auction as occurs in the larger fishing markets of mainland Spain. A significant fraction of the landings, although this is not the case for tuna, is directly marketed by the fishermen to their * See footnote on page 271. clients, who are generally fish restaurants. In addition, some islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and El Hierro) have semi-private producer organizations or fishing cooperatives that market (and sometimes partially process) the fish landings. A few private companies acquire artisanal fishery catches for processing and transformation (including deep freezing), and then distribute and sell various products to wholesalers, hotels and restaurants. Some guilds and ship-owners have agreements with large wholesalers or hypermarkets to buy their catches daily on an exclusive or priority basis.
The administrative-financial organization of the artisanal fishing sector of the Canary Islands is based on the fishermen' guilds and cooperatives (currently 27 spread across the eight islands), their two provincial federations and their regional federation, under the tutelage and administrative-political control of the Directorate for Fisheries of the regional government. Fishing techniques. Fishing techniques in the Canaries vary enormously from fish harvesting (with no vessel requirements and involving simple technology) to purse seines (with some amount of technology onboard). Eight categories of local small-scale fishing gear (both recent and current) are considered in this work: 1) Purse seines. Three types of encircling fishing techniques deployed from boats were identified. These are based on encircling nets with purse-line or without (the latter practically in disuse since the 1980s), or encircling gillnets. The fisheries resources exploited with purse seines are small and medium-sized coastal pelagic bony fishes, mainly clupeids (European pilchard Sardina pilchardus, round sardinella Sardinella aurita, and Madeira sardinella Sardinella maderensis), scombrids (Atlantic chub mackerel Scomber colias), and engraulids (European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus). The sand smelt Atherina presbyter (Atherinidae) is legally caught for its use as live bait in tuna fisheries. The main associated species are bogue, Boops boops (Sparidae), mackerel scads (Decapterus spp.) (Carangidae), and yellowmouth barracuda Sphyraena viridensis (Sphyraenidae). Although they are now prohibited, encircling gillnets were sporadically used to capture mugillids (Chelon, Liza, Mugil), and some sparids such as salema (Sarpa salpa) and Moroccan white seabream (Diplodus cadenati).
2) Beach seines. Two types of encircling-trawling fishing techniques deployed from shore or beach were identified. All beach seines are currently prohibited, although their use is authorized during the festivities of the fishing communities. The fisheries resources exploited with them are both benthic and pelagic coastal species, such as clupeids (S. pilchardus), engraulids (E. encrasicolus), carangids (pompano Trachinotus ovatus and horse mackerels Trachurus spp.), sparids (B. boops), atherinids (A. presbyter), scombrids (S. colias), soleids (chiefly bastard sole Microchirus azevia, and sand sole Pegusa lascaris), and mullids (surmullet Mullus surmuletus). Many varied benthic species were seen within these catches, including cephalopods. Although they are prohibited, some gillnetbased beach seines are sporadically used for sparids (seabreams Diplodus spp., sand steenbras Lithognathus mormyrus, S. salpa, and black seabream Spondyliosoma cantharus), carangids (white trevally Pseudocaranx dentex), scarids (Mediterranean parrotfish Sparisoma cretense), and mugillids. 3) Lift nets. Two types of lift fishing techniques deployed from small boats were identified. Small lift nets are used near shore for benthic fish species such as labrids (ornate wrasse Thalassoma pavo), pomacentrids (Azores chromis Chromis limbata), and scarids (S. cretense), or even for neritic pelagic species such as E. encrasicolus and A. presbyter. Large lift nets are used in the open sea for coastal pelagic fish species such as S. colias, B. boops, S. pilchardus, S. maderensis, S. aurita, and A. presbyter, which are subsequently used as bait in other local fisheries. 4) Cast nets. Today these fishing techniques are virtually obsolete. They were deployed from shore for the capture of mugillids, salema, and small individuals of many other species. 5) Set gill nets. Three types of set gill nets deployed from small boats were observed, consisting in a single (the most used), double or triple netting walls. The most fished resources are scarids (S. cretense), mullids (M. surmuletus), sparids (L. mormyrus, common pandora Pagellus erythrinus, S. cantharus, and axillary seabream Pagellus acarne), sphyraenids (S. viridensis), and soleids (chiefly M. azevia and P. lascaris). The predominant associated species are numerous and diverse, such as crabs, cephalopods, benthic sharks, and bony fishes. The Canary fishermen historically practiced lobster fishing in the former Spanish Saharan Bank using drift gillnets, although this technique was never used in Canary waters. 6) Fish traps. Deployed from small boats, fish or shellfish species (cephalopods and decapods) may be caught by these fishing methods. Six types of traps were identified, five of them are benthic and the remaining model an epibenthic or semi-floating design: • Traps for demersal fish species-the most used trap model-have several sizes (small, medium, and large traps) and shapes (cylindrical or prismatic), depending on the species targeted.  (Table 1).
Lastly, concerning OPF resources, scombrids were by far the most fished family. Twelve species or groups are traditionally exploited, of these K. pelamis with 2994.5 t · y -1 and T. obesus with 2538.7 t · y -1 attained by far the highest weights, followed by T. alalunga with 1425.3 t · y -1 , T. albacares with 327.9 t · y -1 , T. thynnus with 95.0 t · y -1 , A. solandri with 54.8 t · y -1 , and Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda) with 34.3 t · y -1 (all Scombridae), among others (Table 7). Economic contribution of fisheries landings. Within each environmental resource category, the mean landings (kg · y -1 ) for the most important species fished, their

Table 7
Landings of the principal target groups or species of finfish (  In Table 9, the Canary Islands' mean GDP is compared with a mean economic contribution by the local fisheries (in millions of €) at first-sale for the period 2014-2018. The mean impact/contribution [%] of small-scale fisheries was initially 0.17%, just as the primary sector.

DISCUSSION
Components of artisanal fisheries. Around the world, small-scale fisheries generally operate using low capital investment in boat and equipment per fisher on board. Nonetheless, artisanal fishing in the Canary Islands is not a subsistence activity, but a series of activities capable of generating significant economic exchanges.
Although such fishing vessels frequently operate with a great variety of techniques, versatility or polyvalence is the fundamental characteristic of the Canary fleet. It is trained and equipped to rotate among fisheries according to the spatial and seasonal availability of the highly varied fishing resources.
Biodiversity direct-or indirectly targeted by multispecies artisanal fishing boats in waters of the Canary Islands throughout the 2007-2018 period involved an average of 200 species, as corresponds to a volcanic archipelago nestled in a temperate-subtropical region. About 24 of them were shellfish species (around 11 crustaceans and 13 mollusks), 148 demersal fish species (including both benthic and benthopelagic forms), 10 small and medium-sized coastal pelagic fishes, and 18 large-sized oceanic pelagic fishes. When the period between 2007 and 2011 was analyzed, the exploited species were about 240. The use of echinoderms (sea urchins) and cnidarians (anemones) is currently anecdotal in the Canaries, but some pressure from Asian operators is being noted, particularly towards sea cucumbers and sea urchins. As usual in artisanal fisheries, there are practically no discarded species. However, the return to the sea of individuals of non-commercial or protected species (e.g. some rays and skates) or small individuals is frequent, but some of them are used by fishermen as bait (e.g., hermit crabs Dardanus spp.) or for their own consumption.
In the last 40 years, due to the increasing fishing power of the professional fleet and also to an intense activity of recreational fishing, some fish and shellfish resources have been overexploited. This has motivated the implementation of protection and conservation regulations-promulgated by European, Spanish and/or Canary regulatory bodiesthat, in most cases have implied the prohibition of fishing and marketing of certain endangered species. In addition, the amount and frequency with which some marine resources-especially coastal shellfish species-are subject to poaching by the Canarian population is not negligible, since most of the islands' coastal perimeter is accessible and the region has always had insufficient means of surveillance. This complex situation acquires greater importance in the framework of a small volcanic archipelago with fragile limited marine ecosystems. There are many examples of species that have been the target of artisanal fishing or harvesting by the Canary islanders; three groups can be distinguished:  (Table 1).
Within the SHS resources, landings of both pandalid shrimps and patellid limpets seem to show a clear increase. P. narval landings reached a maximum in 2014-2016 with about 61 t in 2015, and the species has potential for development since it is practically only targeted around the western islands, mainly Tenerife. P. edwardsii reached its maximum landings in 2018 with 17.2 t, and clearly has potential for increase because it is mainly caught off the eastern islands and chiefly in Lanzarote. Moreover, this latter resource was preliminarily assessed at about 80 t · y -1 (maximum sustainable yield) for the entire archipelago . P. candei attained a maximum landing in 2015-2018 with about 23.4 t in 2016, while       (Tables 2 and 3). Regarding DMF species, more than 30 fish families were targeted in accordance with the enormous complexity of marine ecosystems in temperate-subtropical latitudes, explaining the vast panoply of artisanal fishing techniques necessary for their exploitation. At the species level, landings of S. cretense-by far the most captured demersal species-seem stabilized near 200 t · y -1 . A comparable pattern was observed for D. gibbosus, P. pagrus, C. conger, E. marginatus, and S. atricauda, among others. An increasing trend was found for B. splendens (maximum value in 2018), P. dentex (but still far from its peak in 2010), S. viridens, B. capriscus, H. dactylopterus, barred hogfish (Bodianus scrofa), and African striped grunt (Parapristipoma octolineatum). There was a decreasing trend for M. helena, D. cadenati, S. hispidus, D. vulgaris, Morocco dentex (Dentex maroccanus), S. atricauda, P. bellottii, Triakidae, and D. dentex, and perhaps for S. salpa and M. surmuletus. The significant decline in recent years of Seriola spp. landings and P. americanus could be explained by the recent increase in their large individuals, which causes ciguatera fish poisoning (Tables  4 and 5).
However, in the particular case of these demersal species, the observed trends could reflect, in some cases, a fishing activity situation well-focused on certain seafood products as a direct response to market demand, while other species are temporarily "forgotten" by the local market.
In the case of CPF resources, more than 10 fish species were targeted due to the fact the Canary Islands is an offshore archipelago placed in the middle of the Canary Current LME. It is striking that landings of S. coliasthe only Scomber occurring around the Canaries-exceed the total for the three clupeids concerned (S. pilchardus and the two Sardinella species). They also exceed the total for the varied Trachurus exploited, with seasonal and interannual oscillations related to oceanographic conditions (Jurado-Ruzafa et al. 2019). It is necessary to clarify that the latter landings were of mainly T. picturatus spread among all the islands and to a much lesser extent T. trachurus from the easternmost islands Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, near the African continent. E. encrasicolus has great potential in Canary Island waters and the low figures recorded in 2001 and 2013 reflected non-activity of the fleet due to a restrictive minimum landing size applied in all EU fishing grounds. The irregular landings of the tropical Decapterus macarellus and D. punctatus could be explained in the current scenario of regional tropicalization of fish assemblages in temperate biogeographic transition zones, including Macaronesia (e.g., González-Lorenzo et al. 2010, Afonso et al. 2013. Nevertheless, it is difficult to estimate their real importance in the landings, since Table 8 cont. prospection, and stock evaluation) on mid-and deepwater complementary resources, P. edwardsii, and to a lesser extent C. affinis, are progressively more in demand as high-priced gourmet products (  (González-Lorenzo et al. 2010) ( Table  6). The tropicalization process is also valid to justify the occurrence of several tropical jacks (Caranx spp.) in Canary waters. We have considered them as demersal forms since they are mainly fished near the bottom by handlines.
Another aspect is that the annual availability of the different types of bait influences the catch volume of the different demersal fish species. For example, years with good catches of sardines, cephalopods, or shrimps are reflected in good catches of demersals such as pink dentex, amberjacks, or scorpionfish. Therefore, there is a direct relation between landings of coastal pelagic and demersal fish, and particularly between those of oceanic pelagics and demersals. Indeed, in a good tuna season, a significant fraction of the versatile demersal fish fleet diverts effort towards tunas. Consequently, in the artisanal fisheries context, landings of hook-caught species are not in themselves an accurate indicator of the abundance of targeted fish species in the fishing ground concerned.
Lastly, 12 OPF species or groups were exploited traditionally, since Canary Islands waters are exceptionally well-located on the migratory route of tunas with both temperate and tropical affinities. It is striking but expected that landings of both K. pelamis and T. obesus exceed the total of the other three true tuna (Thunnus). Since it is only fished around the westernmost islands, the landings of A. solandri have a potential to increase, but the ciguatera hosted by its large individuals has somewhat slowed its catches (Table 7). Economic contribution of fisheries landings. Within SHS species, traditional coastal resources such as P. narval, O. vulgaris and Patella (two species), and to a lesser extent benthopelagic squids and flying squids, yielded most economic value (Table 8). In addition, as a result of recent research (selective fishing techniques, Table 9 Mean economic contribution (in million € and %) of the Canary Islands artisanal fisheries as primary sector, including main (landings) and secondary contributions (catches for bait), compared to regional GDP and tourist industry in the period of 2014-2018.
Year / period Canary Lastly, within the OPF species, the temperateaffinity T. alalunga and tropical-affinity T. obesus jointly provided just over €36.8 million per year, and K. pelamis, historically the most fished species in Canary waters, accounted for nearly €6.9 million per year ( Table 8). The twelve target species or groups within this category are considered highly migratory forms, therefore their catches usually show certain fluctuations, according to oceanographic and hydrological variations on a long and medium scale. Furthermore, the recent use of sophisticated fish-aggregating devices (FAD) off the northwest-African coasts is altering their migration routes and decreasing the volume of available stocks as they pass through the Canary Islands. In all, the economic contribution of oceanic pelagic species (€36 816 440 per year) (Table 8) represents 49.73% of the total.
As a primary sector activity, the Canary Islands' artisanal fishing makes an average economic contribution of just over €74 million per year at first-sale. As expected, comparing this with the regional economy for the 5-year period 2014-2018 reveals it represents 0.17% of GDP (Table 9). At the other end of the scale, the Canary tourism industry contributed 33.5% of GDP for the same assessment period (Table 9).
However, other economic contributions by local fisheries need to be considered. These consist of catches not registered as official landings but essential for many subsequent professional fishing operations, as above mentioned, i.e., bait supply (generally live) for both demersal and oceanic pelagic fish species. These economic contributions assigned to each fishing modality and species targeted are: • harvesting of littoral brachyuran crabs (0.005%); • cephalopod fishing (0.005%); and • a fraction of coastal pelagic fish individuals caught in regular fishing activity (0.01%) (Table 9). Usually, crabs are kept alive in the refrigerator, while cephalopods and fish are acclimatized on board inside a tank specially prepared for keeping live bait. In all, the total economic contribution of the Canary Islands small-scale fisheries, as a primary sector, is thus more exactly 0.19% of the regional GDP. The official regional government agencies do not provide disaggregated data on local fisheries in relation to the primary sector as a whole. However, according to the present results and authors' experience, the Canaries' small-scale fisheries are highly dynamic, labor-intensive, well-integrated with local marketing frameworks. Moreover, when this fishing activity (fishermen + fleet + fish stocks) is considered together with other local socioeconomic sectors within the added-value chain of seafood (transformation, commercialization, services, supplies, bait, public aquariums, etc.), it makes a welcome contribution to the regional economy. Current and potential threats to the artisanal fisheries in the Canary Islands. During the last 40 years, overexploitation of fish and shellfish stocks has been the biggest problem to solve. Empirical evidence of overfishing is lowered fishing yields (in terms of catch-perunit-effort) and also the reduced sizes commonly caught. How have fishermen dealt with this problem? Advocating a more rational activity that favors the recovery of stocks? Evidently not, they have increased the fishing effort, while the responsible administrations have looked the other way. Additionally, as pointed out in the present results and discussion a decreasing pattern is observed in the landing statistics for some key resources.
At this point, it is worth highlighting the traditional disunity among fishermen and their insufficient culture of cooperativism and collaborative work. On the other hand, fishermen have usually preferred to negotiate with the administrations and have not been too interested in scientific advice, except when this favors their bargaining positions or directly benefits their short-term interests.
Other palpable added problems permanently found in the region are poaching and the competition exerted by intense and growing recreational fishing activity (González et al. 2012b). These are not minor issues. Added to this situation is the fact that the region's fisheries surveillance service has always been short of human and material resources, and governed by an ineffective administrative scheme. Another aspect to assess is a competition between different fishing techniques, which affects the common fishery resources they target.
This scenario is also dominated by the local tourist industry, altogether forming perhaps the largest holiday destination in EU territory. Consequently, coastal habitat degradation and pollution disrupt the marine ecosystem, through land runoff, ship pollution, noise, light, eutrophication, plastic debris, traditional or emerging chemical pollutants, etc. These other anthropogenic impacts exacerbate the generalized overfishing.
The authors have identified other threat factors affecting Canary fishing activity. There is a double jurisdiction of territorial waters. The internal waters of each island are those included between the coastline and the lines connecting geographical prominences and are the legal competence of the Canary autonomous region. External waters beyond these limits are the responsibility of the Spanish state. This hinders traditional fishing activity, together with prohibitions (not always technically or scientifically justified) that restrict some types of artisanal fishing or the Minimum Landing Size (MLS) applicable to individuals captured from the widely varied target species. It is worth highlighting the following two examples. Harvesting the threatened Canary mussel is currently only prohibited on the coasts of the island of Fuerteventura, where it can be considered as a resource due to its abundance, but any fisherperson (professional or recreational) can collect it on any of the other islands, where only small isolated populations survive. Several species important in fishing activity have a different MLS for internal and external waters, or otherwise, this has only been regulated for the external waters by national or European legislation. Such anomalies affect fishing operations targeting the red porgy, large-eye dentex, black seabream, axillary seabream, comber, black comber, yellowmouth barracuda, and black moray, among other demersal fish resources, and the European pilchard and bogue within coastal pelagic species.
The construction and expansion of large port infrastructures manifested in the lengthening of the docks, increasing of offshore anchorage areas, and passage/ navigation easements, all hinder fishing, particularly traditional operations. This occurs especially around the most populated islands Tenerife and Gran Canaria (see Triay-Portella et al. 2015). The Canary Islands are geographically located on a very important maritime route, and both ships and oil platforms have been recognized as major vectors for the introduction of nonnative species (González et al. 2012a. Intensification of heavy port traffic is bringing tropical species (some potentially invasive) to the region, associated with ballast waters and oil platforms. These undoubtedly have a negative impact on the native fauna subject to traditional exploitation , Pajuelo et al. 2016, González et al. 2017.
Additionally, the recent appearance of scientific infrastructures, such as the funding of permanent platforms for research and technological development (laboratories, ships, wind turbines) has reduced the traditionally used fishing grounds.
Something similar occurs with the effect of tropicalization processes confirmed by scientific studies in this temperate transition zone of the eastern-central Atlantic (Macaronesia) (Afonso et al. 2013, Horta Costa et al. 2014), probably associated with global warming (Perry et al. 2005, Occhipinti-Ambrogi 2007. Climate change has an impact on the foundation species, favoring the displacement of some populations of traditionally exploited marine organisms towards more northern latitudes and their gradual replacement by other exotic species from nearby subtropical and tropical areas, and is expected to have important social and economic implications (Vergés et al. 2014, Wernberg et al. 2016. The introduction and spread of exotic species are considered one of the main threats to marine biodiversity (Lockett andGomon 2001, Molnar et al. 2008). Ad-hoc strategic actions for the sustainable development of fishing in the Canary Islands. To develop this section, the authors have taken into account the FAO's basic management concepts for small-scale fisheries, and in particular, their economic and social aspects as published by Panayotou (1983). In this regard, it should be noted that a fishery is made up of fishermen, the fleet, and the fish stocks (Panayotou 1983). In the regional context of the Canary Islands, we have also considered the conclusions and recommendations made by a vast panel of experts (González unpublished * ), reflecting on them and, where appropriate, adapting them to the current situation.
Coastal shellfish resources are mostly in a state of overexploitation and, applying a precautionary approach, immediate measures are necessary for them to recover and improve their economic value, as well as to adopt a technical health code to ensure food security. Here we propose the following strategic actions: • improvement of the regulatory framework; • establishment of a shellfish resources management program; • regulation of harvesting activity; • immediate improvement of surveillance and control activity including reduction of poaching; and • evaluation of shellfish species populations.
Coastal demersal resources are also largely overexploited and immediate adoption of drastic measures from a precautionary perspective is necessary for their recovery, as well as baselines for their sustainable exploitation. Management measures should be applied for their conservation. Strategic actions: • immediate adoption of measures for the regeneration of the resource biomass of each island, based on the precautionary principle; and • establishment of scientific-technical policy lines for the sustainable management and exploitation of resources, based on the ecosystem approach. Deep-sea resources need to be investigated and evaluated to establish bases for their sustainable management and to address the development of new fisheries. These resources may constitute an alternative or complement to those currently exploited. As an example, the recent and incipient activity targeting the striped soldier shrimp could be further developed immediately with innovative, environmentally friendly technologies based on highly-selective semi-floating traps, precautionary regulations, and scientific monitoring. Strategic actions: • promotion and development of research into deep water resources; • establishment of scientific-technical bases for their sustainable management; • development of new deep-sea fisheries with scientific monitoring; and • reinforcement of infrastructure (primarily a multipurpose research vessel) and qualified human resources for fisheries research. The abundance and state of exploitation of coastal pelagic species is effectively unknown due to the absence of continuous evaluations, while oceanic resources are periodically assessed in the ICCAT scientific forum. However, the targeted species important for the Canary Islands economy seem to be at the maximum exploitation level of their populations. Both types of resources are clearly dependent on the variations in oceanographic conditions, so interdisciplinary studies of these influences on them are necessary. For coastal pelagic species, here we propose the following strategic actions: • permanent regular monitoring of fishing activity; * González J.A. (ed.) 2008. Memoria científico-técnica final sobre el Estado de los Recursos Pesqueros de Canarias (REPESCAN). Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Unpublished report.
• continuous evaluation of the populations in its distribution area; and • determination of biological and population parameters.
For the oceanic pelagic species: • knowledge of the incidence of oceanographic conditions on tunids (and allied species) populations locally; and • representation of the Canary fisheries administration in international forums. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are an excellent tool for the management and conservation of biodiversity, habitats, and resources, and can generate socioeconomic benefits that are difficult to achieve with other management strategies. In addition, they have been proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to combat the effects of climate change on biodiversity. The implementation and empowerment of MPAs in the Canary Islands is recommended, within the framework of integrated coastal management. Strategic actions for MPAs: • planning, definition and design, adapting them to current knowledge and characteristics of this archipelago; • promotion of their coordinated participatory management; • development of a specific multidisciplinary research protocol, with coordinated participation of the different research and management institutions; and • strengthening participation processes and disclosure channels. Among the socio-economic problems of the artisanal fishing sector in the Canary Islands, it is necessary to call attention to the decline and aging of the population linked to it, related among other factors to a loss of profitability of the activity. In addition to promoting multidisciplinary research in this sector, as strategic actions in this field, we focus on the need to: • highlight the importance of fishing activity regulation at insular level; • increase the profitability of the activity by improving marketing, creating a quality brand at the regional level involving fishing organizations; • empower and dynamize fishermen's guilds and their federations; • revitalize the cultural values of fishing and maritime heritage; and • optimize the fleet and the use of existing infrastructures.