„Simple“ Fisheries Management Tools for the

Coastal Zone

Amanda Stern-Pirlot

INCOFISH WP7

IfM-GEOMAR

Outline• Goals of fisheries management

• Major problems of contemporary fisheries management

• Indicators approach

• INCOFISH „Don‘t eat babies“ campaign

Goals of Fisheries Management

– Productive capacity of stocks sustained into the future at low level of risk. (stop unsustainable fishing practices)

– Ecosystem health not jeopardized by fishery practices

– Efficient resource use (no waste or bycatch)

– Management responsive to changes in ecosystem/fishery health

– Stakeholders and government fisheries administration sharing responsibility and involvement in management (co-management)

Major problems

• Compexity of management recommendations and laws

• Cost of management

• Lack of acceptance of prevailing management among stakeholders (not involved in the process of lawmaking)

FAO/Fisheries Dept.

Trends in the state of major marine fishery resources

Indicators approach

• Indicators are variables (proxies, indices, values) that show the extent of completion toward predefined “performance” targets.

For INCOFISH WP7 we are focusing on size-based indicators and sized-based management approaches and MPAs

Acceptable among stakeholders

Scientifically valid

• If all fish are allowed to reproduce at least once, overfishing is virtually impossible

• Examples where this type of mgmt has been effective: Striped Bass in the US; Seahorses in the Philippines

INCOFISH‘s „Don‘t eat babies“ campaign

• 86% of Germans would prefer to eat sustainably caught fish

• 77% of ICES advice is correct or conservative regarding TACs

• Advice is largely ignored because of short-term concerns of industry lobbiests

INCOFISH‘s „Don‘t eat babies“ campaign

• 30-50% of all fish in the European catch are juvenilles (according to ICES catch data from 55 stocks).

• Extreme cases: NS Cod in catch is 88% juvenille

• Close to 2 billion more Euros could be earned if fish were not harvested until they reach maturity, excluding recruitment advantages

Our Tools so far

• Fish ruler for public use– already successful in Germany

• Online size buying guide available on INCOFISH portal by the end of June

Thank You!

Striped Bass in the US

• Stocks in Chesapeake Bay and the Mid-Atlantic Coast were severely depleated due to overfishing until 1981

• High value species, lots of research done• Recommendations by ASMFC to allow fishing only

on mature fish, based on female size-at-first maturity• Recommendation put into enforcable law via Striped

Bass Conservation Act• Stocks rebounded and are now back to acceptable

sizes

What they have in common

• Management that stakeholders understand and accept with a common sense and scientifically valid basis

• Relatively easy enforcement