An Economic View on the Effects of Invasive Rabbitfishes Based on Fishers’ Perspectives: The Case of the Parrotfish Métier in the South Ionian Sea

Abstract

The effect of thermophilic species invasion in the eastern Mediterranean is well-noted in the literature. During the last decade in western Greek waters, small-scale fisheries (SSF) catches exhibit increased relative contribution of rabbitfishes, which have originated from the Red Sea and inhabited the country’s southeastern part since the Second World War. This study has used quantitative and qualitative information to assess the short-term economic effect of the rabbitfishes’ expansion in the SSF métier targeting the indigenous thermophilic parrotfish in the South Ionian Sea. The short-term micro-level negative economic effects of the rabbitfishes’ invasion and the corresponding adverse effects on fishers’ economic wealth have been estimated. The results indicate attitudinal differences among fishers, although their local ecological knowledge may enable them to avoid rabbitfishes’ hot spots and mitigate the respective economic losses, that particularly for smaller SSF vessels already seem to be quite important. As climate warming may further facilitate the expansion of rabbitfishes, outcompeting parrotfish, the latter métier may eventually become economically unsustainable. Fine-scale analysis at the métier level enables addressing the specificities of social-ecological systems and can contribute to informed and more effective decision making related to SSF, which is an important building block of Mediterranean coastal communities.