Fisheries management - introduction

what makes up fisheries management?

Data collection + analysis

Planning + making decisions/allocating resources

Forming + enforcing regulations

the body of fisheries management controls behaviors of the fishery’s ____________ with ______________ actions

stakeholders with management

the main goal of fisheries management is to ensure the continued productivity (_______________) of resources

sustainability

“fishery” as an activity

harvesting fish (wild capture or aquaculture)

“fishery” as a unit

a combination of people, species, location, fishing gear, boats, and purpose as determined by an authority that is engaged in raising or harvesting fish

“fishery” as a combination of fish and fishers

in the same region, fishing for the same species, using similar gear

a fisheries management authority is a body that makes decisions on how a fishery is operated, and is responsible for:

gathering and assessing statistics, monitoring, consulting with fishers/stakeholders, allocating resources, and regulating access

primary fisheries management authorities

NOAA (US)

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Canada)

ICCAT (international tuna mgmt)

fisheries management authority in VA

Marine Resources Commission

“fish stock” can describe…

a species or a population

“fish stock” as a discrete unit

an individual, self-sustaining population isolated from other stocks

stock assessment

scientific evaluation on the state of a resource (eg fish stock abundance) that can be simple or complex, but is usually very expensive

3 main factors in a stock assessment

stock size, potential yield, and exploitation status (over/under)

why are stock assessments usually performed?

to advise a management authority

biological objectives of fisheries management

conservation, stock rebuilding, protect rare species (and their ecosystem services)

economic objectives of fisheries management

maximize income/profits, minimize variability in income and catch, and lower prices

social objectives of fisheries management

provide food security, maximize employment, provide recreational value, support well being

political objectives of fisheries management

increase government income (taxes) and maintain consensus (votes from fishers)

how do managers reach objectives?

they set clear and measurable goals (sales, production, employment)

indicators

quantitative variables used to monitor success of objectives

targets

specific values managers want to indicators to be (MSY)

a management strategy (blueprint) includes

harvest strategies and rules to control it

a management strategy dictates

monitoring plan/setup, management actions, enforcement

what do managers do if SSB is below SSB_limit

suspend the fishery and institute a scientific monitoring quota until the limit is reached/exceeded

what do managers do if SSB is between SSB_limit and SSB_target

reduce fishing mortality (rebuilding phase)

what do managers do if SSB is greater than/equal to SSB_target

fish at target mortality rate F_target

HCR

Harvest Control Rule — dictates how to maintain a sustainable fishery

regulations imposed on a fishery to implement a management strategy to control fishing mortality when stock size gets too low include:

input — effort control (number of boats)

output — catch control (total allowable catch)

technical measures (mesh size, closure of fishery, seasonal closure to support reproduction)

the fisheries management cycle

society/politics set objectives

managers define strategy

scientists advise managers

phases of fisheries history

aboriginal phase: low exploitation (fishing for personal food)

colonial phase: systematic exploitation (trading fish)

industrialization: higher connectivity to transport products, seafood distribution capacity with tin cans, and demand for fertilizer

global period: intense and global exploitation leading to exhaustion and crashes of fisheries

historical pattern of exploitation (without management)

boom and bust:

development → fully exploited → overexploited → collapse → recovery

how did the abundance and catch size of Northern Cod respond to the increase in fishing mortality from the aboriginal to global phase of fishing?

Abundance decreased then recovered during the industrial phase, but crashed during the global period when the fishery collapsed.

Catch peaked as the fishery was over-exploited but crashed when it collapsed.

fishery science in the mid 19th century

some concern about the variability of populations and catch size

fishery science in the late 19th century

declared stocks inexhaustible and problems were left unexplained, but declines were evident to fishers

fishery science in the early 20th century

progress in understanding recruitment and predicting catch

fishery science WW1-70s

experiments on impact of fishing on stocks and development of fisheries models to recover populations

fishery science in the late 20th century

Internation cooperation in research and management, but predictive models were uncertain and fisheries collapsed. The science became more interdisciplinary (multiple different objectives)

fishery science in the 21st century

increase of conservation and ecology; focus more on the system as a whole instead of individual species