James Innes

Use of Incentive-Based Management Systems to Limit Bycatch and Discarding

In most fisheries, a number of species are unintentionally caught as bycatch while attempting to catch the targeted species. While much of the bycatch problem is technological in nature due to imperfect selectivity of the fishing gear, fisher behaviour also plays a major role. How, when and where fishers choose to fish can influence catch composition and thereby the quantity of bycatch. Behavioural changes can be encouraged through the development of an appropriate set of incentives — both economic and social — to avoid bycatch and reduce discarding. In this paper, a number of alternative incentive-based bycatch management systems are reviewed. The potential applicability of these systems to quota species, non-commercial species and threatened or conservation-dependent species (such as turtles, seals, dolphins) is reviewed, and examples of their application are presented. The review concludes that incentive-based approaches can reduce the level of bycatch and discarding in most fisheries.

Mitigating undesirable impacts in the marine environment: a review of market-based management measures

Internationally, marine biodiversity conservation objectives are having an increasing influence on the management of commercial fisheries. While this is largely being implemented through marine protected areas, the use of market based instruments (MBIs) has proved useful in other areas of fisheries and biodiversity conservation management. This paper explores the potential of MBIs as biodiversity conservation management tools for mitigating the undesirable impacts of fishing industries operating in the marine environment, examples of which are still relatively limited in the marine context. We assess the potential of several alternative measures by reviewing and considering the successes and limitations of previous applications and how these would translate in the case of commercial fishing. Several fishing methods and conservation values are considered and the circumstances in which MBIs may be most applicable are identified. Where appropriate, and by either replacing or (more likely) complementing existing management arrangements, MBIs have the potential to improve environmental performance. This has a number of implications. From the environmental perspective they should enable levels of undesirable impacts on conservation values such as sensitive habitat or protected species of turtles, marine mammals and seabirds to be reduced. MBIs can also increase management cost-effectiveness and reduce the costs imposed upon industry by allowing them greater flexibility when developing solutions. Further, in the increasingly relevant case of MPAs, the potential cost of structural adjustment packages to government may also be significantly reduced if improved environmental performance makes it possible for some industry members to continue operating.

A multi-criteria assessment of fishing gear impacts in demersal fisheries.

Fishing gears have multiple impacts on the marine environment, and policies to reduce these impacts through modifying fishing gears are becoming common place. Different modifications result in different changes in the set of environmental impacts, and imply different sets of costs and benefits for different stakeholder groups. In this study, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to quantify the relative importance of the environmental impacts of fishing to different stakeholder groups. Forty eight individuals representing six different stakeholder groups (ecologists, biologists, economists, gear technologists, fishers and fisheries managers) were surveyed. As expected, fishers and gear technologists placed substantially greater importance on reducing discarding of commercial fish species than on habitat damage. Priorities of other stakeholder groups varied, but all placed greater priority on habitats than the commercial sector. The results suggest that management aimed at reducing environmental impacts of fishing broader than just discarding is appropriate, but such moves are likely to be opposed by the fishing industry. The derived weights also have a direct application to fisheries management, as they allow otherwise non-commensurate impacts to be aggregated into an overall impact to compare environmental benefits from alternative modifications of fishing gear.

Price integration in the Australian rock lobster industry: implications for management and climate change adaptation

Rock lobster fisheries are Australias most valuable wild fisheries in terms of both value of production and value of exports. Different states harvest and export different lobster species, with most of the landings being sent to the Hong Kong market. A perception in the Australian lobster industry is that the different species are independent on the export market, such that a change in landings of one species has no impact on the price of the others. This study investigates the market integration of Australian exports to Hong Kong for the four species and different exporting states. Our results indicate all four species and producers/export states are perceived to be substitutes for one another, so that, in the long run, prices paid to operators in the industry will move together. The integrated nature of the Hong Kong export market for Australian lobster suggests that the potential impacts of alternative fisheries management and development strategies at state and species levels cannot be considered in isolation, at least from an economic perspective. In addition, impacts of external shocks affecting production in one state (e.g. climate change) can be expected to affect all Australian lobster fisheries.

A quantitative metric to identify critical elements within seafood supply networks

A theoretical basis is required for comparing key features and critical elements in wild fisheries and aquaculture supply chains under a changing climate. Here we develop a new quantitative metric that is analogous to indices used to analyse food-webs and identify key species. The Supply Chain Index (SCI) identifies critical elements as those elements with large throughput rates, as well as greater connectivity. The sum of the scores for a supply chain provides a single metric that roughly captures both the resilience and connectedness of a supply chain. Standardised scores can facilitate cross-comparisons both under current conditions as well as under a changing climate. Identification of key elements along the supply chain may assist in informing adaptation strategies to reduce anticipated future risks posed by climate change. The SCI also provides information on the relative stability of different supply chains based on whether there is a fairly even spread in the individual scores of the top few key elements, compared with a more critical dependence on a few key individual supply chain elements. We use as a case study the Australian southern rock lobster Jasus edwardsii fishery, which is challenged by a number of climate change drivers such as impacts on recruitment and growth due to changes in large-scale and local oceanographic features. The SCI identifies airports, processors and Chinese consumers as the key elements in the lobster supply chain that merit attention to enhance stability and potentially enable growth. We also apply the index to an additional four real-world Australian commercial fishery and two aquaculture industry supply chains to highlight the utility of a systematic method for describing supply chains. Overall, our simple methodological approach to empirically-based supply chain research provides an objective method for comparing the resilience of supply chains and highlighting components that may be critical.

From anecdotes to scientific evidence? A review of recent literature on catch share systems in marine fisheries

In response to concerns regarding the global status of living marine resources, there has been a worldwide tightening of fishery access regulations. This has led to growing interest in individual transferable catch share programs, a market-based allocation approach to distribute fishing rights. However, the economic, ecological, and social benefits of these systems are the subject of continued debate. Here, we review empirical studies of transferable catch share systems published over the past decade. Our results show that, despite some of these systems having been in place for more than 20 years, systematic empirical assessments of their impacts are still rare. Furthermore, methods used to assess the impacts of catch share systems to facilitate comparisons remain under development, making it difficult to derive general conclusions from existing studies.

Economic and conservation implications of a variable effort penalty system in effort-controlled fisheries

Bycatch of threatened, endangered or protected species by commercial fishers is a universal problem. Technical solutions are often applied that may impose inefficiencies across the fleet, even in periods or areas when the risk of bycatch is low. These may include gear specifically designed to avoid the bycatch which may also reduce the targeted catch, or designation of marine protected areas that exclude fishing from whole areas. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of a variable penalty system that can provide incentives for fishers to redirect their effort away from problem areas. The system is examined using a case study of fishery, which is currently subjected to gear and closure controls to limit bycatch of turtles and seabirds. An alternative incentive-based management policy using a series of differential hook penalties has been proposed as a flexible tool to discourage vessels operating in certain areas. The effects of various hook penalties and closures in key areas on fishing effort in those areas and elsewhere as well as vessel economic performance are assessed using a location choice model. The results suggest that incentive-based approaches may result in lower costs to industry than closures provided some level of residual bycatch is acceptable.

Economic Impacts of the Development of an Offshore Oil and Gas Industry on Fishing Industries: A Review of Experiences and Assessment Methods

ABSTRACT Offshore oil and gas extraction has become a major component of the blue economy over the last few decades, and is expected to continue to grow over coming decades. The development of an oil and gas industry in an area potentially has both positive and negative economic impacts on existing fisheries and marine-based aquaculture. Of considerable concern is the potential negative economic impact of an oil spill, a concern highlighted by the large spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Assessing the economic damage arising from such a spill is complicated, and a range of different approaches have been historically applied. In this paper, the full range of potential economic impacts arising from the development of an offshore oil and gas industry are reviewed based on international experiences, as well as the economic impacts of oil spills. Approaches used to assess these economic impacts are also reviewed, as is the role of management in reducing these impacts.

At-sea dumping of dredge spoil: an overview of the Australian policy and legislative framework

ABSTRACT The increase in port development along the Queensland coast, and the associated dredging activity, has led to increased environmental concerns for the health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). While such impacts are of particular immediate concern for the GBR region, the issues surrounding dredging and dumping of dredge spoil are common to many other coastal regions in Australia and elsewhere. In this article, we review the current Australian policy and legislation affecting the dumping at sea of dredge spoil and the incentives this creates in terms of minimising damage. We find that the current complex framework may not necessarily provide appropriate incentives to minimise damage once approval has been obtained, although more recent policy interventions may help encourage innovation in more environmentally friendly actions. We also review the potential for other incentive-based management systems to limit environmental damage from dredging, drawing on the experiences in fisheries and marine biodiversity conservation.