Economic aspects of fishing of dolphinfish in Sicily

Dolphinfish fishing with Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) and purseseine net s is normally practised everywhere in Sicily and the Pelagic Archipelago. T he fishing season starts in July when the FADs are placed and finishes in D ecember. In the 1996 fishing season, in 5 sample ports, catches and fishing effort were taken through interviews during landing, fishing running costs were taken by interviewing fishermen and prices per kilos paid to fisherme n were taken through direct observation. Catches, costs and profits per sam ple port, per week and for the entire fishing season were then calculated o r estimated. Though it is freshly marketed only in Sicily, the resource wou ld appear to provide a lucrative activity.