Conservation & Environment

The Environmental Defense Fund released two videos on Catch Shares "Fisherman to Fisherman" on December 4th, 2009. View Part 1

View Part 2

A scientific study has found that most of the U.S. fisheries operating under catch share management principles show consistency over time in their effect on fishing effort and landing rates — qualities claimed by catch share advocates and Obama administration officials in the growing national debate on its newly announced national policy.

But the study also found "inconclusive evidence as to whether catch shares actually lead to healthier fisheries and ocean ecosystems," according to a summary of the "new scientific analysis" by Timothy E. Essington, an associate professor at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington.

Those qualities have also been claimed extensively by backers of the conversion to catch share regulatory policies, which aim to manage fisheries based on fishermen's actual catch as opposed to the current system of effort controls — limiting their days at sea or access to specific fishing grounds.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

A new study (Essington, 2009) supports the results of other studies showing the benefits of catch share management in fisheries  (Costello et al., 2008; Heal and Schlenker 2008). The paper looks for a response in biomass, exploitation rate, discards, effort, compliance with catch targets and landings in 15 North American catch share fisheries. The paper did not find that these catch share fisheries, on average, reduced overall landings or that they increased biomass.  That seems to be because most of these fisheries were not overfished–so the overall catch would not be expected to go down, and biomass would not be expected to increase, because these were not management goals.  To test the hypothesis that catch shares can rebuild depleted populations, it will be important to analyze depleted fisheries, over rebuilding time frames.  In this study, only one of the 8 fisheries that had explicit overfishing targets was substantially overfished.

The author used a rigorous methodology to examine these fisheries (before-and-after comparisons were complemented by comparisons within fisheries with non-catch share and catch share sectors, and with a meta-analysis).  As more catch shares are implemented and a greater diversity of fisheries under catch shares are studied with such methods, I anticipate that the author’s observation that variance in management metrics is reduced by catch share management will be borne out.  This will translate into improved rebuilding of depleted stocks, prevention of overfishing, reduction in bycatch and discard, and even a reduction in the effects of fishing on habitats – if the management targets themselves are robust.

EDF's position on the conservation benefits of catch shares is available here.

These days, the Cod is pretty much gone from the Cape. Bob Luce, 63, sits on a bench and explains why. Luce, who has an artificial knee from the wear and tear of fishing and knuckles tattooed “love” and “hate” in honor of the Robert Mitchum movie The Night of the Hunter, fondly remembers the days in the 1970s when he could drop hooks to the seafloor 15 miles out and reel in 30 to 50 pound cod. By the 1990s, the Cape Cod fishing grounds were barren. Fishing had gotten too efficient for its own good, says Luce.

In 1980, many fishers began switching from hooks that caught individual fish to nets that snared cod by the gills, whole schools at a time. At the same time, big trawlers began dragging rollers across the rocky seabed to force the bottom-dwelling fish upward into nets, capturing massive amounts of cod and, some critics claim, destroying its preferred habitat. “They caught all the big ones and wiped them out,” says Luce. Now New England is trying to rebuild its cod fishery, opening deep divisions among fishers in places like Chatham.

When cod stocks collapsed in the 1990s, the federal government closed thousands of square miles of fishing grounds and limited fishers’ “days at sea.” The cod population has rebounded, says Steve Murawski, a scientist at the National Marine Fisheries Service, but to reach historic levels, the total mass of cod still needs to grow eightfold on Georges Bank, east of the cape, and about threefold in the Gulf of Maine.

Read the complete story at Repossed Boats News.

Conservation groups went back to court Thursday in their continuing battle to protect imperiled sea turtles from death and injury in the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery. The groups are suing because the National Marine Fisheries Service’s latest assessment of the fishery’s impact on loggerhead sea turtles is based on incomplete science, so new regulatory measures will fall short of giving the species the protection it needs to survive and recover. The Fisheries Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is responsible for protecting sea turtles under federal law.

The agency recently reopened the bottom longline fishery after a six-month emergency closure designed to stop the capture and killing of sea turtles in violation of the Endangered Species Act. A previous coalition lawsuit, filed in April, had asserted that the Fisheries Service was required to close the bottom longline fishery and address the new data on sea turtle capture in a new biological opinion. The biological opinion, released accordingly in October, analyzed the agency’s plans to reopen the fishery — an action the agency expects will result in the capture of six to seven hundred loggerheads every three years – more than seven times as many animals as the bottom longline fishery was allowed to capture under the previous plan.

The new lawsuit challenges the biological opinion as unlawful and incomplete. “NMFS is continuing to violate the law,” said Steve Roady, an attorney with Earthjustice. “In the teeth of a staggering decline in the population of imperiled sea turtles, the agency has now authorized a huge increase in the number of turtles killed by this fishery. This decision is unlawful and the underlying biological opinion is fundamentally flawed, so we are going back to court.”

Read the complete story at The Center for Biological Diversity.

In her national pitch for catch shares, oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco lauded the rights-based system for its capacity to transform fishing-based economic systems in chronic decline.

There are "many in a downward spiral," she said.

Lubchenco did not elaborate in her hour-long teleconference last week.

But yesterday, in response to an inquiry, Monica Allen, a public affairs specialist with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, said the "downward spiral" phrase was not meant to describe the ocean ecosystems that are harvested, but rather the communities that do the harvesting.

Allen cited New England as one of the regions suffering from a chronic economic downward spiral.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Fish buyer Robert Fitzpatrick of Magura America Inc. has seen the demand for tuna plummet in high-end restaurants in Manhattan.

“With one customer I typically sell 35 or 40 fish a year,” said Chatham’s Fitzpatrick. “[This year,] I sold them two.”

With more than five million Atlantic bluefin tuna in the ocean,Fitzpatrick finds it hard to believe, but his white tablecloth marketis drying up because people say the fish are on the verge of extinction.

“It’s very frustrating,” he said.

The reason for the suspension of reality, he and others say, isbecause of a coordinated campaign by several environmental groups.Their marketing has prompted many to feel guilty about eating the sleekfish.

But the situation could get worse.

Read the complete story at Wicked Local.

The following realease was issued by the Environmental Defense Fund: (Washington DC, Dec. 10, 2009) A policy released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) charts an historic new course for the nation’s fish stocks, giving hope for the recovery of struggling fishing communities and depleted fish resources.  NOAA is seeking to correct decades of failed management that has resulted in economically-depressed, unsafe, and unsustainable fisheries around the country.

The policy promotes greater use of “catch shares,” an innovative fisheries management approach proven to improve fishermen’s lives and livelihoods and restore fish populations.  In the five years after catch share implementation in the U.S., per boat revenues increased an average of 80 percent.  NOAA’s policy builds upon this success and the efforts of fishermen, fishing communities, scientists, fishery managers, and conservationists to design and implement catch shares. The policy has been released in draft form but will take effect immediately. NOAA will take public comments for the next 120 days through a new web site.

“This policy will help reverse the freefall that U.S. fish stocks have been in for decades,” said David Festa, vice-president at Environmental Defense Fund.  “It moves fisheries management into the 21st century.”

Catch shares work for fishermen and fish populations because they include science-based annual catch limits, accountability measures to ensure compliance with those limits, and effective enforcement.  At the same time, catch shares give fishermen greater flexibility for how to run their businesses which improves economic performance

Catch shares are not a one-size-fits-all management system.  They can be designed to fit the needs of individual fisheries, which set them apart from conventional management.  Catch shares have been implemented in more than 300 fisheries around the world from New Zealand to Namibia to Norway, in fisheries large and small.  Today there are more than a dozen catch shares in the U.S. and many more under development.

“Catch shares have brought job stability and security to our longline fishing fleet,” said Bob Alverson, manager of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association whose members fish for halibut and sablefish in the North Pacific.  “Catch shares have helped increase the dock-side value of our catch by more than 150 percent while improving the quality, eliminating dangerous derby fishing and bringing job stability to vessel owners, crews and communities.”

The policy does not mandate catch shares for fisheries but rather makes important changes in NOAA strategy and operations, providing incentives and support for fishery managers who pursue catch shares.  In particular, the draft policy:

o       Promotes the consideration and adoption, where appropriate, of catch share programs in federal fisheries.
o       Removes technical and administrative impediments to catch shares.
o       Provides technical and other support to those regional fishery management councils that choose to pursue catch shares.
o       Enhances outreach, education and assistance to stakeholders.
o       Promotes the development of technical guidance on specific program design elements.
o       Supports adaptive management through new research and performance monitoring of catch share programs over time.

“New England loses a half-billion dollars of potential income every year just in its groundfishery through poor management," said David Preble, a long-time commercial and recreational fisherman who serves on the New England Fishery Management Council.  "Catch shares can return prosperity to fishermen."

In the Gulf of Mexico, a catch share implemented in 2007 for commercially-caught red snapper immediately extended the fishing season from a few months to year round and significantly reduced the amount of fish that fishermen were required to throw overboard dead or dying.  The success of the snapper catch share led commercial fishermen to pursue a catch share for grouper and tilefish that will go into effect Jan. 1.  The region’s fishery council is now exploring a catch share for all remaining reef fish.

“This policy is a giant victory for the oceans and for fishermen,” said Diane Regas, associate vice-president for Oceans at EDF. “Catch shares blow away the myth that healthy oceans and vibrant fisheries are incompatible.”

In contrast to catch shares, conventional fishery management has failed in most fisheries to maintain healthy fish populations and the fishing communities that depend on them.  In New England alone, the collapse of the North Atlantic cod fishery in the early 1990s resulted in the loss of an estimated 20,000 jobs and $349 million from the economy. In the Pacific halibut fishery, conventional management shrank a full year’s fishing down to just 12 hours in some parts of Alaska.

Today over 50 federally-managed stocks are overfished or experiencing overfishing.  Under current management, meeting a Congressionally-mandated deadline to end overfishing by 2011 will mean ever-shorter fishing seasons and long-term closures for many prized species which will have a devastating impact on coastal communities.  Catch shares allow continued fishing even while fish stocks recover.

From the well-perched deck of her hilltop home, Nina Brodeur finds solace in the vast horizon, etched by the changing patterns of the sky and the varying hues of Vineyard Sound.

The view remains a significant reason why her family has lived for 21 years in this remote enclave of old cedar-shingle homes on the most westward of the Elizabeth Islands. Unlike other seaside homeowners, including a vocal group of protesters about 8 miles to the east on Martha’s Vineyard, Brodeur and her neighbors have decided they are willing to give up some of their serenity at the state’s behest.

They say they can live with a wind farm.

In a few years, the view from Brodeur’s deck may include a passel of 450-foot wind turbines, with their massive blades glinting as they rotate in the sun and aircraft warning lights atop them blinking through the night. As part of its efforts to promote wind power, the Patrick administration is backing a proposal to erect 166 wind turbines in the waters off the milewide island.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

The Pew Environment Group issued this release in response to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) release of its draft policy on the use of catch shares in federal fisheries.

WASHINGTON – Lee Crockett, director of Federal Fisheries Policy at the Pew Environment Group, today issued the following statement in response to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) release of its draft policy on the use of catch shares in federal fisheries.  

“NOAA and its Catch Shares Task Force recognize that catch shares are not a one-size-fits-all fisheries solution and not all fisheries can or should be managed by them. In keeping with that determination, the draft NOAA policy released today encourages, rather than mandates, that catch shares be one of several possible management tools regional fishery management councils should consider when developing their plans.   

“Any catch shares program must be implemented in a way that strengthens conservation, supports local fishing communities and provides access for recreational anglers and diverse commercial fishing fleets.  

“Catch shares give fishermen exclusive access to, not ownership of, a portion of the catch. They have been praised as a way of achieving sustainable fish populations by giving fishermen an incentive to conserve the resource.  

“Indeed, when properly designed, catch shares can lead to substantial gains in fisheries by reducing capacity, increasing economic efficiency and ensuring sustainable catches. However, poor design can cause unintended economic hardship for many fishermen and their communities. 

“Regardless of the management approach, the important first step needed to end overfishing and rebuild depleted fish populations is to set annual limits, based on sound science, that determine the number of fish that can be caught sustainably. This should be coupled with timely and effective fishery monitoring to plan accurate catch limits in future years.  

“While NOAA should be commended for taking into account valid concerns from many stakeholders, it is important that  funding for catch shares programs not  lead to cuts in other important programs necessary to establish annual catch limits.”  

To read Pew’s white paper on catch shares, go to http://www.endoverfishing.org/DesignMatters.html.  

To read Pew’s comments to NOAA’s Catch Shares Task Force, go to http://endoverfishing.org/resources/CoalitionResponseNOAA.pdf.  

To read NOAA’s draft catch share policy, go to http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/domes_fish/catchshare/index.htm.  

The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-governmental organization headquartered in the United States that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improving public policy, informing the public and stimulating civic life. To learn more, go to www.endoverfishing.org.