Lecture 22 - Introduction to Fisheries Management $

What is fisheries management

“The integrated process of information gathering, analysis, planning, consultation, decision-making, allocation of resources and formulation and implementation, with enforcement as necessary, of regulations or rules which govern fisheries activities in order to ensure the continued productivity of the resources and the accomplishment of other fisheries objectives.” -FAO technical guidelines

Who is a Fisheries Management Authority?

Broadly used term

Legal entity which has been designated by the State as having mandate to perform specified management functions

In practice:

• National or provincial ministry, a department within a ministry, or an agency

• Could be governmental, parastatal, or private

In case of shared resources, should be international (as in FAO technical guidelines)

What are the working principles of fisheries management?

Principle 1: Sustainability of the Stock

Principle 2: Ecosystem Impacts

Principle 3: Effective Management

Fisheries Management: need to have goals and objectives

Often related to stock assessment “Reference Points”

MSY, Fmsy, MEY

• Sustainable use: “The use of the components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations.” (Convention on Biological Diversity 1993)

Goals of Fishery Management Divided into Four Main Categories

Biological

• To maintain the target species at or above the levels necessary to ensure their continued productivity

Ecological

• To minimize the impacts of fishing on the physical environment and on non-target (bycatch), associated and dependent species

Economic

• To maximize the net incomes of the participating fishers

Social

• To maximize employment opportunities for those dependent on the fishery for their livelihoods

what are the two types of management?

“Input” / Effort controls

• Gear

• Access limitations - privatization schemes and user rights

“Output” / Catch controls

• Total catch

• Species caught

• Size of specific species

What are some technical and ecological controls

Space restrictions

• on simply on spawning ground locations, or other similar data

  • I.e., rather than on a specific desire to limit effort

Time restrictions

• Again, based simply on ecological or population dynamics data, independent of what is known about fishery

  • E.G. closed fishing during spawning or migration

what are the different Environmental Policy Modes for Resource Management

Command Based

• Clean Water Act

  • Enacted inn 1948 -> modern form in 1972

  • Primary federal law in the US governing water pollution

  • Restore and maintain chemical, physical, and biological integrity of nation’s waters

  • Preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources

  • Improvement of waste water treatment

  • September 2019 – repeal of Obama-era clean water regulation that had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands.

  • November 2021 – Biden administration restores federal protections

  • Regulations weakened by Trump administration

Community Based

• Shark Reef Marine Reserve

• Established in 2004

• Diver-user fees

• Self-sustaining and profitable

• Bottom-up approach

• 2007 Shark corridor

• Fish wardens

• 2014 First National Park

What is discarding in fisheries

Discarding constitutes a substantial waste of resources and negatively affects the sustainable exploitation Fishers discard because:

• the fish is smaller than the legal size

• the fisher does not have a quota for it

• the fish is of low market value

• the fish is damaged

• it is prohibited to catch that species

Landing obligation

• Introduced in 2015

• Fully in force since January 2019

Its goal is to eliminate discards by encouraging fishers to fish more selectively and to avoid unwanted catches