Where not to fish - reviewing and mapping fisheries restricted areas in the Aegean Sea

An up-to-date systematic review and unofficial codification of the national fisheries legislation was conducted, along with an up-to-date systematic review of environmental, archaeological and maritime legislation, about spatio-temporal restrictions of fishing activities, by all fishing gears, in the Aegean Sea. Spatio-temporal restrictions established by the European Union and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean were also reviewed. A database was built, including detailed information on the identified Fisheries Restricted Areas (FRAs). All FRAs were mapped, as polygons in Geographic Information System shapefiles. The national fisheries, environmental, archaeological and maritime legal framework comprises 32, 2, 37 and 43 legal acts respectively; EU and GFCM legislation consists of one Regulation and one Recommendation, respectively. A total of 521 FRAs were identified in the study area, out of which 511 are national (254 established by fisheries, 21 by environmental, 85 by archaeological and 151 by maritime legislation), 6 are EU and 4 are international FRAs. 85.2% are located in the Aegean Sea and 14.8% in Crete. Towed or mobile gears are restricted in 88.5% of the FRAs, while static gears are restricted in only 10.2% of the FRAs. Fish stocks and Posidonia oceanica beds protection are the most common reasons for regulating fishing activities (25.3% and 25.0% respectively). Most of the FRAs (85.4%) impose permanent closures. National fisheries, environmental, archaeological, maritime, EU and international FRAs cover 25.8%, 1.0%, 1.1%, 0.4%, 13.5% and 22.6% of the study area, respectively. This study provides valuable information for Maritime Spatial Planning in the Aegean Sea.