Gaya and Chris - Spatial marine management

EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone

sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing living and non living resources of waters, seabed, and subsoil

Cod wars

British fishermen using waters near Iceland putting local fisheries in stress, intl boundaries and rights important to get sorted in this

Challenges of intl fisheries management

Shared stocks, species life history, overfishing and localized depletion, climate change, contested boundaries

transboundary stocks

cross EEZ of 2+ bordering coastal states

Straddling stocks

cross neighbouring EEZs & adjacent high seas

Highly migratory stocks

cross non-neighbouring EEZs & high seas

fisheries challenge climate change example

lobsters in NE have decreased in adult size, smaller, less eggs

High seas management

history of lots of conventions but depends mainly on willingness of flag states and vessel operators to follow sustainable practices

Management of transboundary & shared stocks

UN fish stocks agreement (1995), Regional commissions, intl whaling commission, High seas permits,

UN Fish Stocks Agreement (1995)

conservation and sustainable use of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks, based on precautionary approach, cooperation framework

MPAs

areas of marine environment protected from extractive impacts, a conservation tool, to preserve natural and cultural resources

MPA Challeneges

defining boundaries, size, connectivity, length of time for benefits to accure, increase predation risk, fisheries displacement, monitoring, governance, obtaining baseline ecological data, enforcement

Type I MPA

created under MRA 1971, preserve marine life for scientific study, contains scenery, unique, continued conservation is in national interest.

Type II MPA

created outside of MRA 1971, provide enough protection from adverse effects of fishing to meet MPA protection standard

other marine protection tools

Benthic protection areas, seamount area closures, marine mammal sactuaries

Mataitai Reserves

customary fishing regulations:

• places with special fishing grounds

• no commerical fishing

• tangata or maori guardians manage

• bylaws can be implemented

• ex. one at outer harbor

Taiāpure Local Fisheries (Fisheries Act 1996)

• areas of significance to iwi

• allow all types of fishing

• committee managed

• implement regulations

• ex. Chris on one for East Otago

Pāua

shelled snail cannot be taken from East Otago Taiāpure is protected, kelp also protected

s186A &s186B closures

• empower minister temporarily closes area of NZ waters

• 2 yrs max, prevent specific fishing methods, or of specific species

• respond to local depletion

Rāhui

• claim ownership

• post loss of life

• reset environmental health

• stock replenishment

• closure time varies

locally managed marine areas

• areas of nearshore environment

• managed via bottom up, adaptive approaches

• ex. Community Conservation Areas (WIO)

• examples in Indo-Pacific, Africa

Territorial Use Rights (TURFs)

• gives community exclusive rights to access marine resource (1yr to forever)

• promotes sustainable harvest, maintains fisheries

• ex. in Chile overfishing lead to legislation for TURFs, now 700 exist that help economy

minimum size limits

ensures juveniles reach adulthood, must be set above size of maturity (can’t be too small)

Maximum size limits

ensure large adults live to repopulate as long as possible (can’t be too big, not as common in NZ)

fecundity and gamete quality

the larger the female the better the quality and amount of eggs

prohibitions on harvesting particular individuals

taking only males for example of lobsters so females can reproduce with eggs, protects population stability

example: prohibitions on harvesting particular individuals

You manage a species that moults at random times of

the year. A freshly moulted individual is particularly

vulnerable to injury and you want to ensure these

individuals get the chance to grow into the next size

class.

example: Maximum Size Limit

You have a population of small young juveniles and

large older adults. The large old adults are the best

breeders in the population so you want to ensure that

they remain in the population for as long as possible

example: Minimum Size Limit

You have a population of small young juveniles and

large older adults. You want to ensure that the juveniles

reach adulthood (and preferably breed at least once)

before they are fished

example: Gear Restrictions

You have a population that are distributed from the

intertidal down to the shallow subtidal (approx. 10 m

depth). Individuals in deep water tend to be larger and

more numerous. You want these individuals to remain

your breeding stock

example: Temporal Closures

Every year the species that you are managing

aggregate to spawn for a period of 3 months. The

spawning aggregation can include up to 10,000

individuals so are economically efficient to fish

Temporal Closures

• should be coupled with other tools for effectiveness

• difficult to time and can shift fishing to other areas

example: Spatial Closures

The population that you manage has a high density of

individuals in an area that also has habitat vulnerable to

fishing.

example: Licensing/Permitting & Quota Systems

You are manging a stock and want to ensure that

fishermen are able to catch an economically profitable

amount that also ensures that the population remains

sustainable

quota management system (QMS)

• largely single species

• maximum sustainable yield, total allowable catch (# total fish per year)

• provide for use of fisheries resources while ensuring sustainability

Ecosystem based management

• single species to ecosystem approach

• species linkages, values, impact, changes

• balance objectives of fishing demands and industry with ensuring sustainability

maximum sustainable yield

largest average catch that can continuously be taken from a population over indefinite period of time

total allowable catch (TAC)

total quantity that can be taken sustainably each year