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Simple Fisheries Management Tools for the
Coastal Zone

• Amanda Stern-Pirlot
• INCOFISH WP7
• IfM-GEOMAR

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Outline

• Goals of fisheries management
• Major problems of contemporary fisheries
  management
• Indicators approach
• INCOFISH Dont eat babies campaign

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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)

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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)

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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

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Acceptable among stakeholders
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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

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INCOFISHs Dont 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

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INCOFISHs Dont 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

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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

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Thank You!
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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

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What they have in common

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