Ecosystem-based management, as in the case of CCAMLR in the Southern Ocean, can
do a great deal towards fostering sustainability of fish stocks, however there
are enormous challenges to implementation. One is the difficulty of getting
comprehensive adherence to the management policies & practices. Criminals don't
abide by the extensive number of conservation measures instituted by CCAMLR
(including a regulatory framework related to the precautionary approach, port
inspections, catch size limitations, licensing and inspection procedures,
vessel monitoring systems, net regulations & prohibitions, restrictions on
fishing practices such as bottom trawling & longline fishing, reporting systems
for catch data and scientific data, regulations regarding certain
species,temporal and spatial fishing regulations and restrictions, and a catch
documentation scheme). These measures can be effectively implemented with
regards to legal fishing operators, however illegal fishing activities r!
emain unregulated and have serious impact on the effectiveness of the CCAMLR
management regime. CCAMLR's work to implement sustainable management and
conservation measures is phenomenal, however they're up against some very big
challenges created by some very shady people, organizations and even countries.
Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing presents a major impediment
to the efforts to manage fisheries in a sustainable fashion and to conserve the
marine ecosystem. IUU fishing is a global issue with detriments that go beyond
the unsustainable pressure on marine ecosystems and species; it also results in
subversion of labour standards, distortion of markets and enormous impacts on
the economies of both developing and developed states. The lucrative nature of
IUU fishing activities impedes efforts to eliminate it (The estimated global
worth of IUU fishing is between US$10 billion and $23 billion per year.), and
identifying the parties responsible is enormously challenging in this form of
organized crime. Additionally, the resources required to combat IUU fishing and
IUU-related economic losses are extremely burdensome on States and
intergovernmental organizations such as CCAMLR. (For example, South Africa’s
reported losses due to illegal fishing of toothfish are es!
timated to be US$290 million since the 1990s.) In addition to diverting much
needed resources to curb IUU fishing activities, IUU fishing impacts CCAMLR’s
efforts to sustainably manage the stocks of living resources of the Southern
Ocean by complicating the development of fish stock trends and impacting the
conservation efforts for associated and dependent species (such as seabird
populations, krill, etc.).
Those impacts simply add to the complexity of the challenges that we are
tackling, because IUU fishing is not the only threat to sustainable management
of resources and conservation of ecosystems. Our ignorance is a threat, too:
the enormity of complexities in the Southern Ocean biome – and all to which it
is interconnected – imply that we will always be working with only partial
knowledge. Despite recent advances in our understanding of the ecosystem
dynamics and primary productivity, we don't have a comprehensive grasp of the
processes driving changes in the ecosystem. Additionally, non-native species
and diseases have impacted the Southern Ocean ecosystem, and the development of
policies to mitigate those impacts – and the associated implementation
protocols - are still very much works-in-progress. So, while a regional
fisheries management organization (RFMO) can develop and work to implement
ecosystem-based management practices, that doesn't guarantee sustainable
stocks.!
RFMOs aren't the only influential actors, and no management plan will account
for every complexity.
Despite the challenges to effective implementation, I'm of the view that
ecosystem-based management is of vital importance to the survival and potential
sustainability of any fish stock, and that it should be the base from which we
address other issues and further develop policies. I'd be very interested in
hearing other (especially differing) views on this.
You put-forward a great question, Wendee... the answer(s) to it are most likely
as convoluted as the challenges of developing an adequate ecosystem-based
management system that sufficiently addresses criminal behavior, ignorance,
etc. I'm excited to read your article when you finish!!!
Jen
Jennifer RhemannPolar Law MA Candidate, University of AkureyriAPECS Polar
Policy/Law Discipline Coordinator (www.apecs.is)
----------------------------------------
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]; [email protected]
> Subject: RE: [ECOLOG-L] Ecosystem-based fisheries management
> Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:21:21 -0500
>
> Just real quick - I've heard Antarctica mentioned a couple times but isn't
> it true that the Patagonia toothfish and the bluefin tuna are both
> completely devastated stocks? So how can that be sustainable? (and I'm
> assuming that if somewhere is using ecosystem based management
> appropriately, then fisheries would be sustainable).
>
> This is tangential to the article I'm writing, so I was just curious. But
> now I'm ever more curious...
>
> Wendee
>
>
> Blogs for Nature from the Bering Sea ~ http://tinyurl.com/2ctghbl
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Wildlife Ecology ~ @bohemianone
> Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian
> http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com
> http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com
> ~~ 6-wk Online Writing Course Starts Sep 4 (signup by Aug 28) ~~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> I’m Animal Planet’s news blogger - http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Rhemann
> Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:09 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Ecosystem-based fisheries management
>
> Wendee, have a look at www.ccamlr.org for an example of ecosystem-based
> management. The Commission to the Convention on the Conservation of
> Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) regulates fishing and other
> resource-utilization activities in the Southern Ocean. (Patagonian
> toothfish, Antarctic toothfish & southern bluefin tuna are some of the
> lucrative fisheries in the Southern Ocean.) Assessments by the Working Group
> on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management, the Working Group on Fish Stock
> Assessment and CCAMLR’s Scientific Committee form the basis of the
> regulatory measures, and they are developed in accordance with an ecosystem
> approach to management that acknowledges the interlinked and complex
> ecological systems of the Southern Ocean biomes. The conservation principles
> that guide CCAMLR’s management include “prevention of decrease in the size
> of any harvested population to levels below those which ensure its stable
> recruitment […]; maintenance of the ecological relati!
> onships between harvested, dependent and related populations of Antarctic
> marine living resources and the restoration of depleted populations […]; and
> prevention of change(s) or minimisation of the risk of change(s) in the
> marine ecosystem which are not potentially reversible over two or three
> decades, taking into account the state of available knowledge of the direct
> and indirect impact of harvesting, the effect of the introduction of alien
> species, the effects of associated activities on the marine ecosystem and of
> the effects of environmental changes, with the aim of making possible the
> sustained conservation of Antarctic marine living resources”.
> The incorporation of these principles into CCAMLR’s management practices
> is integral to CCAMLR’s aim to follow both a precautionary approach and
> an ecosystem approach to regulation of the harvesting of Antarctic marine
> living resources. In keeping with these principles, the CCAMLR Ecosystem
> Monitoring Program (CEMP) was created in 1984 to “(i) detect and record
> significant changes in critical components of the ecosystem, to serve as a
> basis for the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources and (ii) to
> distinguish between changes due to harvesting of commercial species and
> changes due to environmental variability, both physical and biological”. The
> Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management coordinates the efforts
> of the CEMP. Standard methods for data collection and analysis were first
> established in 1987 and revised in 1997. Via these methods, CCAMLR has
> collected and analyzed ecosystem data from numerous sites, species and other
> parameters.
>
> The CCAMLR Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) for Antarctic toothfish is
> an example of application of an ecosystem approach and a precautionary
> approach to governance of living resources. The CDS aims to “(i) monitor the
> international toothfish trade (ii) identify the origins of toothfish imports
> or exports, (iii) determine whether toothfish catches have been made in
> accordance with CCAMLR conservation measures, and (iv) gather catch data for
> the scientific evaluation of toothfish stocks”. This program promotes
> responsible fishing techniques and accountability in the commercial fishing
> industry. The CDS operates in conjunction with CCAMLR monitoring programs
> for krill, finfish and sea birds in order to provide a more comprehensive
> view of the ecosystem health. Additionally, survey data (from fisheries and
> fishery-independent surveys) and strategic modeling are methods utilized by
> the CCAMLR Scientific Committee to assess ecosystem status.
> If you want more info, I'd be happy to send you the references for the above
> info or the paper (from which the above text is culled... sorry if it's
> still a bit too much for this forum). The CCAMLR website is well-written,
> and you'll find a wealth of information there. For other regional fisheries
> management organizations, some good information can be found at the
> following
> sites: http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/research/eedp/current_projects/rfmo/ h
> ttp://www.illegal-fishing.info/item_single.php?item=document&item_id=171&app
> roach_id=8http://www.sams.ac.uk/research/ecology/research/research-themes/pr
> operity-from-marine-ecosystems
> Best of luck with your research on this. I hope to be able to read your
> findings!
> Cheers,Jen
> Jennifer RhemannPolar Law MA Candidate, University of Akureyri,
> IcelandAssociation of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) Polar Policy/Law
> Discipline Coordinator
>> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:43:07 -0500
>> From: Wendee Holtcamp
>> Subject: ecosystem based fisheries management
>>
>> Are there any fisheries in the world that are actually managed using an
>> ecosystem approach versus single-species stock assessment models? I know
>> there's debate over whether the Bering Sea fisheries could become that
> way.
>> The comprehensive research done there feeds into their regional fishery
>> council's decisions, but I don't think it's truly an ecosystem-based
>> approach in terms of analyzing how many of say Pollock are needed not just
>> to feed people but also to feed the fur seals, the seabirds, etc to
> prevent
>> ecosystem collapse.
>>
>> But my question is not about the Bering Sea but about whether there is ANY
>> fishery that is actually managed in an ecosystem approach or whether it's
>> still theoretical at this stage?
>>
>> Wendee
>
>
>
>
>
>
