Post on 24-Jan-2016
description
Robert ArlinghausRobert Arlinghaus
EIFAC, Sub-Commission IV, WP Recreational Fisheries
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Adaptfish-Project, Berlin, Germany
Inland Fisheries Management Laboratory, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
A Global Code of Practice for
Recreational Fisheries: an Initiative by EIFAC
European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission (EIFAC)
• Statuary body of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
• Inter-governmental networking forum linking policy-makers, managers and scientists working on inland fisheries and aquaculture
• Scientific work undertaken in Working Parties led by specialists from member countries
Why recreational fisheries? Because it is important and widespread
• Average participation rate: 10.6%• Hotspots: Scandinavia, Australia, Eastern Europe, North
AmericaArlinghaus & Cooke 2009). In: Dickson et al. (eds.), Blackwell Science
Social, economic and ecological importance
1. Most important direct user of freshwater fish stocks (Arlinghaus & Cooke 2005, Science)
2. Feeds a multi-billion industry (Arlinghaus et al. 2002, Fish Fish.)
3. Incentives and engagement in fish conservation (Granek et al., 2008, Cons. Biol.)
4. Overlooked potential for biological impacts (harvesting, stocking)
Increasingly noticed biological impacts of recreational harvesting
Rainbow trout:1960-1980, CPUE 5.6 -> 0.25 fish/h,Total effort doubled
Walleye:1980-1990CPUE 0.25 -> 0.02 fish/ha
Pike:1960-1990CPUE 0.4 -> 0.04 fish/h
Younger, larger fluctuations in year class strenght
Bioscience
Fisheries
Science
Science
Changes in structural attributes of the fish stock
23.3
15.3
15.5
5.1
5.5
0
39.5
43.5
25.4
3.4
1.4
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Zreizal
Banzao
Tablizas
Moal
Naviego
Gedrez
Na
me
de
r G
ew
äs
se
rstr
ec
ke
in
Sp
an
ien
Prozent am Gesamtfischbestand
Brown trout > age 4Brown trout of „large“ size
data: Braña et al. (1992), Hydrobiologia
Exploited
Unexploited
Fish
ery
Low frequency of large and old individuals in heavily exploited stocks (catch-and-kill fishery)
Relative frequency (%)
Potential impacts of stocking
Hoch
Competition(intraspecific, interspecific)
Predation(mostly top-predators stocked)
Introduction of novel pathogens(Gyrodactylus salaris; Anguillicola crassus, KHV, viruses and bacteria)
Loss of genetic variability(introgression, outbreeding depression)Lewin, Arlinghaus & McPhee (2008), In: Aas, Arlinghaus et al., Blackwell
Science
A major problem throughout the world (Johnson et al. 2008, Front. Ecol. Evol.)
Often illegal introduction by anglers or live release from bait buckets (Johnson, Arlinghaus & Martinez, 2009, Fisheries)
Introduction of exotic species and genotypes
Radical Calls
Pressing issues for the future
• Ethics and values – fish welfare, public attitudes towards fishing, conservation values, behaviour of a minority of fishers etc. result in intersectoral conflicts
• Intrasectoral conflicts - Horizontal conflicts between stakeholders, vertical conflicts between authorities and users
• Fishery declines and sustainability - recreational fishing sector has potential to negatively affect fish and fisheries
• Stocking - meeting environmental goals and fishers can mean conflicting demands in more natural water bodies
• Non-native species - detrimental effects from the stocking of non-native fish for recreation
Codes of Practice in Recreational Fisheries
• Exist in some countries for local, regional or even national application produced either by fisheries authorities or NGOs (e.g., Nordic Angler Association)
• Need for more international agreement on good practice expressed at various World Recreational Fishing Conferences, starting in 1996 in Dublin (Hickley 1998)
EIFAC Working Party Publications
• Output of Working Party on Recreational Fisheries
• English is official version, but is being translated by volunteers into other languages (currently available French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese)
• Experts of 17 different nations ranging from mangers, scientists, NGOs and avid anglers collaborated under the leadership of the WP on Recreational Fisheries
• Consultation workshop in November 2007 at the Dutch Sport Fishing Organization
• Endorsed in May 2008 by EIFAC
The drafting process
Rationale
• Recreational fishing the most important user of most inland fish stocks and many coastal ones in industrialized countries (Arlinghaus et al. 2002, Fish Fish.)
• Diversity in fisheries types but similar rights and plight• Largely overlooked in international policy on fisheries
and sustainable fisheries management
A Global Code of Practice for Recreational Fisheries needed to complement the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO 1995) with the specifics of recreational fisheries
Role of a Code of Practice Cowx & Arlinghaus, 2008, In: Aas et al. (eds), Blackwell
Publ.
National animal welfare legislation
National environmental legislation
National fisheries legislation
International agreements and
conventions
Regional fisheries regulations
Local fisheries management, angler behaviour, conflicts
Code of Practice
Code of Practice
Code of Practice
• Works from assumption that recreational fisheries is a legitimate activity providing a vital source of benefits and well-being for people and ecosystems
• Acknowledges the importance of the recreational fisheries sector to help society in conserving and enhancing aquatic habitats
• Code of Practice designed to outline a minimum standards for environmentally friendly, ethically appropriate and, depending on local conditions, socially acceptable recreational fishing globally
• Is entirely voluntary and generic enough to fit alongside national legislation and regional best practice guidelines
Framework of the Code of Practice
Overarching goals Cowx & Arlinghaus (2008), In: Aas et al. (eds),
Blackwell
• To increase awareness of recreational fisheries in the policy arena
• To increase acceptance of the sector as a major player in the world’s fisheries
• To improve management and development of recreational fisheries
• To improve the image of recreational fisheries within society
• To promote sustainable recreational fisheries
• To serve as a reference document to guide institutional and policy frameworks nationally and internationally
• To promote international exchange of knowledge and stimulate discussion
• To facilitate cooperation among researchers, managers and NGOs
• To “prepare” the recreational fisheries sector to burgeoning threats (e.g., animal liberation and rights movement)
Specific objectives (Arlinghaus et al., Fisheries, in review)
The Challenge of a Generic Definition
Definition: Recreational fishing is fishing of aquatic animals that do not constitute the individual’s primary resource to meet nutritional needs and are not generally sold or otherwise traded on export, domestic or black markets (EIFAC 2008)
Structure: 13 Articles
4: General Principles
5: Env. Stewardship 6: Instit. Framework
9: Fish Welfare 10: Stakeholder Inter.
7: Compliance, Enforc. 8: Fishing Practice
11: Mgmt. 12: Research 13: Aware., Educ.
2: Objectives 3: Implement. + Upd.1: Nature & Scope
LogicArticle 1: Nature and Scope
Article 2: Objectives
Article 3: Implementation and Updating
INTRODUCTION
Article 4: General Principles
Article 5: Environmental Stewardship And Ethics
VALUES
POLICYArticle 6: Policy and Institutional Frameworks
Article 7: Compliance and Enforcement
TECHNICAL SUBSTANCEArticle 8: Recreational Fishing Practice
Article 9: Fish Welfare
Article 10: Stakeholder Interactions
Article 11: Management
NEW KNOWLEDGEArticle 12: Research
Article 13: Awareness, Education and TrainingPROMOTION and
EDUCATION
• Hierarchical structure
• From the general to the particular
• Keys are the articles on Technical Substance and New Knowledge
Arlinghaus et al. (2010), Fish. Magmt. Ecol.
Articles 1-3: Introduction
• Scope (voluntary, recreational fisheries sector, EIFAC)
• Objectives statement as outlined before• Authority for updating of the Code in the future
1: Nature & Scope
2: Objectives
3: Implement.& Updating
Articles 4 and 5: Values
• To protect, promote and encourage access to recreational fishing
• To ensure sustainable use, conservation and management of recreational fisheries
• To avoid irreversible, costly or slowly reversible changes to aquatic biodiversity
• To avoid conflicts with commercial fisheries and other users of aquatic ecosystems
• To raise awareness that recreational fisheries can impact on fish stocks and aquatic ecosystems and encourage actions to minimize such impacts through best practice• Environmental stewardship: moral obligation to care for
aquatic environments and the actions undertaken to provide that care
4: General Principles 5: Env. Stewards
Articles 6 and 7: Policy
• Governments, administrations and decision-makers should:
- establish policy and regulatory frameworks for the management of recreational fisheries
- provide resources and mechanisms for enforcement of rules and regulations
- ensure that the recreational fisheries sector is involved in other activities related to aquatic ecosystem management, conservation and planning
- provide the mechanisms to settle conflicts
6: Instit. Framework 7:Compl., Enforc.
LogicArticle 1: Nature and Scope
Article 2: Objectives
Article 3: Implementation and Updating
INTRODUCTION
Article 4: General Principles
Article 5: Environmental Stewardship And Ethics
VALUES
POLICYArticle 6: Policy and Institutional Frameworks
Article 7: Compliance and Enforcement
TECHNICAL SUBSTANCEArticle 8: Recreational Fishing Practice
Article 9: Fish Welfare
Article 10: Stakeholder Interactions
Article 11: Management
NEW KNOWLEDGEArticle 12: Research
Article 13: Awareness, Education and TrainingPROMOTION and
EDUCATION
• Hierarchical structure
• From the general to the particular
• Keys are the articles on Technical Substance and New Knowledge
Arlinghaus et al. (2010), Fish. Magmt. Ecol.
Article 8: Recreational Fishing Practices
• Detailed, yet mostly common-sense, provisions related to
– Safety while fishing– Fish stocks (e.g. not take more than needed, not
leave gear unattended, where feasible – gill nets, traps exceptions)
– Litter (e.g. do not litter and remove litter from others)
– Environment and habitats (e.g. not illegally stock or transfer live fish, avoid damage to vegetation, avoid disturbance of waterfowl)
8: Fishing Pract.
Article 9: Fish Welfare
• Focuses on what happens to the individual fish• No reference to contentious issues such as pain and
suffering• Function-based definition: good welfare means that
an individual fish is in good health, with its biological systems functioning properly and with no impairment of fitness
9: Fish Welfare
Provisions in the Code
B. Catch-and-release, voluntary or manadatory
A. Live baitfish, killing process
C. Holding fish alive, weigh-in
Article 10: Stakeholder Interactions
• Emphasises often-overlooked basic principles such as:
- To understand that some human activities have priority over recreational fishing
- To respect the values and perspectives of other stakeholders
- To respect the rights of land owners- To respect other people’s privacy at the fishing
site- To work cooperatively to resolve conflicts
10: Stakeholder Interact.
Article 11: Management
• Emphasizes basic management principles such as
– Ecosystem approach – Precautionary approach
11: Mgmt.
Article 11: Management
• Emphasizes basic management principles such as
– Ecosystem approach – Precautionary approach– Structured management process by
identification of goals and measurable objectives– Adaptive management though monitoring and
evaluation of actions– Decisions based on the best available science
11: Mgmt.
Learning &Adaptation
Improvement of
policies
Governance regime & institutional settings
Adaptive learning and management
Article 11: Management
• Emphasizes basic management principles such as
– Ecosystem approach – Precautionary approach– Structured management process by
identification of goals and measurable objectives– Adaptive management though monitoring and
evaluation of actions– Decisions must be based on the best available
science– Management at three levels: people, fish,
environment
11: Mgmt.
• Size limits• Creel limits and harvest quotas• Season limits• Area restrictions (sanctuaries)• Gear restrictions• Prevention of stocking Stocking Habitat enhancement Fish removal
People
Fish, habitats
Management toolbox
Account for a diverse fishing clientele, manage for diversity (no panaceas)
Johnston, Arlinghaus, Dieckmann, 2010, Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.
020406080
100
Generic
0 25 50 75 100
Consumptive
Minimum-size limit (cm)
Nu
mb
er o
f an
gli
ng
lic
ense
s
Trophy Mixed anglers
0 25 50 75 100
020406080
100
Article 12: Research12: Research
• Emphasizes the need for cooperation between researchers and local stakeholders, e.g. to identify research questions
• Highlights multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of recreational fisheries research, specifically the need to integrate natural and social sciences
• Emphasizes the need for standardised monitoring programmes of fish and fisher dynamics to enable timely and well-grounded management responses
• Emphasizes need to document knowledge in published form
Article 13: Awareness, Education and Training 13: Awareness, Educ.
• To disseminate new information, policies and regulations to the fishing public
• To communicate recent advances in recreational fisheries science objectively
• To invest funds for education and outreach programs
• To promote awareness of the CoP internationally and development of more specific regional and local codes (e.g. tailored towards particular fish species)
Summary and Outlook
• Framework that describes minimum standard of best practice principles, approaches and actions
• Useful for policy makers, NGOs, recreational fishing industry, managers and scientists as a communication tool for best practices
• May develop into a tool to facilitate assessment of recreational fisheries
• To be viable, it needs to be adopted by the international community and applied nationally and regionally and possibly further developed to meet regional specifics
• Technical Guidelines for Recreational Fisheries will be drafted under the auspices of FAO in 2011 to provide more substance to the rather densely-written and rather generic principles of the Code
Acknowledgements
• Raymon van Anrooy (FAO) for encouragement and drive for funding
• Financial support from the Central Fisheries Board in Ireland (Joe Caffrey), the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Arjo Rothuis), the Dutch Recreational Fishing Association (Fret Bloot) and the Adaptfish-Project (www.adaptfish.igb-berlin.de)
• 28 participants at international workshop in Bilthoven (The Netherlands) in November 2007 and EIFAC experts for their constructive feedback on earlier drafts
• The organizers of this symposium for the invitation!
Access to the Document
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0363e/i0363e00.pdf