Constantine Alexander's Journal: ITQs/Catch Shares

ITQs/Catch Shares

11/04/2017

A solution to fisheries overharvesting

U of G researchers have developed a model that allows fisheries to net enough to meet rising consumer demand while ensuring adequate income and replenishment of natural stocks.

There are fewer fish in the sea - literally. Consumer demand and inadequate scientific information has led to overharvesting, reducing fish species and fish stocks around the world. But University of Guelph researchers have identified a possible solution. They have developed a model that allows fisheries to net enough to meet rising consumer demand while ensuring adequate income and replenishment of natural stocks. The research was published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We know fish are getting rarer," said John Fryxell, a U of G integrative biology professor and lead author of the paper.

Many commercial fisheries are threatened by overharvesting. For example, the collapse of once-abundant cod stocks in the North Atlantic led to a federal fishing moratorium on the species in the 1990s. Managers and fisheries are hampered by a lack of information, from overall population numbers to data on how fast fish grow and reproduce. As the global population increases and demand for fish protein rises - particularly in developing countries - more fisheries are chasing smaller fish populations in hopes of recouping higher prices for their efforts. This further threatens fish stocks that are already being over-exploited, Fryxell said. Finding the "sweet spot" - where the world's fisheries can function all the while protecting natural fish stocks - was the goal of the new model.

"It gives fisheries and conservation managers a tool for balancing those competing demands," he said.

They developed the model using information about landed fish catches and prices for any species to determine by how much a given fishery has been overharvested. Basically, the model encourages fisheries to reduce short-term harvests in order to realize higher long-term yields without sacrificing economic return.

"The model is based on the premise that it's just as profitable to have high catches and low prices as high prices and lower catches," said Fryxell.

That strategy also helps ensure a more sustainable fishery over the long term, he said. Supportive policy changes might include introducing tariffs that make it less profitable to fish low-yielding, high-priced species. Or managers might encourage fish farming to provide alternative protein sources and push down prices of wild stocks, he said.

"We'd have a better world where the fishery is making money, and we're feeding more people with more fish in the ocean."

The research also connects the world's fisheries with U of G's Food From Thought project, Fryxell said.

"It's Food From Thought in a renewable rather than a managed context - how choices impact production, how we manage to make production more sustainable and still provide enough food." Co-authors are integrative biology professor Kevin McCann and other researchers at University of Guelph, McGill University, the University of Washington, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Citation: John M. Fryxell, Ray Hilborn, Carling Bieg, Katrine Turgeon, Amanda Caskenette & Kevin S. McCann; Supply and demand drive a critical transition to dysfunctional fisheries; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1705525114.

Contact: Prof. John Fryxell
University of Guelph

Posted at 05:02 AM in Environmental Disasters, Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

06/01/2017

Restored ocean will alleviate poverty, provide jobs, and improve health.

With climate change and social inequity addressed, restoring the ocean will help alleviate poverty, provide livelihoods, and improve the health of millions around the world. Credit: Lindsay Lafreniere.

A healthy ocean will benefit global sustainable development in a number of ways, finds a new report published today by the Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program. With climate change and social inequity addressed, restoring the ocean will help alleviate poverty, provide livelihoods, and improve the health of millions around the world.

"The challenges--both environmental and socioeconomic--that confront our oceans have reached a critical level," said Yoshitaka Ota, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Director of Policy. "This report demonstrates how ocean sustainability holds the key not only to our future prosperity but also for our survival from a comprehensive science-based perspective."

Developed in preparation for the UN World Ocean Conference, June 5 to 9, this is the first comprehensive report on Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. The goal outlines seven targets agreed upon by the international community as key to the issues plaguing our oceans - from eliminating subsidies to minimizing acidification, ending overfishing to creating marine reserves.

"If fish stocks recover and are effectively managed, fisheries are more likely to provide sustainable livelihoods and food, and be more resilient to climate change" said William Cheung, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Director of Science. "Sustainable fisheries can help reduce poverty, limit hunger, and contribute to decent work and sustained economic growth by providing employment opportunities and productive fish stocks."

The Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program highlighted linkages between the ocean goal and the other 16 Sustainable Development Goals, developed by the UN in 2015. The report focuses on the challenges of climate change and social equity concerns in achieving ocean sustainability.

Credit: Lindsay Lafreniere.

"Climate change and social equity issues go hand and hand. The countries that are projected to be the hardest hit are tropical countries, which are mostly developing," said Gerald Singh, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Senior Fellow at UBC. "Sea levels are rising and fish are moving to different locations. But populations are also growing and moving towards coasts. Reducing inequalities is at the heart of sustainable development."

The co-benefits of achieving the ocean goal on the other sustainable development goals are wide reaching and not immediately apparent.

"The results may seem surprising, but a healthy ocean can contribute to achieving gender equality," said Ota. "Fisheries activities are quite gendered -- women typically do unrecognized and unrewarded work. Men will go on boats to capture fish that are sent to markets. But women are often collecting the subsistence food."

"A healthy ocean can also mean the difference between malnourishment and a steady supply of high quality protein for vulnerable communities," said Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Manager. "The oceans are connected to our lives in many ways. Restoring the oceans isn't just an environmentalist's dream but is vital for employment, well being, livelihoods, and health around the world."

Download Oceans and Sustainable Development Goals Report: Co-Benefits Climate Change and Social Equity

Contact: Lindsay Lafreniere
Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program

Posted at 02:26 AM in Environmental Politics, Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/22/2017

Marine ecologist offers suggestions for achieving a strong, lasting 'blue economy'

A "catch share" program in Mexico aids fishermen. Photo by Carlos Aguilera, courtesy of Oregon State University.

Incentive-based solutions offer significant hope for addressing the myriad environmental challenges facing the world's oceans - that's the central message a leading marine ecologist delivered today in Boston during a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Jane Lubchenco, a distinguished professor in the Oregon State University College of Science, shared lessons from around the world about ways "to use the ocean without using it up" as nations look to the ocean for new economic opportunities, food security or poverty alleviation.

Elizabeth Cerny-Chipman, a former postdoctoral scholar under Lubchenco who's now a Knauss Fellow at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, co-authored the presentation, titled "Getting Incentives Right for Sustained Blue Growth: Science and Opportunities."

In her presentation, Lubchenco pointed out that achieving the long-term potential of blue growth will require aligning short- and long-term economic incentives to achieve a diverse mix of benefits. Blue growth refers to long-term strategies for supporting sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole.

"If we harness human ingenuity and recognize that a healthy ocean is essential for long-term prosperity, we can tackle the enormous threats facing the ocean," Lubchenco says, "and we can make a transition from vicious cycles to virtuous cycles."

Lubchenco and her collaborators note that the world's oceans are the main source of protein production for 3 billion people; are directly or indirectly responsible for the employment of more than 200 million people; and contribute $270 billion to the planet's gross domestic product.

"The right incentives can drive behavior that aligns with both desired environmental outcomes and desirable social outcomes," Lubchenco says.

The first step in building increased support for truly sustainable blue growth, she says, is highlighting its potential. That means working with decision-makers to promote win-win solutions with clear short-term environmental and economic benefits. Governments, industry and communities all have important roles to play, Lubchenco notes.

"Another key step is transforming the social norms that drive the behavior of the different actors, particularly in industry," Lubchenco says. "Finally, it will be critical to take a cross-sector approach.

"Some nations, like the Seychelles, Belize and South Africa, are doing integrated, smart planning to deconflict use by different sectors while also growing their economies in ways that value the health of the ocean, which is essential to jobs and food security. They are figuring out how to be smarter about ocean uses, not just to use the ocean more intensively."

Prior to her presentation, Lubchenco gave a related press briefing on how to create the right incentives for sustainable uses of the ocean.

In November 2016, Lubchenco, Cerny-Chipman, OSU graduate student Jessica Reimer and Simon Levin, the distinguished university professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, co-authored a paper on a related topic for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Citation: Jane Lubchenco, Elizabeth B. Cerny-Chipman, Jessica N. Reimer, and Simon A. Levin; The right incentives enable ocean sustainability successes and provide hope for the future; PNAS December 20, 2016 vol. 113 no. 51 14507-14514; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1604982113.

Contact: Jane Lubchenco
Oregon State University

Posted at 02:19 AM in Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/21/2017

Smart reforms key to global fish recovery, even with climate change

New analysis: 90 percent more profits, a third more fish with reforms.

New Research finds that climate change will cause dramatic impacts in the world's fisheries, but with effective management most fisheries could yield more fish and more prosperity, even with a changing climate.

Scientists and economists at the University of California Santa Barbara, Oregon State University and Environmental Defense Fund identified the dramatic future impacts of climate change on the world's fisheries and how fishing reforms are vital to sustaining the global seafood supply. Even in the face of climate change, the research (released at the AAAS meeting on February 18) finds that the total amount of fish in the oceans globally and fishing profits would increase significantly through effective management.

The new research identifies what portion of fish species are expected to migrate out of a country's fishing waters due to warming or move into a new country's waters (exclusive economic zone). Many of those countries where losses may be the most severe are in developing regions whose people are heavily reliant on seafood for nutrition and survival, yet lack effective fishing management.

Relative to today, this preliminary research illustrates that effective management reforms can lead, globally, to a nearly 90 percent increase in profits, a third more fish in the water and a more than 10 percent increase in harvest by 2100 in the face of climate change.

The research also shows the effect is even more pronounced compared to doing nothing: where implementing effective management can yield nearly triple the profits, lead to a more than 50 percent increase in the amount of fish in the water and over a third more fish for harvest.

Scientists and economists at the University of California Santa Barbara, Oregon State University and Environmental Defense Fund previewed their preliminary results from this new research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

"Climate change is going to have a dramatic impact on many global fish populations and the people who rely on them," said Christopher Costello, co-author and Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics at UC Santa Barbara. "But, these results show that, even in the face of climate change, we have an opportunity to build abundant and resilient fisheries for the future. Implementing effective fishery management is the single best thing we can do today to ensure healthy ocean ecosystems for the future."

Effective management reforms that address the challenges posed by changing ocean temperatures include a combination of harvest policies that adapt based on current fish abundance, stronger international cooperation, as well as secure fishing rights. This research examined 780 species and 132 country-level stocks across the globe representing 4,424 fisheries from the Costello et al 2016 fishery database, accounting for 74% of the global yield. The researchers worked with a scenario that the global mean surface air temperature will rise by an average of 2.2°C by 2100.

By the turn of the century, the researchers find that more than one-third of the species studied will move completely out of at least one country's national fishing waters while the same amount are also expected to shift into at least one country's waters (exclusive economic zones).

The research suggests that areas closest to the equator with warmer waters are more likely to suffer a net loss of fish from their waters, while cooler locations are likely to see a net gain in the abundance of fish, by the turn of the next century. However, the research also shows that, even in warmer waters, improved management can increase fish and prosperity for many fisheries.

"Fish are becoming even more of a moving target in our oceans," said co-author Michael Harte, Professor, Oregon State University. "These changes will require greater multinational cooperation among nations to manage these resources effectively."

Off the New England coast, we are already seeing fish like iconic cod move north into Canadian waters. In Europe, recent spatial shifts of mackerel led to the "mackerel wars" where the movement of the stock into new waters created conflict over the sharing of this catch and, ultimately, overfishing of the stock.

"These challenges are not just problems of the future, but problems we are facing today," said Jake Kritzer, Director of Diagnostics and Design for Environmental Defense Fund's Fishery Solutions Center. "If governments move quickly to implement adaptive reforms that account for the change in our oceans, fisheries can be sustained, and even grow, helping provide nutrition and income for the hundreds of millions of people that rely on them for their survival."

Download Climate and fisheries research executive summary (PDF)

Contact: Matt Smelser
Environmental Defense Fund

Posted at 02:07 AM in Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/31/2016

Sustainable management of high seas could recoup fish stock losses due to climate change

French fishing vessel Alf during a storm in the Irish Sea. Photo: UK Royal Navy/MOD (CC 2.0)

Closing the high seas to fishing could increase fish catches in coastal waters by 10%, compensating for expected losses due to climate change, finds a new Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program study published in Fish and Fisheries.

The high seas are those areas of the ocean outside the jurisdiction of countries; the high seas cover nearly two thirds of the ocean's surface. These results could be seen by 2050 relative to 2000 and cooperatively managing the high seas fisheries would have similar effects.

"The oceans are interconnected. Many important fish stocks live in both the high seas and coastal waters," says co-author William Cheung, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Director of Science. "Although the high seas may seem far from the coast, effective management of high seas fisheries could benefit coastal waters in terms of productivity and thus help reduce climate change impacts."

The study used a computer model to project catches of 30 important fish stocks that occur in both the high seas and coastal waters under two CO2 emission scenarios and three high seas management scenarios.

Strengthening high seas governance would also increase the resilience of coastal countries to climate change, especially in tropical countries where there is a high dependence on fisheries for food and livelihood. Under a "business-as-usual" CO2 emissions scenario, disproportionate impacts of climate change on countries in the South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, West African coast and west coast of central America include decreases of over 30% of fish stocks due partly to migration of fish towards cooler waters.

"The scenarios of closing the high seas may greatly reduce the issue of inequity of benefits and impacts among different countries under climate change," says co-author Vicky Lam, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Fellow at UBC.

The authors note that impacts felt in tropical countries will still be high though, even under best-case scenarios. Adaptation measures, such as diversifying employment opportunities or fishing a different type of fish, would need to be introduced.

But would it be possible to close the high seas to fishing?

"We recognize that it is a big challenge," says Cheung. "Our study suggests that both the effective management of the high seas or its closure are effective in helping coastal waters to reduce climate change impacts. Thus, it may be on a spectrum within these scenarios that would be possible."

"The findings of this paper suggest that the high seas can serve as a fish bank of the world by providing the insurance needed to make the whole global ocean more resilient," says Rashid Sumaila, OceanCanada Director and co-author of the paper. "By closing it to fishing or seriously increasing the effectiveness of its management, the high seas can help us mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems."

Citation: William W L Cheung, Miranda C Jones, Vicky W Y Lam, Dana D Miller, Yoshitaka Ota, Louise Teh and Ussif R Sumaila; Transform high seas management to build climate resilience in marine seafood supply; Fish and Fisheries, 2016; DOI: 10.1111/faf.12177.

Contact: Lindsay Lafreniere
Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program

Posted at 04:09 AM in Environmental Politics, Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/16/2016

Closing parts of the ocean to fishing not enough to protect marine ecosystems

Crab boat from the North Frisian Islands working in the North Sea. Photo by Jom (CC2.0)

A University of Washington fisheries professor argues this week that saving biodiversity in the world's oceans requires more than banning fishing with marine protected areas, or oceanic wilderness areas. In a three-page editorial published this week in the journal Nature, he argues that this increasingly popular conservation strategy is not as effective as properly managing recreational and commercial fisheries. "There's this idea that the only way you can protect the ocean is by permanently closing parts of the ocean to fishing, with no-take areas," said Ray Hilborn, a professor in the UW's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. "You protect biodiversity better by regulating fisheries over the country's entire economic zone."

Marine protected areas have grown in popularity since the early 2000s. Recent examples include an area twice the size of Texas in the central Pacific established in 2014 by President Barack Obama, and a proposal to close 25 percent of the Seychelles' exclusive economic zone, an island nation off Africa's east coast.

Several environmental organizations have set a longer-term goal of making 30 percent of the world's oceans into no-take marine protected areas by the year 2030. But Hilborn believes this is not the best way to protect global marine ecosystems.

"If the problem is overfishing or bycatch, then fisheries management is much more effective than establishing MPAs because you regulate the catch over the entire economic zone," Hilborn said. "I don't see how anyone can defend MPAs as a better method than fisheries management, except in places where you just can't do management."

In countries with functioning fisheries management systems, Hilborn believes, conservationists and the fishing industry should work together on large-scale protection of marine biodiversity and sensitive marine habitats.

The article argues that many countries have managed to stabilize or increase fisheries since the 1970s, bringing them to above the blue line of a sustainable fishery.

For example, changes in fishing practices that allowed "dolphin-safe tuna" have cut dolphin deaths in the eastern Pacific by almost 100 times between 1986 and 1998, the article notes.

"You could never have reduced dolphin deaths that much by simply closing part of the ocean to fishing," Hilborn said.

He argues that working with the fishing industry to modify what types of gear are used and when and where different species are allowed to be caught can make more of a difference than establishing new marine protected areas.

"In Alaska, for example, more than 50 percent of the continental shelf waters are closed to specific kinds of fishing gear and the entire shelf is covered by species-specific catch restrictions," he writes. "This is much more protection than could be offered by turning 30 percent of the region into MPAs."

Hilborn said he worries that marine protected areas are being created without specific objectives, lacking input from affected communities, and without analysis of the larger-scale effects. Closing one area to fishing will just shift the pressure to a different area, Hilborn said, or cause people to seek other, more environmentally harmful sources of food.

In early September, world leaders will meet in Hawaii for the high-profile World Conservation Congress, held every four years by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Hilborn hopes his article will prompt discussion about priorities for preserving the health of marine environments.

"The modern conservation movement is places too much emphasis on protected areas," Hilborn said. "The focus needs to shift. We can better protect biodiversity, and still provide food, by looking to fisheries management as the first defense."

Citation: Policy: Marine biodiversity needs more than protection; Nature (13 July 2016).

Contact: Hannah Hickey
University of Washington

Posted at 09:46 AM in Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Protected Areas, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/06/2016

Achieving fish biomass targets: The key to securing a sustainable future for coral reefs

Management systems and distance to fish markets reliably predict the status of fish.

Lead author Dr. Tim McClanahan surveys high fish biomass on reefs off Vamizi Island in northern Mozambique. Credit: Emily Darling / WCS.

Scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), University of Queensland, James Cook University, and Macquarie University have completed a massive study that will help communities and countries of the Western Indian Ocean measure and restore fish populations while identifying the best policies for achieving global sustainable and conservation targets.

The researchers utilized more than 25 years of data from fish surveys and research focusing on the effectiveness of fishing closures to generate predictive models of recovery that will help marine managers better assess the state of reef systems and their fish populations in the Western Indian Ocean. The findings use previous studies to predict the recovery time of depleted reefs to levels where fishing is sustainable or conservation objectives are reached.

The study titled "Modeling Reef Fish Biomass, Recovery Potential, and Management Priorities in the Western Indian Ocean" appears today in the online journal PLOS ONE. The authors are: Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Joseph M. Maina of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Queensland, and Macquarie University; Nicholas A.J. Graham of James Cook University and the University of Queensland; and Kendall R. Jones of the University of Queensland.

"This study covers 45 years of fish recovery in 18 of the region's best protected areas--an area of 7,000 square miles--to produce these unusually extensive findings. The study will help guide conservation actions for the entire Western Indian Ocean, a region filled with coastal communities that rely on fishing for their livelihoods," said Dr. Tim McClanahan, Senior Conservationist for WCS and lead author on the study. "Fish biomass is key for maintaining the ecosystem services that keep reef systems functional; fishing and other human activities can disrupt these sensitive ecosystems. Fortunately, we can leverage previous research to identify predictors that will help guide governments at many levels in ways that can safeguard coral reefs, fish populations, and the communities that rely on them."

Using the data collected between 1987 and 2014, McClanahan and his collaborators developed and tested predictive models to determine which factors correlated to levels of fish biomass in the region's coral reefs, a few of which explained up to 66 percent of the observed variability in surveyed reef systems.

The most important predictor of fish biomass in the research team's models was fisheries management types or restrictions. Fishing closures with a high degree of compliance and enforcement consistently led to significant increases in fish biomass, as did strict gear restrictions. On the other hand, fished reef systems with no gear restrictions led to a significant decrease of fish biomass. Distance between coral reefs and the nearest fish market made a big difference as well; a shorter distance generally corresponded to a lower fish biomass levels. Of less importance were water temperatures and some potential predictors such as habitat; water quality and current speeds were not modelled because most sites lacked these data.

Coral reefs off Vamizi Island in northern Mozambique. Credit: Emily Darling / WCS

The study generated a map of coral reef biomass in the whole Western Indian Ocean along with a recovery time estimate of 8.1 years for individual reef systems to reach 1,150 kilograms of fish biomass per hectare, the critical level to conservation coral reef ecosystems. The average estimated time for a depleted reefs to support both maximum species diversity and sustainable yields was between 1.74 and 2.9 years in duration. Recovery times varied by country and were dependent on the state of their resources. In the most resource-depleted countries, recovery could take as long as 20 years.

The authors also conducted a prioritization analysis to help select areas for increased management efforts. While prioritization exercises have traditionally employed conservation targets based on global treaties (for example, Aichi biodiversity targets), the study used empirical and ecologically informed fish biomass recovery targets, therefore enhancing the chances for management effectiveness in priority areas. Prioritization minimized the time needed for fish biomass to recover to achieve a nation's sustainable and conservation goals. One analysis identified the ideal areas for protecting reefs to achieve protection of 20 percent of coral reefs for conservation or no-fishing zones and having 50 percent of reef systems contained in sustainable fishing zones. Consequently, nations are provided with a means to select reefs for these management goals that will lead to the most rapid recovery.

Finally, the study examines three potential management scenarios for achieving the conservation goal of protecting 20 percent of the region's reefs. The fastest way to achieve this goal was to get countries to collaborate on a regional conservation plan and protect areas with the highest fish biomass. National conservation plans would be nearly as effective and would not require the efforts of achieving regional collaboration. A final option considered a plan whereby fishing communities protected the most resource-depleted reefs first. The authors suggested the some combination of the three approaches is likely to succeed by relying on all scales of governance rather than just one.

"Implementing management measures to restore fish biomass is the number one action coastal communities, nations and regions can take themselves to help coral reefs face the coming threats of global climate change," said Dr. Caleb McClennen, WCS Vice President, Global Conservation "The study provides three complementary pathways to achieving sustainable fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean region within a decade--articulating empirically sound actions that critical for the long-term viability of some of the world's most biodiverse and important coral reef systems."

Citation: McClanahan TR, Maina JM, Graham NAJ and Jones KR (2016); Modeling Reef Fish Biomass, Recovery Potential, and Management Priorities in the Western Indian Ocean; PLoS ONE 11(5): e0154585; DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0154585.

This work was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association Marine Science for Management Program.

Contact: John Delaney
Wildlife Conservation Society

Posted at 04:18 AM in Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Protected Areas, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/28/2016

Global ocean's fish populations could double while providing more food and income

New research shows 77 percent of world's fisheries can be healthy in a decade.

Alaskan purse seiner lifting a catch of herring to the deck. Credit: NOAA

Groundbreaking research being published in the March 29th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows the majority of the world's fisheries could be recovered in just 10 years, and that global fish populations could double by 2050 with better fishing practices compared to business as usual. The peer-reviewed study is authored by researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara, The University of Washington and Environmental Defense Fund.

The recovery of struggling fisheries would bring a significant increase in the amount of seafood that could be caught over time to feed the world's growing population. Three billion people worldwide rely on seafood as a key source of protein and about 260 million people work in fishery-related sectors, many of whom live in developing countries.

If reforms were implemented today, the percentage of fisheries in the world that are considered biologically healthy would grow from around 47 percent today to 77 percent within just 10 years. In addition to recovering fish populations and improved food security, the projected impact of these reforms would mean a 204 percent increase in profits for fishermen by 2050.

These powerful conclusions emerged from an analysis using a massive database of 4,713 fisheries that represent 78 percent of the ocean's catch. That's far more precise and granular than previous analyses.

The results suggest that institutional reforms, like the implementation of secure fishing rights would yield the most significant results for the world's fisheries. Fishing rights, which end the desperate race for fish by asking fishermen and women to adhere to strict, science-based catch limits in exchange for a right to a share of the catch or to a traditional fishing area, are already being used to great effect in places like Australia, Belize, Chile, Denmark, Namibia, and the United States.

"This research shows that we really can have our fish and eat them, too," said lead author Christopher Costello, a professor of environmental and resource economics at UCSB's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. "We no longer need to see ocean fisheries as a series of trade-offs. In fact, we show that we can have more fish in the water, more food on the plate and more prosperous fishing communities -- and it can happen relatively quickly."

"We've uncovered a really important insight: There is urgency and a tremendous upside in reforming thousands of small-scale, community fisheries around the world," said co-author Ray Hilborn, a professor of marine biology and fisheries science at the University of Washington. "The research adds to the body of work showing that most of the world's large fisheries are doing relatively well, but it emphasizes the critical need to rebuild local fisheries, most of which are in the developing world where millions depend on fisheries for food and their livelihoods."

Since 2000, overfishing in U.S. federal waters has dropped by 70 percent as the number of species managed with fishing rights or "catch shares" has quadrupled. In the past three years, fishing industry jobs have increased 31 percent and fishing revenues have grown by 44 percent. In Belize, a fishing-rights program newly implemented by the government for small-scale fishermen has dramatically increased compliance and shows tremendous potential for recovering important local species.

"Our research reveals a stark choice: Either manage fisheries sustainably and realize the tremendous potential of the world's oceans, or allow the status quo to continue to draw down the natural capital of our oceans," said Costello.

Citation: Christopher Costello, Daniel Ovando, Tyler Clavelle, C. Kent Strauss, Ray Hilborn, Michael C. Melnychuk, Trevor A. Branch, Steven D. Gaines, Cody S. Szuwalski, Reniel B. Cabral, Douglas N. Rader and Amanda Leland; Global fishery prospects under contrasting management regimes; PNAS (March 28, 2016); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1520420113.

Contact: Valerie Holford
Environmental Defense Fund

Posted at 11:52 PM in Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/11/2016

Conservation sea change

A UCSB biologist and colleagues demonstrate how satellite data on fishing can help protect ocean biodiversity.

Used to catch schools of fish, the purse seine technique employs a large net to secure the catch. Credit: Prigalla. (CC 2.0)

Beyond the breakers, the ocean is like the Wild West. While not completely lawless, its vastness and remoteness make it hard to observe and more difficult to manage human activity.

Recently developed technology may change that. A navigational safety aid called AIS (Automatic Ship Identification Systems) -- which transmits publically accessible data on the exact position of ocean-going vessels via satellite -- is not only useful for collision avoidance, but also has potential as a means of protecting ocean health. An international group of scientists explored exactly how the power of this information could be harnessed to intelligently manage sustainable futures for fish and fishermen across global oceans.

UC Santa Barbara's Douglas McCauley led the team that analyzed billions of vessel data points to answer two important questions: Is a new cohort of massive marine parks doing its job to stop illegal fishing? And can this data help back a planned United Nations treaty to better manage high seas biodiversity? Their results appear in the journal Science.

"The oceans are home to our planet's most spectacular wildlife, healthiest food and treasured ecosystems," said McCauley, an assistant professor in UCSB's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology. "We need a new generation of smart observation tools to carefully manage the future of the ocean."

In the past five years, recognition of the diverse values of the ocean has fueled explosive global interest in setting up gigantic ocean parks, but little attention has been paid to how to protect them. In 2015, more of the ocean was protected in these massive parks than ever before.

This artist's rendition shows how AIS uses satellites to track oceangoing vessels. Photo courtesy of the European Space Agency.

"These new parks will be a game-changer for the oceans," McCauley said, "but only if they do what they promise." He contends that the new mega-park boundaries are too big to be enforced by boat or plane, but suggests that satellite observation could provide a solution.

So the researchers took satellite-sourced AIS data for a test drive. They watched from thousands of miles away as Kiribati, one of the world's poorest countries, closed the waters around the Phoenix Islands to fishing on Jan. 1, 2015. Almost all fishing boats vacated this California-sized protected area right before it closed. One exception was reported to Kiribati, and officials interdicted and fined the vessel.

Last year, the United Nations committed to drawing up a new treaty to manage biodiversity in the 64 percent of global oceans in international waters. McCauley's team mapped out human use of the high seas in marine areas that lie beyond national boundaries, creating the world's first view of satellite-tracked fishing activity in the Pacific.

According to McCauley, the value of AIS data extends well beyond keeping track of where fishing takes place. He noted that this same data can be used to reduce collisions between whales and ships, to intelligently zone the ocean to keep wildlife safe and marine commerce flourishing, and to monitor the launch of seabed mining operations.

"Determining what is going on out there has previously been like assembling a puzzle in the dark," McCauley said. "But with this new data, it's like someone suddenly turned on the lights."

Nonetheless, the vessel-tracking data has its weaknesses. "The data is only as strong as the policy that backs it up," McCauley said. "Not enough vessels are using AIS transponders and nobody observes whether they are kept on and used properly."

A map of average vessel density in 2015 created using AIS data. Photo Credit: Global Fishing Watch

The investigators argue that this poses a double threat to public safety and the environment. "We wouldn't allow airplane pilots to decide whether or not they keep their tracking systems on when landing at busy airports," said McCauley, who pointed out that most of the loopholes in this system could be closed with policy reform.

"For decades, we have been tracking other species -- from seabirds to sharks -- but now for the first time, we can understand our own ecology, and how and where we impact the oceans on a global scale," said co-author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "This is revolutionary information, both from a scientific and policy perspective."

The authors of the paper want to put the power of this new data in everyone's hands. To make that happen, a group called Global Fishing Watch aims to launch a tool that will allow anyone to make free use of AIS data on fishing.

McCauley suggests that in an increasingly crowded world, it is healthy and necessary to embrace smart tech like AIS. "With tools such as this, we stand a real chance of stopping activities that steal food and biodiversity from poor nations, of curbing social injustice at sea and of cooperatively managing a healthy future for our oceans," he said.

Citation: Douglas J. McCauley, Paul Woods, Brian Sullivan, Bjorn Bergman, Caroline Jablonicky, Aaron Roan, Michael Hirshfield, Kristina Boerder & Boris Worm; Ending hide and seek at sea; Science 11 Mar 2016: Vol. 351, Issue 6278, pp. 1148-1150; DOI: 10.1126/science.aad5686.

Contact: Julie Cohen
University of California - Santa Barbara

Posted at 02:01 AM in Fisheries, ITQs/Catch Shares, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/19/2016

Dangerous fishing may be endangered

Catch shares fishery management reduces risk-taking, making fishing safer.

A Sablefish fishing vessel heads out to sea, off the coast of Half Moon Bay, California. Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in terms of accident, injury, and mortality rates. Pfeiffer and Gratz identified a substantial decline in the propensity to take fishing trips in poor weather as a result of a management change in the West Coast Sablefish fixed gear fishery. Their findings suggest catch shares (the individual allocation of fishing quota to vessels) can reduce risk-taking and improve safety in commercial fishing. Image courtesy of Corey Arnold.

Catch shares, a form of "rights-based" fisheries management adopted for several fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, may put an end to the kind of daring exploits chronicled in the Deadliest Catch.

A new study of fishing practices found that the "risky" behavior that makes fishing one of the most dangerous lines of work dropped sharply following the adoption of catch shares management in the West Coast fixed gear sablefish fishery. Fewer boats fished during the stormiest weather, with fishing on the highest wind days dropping by 79 percent under catch shares, according to the research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The decline in rough-weather fishing represents "a revolution in risk-taking behavior by fishermen," wrote the authors, Lisa Pfeiffer of NOAA Fisheries' Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Trevor Gratz of the University of Washington. The researchers said they expect corresponding reductions in injuries, pollution events, vessel losses, search-and-rescue missions and deaths from fishing accidents under catch shares management.

Indeed, the safer practices corresponded with an 87 percent reduction in the rate of safety incidents the U.S. Coast Guard reported for the sablefish fishery before and after catch shares went into effect.

While fishermen may be known as adventurous risk-takers, the researchers said that traditional fisheries rules promote risky behavior by requiring vessels to compete with each other to catch as much as possible in a limited season.

"Fishermen have the incentive to participate in around-the-clock fishing in all weather conditions, overload their vessels, and ignore maintenance problems to maximize catch," the scientists write. "These behaviors contribute considerably to the dangerous nature of commercial fishing."

NOAA Fisheries' 2001 adoption of catch shares for sablefish changed the incentives around the fishery by giving each vessel rights to a specific share of the allowable catch. Vessels could then choose how and when to fish for their share.

The purpose was to reduce competitive fishing pressure on overfished stocks. But the change also freed fishermen from the traditional, "derby"-style race to catch fish as fast as possible, which could lead fishing vessels to go to sea even in stormy and dangerous conditions.

The 2001 catch shares management program in the West Coast Sablefish Fixed Gear Fishery reduced the percentage of fishing trips taken on high wind days by 79 percent. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/NWFSC

Severe weather contributed to about four of every five fatal fishing vessel accidents on the West Coast from 2000 to 2009. Commercial fishing remains dangerous, with an annual average fatality rate 30 times the U.S. average.

"When fishermen have to compete for fish they can't make a rational tradeoff in terms of safety," Pfeiffer said. "Any delay, whether it's because of the weather or any other reason, results in the fish being taken by someone else."

"Catch shares provides the flexibility for the fishermen to make a rational tradeoff in terms of risk and reward, instead of being compelled to fish whatever the conditions," Pfeiffer said.

The safety benefits observed in the sablefish fishery could also be expected in other fisheries managed through catch shares, the researchers concluded. They said "rights-based" management such as catch shares resolves "many of the problems associated with the competitive race to fish experienced in fisheries around the world."

NOAA Fisheries has since expanded catch shares management to other West Coast fisheries, including the groundfish fishery in 2011.

The study was the first to identify how fisheries management can alter the risk-taking behavior of fishermen by changing the economic incentives that drive their decisions. "Catch shares change fishing incentives such that fishermen themselves decide to expose themselves to less risk," the researchers write.

Citation: Lisa Pfeiffera and Trevor Gratzb; The effect of rights-based fisheries management on risk taking and fishing safety; PNAS (February 16, 2016); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1509456113.

Contact: Michael Milstein
NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region

References: