Important Issues about Fisheries Management - Essay Example

MANAGING FISHERIES Managing Fisheries January 19, 2009 Table of Contents Managing Fisheries January 19, 2009 1. Introduction 3 6. Conclusions 11 References 12 1. Introduction Fishing is regarded as one of the oldest means along with hunting, that pre historic men used to gather food. In the olden days, with plenty of natural resources and manual methods of fishing, the fishing methods were sustainable, lakes, rivers and seas were never over fished and the waters always had a chance to restock and regenerate the stock. However, with the current ‘ship factories’ that are huge ship factories with automated fish sensing and fishing systems, it has been found that fishery stocks have been severely depleted due to over fishing. Since most of the fishing in done outside the territorial waters of coastal nations and done mostly in international deep waters, there is no control over how much fish a company or a ship can catch. To prevent over fishing and depletion of certain stocks such as Cod, Tuna, different methods have been brought it. Some of the methods are fees system and tradable fishing quotas (Tietenberg, 2009). The fees system requires that access to a certain area or fishing region should be controlled by levying fees. The quota system suggests that fishing companies should be assigned a certain capping quota on the amount of fish they catch in a year (Hanley, 2007). This paper examines important issues about fisheries management and how the tradable quota system functions. 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using tradable fishing quotas to manage fishery stocks that are subject to over-fishing? Fishing on a vast scale by mechanised ships soon disrupts the regeneration of selected fish species such as mackerel, Black cod, tuna. This in turn has disrupted the oceanic bio life cycle as these fishes were higher in the food chain and fed on fish such as carp. When the larger fish are depleted, other predatory fish such as carp have proliferated. These have in turn overfed on the lower part of the food chain, all the way till the planktons, the lowest form of ocean life have not been able to regenerate. As a result, vast patches of seas suddenly turn into lifeless wastes, just as patch of desert does not have any type of life. This is mainly due to over fishing and pollution caused by fishing boats (Perman, 2003). Tradable fishing quotas were designed to prevent such an over fishing of specific fish from the life chain of the seas and oceans. Technically, individual trading quotas – ITQ were allotted to members of a fishery and these quotas determined the amount of specific species that can be caught. Tradable rights include tradable lobster and crab traps, tradable days-at-sea and individual transferable quotas - ITQs. The advantage of ITQs is that it maintains the balance of the ecosystem for a region. For a region such as the North America, the oceanographic scientists and researchers would decide on the amount of specific fish species that can be harvested in a year. They base these figures on the estimated total volume of the species, regeneration time required and so on. Once this is decided, then the tonnage for each species of fish is decided. Fishing organisations can then sell or allot permits for certain volumes to the members of the fisheries units. Members of fisheries would be captains and owners of the cooperative societies and so on. They can then decide to either retain the ITQs or transfer it to others. There are certain restrictions on which the permits can be transferred to. In any case, the overall mandate and restrictions placed by the scientists are observed and the environment and the fishing grounds are protected (Ellerman, 2005). The disadvantages are obvious in that rich and big organisations would corner all the permits and the smaller fisherman would be left without a livelihood. However, smaller ships would not sit idle and attempt to venture out clandestinely on stormy nights and attempt to catch as much fish as they can. Lives are at stake here and also illegal fishing goes unabated. It has also been observed that the quotas and permits that are assigned are not properly observed, leading to over fishing and depletion of stocks. Since the permits are transferred to presumably the highest bidders, the winning party then would use the most efficient and ruthless fishing system to systematically clean up the fishing zone. When these ships come to the shore, they often bring in a huge catch that makes the prices crash in the wholesaler market. The fishing trawler would then actually be getting very little money and it is only the middle traders and distributors who benefit. The ITQs tend to ignore small communities and fishermen who depend in small scale fishing operations. Fishermen feel it is wrong to privatise the natural fishing rights that they have enjoyed since many generations (Perman, 2003). A point to note is to determine if the rights of the fisherman who want to harvest a natural resource is to be given preference. Another important note is the right of nature and environment to find sufficient time and opportunity so that the fishing stocks are regenerated. Obviously, the latter issue should gain importance. 3. How should the initial allocation of quotas be determined? The initial distribution of fishing rights and the quota allocation has social and commercial implications. There is a scope of distribution of wealth in the fishing sector and the society. Fishermen view the rights based management with hostility since their employment and livelihood is at stake. It must be noted that the quotas are estimated and assigned for all the major species of a fish in a fishery. Therefore, some examples of fishes that can be covered in the quotas are sablefish, halibut, geoduck clam, ground fish trawl, red and green sea urchin, spawn-on-kelp, herring, roe herring and sea cucumber, tuna and so on. Typically, the history of fishing in the fishery is estimated for as far back in time as possible and the total annual catch TAC is documented. An example of the illustration of as given below (FAO, 2009). As seen in the figure, the graph shows the catch in thousand tonnes and the value in USD. Figure 3.1. Halibut TAC for 1980 to 1999, Annual Catch vs. landed value (FAO, 2009) . Thus, the scientists have an idea of how much catch was obtained for a particular fish, the Halibut. In addition, the number of days or season length for the species of fish is also calculated in days. This would tend to show a variation from a few days to a few months over the decades. Therefore, the department now knows the number of days in a year when a particular species of fish can be found in abundance. After this is done, the number of local fishing trawlers engaged in the actual fishing is found. It is also estimated if quota docking is done where two or more fishing quotas are exploited from the same fish. This gives the total number of hands employed in the local trawlers. The current local fishing trawlers are then listed as per the capacity, speed, tonnage and other aspects and a Category L commercial licence. The Category L licences are vessel dependant and ownership of the licence is with the ship owner. Before 1991, a licence could not be separated from any other commercial fishing licences attached to the vessel. All licences attached to a single vessel were considered as married and had to be transferred together (ICES, 2009). The Category L Licence just gave permission to fish and does not specify the quantity of a particular fish that can be caught. This is where the initial quota allocation came in. The TAC is taken as the important base figure. As per the initial allocation formula, each ship was given a percentage of the TAC. About 70% of the initial allocation is done as per the previous records of the TAC of the ship for a certain number of years. The remaining 30% of the allocation is done as per the ships length. The catch history is also used and it was based on the best catch year. In addition for the length factor, the ships overall length was taken. This was divided by the total length of all the ships operating under L licences and the percentage was again multiplied by thirty percent of the TAC (Anderson, 2005). This method would ensure that only traditional fishing vessels that have been active in an area for some time are allowed to obtain the initial allocation of permits. There are some major issues in determining the quotas by the method as the method tends to ignore the high level of fish detection equipment that trawlers now have. With advanced sonar detection and mapping devices, ships can easily find high concentrations of fish shoals in an allocated area and quickly move over and fully deplete the zone. In such a case, the advanced navigation systems used should also be considered (ICES, 2009). 4. What are the particular difficulties of implementing this method of fishery management in international fisheries? Fishing quotas and tradable permits have an obvious problem that the regulating agencies cannot ascertain the volume of fish caught by each vessel and the quantity of different species of fish caught by the vessels. Fishermen to get over this problem throw overboard fish of lower value or dead fish so that the quota is not reached. They do this in the hope that they can obtain bigger catches of the required fish. However, fish thrown overboard die very quickly because of the shock, due to crushing by the weight of other fish and often because they have been out of water for a longer time. Shipping vessels can be held accountable when their catch is measured and weighed but this can only happen when they come to dock. A ship captain with mounting crew wages and other expenses would not mind transferring the catch to another ship so that the individual quota can be shown as not having been reached. Besides, in international waters, no agency has the right to board another ship even for examination, as it becomes an act of piracy (Tietenberg, 2009). The problem occurs due to commercial reasons and not due to the quotas as such since each fisher would maximise his catch and revenue. The problem is actually accelerated when a number of fishing ships with quotas tacitly agree and converge in an area and attempt to herd huge shoals of fish into a tight mass so that they can be easily caught in large number. Such measures are not actually allowed as per fishing rules but the fishing waters are spread over hundreds of kilometres and it would be impossible to verify the location of each ship at any given point of time. As a result, each ship would have met its quota and not violated the terms regarding the catch. However, the density and volume of the catch would not have been possible if the ship had ventured alone. There are also instances where only one ship casts the nets while its accompanying ships give support. The quota system is silent on such aspects and they become very difficult to implement (Perman, 2003). The problem behind depleting fish stock that are due to over fishing and misuse of quota is that rogue fishermen from countries such as Taiwan, Japan, Russia and other countries often make a quick entry into the fishing grounds. They are difficult to track and the only ones who can track such movement is the coast guard and the defence institutes such as the Navy. However, these organisations are tasked with the safe keeping of the shores and they would not like to be drawn into fishing activities unless there is a security issue. There are also issues of keeping track of the transferred quotas and instance of the same quota having been used multiple times or being sold to multiple shipper have also occurred. In such cases, the subject trawlers would continue their shipping, irrespective of the fact that licence is not acceptable. By the time such problems are identified, the ship is already in the high season and would have cast its nets (FAO, 2009). There have been other methods such as few systems, controlled entry, restriction on the number of hours spent on seas and so on. However, all these methods would be still not adequate to monitor and control the level of depleted fish stocks. It may very well be possible to fin the seas depleted of certain stocks of fish and further some important species would go extinct. 5. Fishery management Fisheries management is about sustainable fishing and ensuring that there is no over fishing and depletion of stocks. It is estimated that in many regions, only about 20% of fishing stock remains and if this stock is also depleted, then there would be a total extinction and wipe out of many species of fish. This happens since the predatory fish would eat the larva and eggs of the larger fish and since there would be very less of the bigger fish, many species will be wiped out. 5.1. In the European Union In the European Union, one of the worst hit areas where fishing vessels from China, Russia, Eastern Europe countries, Scandinavian countries, ships from Chile venture here to obtain a catch. Accordingly, the European Commission has adopted a convention to manage the stocks of non tuna fish, migratory fish and other fish species. The other fish species include close to the sea floor fishes or demersal; mid water or pelagic fish that includes mackerel, oreos, bluenoise, alfonsino, orange roughy and others. The convention would cover large areas of the South Pacific to the exclusive economic zones of South America and include countries such as Chile, EU nations, Vanauatau, Faroe islands, Peru, Korea and others (SPRFMO, 2010). An agreement was imperative since there was a huge outcry that fishing trawlers from China and Korea often grossly violated the conditions and specifications laid down by the quota system. The result was a large-scale loot and pillage of the international waters of the EU. Scientists have expressed an urgent need to completely ban the entry of fishing vessels in the waters so that various species could be saved in time. However, banning and stopping fishing totally is not the solutions as there are thousands of people who work in the fish industry and their livelihood would be taken away (SPRFMO, 2010). 5.2. In North America The Southern Hemisphere includes the Indian Ocean, Pacific and Atlantic and a number of fishing nations such as Japan, Australia and South America. The problem as identified here is due the severe juvenile mortality rate where young fish do not survive and this has a direct negative consequence on breeding for the future generations. Among the fishery management programs initiated are the minimum sizes of fish that can be captured. There is also a limit on the size of holes in the net and this should presumably allow the younger fish that are smaller to escape. There have been efforts are reseeding where baby fishes are first grown in separate enclosed structures on the coast land are released in the deeper waters of the ocean so that the stocks are not depleted and can recover (ICES, 2009). 6. Conclusions The paper has examined important issues related to fishery management and the dangers that over fishing can create. The tradable quota system allows permits to be traded and there are different caps on the amount of specific species of fish that can be caught. It is also estimated that if the current rate of over fishing is continued, then the fishing stock would be severely depleted leading to an overall loss of fishing species. References Anderson, C., 2005. A Laboratory Assessment of Tradable Fishing Allowances. Marine Resource Economics, 20, pp. 1-23. Ellerman, A,. 2005. A note on tradable permits. Environmental & Resource Economics, 31, pp. 123-131. FAO, 2009. Initial allocation of transferable fishing quotas in marine fisheries. [Online] Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO. Available at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/004/y2684e/y2684e21.pdf [Accessed 18 January 2009] Hanley, N., Shogren, J, F., 2007. Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. ICES, 2009. Annual reports for 2008. [Online] International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Available at http://www.ices.dk/products/AnnualRep/ICES_Annual_Report_08.pdf [Accessed 18 January 2009] Perman, R.,2003. Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, 3rd Edition. Pearson Education. SPRFMO, 2010. Commission welcomes the creation of a new fisheries management organisation for the South Pacific high seas. [Online] SPRFMO. Available at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1722&type=HTML [Accessed 19 January, 2009] Tietenberg, T & Lewis, L., 2009. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, 8th Edition. Pearson Education. Read More