At our “Fisheries and Protected Areas” event, we heard from speakers from a range of organisations, who offered their insights into how the fisheries sector and implementers of marine protected areas can work together constructively, ensuring positive outcomes for fisheries stock sustainability and fishing communities.
Attendees heard from:
Dr. Declan Tobin - Team Leader, Marine Species Team and Marine Management Team, JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee)
Rob Clark - Chief Officer - AIFCA (Association of Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities
Morven Robertson - Head of Projects (UK), BLUE Marine Foundation
Prof. Michel Kaiser - Chief Scientist and Professor of Fisheries Conservation, Heriot-Watt University
Bill Brock - Fishing vessel owner and merchant, English Channel
Please find the event recording below:
Following the presentations, Parliamentarians and attendees put their questions to the panel. Written summaries of all questions and answers asked in the event, as well as many sent to presenters after the event, are provided below. Please note that these answers reflect the views of the panelists, rather than the APPG Secretariat or its Members.
INCLUSION OF THE FISHING INDUSTRY
Are there any good examples of fishers being truly involved and empowered in Marine Protected Area (MPA) management processes?
Dr. Declan Tobin said that as only a few of the UK’s offshore MPAs currently had management systems in place, there were not many examples of where offshore MPA management has been fully delegated to fishers. Instead, he noted that for the creation of Scottish offshore MPAs, the Scottish government undertook several stakeholder workshops to give fishers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) the opportunity to come up with management options. He also cited the “windsock” cod closure in Scotland, where different fishing sectors implemented a voluntary closure after the mandatory closure was lifted. He added that while co-management has wide support, regulators have a legal responsibility to meet certain requirements and must therefore balance individuals’ perspectives with the law.
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that the Isle of Man Ramsey Bay scallop fishery provided an example of progress towards co-management, with the fishers allowed to determine the timing and intensity of fishing and adjust this in step with management results.
Bill Brock added that the fishing industry was keen to move toward the co-management style championed by Rob Clark in the south, rather than only being included as a “box-ticking” exercise.
How can fishers be included in MPA management in Scotland?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that information about locations of important seabed features and fisheries stocks, which is essential to MPA management, can only be obtained through working with fishers. He said that achieving this required willingness from politicians, investment, and trust in the fishers whose livelihoods depend on sustainable practices.
Would the speakers agree that the participative approach requires time and resources, and how does this sit with the current timetable and political pressure to move faster?
Dr. Declan Tobin agreed that it required time and resources, although this depended on the site(s) being managed. He said that costs would largely depend on the ease with which consensus could be reached between interested parties. Regarding timetables, he said that management would continue to monitor and assess the effectiveness of measures after their implementation, and that there should be ample opportunity to adopt a more participatory approach to this “adaptive” approach to management.
Do existing policies adequately allow for co-management, and do they need to be revised to better consider the "multi-use" nature of our marine environments?
Bill Brock said that existing policies do not provide a meaningful voice to the fishing sector, given that responsibility is largely placed on multiple layers of administrators including Defra, the MMO, and the IFCAs, with much of the membership comprising people without expertise in marine management. He said that in addition to true co-management, the fishing sector should be treated with parity in relation to other users of the sea, and should not be displaced by other activities which are potentially more environmentally destructive.
Where there is evidence that a HPMA (Highly Protected Marine Area) is needed, how can buy-in of the fishing industry be facilitated, and how can the industry best be involved in the designation process?
Bill Brock said that for HPMAs which have already been proposed, the industry was not adequately involved. He said that fishers were supportive of managed areas where there was ‘real, proven, justifiable and verified habitat… controlled within a tight, finite boundary’, with equitable management across all sea users. He said that managed areas should also be subject to effective monitoring programmes to assess their effectiveness, and to de-designate them if appropriate.
How can fishermen be supported to adapt in areas where HPMAs are designated?
Bill Brock said that impact assessments in previous designation processes had overlooked the effects of displacement on fishing activity, and that future designations must factor in displacement in a meaningful way.
How are concerns that some projects are not adequately including fishermen being addressed? In the case of BLUE, are fishers included in the planning process for MPAs and/or other conservation measures?
Morven Robertson said that BLUE was not involved in establishing MPAs, rather, it worked with fishers once a designation or protection measure was already in place. She said that the organisation focused on working with small-scale inshore fishermen using low-impact gears to support their continued operation within protected areas, where compatible with the protection of marine habitats and species. She said that engaging fishermen in the decision-making process, while vital, required significant resources particularly where inshore fleets lacked the same level of representation that many large vessel owners enjoyed through the NFFO. All stakeholders - both fishermen and marine management authorities - are limited in their resources. More support from the Government is needed to ensure that engagement happens with all stakeholders.
Based on Prof. Michel Kaiser’s case study of the Ramsey Bay scallop fishery, where stocks are static, would it be possible to have a similar ownership type approach for mobile fish stocks?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that for mobile fish, an individual transferable quota (ITQ) approach was more appropriate.
Why can the opportunity to use the approach of giving ownership to fishers be used "particularly now that the UK has left the EU", and will EU regulations make it more difficult to implement this approach?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that the UK had the opportunity to create ‘new rules of engagement’ which would not necessarily exclude EU vessels but would ensure that they would have to comply with the licence requirements for a ‘rights use’ system.
MANAGEMENT
Why are supertrawlers allowed to fish in MPAs and other areas, given they are significantly less selective compared to small-scale fishing operations?
Dr. Declan Tobin said that while management measures are still being developed for most offshore MPAs, all vessels with a valid licence and quota entitlement are permitted to fish in these MPAs. He said there was a broader issue around large industrial vessels fishing in UK waters, but this would not be specifically addressed by MPA management.
Has any work been undertaken on the depletion rate of the new and highly technically advanced modern fly shooters, given that unsustainable depletion rates are being observed where this method is used?
Dr. Declan Tobin said that he was not aware of any such work, although it may be undertaken in the near future given interest in the relative impacts of trawl and seine fisheries.
Do the JNCC and MMO use the Relative Benthic Status (RBS) analysis when deciding on the placement of future MPAs or HPMAs and examining how much effort will be displaced?
Dr. Declan Tobin said that the MMO process did not use RBS, instead considering the likelihood of impact on features in a more qualitative way which could be understood by all stakeholders. He said it was at the discretion of the management group or authority in question to decide which approach and tools they wish to use, although RBS was a useful tool that was available to anybody that wished to use it.
In Prof. Michel Kaiser’s presentation, does the '3% of the fishing ground is fished per year' statistic refer to a different area each year, i.e. over 30 years or so the whole area would be fished?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that, in the example he gave, the same area of seabed tended to be fished from one year to the next while leaving most of the rest unimpacted.
ECONOMICS
Could an example be provided of when marketing support has been offered to low-impact fisheries working within protected areas?
Morven Robertson provided examples from BLUE’s work, including in Jersey, where the organisation created a brand that was promoted to restaurants to encourage the purchase of hand-dived scallops over dredged ones. In the UK, BLUE has worked with fishers in Lyme Bay to create a Reserve seafood brand to promote seafood caught within the reserve area. It seeks to create a similar brand in Sussex to promote fish caught within the byelaw area. However, encouraging consumers to pay a premium for sustainably-caught fish can be a challenging task.
During the event, the concept of paying a premium for low-impact fish, including that caught sustainably within protected areas, was discussed. How can this be reconciled with the current economic climate of a post-pandemic world and the new Brexit import and export regulations, when businesses are still recovering? Does this mean that sustainable fish will only be available to those that can afford it?
Morven Robertson noted that Brexit has compounded the challenges of encouraging seafood consumers to shift to low-impact and UK-sourced fish, and that government support is required. She said that in general, seafood costs more to catch sustainably, and unless subsidised this cost can only be passed onto the consumer. She suggested that fishers who are fishing more sustainably should receive a higher price for their catch, which will often also be higher quality because of the more careful individual handling of fish. She said that BLUE’s hope was that by encouraging the sale of fish direct from boats to local customers and restaurants, the cost of the fish would not differ to that sold through the normal supply chain, but fishers would be able to earn more income by selling locally than they would if paying for transport and the margin that wholesalers and fish markets otherwise take.
Bill Brock observed that the last 15 years has seen huge increases in demand for UK-sourced fish among UK customers. For example, in the south-east, local fisheries’ exports have dropped from 70% to 20%. He said that this indicated there was no need for a wholesale shift in attitudes, although small changes in attitudes would be beneficial. He also noted that efforts to encourage consumers to pay a premium for fish caught sustainably in managed areas should not have the effect of devaluing fish caught sustainably outside of managed areas, which Morven Robertson agreed with.
Rob Clark added that there was a need to build trust in the way fisheries are managed, and tell their stories better.
TECHNOLOGY
What role could Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) with cameras on fishing vessels play in helping to improve sustainability, science, and data?
Bill Brock said that REM would not be suitable for all sizes of vessel, or fishing type where REM would not contribute to sustainability. He said that to date, REM had been discussed mostly in the context of monitoring and enforcement rather than data collection.
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that REM offered opportunities for science and data collection, but that it was important for any such information to be made available to fishers. He cited the example of iVMS data which is being collected only through an enforcement lens, and thus will not be made available to scientists or fishers. Dr. Declan Tobin agreed, citing the need to take a holistic approach to fisheries management. Morven Robertson added that a lack of engagement during the establishment of iVMS had led to a lack of trust and confusion, making this process challenging.
Should HPMAs within inshore waters be designated only once data from newly-implemented inshore vessel monitoring systems (iVMS) in the under-12m fleet can be drawn upon?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that iVMS data will be of limited use given that it will be difficult to access, and that the industry could develop its own system for this purpose.
Bill Brock added that protected areas should be designated on the basis of both human and non-human impacts on the habitat in question, and the socio-economic impacts of any proposed protection.
ENFORCEMENT
In Poole Harbour’s protected area, firstly, how are byelaws enforced and how much resource does this require? Secondly, were many fishing vessels displaced by the limited permit scheme and how was this handled?
Rob Clark said Southern IFCA used resources such as officers, boats, and drones. He added that to engage the communities that would be affected, investment went into communication, participation, and facilitation to identify shared objectives and goals, with fisher organisations working with the IFCA to develop an inclusive process.
He said that fishers were displaced in Poole, but that the case was unusual due to a significant number of illegal, unregistered and unlicensed (IUU) vessels fishing unclassified shellfish beds in the area, which served to diminish the value of all products from the area. Displacement of these unregulated fishers therefore made legitimate fishers highly willing to engage in the permit process.
How does the granting of leases fit with the public’s right to fish?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that lease systems and lease management systems like those seen in Poole Harbour, the Menai Strait, Shetland, and the Isle of Man only pertained to the right to fish for a certain species (or group of species) in a specific designated area of the sea. Therefore, people were not prevented from fishing within the protected area, as long as they were not removing the protected species.
AQUACULTURE
What could be achieved through aquaculture in the context of MPAs?
Prof. Michel Kaiser said that this would depend on the MPA and its objectives, with outcomes dependent on the local environmental context. For example, some aquaculture species such as mussels and oysters enhance the marine environment, while others have more negative impact on it.