Local ecological knowledge of fishery in the Velebit Channel in the Zadar County area

Ribarstvo ima veliko značenje u prehrani stanovništva od davnina do danas, mijenjajući se porastom broja stanovnika, te razvojem tehnologije. Ribari su glavni dobavljači morskih plodova i mogu nam dati važne informacije o ribama i drugim morskim organizmima, te se zbog toga od nedavno počeo koristiti izraz FLEK (Fisheries local ecological knowledge). U ovom radu istraživalo se znanje ribara o ribolovnom alatu, vrstama riba i drugih morskih organizama na dijelu Velebitskog kanala u Zadarskoj županiji, uključujući i Novigradsko more, odnosno u ribolovnoj zoni E (podzone E3 i E4). Svrha rada je da se prikupljeni podaci mogu koristiti za uspostavljanje održivog ribolova na tom području. Istraživanje se provelo pomoću ankete. Najveći postotak anketiranih ribara na tom području (85%) bavi se malim obalnim ribolovom. Glavni ribolovni alati anketiranih ribara su: parangal, vrše, osti, i mreže (barakude, popone, gavunare). Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da se ukupni ulov ribe smanjivao od 50ih godina prošlog stoljeća do danas iako se ribolovna tehnika znatno unaprijedila. Također, ribarima najveći trošak za odlazak na ribolov predstavlja gorivo. Različita su mišljenja ribara o regulacijama koje su potrebne da bi se u Jadranskom moru provodio održivi ribolov, ali najveći postotak njih je za to da se zabrani ribolov na određeno vrijeme. Tu su istaknuta i mišljenja kako bi se trebao smanjiti broj mreža, veličina mreža, zabraniti koćarenje, te provoditi kontrolu ribarskih dozvola.Fisheries have a great significance in the diet of the population from ancient times to nowadays, changing with population growth and technology development. Fishermen are the main suppliers of seafood and they can give us important information on fish and other marine organisms, and therefore the term FLEK (Fisheries local ecological knowledge) has been recently developed and used. In this thesis, the fishermen's knowledge of fishery gears, fish species and other marine organisms on the part of the Velebit Channel in the Zadar County, including the Novigrad Sea in the fishing zone E (E3 and E4), was investigated. The purpose of this work is that the data collected can be used to establish sustainable fishing in this area. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire. The highest percentage of surveyed fishermen in this area (85%) are engaged with small-scale fishing. The main fishing gears of the surveyed fishermen are: longliner, fish trap, fish spear, and nets (gillnet and tramellnet). Results of this study have shown that total fish catch have been decreasing since the 1950s to date, although fishing techniques have significantly improved. Also, for fishermen, the greatest expanse in fishing is fuel. There are different fishermen opinions on the regulations that are needed for sustainable fishing in the Adriatic Sea, but the greatest percentage of them stated that prohibit fishing for a certain time is most affected method. There is also a strong emphasis on the need to reduce the number of fishing nets, the size of the fishing nets, prohibit trawling and implement the control of fishing licenses