Fisheries resources are vital to sustaining coastal communities and meeting the increasing global seafood demand. In the Mediterranean Sea, the definition of sustainable fisheries relies on the concept of maximum sustainable yield and related stock-specific reference points, which guide the regulation of the fleet effort. Despite recent conservation efforts, many fish stocks remain overexploited, highlighting the need for management strategies that reconcile conservation objectives and fisheries profitability.

Trawling is widely recognised as one of the fishing practices with the highest impacts on marine ecosystems, due to its effects on benthic habitats, low selectivity, multi-species catches, and high bycatch rates. Small-scale fishing gear, like longlines or gillnets, on the other hand, generally show higher selectivity and lower habitat disturbance, potentially allowing a more sustainable exploitation of the stocks.

However, the ecological and socioeconomic consequences of redistributing fishing effort among different gear categories remain poorly quantified, particularly when accounting for stock dynamics and fleet responses in a spatial explicit framework.

In this modelling exercise, we applied a spatially-explicit management strategy evaluation  framework to two Italian macro-regions (the north Tyrrhenian Sea and the Adriatic and Ionian basins) to investigate the effects of alternative fishing effort allocations on the stock-fishery dynamics of the European hake (Merluccius merluccius) and its associated fisheries. We tested a range of effort multipliers independently applied to trawlers, longliners, and gillnetters.

The comparison of multiple indicators across different temporal and environmental conditions revealed that variations of trawler effort deliver the greatest impact on stock status and fishery productivity. On the other hand, under reduced trawler pressure, increased longline and gillnet effort can maintain comparable yields and revenues while supporting higher stock biomass.