WWF UK Marine Policy Officer Giles Bartlett, reports from the North Western Waters RAC on plans to bring fishermen and scientists together for sustainable scallop fisheries.
Scallop fishing frequently gets a bad press, owing to its potential to damage sensitive seabed habitats. But with the right management, such fisheries can avoid the most adverse impacts. Today, several scallop fisheries are certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), including a fishery in the Shetland Islands.
Certification is the goal of the UK-based South West Fish Producer Organisation (SWFPO) which, along with the Scallop Association, has had the fishery pre-assessed – an important starting point in the MSC process. To achieve certification, the fishery will have to improve the scientific understanding of the stock, control catches of bycatch species, and put in place measures to avoid damaging the most sensitive benthic habitats, such as reef features.
So how’s this for a plan: bring together policy makers, scientists and industry – including experts from around the world with specific expertise – to develop long-term goals and objectives for scallop fisheries in the Channel region? It could lead to greater financial rewards, higher employment security, improved crew safety, better environmental performance – and certification by the MSC.
That’s exactly what I pitched last week when I was in Paris at the NWWRAC English Channel Working Group, to present the opportunities that GAP2 could offer the fishery.
The possibility for GAP2 to help develop a long-term management plan for scallop fisheries in the Channel region emerged after a recent meeting with Jim Portus (CEO of the SWFPO). Such a management plan could have a significant impact, not least because of the value of the scallop fishery to the UK. In 2012, British scallop landings totalled £66.9million; the Channel fishery alone was worth £16 million (Defra, 2011).
Last year the scallop fishery made the headlines following a dispute between French and British fishers, who clashed in an area close to the French coast, near the Bay of Seine – where UK vessels were fishing during a period when the fishery was closed to French boats. Since that time, the French and UK authorities, working with fishers, have negotiated an agreement to resolve the conflict. But some issues remain – not least that the fishery is currently operating without a long-term management plan, seen as a best practice standard in contemporary fisheries management and by WWF.
On Thursday, I pitched the idea that GAP2 could host a workshop to assess the fishery and develop a long-term vision of what the fishery might look like in 5-10 years. One of the biggest issues relates to the system used to manage the fishery – an effort-based system that limits the amount of time a vessel can spend at sea (in days). In 2009, vessels had unlimited days. But this year, boats were restricted to 150 days – a significant reduction and a trend that potentially threatens the future economic viability of the scallop fleet.
Such restrictions can result in a classic ‘race to fish’, where operators try to maximise their catching opportunities over time. The management response to this is to reduce the available fishing time to each operator. This can become a self-perpetuating spiral, with potentially negative economic and social consequences.
An important component of the workshop would be to analyse the existing rights-based elements of the management systems used by the various member states. These would then be compared to the long-term goals of the fishery as agreed during the workshop. We’d use stakeholder knowledge and expertise, led by professional facilitators and experts with significant experience in designing fishery management systems, to create a roadmap for the fishery.
A more strategic approach to scallop management is needed. Stronger economic performance, improved sustainability and less reputational risk from those who see dredge-caught scallops as unsustainable are just some of the benefits. I look forward to reporting in a later post about how things develop with this exciting GAP2 initiative!
