Stocks outlook good but management complicated
10th July 2015
Fish stocks in the NE Atlantic are making good progress towards meeting MSY targets but big challenges and uncertainties remain, according to marine scientists, reports Tim Oliver.
Challenges include the landings obligation for demersal quota species, moves towards multi-species, multi-annual and eco-system management plans, data shortages on many stocks, increasing competition for space on the seas and seabed, regionalisation of the CFP.
Climate change and its effects on the oceans will also be likely to pose challenges for fisheries managers as the seas warm and species move to different areas.
Speakers spelled out in detail the history and current state of play on EU and UK fisheries management at the Buckland Colloquium at Fishmongers Hall in London in June.
The theme of the meeting was ‘Securing the supply of food from European marine fisheries’.
Keynote speaker Dr Colin Bannister, joint 2015 Buckland Professor, said security of fish stocks depended on healthy seas, fish stock recovery and sustainable management, the effects of biological and climate variability, and the perspectives of governments and the fishing and food industries.
Looking at whether EU management had achieved recovery of depleted stocks, he said fishing mortality had been successfully reduced on many depleted stocks since 2001with good progress made towards sustainable fishing – but there had been a big impact on the industry to achieve this.
While many stocks were rebuilding well, recruitment and increasing spawning stock biomasses (SSB) was slower.
This meant that while fishermen were looking for better quotas and higher landings to compensate for the cuts and restrictions of the last decade or so, there was a time lag.
Fishermen also always believed there was more fish in the sea than the scientific assessments indicated because they knew where a species was most likely to be abundant and went looking for it, fishing in ‘hot spots’ that were not an accurate indication of the overall health of a stock.
He speculated that climate change and the very high pelagic biomass in the 1990s might be behind the slower recruitment and rebuilding of the SSB of demersal stocks, particularly cod.
He and other speakers referred to the complexity and interdependency of the marine environment and the many natural and human activity effects on fisheries and the ecosystem.
Scientists and fishery managers could only influence one effect – fishing – and were “doing their best” even though they could only act on this one element.
The overall effect was that there is “considerable uncertainty about the ecological dimension of the fish food security domain”, said Dr Bannister.
Stocks had been hit by overfishing, temperature and plankton changes and possibly by variations in the biomass of pelagic species.
The overall aim of fisheries management should be to not fish too hard, especially on immature fish, using as big a mesh as possible.
Bur Dr Bannister conceded that while this was easy to express as a concept it was very hard to put into practice.
Stocks optimism
Dr Carol O’Brien of CEFAS, Chief Fisheries Science Advisor to DEFRA and the other joint Buckland Professor, said there was cause for optimism on stocks in the NE Atlantic waters and called for “pragmatic” management.
He said stocks were in a good state and going in the right direction despite the bad press reports, and there was also progress being made with assessments of data-limited stocks.
While 38% of stocks were subject to full analytical assessment, certainty about their status reduced gradually for the remaining stocks, with 13% relying only on catch data. There had been great efforts to counter the Commission’s “draconian” management that called for cuts in TACs of 25% -35% for stocks for which there was no analytical assessment.
He emphasised the complexity of managing fisheries within the context of the requirements of the CFP and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which involved taking into account a multitude of factors bearing on the marine environment and not just fishing. Eco-system management involved taking into account the competition of space in the sea by such activities as windfarms, offshore installations, dredging
One problem was that management focussed on individual stocks whereas it was fisheries that should be managed. But management became complicated when it moved away from single-species management and took into account issues such as multi-species interaction and predation, the complexities of the overall food chain and natural variations in the marine environment.
Dr O’Brien emphasised that not all stock objectives could be achieved at once, in particular MSY. He said this should not be treated as a fixed point for all species and that expected stock increases could not occur in all stocks simultaneously.
He warned of the dangers to the fishing industry of following “blindly” the objective of achieving MSY status for all species at once.
Summarising, Dr O’Brien said there was a need for pragmatism in fisheries management, for transitional arrangements in mixed fisheries and for regional approaches. Reliance on a single model should be eliminated and replaced with methods that coped with the uncertainties inherent in fisheries management.
Fish stocks in the NE Atlantic are making good progress towards meeting MSY targets but big challenges and uncertainties remain, according to marine scientists, reports Tim Oliver. Challenges include the landings obligation for demersal quota species, moves towards multi-species, multi-annual and eco-system management plans, data shortages on many stocks, increasing competition for space on the seas and seabed, regionalisation of the CFP. Climate change and its effects on the oceans will also be likely to pose challenges for fisheries managers as the seas warm and species move to different areas. Speakers spelled out in detail the history and current state of play on EU and UK fisheries management at the Buckland Colloquium at Fishmongers Hall in London in June. The theme of the meeting was ‘Securing the supply of food from European marine fisheries’. Keynote speaker Dr Colin Bannister, joint 2015 Buckland Professor, said security of fish stocks depended on healthy seas, fish stock recovery and sustainable management, the effects of biological and climate variability, and the perspectives of governments and the fishing and food industries. Looking at whether EU management had achieved recovery of depleted stocks, he said fishing mortality had been successfully reduced on many depleted stocks since 2001with good progress made towards sustainable fishing – but there had been a big impact on the industry to achieve this. While many stocks were rebuilding well, recruitment and increasing spawning stock biomasses (SSB) was slower. This meant that while fishermen were looking for better quotas and higher landings to compensate for the cuts and restrictions of the last decade or so, there was a time lag. Fishermen also always believed there was more fish in the sea than the scientific assessments indicated because they knew where a species was most likely to be abundant and went looking for it, fishing in ‘hot spots’ that were not an accurate indication of the overall health of a stock. He speculated that climate change and the very high pelagic biomass in the 1990s might be behind the slower recruitment and rebuilding of the SSB of demersal stocks, particularly cod. He and other speakers referred to the complexity and interdependency of the marine environment and the many natural and human activity effects on fisheries and the ecosystem. Scientists and fishery managers could only influence one effect – fishing – and were “doing their best” even though they could only act on this one element. The overall effect was that there is “considerable uncertainty about the ecological dimension of the fish food security domain”, said Dr Bannister. Stocks had been hit by overfishing, temperature and plankton changes and possibly by variations in the biomass of pelagic species. The overall aim of fisheries management should be to not fish too hard, especially on immature fish, using as big a mesh as possible. Bur Dr Bannister conceded that while this was easy to express as a concept it was very hard to put into practice. Stocks optimism Dr Carol O’Brien of CEFAS, Chief Fisheries Science Advisor to DEFRA and the other joint Buckland Professor, said there was cause for optimism on stocks in the NE Atlantic waters and called for “pragmatic” management. He said stocks were in a good state and going in the right direction despite the bad press reports, and there was also progress being made with assessments of data-limited stocks. While 38% of stocks were subject to full analytical assessment, certainty about their status reduced gradually for the remaining stocks, with 13% relying only on catch data. There had been great efforts to counter the Commission’s “draconian” management that called for cuts in TACs of 25% -35% for stocks for which there was no analytical assessment. He emphasised the complexity of managing fisheries within the context of the requirements of the CFP and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which involved taking into account a multitude of factors bearing on the marine environment and not just fishing. Eco-system management involved taking into account the competition of space in the sea by such activities as windfarms, offshore installations, dredging One problem was that management focussed on individual stocks whereas it was fisheries that should be managed. But management became complicated when it moved away from single-species management and took into account issues such as multi-species interaction and predation, the complexities of the overall food chain and natural variations in the marine environment. Dr O’Brien emphasised that not all stock objectives could be achieved at once, in particular MSY. He said this should not be treated as a fixed point for all species and that expected stock increases could not occur in all stocks simultaneously. He warned of the dangers to the fishing industry of following “blindly” the objective of achieving MSY status for all species at once. Summarising, Dr O’Brien said there was a need for pragmatism in fisheries management, for transitional arrangements in mixed fisheries and for regional approaches. Reliance on a single model should be eliminated and replaced with methods that coped with the uncertainties inherent in fisheries management.
