Management plans for Natura 2000 sites - an area for combined ecological/economic advice?

Management plans for Natura 2000 sites - an area for combined

ecological/economic advice?

Ralf Döring

University of Greifswald

Overview

• Natura 2000 – New tool for nature conservation– Economic perspective

– Network in Germany’s coastal waters and EEZ

• Fisheries economics and the ecosystem approach – Background

– Experiences

• Management plans in Natura 2000 sites• Conclusions/Outlook

Ralf Döring, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald 550 Years1456-2006

FAME WorkshopJune 6-8

2007

Natura 2000 – New tool for nature conservation

• EU Bird- and Flora Fauna Habitat-Directive defines species

and habitats which are to preserve

• Obligation of member states to designate areas

• Six years after designation the status of species and habitats

must be reviewed

• If some degradation happend further restrictions on activities



2007

Natura 2000 – Economic perspective

• Weak Sustainability

– Overall capital stock, Measuring benefits and costs of individual projects

(sand and gravel removal, fishing, wind parks) => ‚relative scarcity‘, ‚efficient investments‘



2007

• Strong Sustainability– Preservation of a certain amount of ‚natural capital‘ to preserve

ecological services, long-term resource use‚absolut scarcity‘, efficient resource use‘

Natura 2000 – Economic perspective

• Switch from the ‚normal‘ case of Cost-Benefit-Analysis to

setting of limits to the use of resources/areas/ species etc.

• Natura 2000 sites: minimum level necessary to preserve

‚unsubstitutable‘ ecological services

• Role of Economics

– Limits set target reference points (standards)

– Economists shall calculate efficient ways to hold the limits

– Fisheries will phase restrictions on fishing practice in

Natura 2000 sites => opportunity costs?



2007

Natura 2000 sites – North Sea

SPA (Birds)

FFH-Directive

Source: www.habitatmarenatura2000.de

Natura 2000 sites – Baltic Sea

SPA (Birds)

FFH-Directive

Source: www.habitatmarenatura2000.de

Fisheries economics and the ecosystem-based-approach - Background

• Multi-species-models

• Optimisation models (long-term yields)

• Interactions between fish stocks and the environment (pollution?)



2007

Herring Sprat

Cod Salmon

Seals

Human

Juvenile Cod

Mysidaceen 0-Group Herring

Big zooplankton0-Group Sprat

0-Group Cod

Cod eggsSmall zooplankton

Phytoplankton & Bacteria

Nutrients

Other fish species feeding plankton

Mysidaceen 0- 0- 0-

Phytoplankton


Source: Döring et al. 2005


• Multi-species-models

• Optimisation models (long-term yields)

• Interactions between fish stocks and the environment (pollution?)

• Sustainable fisheries



2007

Sustainable Fisheries

Stock perspective• Precautionary approach (Bpa,

Blim, minimum stock size)

• Long-term management plans

• Recovery of overused stocks

Ecosystem perspective• External Effects – Measurement

• Opportunity costs of fishing methods

• Preserving ecosystem services

Combined ecological/economic research!



2007

Fisheries economics and the ecosystem-based-approach - Experiences

Typical Quote - Economist

„Why we should care about the environment? We careabout the fishing sector, the fishermen, human activities

and nothing else.“



2007


Typical Quote - Ecologist

„Why should we care about fishermen? We care about the fish stocks, the environment. Fisheries ruin the ecosystems.“



2007

• Problem: How to reach a sustainable Baltic Cod fishery (overused stock, many external effects (esp. bird bycatch)?

• Two phase strategy developed in a paper: – recover the cod stock as most necessary action for Baltic

Cod, – afterwards switch to longlines as fishing method with few

negative ecological consequences (then economically possible)

• Result: Sustainable Fishery (healthy stock, few negative externalities)?

• Reviewer: I‘m deeply worried about using a single-species approach when you want to describe an ecosystem-based-approach – you need a multi-species-model!




2007

Herring Sprat

Cod Salmon

Seals

Human

Juvenile Cod

Mysidaceen 0-Group Herring

Big zooplankton0-Group Sprat

0-Group Cod

Cod eggsSmall zooplankton

Phytoplankton & Bacteria

Nutrients

Other fish species feeding plankton

Mysidaceen 0- 0- 0-

Phytoplankton


Remember!

Management plans in Natura 2000 sites

• Natura 2000 sites in German waters need management plans in a few years

• Debate started what and how to manage• Lack of data on many ecological conse-

quences of fishing– Bird bycatch– Marine Mammal bycatch– Exact fishing grounds of fishing with trawls– Etc.



2007

Fishing effort and bird densities

Clangula hyemalis density and gill nets


Trawling in sensitive habitats

Sensitive habitats at Kriegers Flak

Trawling tracks

Sand and gravel areas


Trawling in sensitive habitats

Fishing effort by Germanvessels in the ICES rectangles

38G3


• Suggestion: Few negative impacts of trawling in 38 G3 and Kriegers Flak but

some change in fishing practice seems necessary to reach the goals

=> Opportunity Costs!

Example: Cod fishery again – fishing methods and costs




2007

Fishing methods and external effectsTable 1. External effects of different fishing methods in Baltic Sea fisheries (Döring et al., 2005)

Bycatch of Fishing Gear

Undersized Specimens of

Target Species

Non-target Species

Birds and Marine

Mammals

Negative Consequences

for Overall Ecosystem

Gill net Low Low, for carefully selected fishing places

Partially high, use of pinger (i.e., sound device) hardly successful

Low, because used in open water

Trap net Low, but greater than with gill nets

No real problem because bycatch survives

Traps must be covered, little information about bycatch of marine mammals

Low, because of fixed position

Longlines Low Low, in most cases

Problematic in some fisheries

Low

Pelagic trawl

Depends on mesh sizes, low survival rate of escaped fishes

Problematic in some areas, e.g. cod bycatch in the Baltic Sea

Low Low

Bottom trawl

High, because escape windows or mesh sizes are inadequate to avoid bycatch

High, because all fishes in front of the ground rope are caught (up to 95%)

Low High, destruction of seabed, plowing of ocean floors, leveling of structural elements etc.

Fishing methods – Longlines vs. Trawls

Table 2. Fishing costs estimates for Baltic Sea cod fisheries based on the 2004 EU target fleet size (Döring et al., 2005)*

Fishing Gear Annual Landings (tonnes) Fishing Costs (Euros per tonne)

1 Bottom trawl 25,000 1,700

2 Bottom trawl 50,000 1,200

3 Bottom trawl 150,000 850

4 Longlines 150,000 1,000

*Estimation of costs compared to allowed landings (row 1 and 2: recovery phase, row 3 + 4: after recovery, stock above Bpa

• Problem: Some change in fishing practice seems necessary to reach the goals – > Opportunity Costs!

• Solutions: – 1. Calculation of these opportunity costs (research planned

with commercial fishing vessels)– 2. If Opportunity Costs are severe payments for fishermen

who avoid external effects (like agri-environmental schemes) – Impossible at the moment

– 3. Certification possible? Selling of fish from these areas under a certain label.




2007

Conclusions/Outlook

• Impact assessments are the first joint efforts in STECF – problems on both sites

• Work ont joined environmental and economic goals (stock levels, less negative impacts, etc.) with an idea about the future of fishing fleets

• Natura 2000 managment plans will be a field of joint advice

• It takes some time to learn at least the basics of biology/ecology as economists and vice versa

• More complex models may not be the solution!



2007

Thank you very much!

Management plans for Natura 2000 sites - an area for combined ecological/economic advice?

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