Cooperative Management of Trans-Boundary Fish Stocks: Implications for Tropical Tuna Management in the Pacific Island Region

The trans-boundary migration of fish stocks creates spatial externalities, and hence, makes international cooperation beneficial. This study provides a model for the management of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks and examines the relationship between fish migrations and the benefits from cooperation. Previous studies on trans-boundary fish stock management have focused on seasonal migrations of fish stocks.  Instead, this study focuses on non-seasonal movements of fish. In addition, the model presented in this paper takes stock leakages from exclusive economic zones to international waters into consideration. These two model features are applicable to the tuna fisheries in the Pacific island region, where the countries' exclusive economic zones are surrounded by international waters. The study confirms that cooperation is beneficial when fish migrate. The study finds that leakages of stocks to international waters reduce the surplus gained from cooperative management. For a given stock leakage level, the surplus gain from cooperation increases with an increase in the gap between the two countries' fish migration rates. Under the Nash-bargaining rule, the surplus is gained equally between the two cooperating countries. In contrast, under the rule based on stock distribution, the country with higher migration rates gains more from cooperation. The study suggests a positive relationship between the optimal price of a fishing license and stocks. This implies possible large income loss for some Pacific island countries from predicted climate change impacts on tuna distribution in the Western and Central Pacific

FPIs and fishery comanagement: drilling down on collective fishery management

In the FPI framework, input indicators are those attributes expected to influence the outcomes of fishery management. One subset of those indicators is comanagement, measured by 11 input scores spread over four dimensions (collective action, participation, community, and gender). After applying FPIs to 13 Japanese coastal fisheries that varied in fishing method, targeted species-type, fishermen’s group characteristics, and performance outcomes, we found that comanagement scores did not vary significantly across these cases. This implies that comanagement does not affect the outcomes in these fisheries, but other studies and field observations suggest otherwise. Based on FPI case studies from Japan and elsewhere combined with on-the-ground knowledge of these fisheries and the theories of Olson, Ostrom, and Buchanan on collective action, we explore the development of an FPI add-on module to assess comanagement attributes. How to score and interpret dimensions such as the quality of co-managing organization, commitment to self-governance, rules that alter race-to-fish incentive, and consensus and common knowledge among the group members will be discussed

Community Science’s Contributions to Fostering Relational Values to Overcome Coastal Ecosystems Challenges

This paper applies the emerging concept of ‘relational values’ – values people hold toward their relationships with nature and with each other – and brings attention to the role of community science in enhancing relational ecosystem values. We feature Gouldsboro Shore, Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s (GMRI) coastal flood monitoring, and river herring monitoring and restoration efforts as focal examples. Gouldsboro Shore activates community volunteers and high school students to support the management and resilience of their clam fishery in Gouldsboro, ME. GMRI’s flood monitoring provides a platform for coastal residents to report, monitor, and map coastal flooding in participating municipalities. In multiple towns, biologists and community members have worked together to restore aquatic habitat and connectivity to support river herring populations while also deepening their connection to their local ecosystems. In each case, community science contributed to enhancing both people-nature and people-people relationships in the community to overcome coastal ecosystem challenges. Coastal decision-makers need to move beyond the antiquated Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework to recognize a wider set of values that people hold towards coastal and marine natural environments. Community science programs have the potential to foster relational values and activate sustainability-aligned values into action to overcome ecosystem and other societal challenges

A comparative method for evaluating ecosystem services from the viewpoint of public works

Nature-based solutions (NbS), such as the implementation of environmental conservation and restoration as public works projects, require accurate and cost-effective assessments of the values related to the projects. The values should represent collective ecosystem services, individual services such as food provision and water purification, and other intangible services. To comprehensively assess such services, we proposed a novel method, which we call the comparative evaluation method. Our method is able to assess the value of each service category of an NbS project from a single questionnaire survey. Survey participants are asked to compare values of multiple services having anchoring prices. Our method determines the permissible economic value of environmental public works (PEP) in response to the quantity of service. The questionnaire results used for analysis are limited to those from respondents who made their PEP evaluation on the basis of their consideration of the appropriate expenditure of taxes. In addition, the method controls for the effect of the satisfaction that a person experiences from doing good deeds to reduce an overestimation of the values of services. Moreover, PEPs are not influenced by the respondent's annual income, age, sex, or educational background, and are based on personal values. Applying this new method, we surveyed residents of the watersheds of Tokyo Bay and Osaka Bay and evaluated nine ecosystem services. Overall, our new method is shown to be an effective method for evaluating the ecosystem services of NbS projects from the viewpoint of public works

Green port structures and their ecosystem services in highly urbanized Japanese bays

Green port structures (i.e. green infrastructure in ports and harbors) featuring habitats for marine organisms have been promoted in Japan as part of a comprehensive policy to reduce the environmental impact of ports and carry out habitat conservation, restoration, and creation. In this study, we evaluated the ecosystem services provided by green port structures in two highly urbanized bays (Tokyo Bay and Osaka Bay) in Japan. Our results show that the provision of some ecosystem services can be limited by circumstances particular to ports and other areas with restricted access. In the case of green port structures that have strong usage restrictions, for example, cultural services can only be provided if relevant authorities are prepared to conduct public events while ensuring participant safety. On the other hand, green port structures with weak usage restrictions are often equipped with incidental facilities such as parking lots and restrooms; these facilities can enhance the provision of cultural services (e.g. recreation and environmental education). Green port structures in highly urbanized bays often have usage restrictions, but their proximity to large populations means that they can potentially provide numerous ecosystem services. However, our study shows that appropriate management goals, such as protecting species and ensuring healthy habitats, are needed to maintain the value of these services in highly urbanized and eutrophic bays

Method for the quantitative evaluation of ecosystem services in coastal regions

Wetlands, tidal flats, seaweed beds, and coral reefs are valuable not only as habitats for many species, but also as places where people interact with the sea. Unfortunately, these areas have declined in recent years, so environmental improvement projects to conserve and restore them are being carried out across the world. In this study, we propose a method for quantifying ecosystem services, that is, useful for the proper maintenance and management of artificial tidal flats, a type of environmental improvement project. With this method, a conceptual model of the relationship between each service and related environmental factors in natural and social systems was created, and the relationships between services and environmental factors were clarified. The state of the environmental factors affecting each service was quantified, and the state of those factors was reflected in the evaluation value of the service. As a result, the method can identify which environmental factors need to be improved and if the goal is to increase the value of the targeted tidal flat. The method demonstrates an effective approach in environmental conservation for the restoration and preservation of coastal areas

Attributes of climate resilience in fisheries: from theory to practice

In a changing climate, there is an imperative to build coupled social-ecological systems—including fisheries—that can withstand or adapt to climate stressors. Although resilience theory identifies system attributes that supposedly confer resilience, these attributes have rarely been clearly defined, mechanistically explained, nor tested and applied to inform fisheries governance. Here, we develop and apply a comprehensive resilience framework to examine fishery systems across (a) ecological, (b) socio-economic and (c) governance dimensions using five resilience domains: assets, flexibility, organization, learning and agency. We distil and define 38 attributes that confer climate resilience from a coupled literature- and expert-driven approach, describe how they apply to fisheries and provide illustrative examples of resilience attributes in action. Our synthesis highlights that the directionality and mechanism of these attributes depend on the specific context, capacities, and scale of the focal fishery system and associated stressors, and we find evidence of interdependencies among attributes. Overall, however, we find few studies that test resilience attributes in fisheries across all parts of the system, with most examples focussing on the ecological dimension. As such, meaningful quantification of the attributes’ contributions to resilience remains a challenge. Our synthesis and holistic framework represent a starting point for critical application of resilience concepts to fisheries social-ecological systems

Integrating human dimensions in decadal-scale prediction for marine social–ecological systems: lighting the grey zone

The dynamics of marine systems at decadal scales are notoriously hard to predict—hence references to this timescale as the “grey zone” for ocean prediction. Nevertheless, decadal-scale prediction is a rapidly developing field with an increasing number of applications to help guide ocean stewardship and sustainable use of marine environments. Such predictions can provide industry and managers with information more suited to support planning and management over strategic timeframes, as compared to seasonal forecasts or long-term (century-scale) predic- tions. The most significant advances in capability for decadal-scale prediction over recent years have been for ocean physics and biogeochemistry, with some notable advances in ecological prediction skill. In this paper, we argue that the process of “lighting the grey zone” by providing im- proved predictions at decadal scales should also focus on including human dimensions in prediction systems to better meet the needs and priorities of end users. Our paper reviews information needs for decision-making at decadal scales and assesses current capabilities for meeting these needs. We identify key gaps in current capabilities, including the particular challenge of integrating human elements into decadal prediction systems. We then suggest approaches for overcoming these challenges and gaps, highlighting the important role of co-production of tools and scenarios, to build trust and ensure uptake with end users of decadal prediction systems. We also highlight opportunities for combining narratives and quantitative predictions to better incorporate the human dimension in future efforts to light the grey zone of decadal-scale prediction

Emerging Issues in Fisheries Management: An Intersection of Institutional and Resource Economics

Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2015.Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation investigates contemporary challenges and promising remedies regarding shery management: aquaculture production, trans-boundary fish movements, and the transition from open access to rights-based management. Aquaculture as a Backstop: Fisheries Management in the Presence of Aquaculture Production investigates aquaculture production in a context of capture fishery management. The study shows the impacts of aquaculture, as a backstop technology, on a capture fishery under optimal and open-access regimes. The study finds that aquaculture production serves as a backstop so long as the aquaculture production cost is smaller than the output price at the steady state. If the marginal user cost with a backstop is greater than without a backstop, aquaculture production contributes to conserving more wild stock compare to the case without aquaculture production. Cooperative Management of Trans-boundary Fish Stocks: Implications for the Tropical Tuna Management in the Pacific Island Region investigates cooperative management of trans-boundary fish stocks. The trans-boundary migration of fish stocks creates spatial externalities, and hence, makes international cooperation beneficial. This study provides a model to examine the relationship between fish migrations and cooperation. The model focuses on non-seasonal fish migration and takes stock leakages from exclusive economic zones into consideration. The study finds that leakages of stocks to international waters reduce the surplus gained from cooperative management. For a given stock leakage level, the surplus gain from cooperation increases with an increase in the gap between the two countries' fish migration rates. In order for two countries to reach a cooperation agreement, the country with higher migration rates may make side-payments to the other. Institutional Evolution in Fisheries Management: Scarcity and the Intensity of Governance investigates the evolution of shery management institutions. The study develops a model to show the optimal transition from open access to rights-based management. The study suggests that regulated open access, such as catch quota, can play a role as an intermediary institution before management switches to more efficient but costly rights-based management. The study nds that when there is learning by managing, catch quota may be used as an intermediary institution along the path to an individual transferable quota regime

Inside the Japanese Bluefin Tuna Market

Each year, over 20,000 metric tons of tuna are supplied to the Japanese market, of which 40% are caught by domestic vessels.  Although the Japanese tuna market is large, little is known about the supply chain and the Japanese tuna fisheries’ behaviors. In this study, we investigate how Bluefin tuna are caught in Japanese EEZs and brought to consumers. To do this, we use the reported landings data, central wholesale market data, and conduct interviews. To represent the qualitative information gathered via the interviews and to complement the quantitative analysis, we develop a model of migrating fish stocks with multiple fishing entities. We identify that Bluefin tunas are caught mainly by pole-and-line, purse-seine, set-net, and long-line fishermen in 22 prefectures at 36 ports. Region and gear-based fishing cooperative associations manage fishing activities, and each group differs in its management goals and strategies. In recent years, this has led to conflicts among Bluefin tuna fishermen who target tunas that spawn in the Sea of Japan. Though the formal scientific evidence is incomplete, some groups of fishermen blame the decline in their catch on the purse-seiners for catching too many young tunas, hence causing a decline in domestic tuna stocks.  The nature of the problem stems from a lack of consensus among fishermen on the science related to tuna stock management. Furthermore, our preliminary findings indicate that an introduction of Bluefin tuna aquaculture creates a market for live infant Bluefin, which reshapes domestic Bluefin tuna fisheries and their markets.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK