STECF work on the Landing Obligation. Advising on: The biggest challenge? The biggest puzzle? The biggest risk?

Transcription

1 STECF work on the Landing Obligation Advising on: The biggest challenge? The biggest puzzle? The biggest risk?

2 Content Context within the CFP reform STECF process Issues tackled Some conclusions

3 CFP Reform Link: uri=oj:l:2013:354:0022:0061:en:pdf Regionalised approach Multi-annual plans Fmsy - Article 2 Landing obligation -Article 15 [many Qs] includes development of regional discard plans

4 STECF (standing Cttee experts) Plenary Meetings Expert Working Groups eg Landing obligation 3 so far (one more planned for Sept 2014) Participants include biologists, economists, technical, compliance Excellent input from stakeholder observers

5 Landing obligation - processes MS within regional groups develop and submit discard plans June 2014 pelagic ;June 2015 demersal STECF Jan 2015 pelagic ;Jan 2016 demersal

6 What have the meetings been dealing with? Survival de minimis and quota flexibility Catch estimation Control, enforcement and monitoring Development of discard plans 1d-3cf8-4a36-ac82-83ac8d7c02da&groupId=43805 Varese, Sept 2013 Develop guidelines for discard plans de minimis conditionalities (the break-even test) Guidelines for minimum conservation reference sizes Exploration of problems of choke species Dublin, Nov b0c21e8-b60b-42a5-b699-d054c1e73a31&groupid=43805 Varese, Feb 2014 Baltfish draft plan recommendations Survival of salmon and small pelagics Framework for de minimis in the context of Fmsy (Article 2) Control and monitoring issues re. documentation Test framework using Blatic and pelagic examples

7 Survivability a huge debate Definition of high survival is subjective ; species and fishery specific and dependent on management objectives Landing discards that would otherwise survive can have negative stock impacts. Main methodologies identified (i) vitality/reflex assessments (ii) captive observations, and; (iii) tagging/biotelemetry experiments. Appropriate for differing temporal scales (i) immediate (straight after handling) (ii) short term (days to weeks) - captive observations -and; (iii) long-term (> 1 month) - Further development is required to be promoted via ICES Expert Group to develop manual on discard survival experiments.

8 Survivability Short term experiments may poorly estimate true survival in the longer-term Scale - age structure, age specific survival and contribution to overall catch. A lot of work needed on a case by case basis and have to consider the fishery and on deck procedures too cost effective? Trade-offs between stock benefits of returning fish and removal of incentives to improve selection need consideration. Avoiding unwanted capture should be 1 st (optimum) objective

9 BUT De Minimis Too trivial or minor to merit consideration especially in law (Oxford Dictionaries) De minimis several ways of interpreting its application vessel, fleet, member state, regional level, single or multiple species??? Impacts vary substantially depending on interpretation There are conditions too! Conditionalities in the regulation - "very difficult"- economic consideration rather than technical. Proposed current revenue/break even revenue indicator as an objective metric. Not necessary to define "disproportionate costs of handling assumed to be occurring Key aspect is to define when unwanted catch is below a certain percentage of the total catch of that gear

10 de minimis Discards Predicted Catch TAC + TAC Landings

11 Quota Convertibility (and end year flexibility) Inter-species quota flexibility - applied beneficially to "balance the books at the end of the year or Speculative use - potential for serious stock impacts - exchange quota from a high volume/low value species to a low volume/high value. Recipient non-target stock(s) within safe biological limits. Many stocks data-limited increased need to define ref. points CFP basic regulation (article 2) PA and MSY objectives.challenge will be to keep recipient stocks there Maybe not what is done, but how its done The cumulative effects of de minimis and quota flexibility offers considerable scope to generate large catches Order in which the provisions are applied (and multiple application of the provisions) has also a profound effect.

12 Quota Convertibility (and end year flexibility) Catch Fmsy de min convert flex total catch = 123 Catch Fmsy convert flex de min = 128

13 Catch Comparisons what are the discard rates? Knowledge of catch suddenly more critical great interest in discard estimation Estimates variously available from ICES and STECF not identical Analysis of catch data for 85 stocks. (I) stocks where ICES indicates that discarding is considered negligible and STECF estimates that discarding is less than 10% (34 stocks); ICES should continue to provide catch estimates. (II) stocks for which detailed and comparable data on catch is available from both ICES and STECF (23 stocks); General convergence in STECF & ICES - ICES methods for the provision of catch advice should be continued. (III) for which either ICES or STECF indicate that significant (>10%) discarding occurs and currently ICES does not present discard data in the advice sheets (28 stocks) - provisional evaluation by stock. Initial analysis gives some guidance on how (and if) catch advice could be given in future.

14 Catch estimation some issues Currently large-scale discarding of over-quota - catches well exceed allocated TACs (e.g. Irish Sea cod; West of Scotland cod) If the future catch quota allocations are derived from estimated total catches, real danger of over exploitation. Discard estimates from low samples - uncertain catch estimates and advice. If discards are underestimated potential to create chokes if discards are overestimated potential for unintended overexploitation. Where current discard rates are high (e.g. NS plaice, dab) potential for catch quotas to be huge is this appropriate?

15 Control Monitoring and enforcement Good science requires complete, accurate and verified catch data -control, monitor and enforcement is key Verification: Needed at sea where discarding normally takes place Current documentation of landings requires broadening to improve resolution in terms of catch reporting, For accurate catch - slipped catches should be considered discards. Mandatory reporting of discards > 50kg (all vessels) Reliance on self-reporting is insufficient and unadvisable.

16 Control Monitoring and enforcement Pros & cons of the control activities reviewed (control observers, REM systems; at-sea patrols) Control can be enhanced through risk analysis framework Effective compliance requires a level playing field. Sanctions need to be proportionate not only to offence, but also to the risk of detection. De minimis and survival exemptions from the landing obligation generate legitimate discards complicates! Continued requirement for the collection of scientific data from commercial fishing trips Fundamental review of observer roles -towards dual functionality science and compliance???

17 Control Monitoring and enforcement Tools: for at-sea monitoring include: REM-system CCTV etc, control observers and at-sea monitoring with patrol vessels or aircraft. Other enforcement tools to complement but not replace at sea monitoring: e.g. landings controls to check catch composition risk analysis (cross-checks of documentation etc.)

18 Control Monitoring and enforcement Reference fleets Reference fleets: a set of vessels operating in a fishery to represent the entire fleet - either vessels that are considered trustworthy (as in Norway) or vessels that are equipped with CCTV or observers. Needs to be fully monitored to verify the catch. Points to consider with regard to reference fleets: Level playing field removed if vessels outside reference fleet not monitored. Deterrents/Incentives: no deterrent effect of the enforcement system for unmonitored vessels Evidence in court: questionable for non reference fleet. Fairness/incentives: reduced for all because if non-compliance by some non-reference boats leads to stock deterioration

19 Development of discard plan Develop guidelines to assist Member States in formulating joint recommendations that will form the basis of regional discard plans. Expectation that descriptions of fisheries will be set out, problem stocks or issues identified, exploration of mitigation options discussed, justifications and supporting studies given for any derogations used etc BALTFISH plan draft submission did not have many of the features required to make a sensible judgement