Sustainability Initiatives in Fishing
The NFFO has been closely involved in the preparation of a paper describing some of the initiatives that British fishermen are involved in as they strive to ensure that the future of fishing is sustainable. Its central point is that sustainability is not just an ideal decided by environmentalists. The fishing industry shares the goal of sustainability and can demonstrate in a number of concrete ways what it is doing to achieve it.
Here, we print the paper, Sustainability Initiatives in Fishing, in full.
Cod Recovery
For reasons that are not certain, environmental conditions at present do not favour the reproduction of cod in the North Sea, Irish Sea, or West of Scotland. This may be connected to increasing water temperatures and the fact that cod in these waters are at the southernmost extent of their geographical range. A package of stringent measures has been imposed by EU ministers with the aim of rebuilding cod stocks by constraining fishing pressure. Around half of the fleets that target cod have been scrapped under a decommissioning scheme. Tight restrictions on time at sea, reduced quotas, strict control rules and a range of technical conservation measures apply to the remaining vessels.
A major review of the EU cod recovery plan is under way to decide whether cod, a cold water species, is recoverable in these new environmental conditions and if so, what the best way of achieving recovery might be. Fishermen, through the newly formed regional advisory councils, will be part of that review process.
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Other Fish in the Sea
Cod is a voracious predator and is currently depleted; this may, in part, account for the fact that species eaten by cod, or which compete for the same food sources, are now reasonably abundant. Prawns, haddock, herring, mackerel, saithe (coley), lobster, crab, monkfish, whiting (in some areas), and some sole stocks, are all currently well within safe biological limits.
It is also worth recalling that it is only the major commercial stocks that are subject to quota control. For many fishing vessels, up to 60% of their catch are from species which scientists consider do not need quotas.
In other words, despite the problems faced by some cod fisheries, there is a wide range of alternative species available to UK consumers from sustainable stocks. It is also worth bearing in mind too that most cod consumed in the UK is and always has been, sourced from fisheries like Iceland and North Norway which are considered by scientists to be fished within safe biological limits.
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Moving towards Sustainability
The World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, committed signatory countries to bring depleted fish stocks to maximum sustainable yield by 2015. Although MSY is a rather theoretical concept, not well adapted to the multi-species fisheries found in our waters, there is inarguable logic in establishing long term fisheries objectives and moving steadily towards them.
UK fishermen, through their national organisations, and the regional advisory councils, are working with fishermen from other member states, and other stakeholders, including green NGOs, to agree these objectives and the steps towards achieving them. It is encouraging that many of the fish stocks listed above already meet the criteria for maximum sustainable yield. An important question remains however, whether, within a single ecosystem subject to natural variations, it is possible to maintain all commercial species at a high level simultaneously.
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Regional Advisory Councils
Regional Advisory Councils are being established to meet the criticism that one of the principal failings of the Common Fisheries Policy is the remoteness of the Brussels decision-makers from the people affected by those decisions. This has led to repeated failures in the design of policy in the past and also undermined the implementation of those policies. RACs are comprised of ⅔ fishing Sector representatives and ⅓ other stakeholders, including green NGOs. Already the RACs have had an impact:
- in designing criteria to be applied when closed areas are to be used for fisheries management purposes
- in agreeing a seasonal closure off Trevose Head to protect concentrations of spawning cod. This proposal has subsequently been incorporated into an EU regulation
- in providing advice on the Shetland Box and the Plaice Box, advice that has been closely followed by the European Commission and the Council of Ministers
- in designing and agreeing management measures that will allow for the reopening of the Deep Water gillnet fishery on a controlled and sustainable basis
- in developing ideas for the sustainable management of North Sea flatfish fisheries
- in shaping long term fisheries objectives consistent with the Johannesburg criteria for sustainability
- in presenting proposals to improve the fish stock assessment process in the Irish Sea, through a voluntary comprehensive data collection scheme
- in proposing ways of simplifying the CFP, thereby improving the comprehensibility of fisheries rules
- in working towards ways of dealing with increasing development pressures on the seabed and the issues of co-existence with other seabed users
- in working with the European Commission to ensure that regulations on marking of fishing gear and acoustic deterrent devices for porpoise and dolphins are practical and cost effective
- in suggesting innovative approaches to cod recovery that take account of the ecosystem approach
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Traceability and Responsible Fishing
The fishing industry is acutely aware that consumers need to have confidence that the food they buy has been produced in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. The fishing federations, along with the Seafish Industry Authority, have recently designed and agreed a scheme for recognising responsible fishing practices for UK fisheries. Participating vessels will be required to undergo to undergo an audit which will establish if they meet the required standards for responsible fishing. The scheme is intended to develop, promote and reward good practice including minimising discards, use of selective fishing gear, traceability and catch handling.
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Discards
Discarding of fish caught, taken on board, then rejected, is an aspect of fisheries that the general public finds difficult to understand or condone; not least because in most cases, discarded fish rarely survive. Discarding wastes the resource, undermines attempts to assess the true impact of fishing pressure and is a public relations nightmare for the industry.
In fact there are a number of reasons for discarding, ranging from compliance with badly designed quota and conservation rules, to maximising the economic returns from the fish that is taken on board. The amount of discarding that takes place varies considerably from year to year, from species to species, and by fishing area. For this reason, the problem of discards in highly mixed fisheries is not open to simple solutions such as a ban, without creating a range of other problems, for example creating a market in undersized fish.
Although there is no single “silver bullet” solution to discards, there is a range of ways that discards can be minimised and marginalised. Placing the issue of discarding at the centre of fisheries legislation rather than viewing it as an inevitable by-product would be a good start and the main culprit in this regard, EU Technical Conservation Regulation 850/98, is currently up for review. Fishermen in the UK are also working with DEFRA on a number of pilot projects to develop practical ways of reducing discards, including fishing gear that targets its principal species more precisely and arrangements for closing areas when conditions give rise to a high degree of discarding.
The principal reason why the solution to the problem of depleted cod stocks is not a ban on catching cod is because this species is caught as a bycatch on a number of fisheries and the result would be discarded dead cod, not saved cod.
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Accidental Bycatch of Dolphins and Porpoise
It is a regrettable fact that dolphins and porpoise do, on occasion, become entangled in various kinds of fishing gear. We are advised by the Sea Mammal Research Unit that this level of bycatch in the UK fleet is not on a scale that could jeopardise cetacean populations. In fact populations of these species appears to be buoyant. Nevertheless, the fishing industry recognises the high value that the public places on these iconic species. It is for this reason that UK fishermen in the fisheries affected have been working with the Sea Mammal Research Unit to develop an acoustic deterrent that would effectively dissuade, cetaceans like dolphin and porpoise, from entering the nets. A number of practicality issues remain to be addressed but if these can be solved, pingers appear to offer the prospect of eradicating accidental bycatch problems for cetaceans.
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Environmentalists
UK fishermen are working collaboratively with environmentalists in a number of areas to find joint solutions to common problems. The more confrontational, media-focused, NGOs such as Greenpeace are difficult to have a meaningful or informed dialogue with, but collaborative work is underway with WWF and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds/ Birdlife International on a number of fronts. The fishing industry also works with the statutory conservation agencies, English Nature (Natural England) and JNCC, the Joint Nature Conservancy Council.
Engagement with environmental NGOs takes place especially:
- within the regional advisory councils, on a wide range of issues, where environmental organisations are active and influential stakeholders
- in the ground-breaking Invest in Fish (South West) project which has brought together a wide range of stakeholders to define and evaluate sustainability options for the valuable Southwest fisheries
- in the Marine Environment Working Group, established by the UK fisheries administrations to bring focus to sustainability issues
- in the Marine Fisheries Stakeholder Forum, which advises Government on high level fisheries strategy
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Skates and Rays
The highly mixed nature of many of our fisheries poses particular challenges for fisheries management and conservation strategies. The label, Skates and Rays for example, in fact covers some 20 separate species each often with very different conservation status. For example the misnamed common skate is depleted, whilst the cuckoo ray or the thornback is found in relatively abundant quantities. The fact that catches are aggregated in this way obscures important stock variations. The catching sector is working with scientists to improve our understanding of the population biology.
The challenge for fisheries managers and for the fishing industry, is to design measures that safeguard the vulnerable components of this group of species, whilst allowing safe harvesting of the more abundant parts. More selective gear, targeted seasonal closures and a better understanding of fish behaviours could all play a part but it is important to avoid simplistic solutions that simply result in an increase in discarding.
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Fisheries Science Partnerships
Collaborative fisheries science between fishermen and scientists from the CEFAS Laboratory is undertaken within the innovative and highly successful Fisheries Science Partnership. This is a way in which the deep reservoir of knowledge held by fishermen can be tapped to obtain a more accurate and more sensitive idea of the state of the various fish stocks. Under the programme, commercial fishing vessels are chartered to undertake jointly defined research trips. These complement the more formal stock assessment processes and have been very effective in building a more rounded and shared view of the state of the stocks. This is important because a common understanding of the resource provides the foundation for agreement on effective management measures.
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Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit
In 2003, at the fishing industry’s request, the Prime Minister instructed the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit to undertake an in-depth analysis of the fishing industry. The ensuing report, Net Benefits, concluded that all of the main fishing sectors, pelagic, shellfish and whitefish could have a profitable and sustainable future. This is no lame duck industry, despite its recent difficulties.
Some 63 recommendations were made by the report and subsequently four joint stakeholder/Government working groups, industry reform, marine environment, inshore and fisheries objectives were established to address the recommendations made by the Strategy Unit. Although some of the recommendations, such as reform of EU fisheries management structures are ambitious, to be achieved progressively over time, many others have already been implemented or are well on the way to completion.
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Marine Environment
The working group established to take forward the Strategy Unit recommendations on the marine environment, involved environmental NGOs and the Government’s statutory advisors on nature conservation, as well as fishing industry representatives. The Group’s focus was principally on the issues associated with marine protected areas, reduction of discards and strategic environmental assessments. The aim was particularly concerned with translating broad recommendations into concrete measures and has been especially useful in identifying practicality issues and clarifying objectives.
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Quotas and Compliance
The quota system is cumbersome, blunt, complex and full of imperfections. But given that some mechanism is required to share out scarce fisheries resources to different countries and groups of fishermen, like Churchill’s aphorism on democracy, it is probably the worst possible approach, apart from the alternatives. There is no easy way of placing an overall cap on catches in the context of shared stocks.
Despite the drawbacks of the quota system, in recent years, considerable progress has been made in refining the quota arrangements and ensuring compliance with the catch limits that are set. This has involved greater involvement of fishermen in the stock assessment process, tradability of quotas to allow a vessel owner the ability to buy quota to cover catches, tighter control measures and the registration of buyers and sellers of fish. The signs are that “black fish” (over-quota or unreported landings) has been pushed to the margins, bringing greater market stability for the fleets.
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Fisheries Management
Few would disagree with the view that the management of European fisheries over the last 20 years has been a failure. The system of regulation has failed to protect some of some important fish stocks, notably cod; it has encouraged the wasteful discarding of fish resources; it has subsidised fleet building programmes, then struggled to deal with the consequences of overcapacity.
Having said all this, it is important for all those who consume fish and who buy and sell fish, to realise that European fisheries and specifically the fisheries in UK waters, are not at the point of collapse; neither are they subject to a pattern of unrelieved over-fishing, irresponsible practices and a cavalier attitude to environmental impact. A series of measures have been put in place to address the most urgent issues, such as recovery of the cod stocks; at the same time, work is proceeding on a number of fronts to secure the long term health of fish resources - and the livelihoods of the fishermen who depend on them.
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Conclusion The above provides a brief overview of some of the initiatives that British fishermen are involved in to ensure that our fisheries are undertaken on a sustainable basis and in recognition that fisheries take place within a wider ecosystem that requires protection. The problems confronting fisheries, particularly our multi-species, multi-gear, multi-jurisdiction fisheries, are often not open to simplistic solutions. Nevertheless, the initiatives described above indicate that the issues of sustainability and ecosystem protection are being taken very seriously.
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