Download - Kirsty kemp silwood nov 19 2013

Marine management – a history of monumental failure, a future of

success?Dr Kirsty Kemp

Institute of Zoology,

Zoological Society of London,

Regent’s Park,

London, NW1 4RY

[email protected]

A whistle-stop tour of major fishery issues

1 Overfishing2 Bycatch3 Benthic community damage4 Expansion of fisheries 5 “Fishing down the food web”6 Non-compliance

Bycatch and discards

Benthic damage: ground gear

Trawling is on very roughterrain

Ground gear includes largerubber bobbins to help gearto be towed over obstructions

Used to be steel bobbins butrubber are more efficient

Benthic community damage

Octocorals ~2700 years old - recovery will be slow (~ 100 – 1000y)

Expansion: Fishing deeper

Time series of bottom fisheries catches by depth (Morato et al. 2005 Fish & Fisheries 7: 24-34)

Original slide: Alex Rogers

Expansion: Fishing seamounts

Seamounts difficult to fish

Require special gear and techniques to fish

Trawl doors modified to hold net open with minimal or no bottom contact

Shoals targeted with acoustics

Tow times very short (as little as15 minutes)


Expansion: Seamounts - unfished


Expansion: Seamounts - fished


Fishing down the foodweb

Pauly, D. et al (1998) Science, New Series, Vol. 279, No. 5352, 860-963

Non compliance: Move on rule

Scientific investigations for trawling indicate levels should be:

Management threshold levels set at:

75kg sponge2kg for large octocorals0.2kg for small octocorals

NEAFC – 1000kg sponge, 100kg live coralNAFO – 1000kg sponge, 60kg coralNPFC – 50kg coralCCAMLR – 10kg of VME taxa


Decision making and conflict resolution

Consensus-based decision making means that the interests of a few parties lead to poor decision making or a lack of timely decisions

Even where majority decisions are allowed members may not be bound by decisions if they register an objection

Lack of information is often used as an excuse for inaction instead of application of the precautionary principle

Lack of transparency

Lack of formal mechanisms for conflict resolution


A whistle-stop tour through ocean governance

1 Dividing up the ocean2 Regional fisheries management bodies3 International regulating bodies 4 Major policy documents

5 Shifts in ideology of management of natural resources6 Government regulation approach7 Economic incentive approach8 Market based approach (voluntary labeling)

9 One voluntary certification scheme – the MSC10 A case study

Dividing up the ocean

Territorial waters (defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) are coastal waters extending12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. Adjustment of these boundaries is called, in international law, maritime delimitation.

Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) is a sea zone over which a state has special rights to the exploration and use of marine resources. An EEZ stretches from the baseline of a coastal state (usually the mean low-water mark) out to 200 nautical miles.

International waters is any body of water that transcends international boundaries

Oceans, seas, and waters outside of national jurisdiction are also referred to as the high seas. Ships sailing the high seas are generally under the jurisdiction of the flag state however, when a ship is involved in certain criminal acts, such as piracy, any nation can exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction.

Regional fisheries management organisations

RFMOs are international organisations formed by countries with fishing interests in an area.

Some of them manage all the fish stocks found in a specific area, while others focus on particular highly-migratory species, notably tuna, throughout vast geographical areas.

They are open both to countries in the region (“coastal states”) and countries with interests in the fisheries concerned.

Some have a purely advisory role, but most have management powers to set catch and fishing effort limits, technical measures, and control obligations.

RFMOs

Reference: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/international/rfmo/

International advisory bodies

UN – United Nations (eg FAO, UNEP)

ICES – International Council for Exploration of the Sea coordinates research and advises management bodies such as the EU with respect to North Atlantic fisherieshttp://www.ices.dk/Pages/default.aspx

OSPAR – The OSPAR Convention is the current legal instrument guiding international cooperation on the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.http://www.ospar.org/

IWC – International Whaling Commission is the global intergovernmental body charged with the conservation of whales and the management of whaling.

And many more…

Major policy documents

1982 UNCLOS United Nations Law of the Sea Convention

– international agreement regulating conservation: MSY-based

1992 CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

-the only global agreement focusing on biodiversity management

1995 UNFSA United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement

– shift in emphasis: first global fisheries agreement requiring the precautionary approach to fisheries management

1995 UN FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

- Voluntary, includes detailed technical guidance for implementation of the precautionary approach

Shifts in management ideology

MSY Maximum sustainable yield

• The common fisheries policy – 1970s EU member states agreed that fishermen should share access and have common rules for fishing in each other’s waters. 1983 the CFP was created

• Tragedy of the Commons

• (2010) 88% of European stocks fished beyond sustainable levels, 30% close to collapse

Ecosystem-based fisheries management and the Precautionary Principle

• 2012 reform of the CFP: ecosystem-based fisheries management now obligatory








MSY

Cochrane, K.L., FAO Corporate Document Repository, A fishery manager’s guidebook Management Measures and Their Application, CHAPTER 5: THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN THE DESIGN OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES








Ecosystem-based management

Shifts in regulatory approach

Government regulation approach

Economic incentive approach

Market based approach (voluntary labeling)


In the past decade – explosion of voluntary certification and labeling schemes

• 1st party – firm certifies itself to its own standard

• 2nd party – standard is developed by an industry body that then certifies members to that standard

• 3rd party – standard is developed by a group at arm’s length from individual companies and the industry, and compliance is audited by independent organisations with no vested interest in the outcome

• Hybrid schemes

Forest sector, mineral sector, fisheries, organic agriculture, coffee, clothing..

Does it work?

Standard for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability

To carry the label every business in the supply chain must have undertaken a detailed traceability audit against the MSC Chain of Custody standard

An independent, global, non-profit organisation working to enhance responsible development of seafood resources

http://www.msc.org/

http://www.msc.org/

Fisheries (and seafood businesses) voluntarily seek certification

Assessments are carried out by independently accredited certifiers (‘third-party’)

• First party: an organisation, product or service meets standards it has set for itself

• Second-party: it meets standards established by peers, for example by an industry association

• Third-party (‘certification’): an independent assessment shows that the organisation, product or service meets standards that have been set by impartial experts.

• A certificate is issued to prove that the standard has been met.

http://www.msc.org/

http://www.natur.gl/index.php?L=3

Three core principles form the MSC fisheries standard: Principle 1: Sustainable fish stocks: The fishing activity must be at a level which is sustainable for the fish population. Any certified fishery must operate so that fishing can continue indefinitely and is not overexploiting the resources.

Principle 2: Minimising environmental impact: Fishing operations should be managed to maintain the structure, productivity, function and diversity of the ecosystem on which the fishery depends.

Principle 3: Effective management: The fishery must meet all local, national and international laws and must have a management system in place to respond to changing circumstances and maintain sustainability.

Fishery locationWest Greenland (NAFO sub-areas 1A-F and 0B)

• Inshore and offshore fleet• 35 small vessels • 12 factory vessels• otter trawls • TAC for west and east Greenland is 139,700 tonnes • The west Greenland fishery accounted for 127,300 tonnes (2008)

Fishing method: Otter trawls

Fishery management: Greenland Fishery Act through a series of regulations:

• Fishing licences • Fleet quotas • Access restrictions • Bycatch restrictions • Control measures, including logbooks, landing declarations, VMS (vessel monitoring system), an observer program• Technical conservation measures, e.g. minimum mesh size

Enforcement by Directorate of Fisheries (Greenland Fisheries Licence Control) • Track vessels, landing reports, and control the observer programme• Observers 60% of the offshore and inshore fleet with processing facilities on-board • 10% of the inshore fleet without processing facilities

Policing is carried out by the Control Unit and through at-sea inspections by (Danish) naval vessels. Vessels are inspected at sea around 2-3 times per year.

Since 2004 the TAC (total allowable catch) for the entire fishery has been set at 130,000 tonnes.

Commercial marketAll coldwater prawn product is exported. Product for domestic consumption is re-imported from Denmark.

Deep water shrimpPandalus borealis

Soft, muddy sediment 1-6°C 150-600 metresHermaphrodite: mature as a males at age ~2, mate for 2-3 years, then change sex and live the remainder of their lifespan as a female

Spawn in autumn Females carry the eggs until April/May Hatch into pelagic larvaeDay -feed on or near the bottomNight - migrate up to feed on zooplanktonheavily predated by ground fish and seals

Project made possible by

• SFG (Sustainable Fisheries Greenland) who initiated and fund the work• GINR (Greenland Institute of Natural Resources) who provide shiptime SFG and GINR – fisheries data

• 2011 - IoZ approached by SFG to develop a pilot study to assess Greenlandic benthos (part of MSC certification process)• Pilot study showed promise, agreed to undertake a 2 year project• Currently underway (June 2012- June 2014)

Primary Aim

• To assess what is there• To determine the impact, and historical impact, of trawling on the benthic habitat• To generate results and establish a survey system that will aid fisheries managers in monitoring benthic impact

Approach – 3 paths of research

1. Ecological survey of the benthos• What is there • How is it changing

2. Genetic analysis• What is there• Connectivity (genetic links between populations)

3. How to improve and reduce analysis cost• Machine learning towards automation of analysis• Building a tool for use by non-experts

Ecological survey of the benthos – camera survey

2011 & 2012• 25 days at sea• only 3 days lost to weather• 97 stations covering ~1400 km continental shelf

Ecological survey of the benthos – camera survey

Grab Sampling: 21 stations

Species identifications confirmed by:

TaxonomyExpert adviceGenetic analysis

Original slide: Chris Yesson

Analysis

• Fishing Impact Data

• Shannon Index

• Vulnerable Marine Organisms


Analysis

Results: what can we see so far

Original slide: Irina Chemshirova


In the past decade – explosion of voluntary certification and labeling schemes

• 1st party – firm certifies itself to its own standard

• 2nd party – standard is developed by an industry body that then certifies members to that standard

• 3rd party – standard is developed by a group at arm’s length from individual companies and the industry, and compliance is audited by independent organisations with no vested interest in the outcome

Forest sector. Mineral sector. Fisheries. Organic agriculture. Coffee. Clothing.

Does it work?

Student Debate Activity

Consumer power is more effective than government regulation in the management of shared natural resources

Yes No


All commercial fisheries should be legally obligated to enter into a 3rd party certification scheme such as MSC

Legal obligation to enter into MSC certification scheme would be detrimental to the integrity of the scheme itself

Yes No


Socio-economic concerns are disproportionately considered in the management of commercial fisheries

Yes No


It is appropriate for an independent research scientist to be paid with money that originates from “industry”

Yes No