EDFish

Selected tag(s): Fishery Management

New England Groundfish Fishermen Should Benefit from Unused Quota

By Jake Kritzer / Bio / Published: April 25, 2011

With the support of Senator John Kerry, Congressman Bill Keating, and Congressman Barney Frank, New England groundfish fishermen are asking if they can “carry over” a portion of unused catch for the upcoming fishing year. EDF thinks this makes sense and will work with NMFS and the New England Fishery Management Council to support putting this into place.

Carry-over is generally allowed under catch share programs for two reasons. First, catch limits in later years are often set assuming a certain level of catch in earlier years. If the actual catch is less than the maximum allowed in a given year, that typically will result in a higher level of sustainable yield the following year. Second, allowing carry-over prevents a rush by fishermen to meet their quota limits at the end of the season. Such a rush could disrupt all the benefits catch shares can deliver with respect to careful and selective fishing practices that minimize bycatch and habitat impacts, and strategic choices of when and where to fish in response to weather conditions, market demand, and other factors.

In this first year of the New England groundfish sector program, like the first year of many new management programs, fishermen undoubtedly were cautious as they figured out how best to fish their quota. It makes sense to let fishermen benefit from the conservative harvest seen in the first year of sectors.

Sector fishermen are already allowed to carryover up to 10% of any unused quota. It is clear from looking at the amount of unused quota (see chart below) that the catch of many stocks will be more than 10% below the science-based catch limits set to guard against overfishing. Rather than simply forgo the socio-economic benefits to be gained from at least some of the unused quota, we hope fishery managers can allow fishermen to reap some of the rewards of their conservative fishing this year.

Support seems to be steadily building towards having NMFS and the New England Fishery Management Council take active steps to decide what amount of additional unused quota can safely be carried over for the species that were underfished in 2010. The appropriate percentage levels should be based on the biology of each species, so that we don’t set the fishery back by jeopardizing rebuilding of overfished stocks and compromising the productivity of rebuilt stocks. However, it is unlikely that all of the unused quota should be carried over. After all, natural mortality continues to act upon the stock, and will remove some of the fish that would have been harvested had the full quota been fished. A scientific analysis can determine how much of the fishing year 2010 quota is likely to still be available to the fleet in fishing year 2011.

Taken together, this measure, as well as the increased ACLs for many groundfish stocks next year and fishermen’s continually improving ability to navigate the sector program, should lead to increased yields and revenues across the fleet, and a more economically and environmentally stable fishery in 2011.

Jake Kritzer is EDF’s Senior Marine Scientist for the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. He is also Vice-Chair of the New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee, among other advisory appointments.

Posted in New England / Also tagged Catch Shares, Groundfish, New England, Quota, Sectors | Comments are closed

National Panel Releases Recommendations on Communities and Catch Share Policy

By Kate Bonzon / Bio / Published: March 15, 2011

Community Dimensions of Fisheries Catch Share Programs

A national panel on “the Community Dimensions of Fisheries Catch Share Programs” released its recommendations today. The Panel, convened by Ecotrust, found that options for improving communities and fisheries explode under catch shares, but they don’t happen on their own and more work and energy are needed to fully exploit the benefits of catch shares.

Overall, the panel’s findings are good news for communities that have suffered under traditional fisheries management. Its findings highlight how well-designed catch shares benefit our fishing communities by enhancing economic development. Under catch shares, there is a menu of options that were never before available to fishing communities.

However, like our brains, we are only using a small percentage of catch shares’ potential. Fishermen and other stakeholders can and should learn from past experiences to better implement catch shares. There are myriad ways to design catch shares to maximize benefits for communities. Where these approaches are being used, such as the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust and a community fishing association in Central California, communities are benefiting. However, many more communities can benefit from these innovative approaches and in some cases, not all community-focused options have been used in the design of catch share programs.

Fishing communities, fishermen and other stakeholders have opportunities under catch shares that were never available under previous management. We encourage stakeholders to envision their future and design catch shares to achieve their specific goals. There are myriad options, including many of the recommendations highlighted in the Panel report and the Catch Share Design Manual.

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged Catch Shares, ecotrust, Fisheries, Pacific | Read 5 Responses

New Study in the Journal Nature Describes the Effectiveness and promise of Community-Based Fishery Management

By Kate Bonzon / Bio / Published: January 7, 2011

Kate Bonzon, EDF Director of Design Advisory Services

A new study released this week in the journal Nature describes the effectiveness and promise of community-based fishery management. Among others, the study highlights a catch share in Chile that has 20,000 participants and covers more than 1,500 square miles “making it one of the most successful abalone* fisheries in the world.” The kind of catch share that covers this fishery is called a territorial use rights for fishing or TURF, an area-based management program that assigns a specific area to an individual, group or community.

*The Chilean system manages loco, a valuable sea snail, commonly called “false abalone” due to its appearance and taste.

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged Abalone, Catch Shares, Chile, Chilean Loco, Loco | Read 1 Response

Trading the Certainty of Failure for the Challenges of Change

By Shems Jud / Bio / Published: January 7, 2011

Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River, is one of the West Coast’s most storied fishing ports. When Lewis & Clark set up their winter camp in 1805, the people of this storm-tossed corner of Oregon had been sustaining themselves with seafood for hundreds of generations. In recent years, however, earning a living from the sea has been tough for Astoria-based fishermen.

In an editorial about the new groundfish catch share program that goes into effect on January 11th, The Daily Astorian weighs the challenges inherent in this change against the certain failure of the status quo – and comes down squarely for change. The conclusions they have reached are shared by many fishery stakeholders and fishery managers, as well as the Environmental Defense Fund.

Posted in Pacific / Also tagged Catch Shares, Groundfish, Oregon, Pacific, west coast | Comments are closed

Cabinet of Belize Approves Catch Shares in Belize’s Network of Marine Protected Areas

By EDF Oceans / Published: December 13, 2010

Catch shares team in Belize from Environmental Defense Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Belize Fisheries Department.

“Fish Forever” – the motto of Belize’s fishermen. Last week the Government of Belize in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) took a major step towards fulfilling that vision with a vote by Belize’s cabinet to authorize the implementation of catch shares in its network of marine protected areas.

“Belize’s decision will protect the country’s magnificent Mesoamerican Reef and promote the vitality of its fishing industry,” said Larry Epstein, Mesoamerican Reef Program Manager for EDF, “This substantially adds to the growing list of successful conservation measures Belize is using to preserve its oceans for future generations.”

As a first step, the Belize Fisheries Department will implement their design for TURFs and catch limits for spiny lobster in 2011 and 2012 in Glover’s Reef and Port Honduras Marine Reserves. Belize has already taken the first steps for allocating access to TURFs, creating a monitoring regime, and creating committees of fishermen to participate in the implementation and management of catch shares.

“Catch shares will assist in enforcing marine laws and ensure that fishermen are part and parcel of the enforcement, and respected as custodians because it will be part of their livelihoods that they will be protecting.”
– Hon. Rene Montero, Belize Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives

In 2009 EDF created a partnership between the Government of Belize Fisheries Department, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the leading Belizean conservation NGO – the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE). Our coalition achieved this milestone in Belize through an education campaign that engaged fishermen, policy makers, elected officials, and government managers of marine reserves. EDF’s team of economists, scientists, and catch shares experts built Belize’s technical capacity for catch shares and helped develop the catch share design – including Rod Fujita, Kate Bonzon, Laura Rodriguez, Jake Kritzer, Doug Rader, Tom Lalley, and Tesia Love. The Government of Belize has stated a vision for catch shares in all marine reserves, and for the commercial lobster fishery.

Monkey River Fishing Boats in Belize

Fishermen in Belize understand first-hand and have been advocating catch shares since EDF, WCS, and TIDE began working in their communities. According to one fisherman from Placencia, a fishing community in southern Belize, “Every year for the past ten years we have had a decline in lobster production. That is due to, I think, to overfishing and a general decline in product itself.” Now Belize and its fishermen have a tool at their disposal that protects its oceans, while at the same time supporting the livelihoods and food security for the people that depend on its resources.

Posted in Belize / Also tagged Belize, Catch Shares, Latin America, Marine Protected Areas, MPAs | Comments are closed

Bering Sea Crabbers Say Catch Shares Have Been an ”Unqualified Success”

By EDF Oceans / Published: December 13, 2010

Reprinted with permission from SEAFOODNEWS.COM

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [seafoodnews.com] – December 10, 2010 – Alaska’s Bering Sea crabbers are calling the catch share program that has been operating in their crab fisheries since 2005 an “unqualified success.”

This assesssment came in a five-year review of the catch share program by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council which is meeting in Anchorage.

Prior to catch shares, hundreds of boats would race to load up with crab in wild winter conditions in a fishery that would lasting mere days or weeks. Under the catch share system, each vessel has a set amount of crabs to catch during extended seasons.

Crabbers claim their “grounds truth” proves that the new way of crab fishing is achieving the goals set out by managers and industry five years ago.

The problems associated with the crab fishery were identified in 2002 as resource conservation, reducing bycatch, excess harvesting and processing capacity, economic instability, high loss of life and injuries. The results of the five-year review released last month by Council staff concluded that the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Crab Catch Share Program is performing better than expected in reaching its objectives.

The report also said remaining crew positions in the crab fisheries are more stable, and crew generally make better pay under the catch share program.

Crabbers were pleased with the review findings, said Edward Poulsen, director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a trade group representing 70% of the vessels fishing crab in the Bering Sea.

“From the harvesters’ perspective, we feel the catch share program has met or exceeded expectations in delivering against the problems it was intending to solve,” Poulsen said.

Notably, the Bering Sea crab fisheries have gone from being the deadliest catch to the safest catch.

Arni Thomson, director of the Alaska Crab Coalition said: “We lost 85 crabbers between 1989 and 2005, an average of 5.3 men per year. Since then, there has been one fatality and no vessel sinkings. The catch share program has saved 25 lives so far.”

Crabbers say the slower paced fishery is far more eco-friendly, with less impact on the crab and their habitat. Pot usage in the red king crab fishery, for example, has gone from 50,000 to 12,000 pots, a 76% reduction. By fishing more strategically, the crab fleet uses far less fuel, cutting its carbon footprint by more than half.

Poulsen said the catch share program encourages being “co-operators instead of cutthroat competitors who all benefit by working together”.

Posted in Pacific / Also tagged Alaska, Bering Sea, Catch Shares, Crab | Comments are closed