Abstract
The impact of fisheries within a Natura 2000 area in western Greece was assessed over a 12‐month period in 2007. The estimated total biomass removed annually by 307 fishing boats averaged 3503.5 t. Purse seiners, beach seiners and trawlers took 70% of the total landings. Purse seiners, contributing 3% of the total fishing fleet, were responsible for 33% of total biomass removed. Beach and purse seiners primarily caught small pelagic species, whereas trawlers and trammel netters mostly demersal species. A mismatch was found between the Common Fisheries Register (CFR) and an in situ assessment of the active fishing fleet; the number of industrial fishing boats exceeded those registered in CFR for the three administrative ports involved, and a large proportion of the CFR netters were small and effectively inactive. Fishery management measures for the recovery of an ecosystem considerably damaged by overfishing are proposed.