THE CONFLICT BETWEEN STATIC GEAR AND MOBILE … · Inshore fisheries - complex regulations The...

THE CONFLICT BETWEENSTATIC GEAR AND MOBILE

GEAR IN INSHORE FISHERIES

Michel J Kaiser

04/09/2014 1

Structure of presentation

• Regulatory context• Diversity of inshore fisheries• Sources and evidence of conflict• Pros and cons of different fishing techniques• Performance and selectivity• Environmental impacts• Potential solutions

The conflict between static gear and mobile gear in inshore fisheries 204/09/2014

Inshore fisheries - complex regulations

The conflict between static gear and mobile gear in inshore fisheries 3

EU regulations

National regulations

Localregulations

12 nm6 nm

Land

200 nm

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Inshore fisheries characterised as ‘small-scale coastalfleets’, mostly <12 m and <10 m vessels


Small-scale coastal fleet = 55% of total EU vessels, 6% in gross tonnage,25% in engine power, c. 52,000 FTEs (excluding Greece, Cyprus, Estonia,STECF 2013).

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Inshore fisheries – diverse fishing gear types


a b

dc

Towedgears

Staticgears

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Sources of conflict

• Competition for the same biological resourceusing different fishing techniques

• Competition for access to same area of the seato fish for different target species

Examples: Baltic cod net fishery, Greek recreational and commercial

fishers, UK static (crustacea) and mobile gear (scallopers and trawlers)


Conflict between trap fishers and mobile gear


Attitudes of mobile and static gear fishers to an inshore rotational management regimedemonstrate the dichotomy between the sectors

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Comparison of different gears

Advantages Disadvantages

Pot Low energy use and low habitat impactSelective (species and size)Flexible and transportableHigh catch quality, live bycatch

Low capture efficiency for many speciesGhost fishing of lost pots

Gill-net Low energy useFlexible and easily portableSize selectiveRelatively cheap to manufacture

Labour intensiveCatch quality a concernCapture of non-target speciesGhost-fishing of lost nets

Long-line Low energy use (depends)Minimal habitat impactFlexible and portableSpecies selective, good catch quality

Labor intensive, time consumingBycatch of non-target species (e.g. turtles)Snagging on benthic epifaunaAvailability and price of bait

Bottomseine

Relatively low energy useReduced sea bed impacts (light gear)Operation on smaller fishing groundsGood catch quality

Operation limited to cleaner grounds and shallowerdepths.Not effective for non-herding animals such asshrimp.

Bottomtrawl

Effective and reliableVersatile

Seabed impacts, fuel consumption, bycatch, costs,catch quality


Any fishing activity has some form of impacton the marine environment


The majority ofstudies of staticgears have focusedon by-catch, veryfew have studieddirect physicalimpacts on theseabed and itsassociatedcommunities

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Selectivity and efficiency of different fleets


VESSEL SEGMENT

AVERAGEVESSELLENGTH

(m)

ANNUALLANDINGS

PER VESSEL(t)

% OFTOTAL

DISCARDS

% OFQUOTA

DISCARDS

<10 m drift/fixed nets 8 21.6 16.7 6.0

<10 m demersal trawl/seine 10 27.0 16.7 5.9

Area VIIb-k trawlers 10-24 m 13 74.8 16.7 6.0

N.Sea beam trawlers<300 kW 14 74.9 15.6 5.7

N.Sea Nephrops<300 kW 14 90.9 22.6 8.1

Performance of towed gear and static gear approaching parity for some fleets

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Performance in relation to the number ofdiscards has improved for trawl fisheries


Num

bers

Reasons:

• Large reductions infishing mortality

• Reductions in fleet size

• More selective gear

• Lack of any big yearclasses

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Secondary effects of fishing gear on the seabed


The main environmental impact of towed gear is the physical contact withthe seabed leading to abrasion of habitats and associated communities

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Effects of towed gear on the physicalenvironment of the seabed


100 m

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Inshore fisheries can affect deep seaenvironments in some parts of Europe


In some areas of Europe trawlfisheries occur in habitats thatexperience low levels of naturaldisturbance.

These habitats are them moresensitive to fishing activities

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Inshore areas are subject to frequent naturaldisturbances


The majority ofinshore fisheriesoccur in shallowwaters subject to highlevels of naturaldisturbance.

These habitats havevarying levels ofresilience to fishingactivities

Scallopdredgemarks

Adjacentunfishedseabed

with sandwaves

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Some seabed environments arehighly mobile = resilient

Others are stable = sensitive

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• Fishing is not uniformlydistributed

• Some areas are not fishedby gear that impact theseabed

• In the NE Atlantic thefootprint is diminishing

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The distribution of fishing activity for >15 m vessels fishing off the coast of Sicily. The fishingactivity is highly aggregated and consistent between years. Note that large areas of the seaare not subjected to fishing. The stippled area close to the coast delineates the 50 m depthcontour within which no trawling is permitted. Although the Gulf of Patti is an area entirelyclosed to fishing (within the black line) there is clear evidence that fishers infringe the area tofish down the canyons that occur within this area.

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As soon as we add colour to amap we embed an impressionthat much more of the seabed isfished

100% VMS coverageof all vessels fishing around theIsle of Man

Current EU legislation impedesaccess to this informationleading to errors in advice aboutenvironmental impacts

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Impacts of different fishing gears vary with habitat and context

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Trawling intensity (y-1)

Pro

du

ctio

n (

g W

W m

-2y-

1)

Bio

mas

s (g

WW

m-2

)

Tidal stress highWave erosion high

Tidal stress highWave erosion high

Tidal stress lowWave erosion low

Tidal stress lowWave erosion low

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VMS has enabled us to test model predictions in the field

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Blyth et al. 2004 – mobile epifaunaBlyth et al. 2004 – sessile epifaunaHermsen et al. 2003Beukema 1995

0 2 4 6 8

Years

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

Biomass ratio

Understanding initial impacts is only half the story: post-fishing recovery isthe most important factor for managers

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Investment inscience meanswe can maphabitat resilienceand hencemanage fishingimpacts on targetspecies and onhabitat features.

This hasimportantimplication forGES and theMSFD.

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What do we know about the impact of bottomset static gear on seabed communities?

• Coleman et al. 2013 – Inshore trap gear, noeffects detected – pseudoreplicated study

• Eno et al. 2000 – Inshore trap gear, no effectsdetected, study not replicated adequately

• Heifetz et al. 2009 – trap and long-line gear,effects detected on sensitive fauna, inferentialstudy but well analysed


Recommendations• Rebuilding fisheries using FMSY

• Quantifying the footprint of inshore fisheries• Understanding static gear impacts on the seabed• Understanding what is impacted by inshore

fisheries• Improving communication between different

inshore fishery sectors• Reduce the ghost-fishing potential of static gear• Technical innovation to reduce physical contact

with the seabed• Integrated fisheries management for scallop and

static gear fisheries


Values used to calculate Energy Return OnInvestment (EROI) ratio of scallops from theRamsey Bay fishery.


0.056

0.038

0.0191 Landings (kg) 23400

2 Average meat yield 20.24%

3 = ( 1 x 2 ) Total meat yield (kg) 4727

4 Protein content scallops(1) 16.7%

5 = ( 3 x 4 ) Edible protein from fishery (kg) 790

6 Fuel use (l) 12636

7 Specific gravity diesel (kg / l) 0.83

8 = ( 6 x 7 ) Fuel use (kg) 10487

9 = ( 5 / 8 ) EROI 0.075

04/09/2014

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN STATIC GEAR AND MOBILE … · Inshore fisheries - complex regulations The...

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