A retrospective analysis of the effects of adopting individual transferable quotas in the Tasmanian red rock lobster,Jasus edwardsii, fishery

Individual transferable quotas (ITQ) were implemented in the Tasmanian red rock lobster fishery in 1998 and ten years later we assessed the impacts on the fishery. Particular attention was devoted to investigating the performances of the fishery with regard to three features identified as major impacts in the literature: rationalization of the fishing fleet, change in fishing strategy in order to maximise the fisher’s profit and concentration of fishing rights and activity. On average, the fishery reacted as expected and reached its objective in terms of reconstruction of the biomass, but the overall assessment in terms of resulting profitability is not very conclusive. There is no evidence of decrease of the profitability over the period of the study but the fishery is more reactive to external factors on its export market in China than to changes in its own structure.The first author is supported by a PhD scholarship co-funded by IFREMER and the joint CSIRO-UTAS Quantitative Marine Science program (QMS

Overview of the international fishing activities on the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front : update with Dutch, British, Danish, German, Belgian, Swedish and French data for 2010-2015

In response to a request to Wageningen University & Research from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs an update of the data and analysis on the value of the fishing activities of the Dutch, British, Danish, German, Belgian, Swedish and French fishing fleets on the proposed closed areas on the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front was prepared. This report uses the method presented in Chapter 5 of ‘Effects of seabed protection on the Frisian Front and Central Oyster Grounds’ (Van Oostenbrugge et al. 2015) to update the reports already published by Wageningen Economic Research on fishing activity on the proposed closed areas on the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front (Hamon et al. 2013; Oostenbrugge and Hamon 2014). The effort, value and landings by the Dutch, British, Danish, German, Belgian, Swedish and French fishing fleets are presented for a five year period (2010-2015) and show variations over the last years but generally show a decline in effort in both areas. Value of landings and gross value added show an upward trend for the Dutch fishery in the Cleaver Bank (with a low point in 2013) but a downward trend for the British, German and Belgian fleets and for the Frisian Front. Main target species of the Cleaver Bank are plaice, targeted by the beam trawl fleet, followed by mackerel, cod and whiting in the rest of the demersal fleet. On the Frisian Front, gillnets target mainly sole and cod. The total value of landings has remained relatively stable on the Cleaver Bank between €1.6m and €2m over years (with the exception of the low 2013 value at €0.7m) while it remained low for the Frisian Front around €17,000 per year on average for the fleets from the countries considered. Within fleets, the dependency of individuals on the areas to be closed can greatly vary although the value of landings in the proposed closures represent less than 1% of the total value of landings for the Dutch fleet. For the Dutch fisheries about 30 to 40 vessels fish a minor part (less than 10%) of their revenue from the proposed closed areas on the Cleaver Bank and only 1 or 2 vessels get more than 10% of their revenue from the proposed closures. Between 15 and 20 vessels would be impacted by a seasonal closure on the Frisian Front net fishery, of those vessels only one fished more than 10% of its revenue in the proposed closure for one year

Future socio-political scenarios for aquatic resources in Europe: An operationalized framework for aquaculture projections

Climate-driven changes in aquatic environments have already started to affect the European aquaculture sector’s most commercially important finfish and shellfish species. In addition to changes in water quality and temperature that can directly influence fish production by altering health status, growth performance and/or feed conversion, the aquaculture sector also faces an uncertain future in terms of production costs and returns. For example, the availability of key ingredients for fish feeds (proteins, omega-3 fatty acids) will not only depend on future changes in climate, but also on social and political factors, thereby influencing feed costs. The future cost of energy, another main expenditure for fish farms, will also depend on various factors. Finally, marketing options and subsidies will have major impacts on future aquaculture profitability. Based on the framework of four socio-political scenarios developed in the EU H2020 project climate change and European aquatic resources (CERES), we defined how these key factors for the aquaculture sector could change in the future. We then apply these scenarios to make projections of how climate change and societal and economic trends influence the mid-century (2050) profitability of European aquaculture. We used an established benchmarking approach to contrast present-day and future economic performance of “typical farms” in selected European production regions under each of the scenarios termed “World Markets,” “National Enterprise,” “Global Sustainability” and “Local Stewardship.” These scenarios were based partly on the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios framework and their representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and the widely used shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs). Together, these scenarios contrast local versus international emphasis on decision making, more versus less severe environmental change, and different consequences for producers due to future commodity prices, cash returns, and costs. The mid-century profitability of the typical farms was most sensitive to the future development of feed costs, price trends of returns, and marketing options as opposed to the direct effect of climate-driven changes in the environment. These results can inform adaptation planning by the European aquaculture sector. Moreover, applying consistent scenarios including societal and economic dimensions, facilitates regional to global comparisons of adaptation advice both within and across Blue Growth sectors

Towards Behavioural Models of Fleet Dynamics

Considerable attention has been applied to the development of models explaining how fish stocks change over space and time, from relatively simple stock-recruitment relationships to ecosystem models with a complex food web structure. However, in many case studies fishing effort is assumed to be exogenous and even in dynamic models pre-determined by external factors such as management. An increasing number of operational bio-economic models for the marine environment are including a fleet dynamics component, recognising that fishers respond to changing environmental and economic conditions. These models are based on different assumptions about behaviour. In this review, we examine models of fisher behaviour that are empirically or theoretically developed and tested. In particular, we focus on the range of different economic and social drivers and their relevance to different types of behaviour. We find that economic factors are a dominant driver included in many types of short term behavioural models, although we acknowledge and find that other social factors play a significant role in some types of behaviour. The link between management and economic impacts is reasonably well established, and most bioeconomic models are able to incorporate these feedback systems. Incorporating these other social-dependent behaviours into bioeconomic models, however, is likely to remain a challenge unless links between management and changes in the social drivers are developed.Keywords: Fish and Aquaculture Sectors Development, Fisheries Economics, Fishers Behavio

Ten lessons on the resilience of the EU common fisheries policy towards climate change and fuel efficiency - A call for adaptive, flexible and well-informed fisheries management

To effectively future-proof the management of the European Union fishing fleets we have explored a suite of case studies encompassing the northeast and tropical Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Baltic and Black Seas. This study shows that European Union (EU) fisheries are likely resilient to climate-driven short-term stresses, but may be negatively impacted by long-term trends in climate change. However, fisheries' long-term stock resilience can be improved (and therefore be more resilient to increasing changes in climate) by adopting robust and adaptive fisheries management, provided such measures are based on sound scientific advice which includes uncertainty. Such management requires regular updates of biological reference points. Such updates will delineate safe biological limits for exploitation, providing both high long-term yields with reduced risk of stock collapse when affected by short-term stresses, and enhanced compliance with advice to avoid higher than intended fishing mortality. However, high resilience of the exploited ecosystem does not necessarily lead to the resilience of the economy of EU fisheries from suffering shocks associated with reduced yields, neither to a reduced carbon footprint if fuel use increases from lower stock abundances. Fuel consumption is impacted by stock development, but also by changes in vessel and gear technologies, as well as fishing techniques. In this respect, energy-efficient fishing technologies already exist within the EU, though implementing them would require improving the uptake of innovations and demonstrating to stakeholders the potential for both reduced fuel costs and increased catch rates. A transition towards reducing fuel consumption and costs would need to be supported by the setup of EU regulatory instruments. Overall, to effectively manage EU fisheries within a changing climate, flexible, adaptive, well-informed and well-enforced management is needed, with incentives provided for innovations and ocean literacy to cope with the changing conditions, while also reducing the dependency of the capture fishing industry on fossil fuels. To support such management, we provide 10 lessons to characterize 'win-win' fishing strategies for the European Union, which develop leverages in which fishing effort deployed corresponds to Maximum Sustainable Yield targets and Common Fisheries Policy minimal effects objectives. In these strategies, higher catch is obtained in the long run, less fuel is spent to attain the catch, and the fisheries have a higher resistance and resilience to shock and long-term factors to face climate-induced stresses

Integrated bio-economic impact of the landing obligation on the Dutch North Sea sole fishery : Task 1.3 of the project Best Practices II

To reduce the discarding practice in fisheries and promote better selectivity, the EU has introduced a landing obligation. The implementation of the landing obligation started in 2015 and since 1 January 2019, all catches of stocks under quota management must be landed (with someexemptions). The Dutch flatfish fishery has always had a large amount of plaice discards while targeting sole and is now faced with a challenge to reduce those discards. While the fishery still benefits from exemption for plaice, the results of this report show that a strict implementation of the landing obligation would have negative implications for the fishing sector without necessarily benefitting the fish stocks. The estimated survivability, higher than the one currently assumed in assessment, also means that the impacts will be larger. Tests to improve selectivity by using 90mm mesh sizes instead of the traditional 80mm show that more work is needed to develop gears that avoid unwanted catch while retaining targeted fish