East Guangdong-Taiwan Bank (EGTB) Squid (Uroteuthis chinensis) Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) Workplan ( )

Transcription

1 East Guangdong-Taiwan Bank (EGTB) Squid (Uroteuthis chinensis) Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) Workplan ( ) China Blue Sustainability Institute 2017/08/18 1. Background EGTB Squid FIP was launched in late 2013 as a cooperation between Beaver Street Fisheries Co., Ltd. and Shantou Haimao Foodstuff Factory Co. Ltd., facilitated by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP). After one and half year, the FIP successfully engaged various stakeholders with coordination from China Blue Sustainability Institute (shortened as China Blue ), including national institute (i.e. China Society of Fisheries, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science (SCSFRI)); local fishery authorities (i.e. Shantou Ocean and Fishery Bureau (SOFB)); local industry association (i.e. Shantou Fisheries Industry Association (SFIA)); and leading international squid buyers and main processors in China. In May of 2015, twelve foreign squid buyers and four Chinese squid processors signed a letter to the SOFB requesting assistance in improving the sustainability of the Chinese squid fishery in Shantou. In response to the letter, in June 2015, China Blue on behalf of SFP, organized a roundtable workshop jointly with SFIA. The roundtable successfully hosted an informative discussion on the sustainability issues and potential solutions for EGTB squid fishery in Shantou, China. The roundtable was participated by over 50 domestic and foreign fisheries experts, representatives of buyers and suppliers, and Chinese fishery authority. At the roundtable, the necessity to improve squid fishery management and the importance of achieving sustainability in squid fishing were acknowledged by all participants. Meanwhile, all attendees generally agreed on a rough idea of fundamental research and work necessary to progress the FIP. It was agreed that we need to fully investigate the status of squid fishery, to 1

2 identify its spawning ground, to understand existing fishing strategies in squid. Then China Blue was asked to scope potential action plan for the FIP. In the past year, although there was no enough funding to sponsor any activities proposed in the previous workplan, China Blue managed to keep dialogues with key stakeholders, and conducted a desk-top assessment based on the Fishery Performance Indicators, a wellestablished evaluation framework developed by the World Bank. In this way, China Blue has stayed in touch with the FIP participants, observing local supply-chain throughout the year. Meanwhile, Chinese central government has started experiment on regional fishery management reform. This suggests a large chance of winning the attention and support from local and central governments to the FIP in near future. 2. Objectives The project aims to revive the EGTB squid fishery and to enhance capacity of the industry and local fishery managers to sustain the fishery against the MSC standard. Through implementing EGTB squid FIP, multi-stakeholders of the fishery supply chain are expected to jointly improve management efficiency and practices, which will demonstrate a new model of fishery resource management that inspires more initiatives for sustainable costal fishery in China. As an output of this project, a most suitable fishery unit defined by species, fishing area, fishing fleet and operation gear type will be recommended to obtain MSC fishery certificate when it is qualified to meet with the standards. Specific Objectives: 1- To establish a fishery information collection system with a joint effort from government, research institute, industry, fisher, and NGO 2- To identify the minimum catch size of Uroteuthis chinensis and to implement such voluntary protocol among participants of fisher and processing plants 3- To pilot in building a fishery resource management committee that encourages local fisher to manage fishery resource with the help from government, research institute and NGO 4- To enhance the overall fishery management and stock status to meet the requirements of MSC certification 3. Status of the fishery EGTB mitre squid is mostly caught with vertical-line jigging and bottom trawling. Bottom trawling (banned in Chinese summertime fishing moratorium) catches not only squid but also 2

3 other bottom-living or semi-pelagic marine species together in spite of size and species. It catches squid regardless of size. Meanwhile it destroys squid spawning ground as well as squid eggs attached to seabed or benthic sea plants during spawning season. Vertical line jigging is an exclusive gear (allowed in fishing moratorium) that fishes middle- to large-sized squid. A wide application of such gear on spawning and winter-migrating juvenile raises concern. Currently, there are no any regulation of quota, size, and zoning as far as fishing shall occur in legitimate seasons and zones. Published literatures and fishermen interview suggested that the average size of matured and landing squid have become smaller, together with shorter mature mantle observed under increasing fishing capacity. These phenomena indicated EGTB squid fishery is under a high risk of being overfished. In addition, the stock within EGTB has lived in waters across two provinces: Guangdong and Fujian. In other words, the squid fishery has literally been shared by fishermen from two provinces for hundreds of years. This reminds that, to sustainably manage the fishery, stakeholders from both provinces must be engaged together. Thus, the fishing vessels, fishermen, processors in both Shantou (Guangdong) and Zhangzhou (Fujian) will need to participate in this FIP. To sustainably manage a fishery, the fishery stock needs to be scientifically understood through a series of fundamental investigations that build upon various data. Unfortunately, neither biological reference points nor basic stock information can be found for the targeted squid fishery in existing scientific literatures. Most of accessible squid data focused on biological features whereas information on squid resource management and stock variation are rare. This suggests the understanding of squid fishery is still in its infant stage. For the catch statistics, available data only give total volume. Furthermore, yield data were collected through voluntary reporting from catchers without verification by fishery authority. The absence of general catch statistics (e.g. size info, species info, by catch info, etc.) is a common issue for Chinese coastal fishery. With open access, the EGTB squid fishery has been exploited not only by Shantou and Zhangzhou fishermen, but also those from adjacent provinces (i.e. Zhejiang, Guangxi, and Hainan). Co-exploitation results squid resource undergoing severe fishing pressures, which embodying at not only large amount of matured squids been harvested, but also lots of unmatured juvenile shoal have been caught. 4. Workplan EGTB Squid FIP expects to spend 3 to 5 years on the following steps of improvement, 3

4 eventually ensuring the fishery to meet with sustainable fishery standards, such as MSC: 1) Strengthen data collection and reporting of fishery resource utilization throughout supply chain As data poor fishery, the EGTB squid fishery has a challenge of missing necessary quantifiable information on stock and harvest. Government sponsored stock assessment tends to focus on looking for alternative species or stock, rather than monitoring the existing or overexploited ones. On-the-sea survey, usually carried out by public research institutes, costs around 150K USD per year, and requires permission from fishery authorities. Such complicated, time-consuming and costly assessment shall be systematically planned and implemented by public institutes whereas the industry-led FIP shall explore creative and cost-effective approach to start off as soon as possible. Thus, instead of conducting on-the-sea survey, we propose that FIP shall unite fishery stakeholders, particularly the leading processors and fishermen to establish a fishery information collection and reporting protocol that mainly targets harvest landings. The volume, size and sex of harvest along with other relevant information shall be documented in compliance with the protocols after the FIP implementation team conducting a thorough supply-chain mapping and trainings for fishermen, port manager, purchasing manager at processing plants. Before the government sponsored fishery stock assessment can provide multi-years of data, such supply-chain based landing monitoring system serves the most feasible and cost-effective way to obtain basic data for not only scientific management of fishery, but also enhancing industry awareness and capacity on fishery management. The success of the initiative will attract the attention from central and regional governments soon to make the FIP a demo of fishery management reform in the country, which helps gain a long-term political support for the FIP execution. 2) Baseline Assessment A risk-based assessment will give a scientific analysis of the existing fishery against sustainability standard (i.e. MSC) to: a) identify the most effective unit for FIP and future full-assessment, including targeted species and bycatch species, fishing vessels, fishery operation area and fishing methods in the region; b) investigate the key stakeholders of targeted species and its supply-chain dynamics; c) conduct MSC riskbased assessment for the squid fishery in the region to understand the current sustainability level, and how to address the gap between fishery performance and MSC standard requirement; d) study of the biological characteristics and ecological niche of the targeted species and other related species. All these will be necessary to fully diagnose the EGTB squid fishery thus advising stakeholders what needs to be done in terms of redefining catch strategy, facilitating stock recruitment, and resource restoration. Based on the above, a practical FIP action plan towards MSC certificate will be designed. 4

5 3) Convening stakeholders to execute FIP action plan Following the above baseline study, a FIP action plan towards MSC certificate with identified key indicators of success and expected level with timeline will be jointly carried out by the participants of FIP. A series of actions will be guided by a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) consisting leading fishery scientists, fishery managers from local government and industry representatives. The FIP activities include a series of periodic roundtable meetings, trainings, development of fishermen co-op organization, field investigation, data analysis and reports writing, etc. Trainings will be designed for fishermen, fishery authority officials, managers at processing plants and distributers, and their technicians. The key outputs will include the execution of a voluntary harvest monitoring program that all FIP processing plants and their contracted or owned fishing vessels must report harvest size, egg-bearing status, and other biological features that are considered critical for fishery management by the SAC. Such program will at least run two years to allow lessons learned from practices to feedback and improve the performance of industry-led fishery management. 4) Policy Recommendation and Education A series of improvement recommendation for squid fishery regulations, policies and general practices will be submitted to key stakeholders, particularly the central and regional fishery authorities. Workshops and conferences presenting the FIP as a pilot of fishery management reform in China will be organized to educate policy-makers, fishery managers, industry leaders, and FIP participants the benefits of such FIP and its essential policy and market enabling conditions to sustain the initiative. Given the open access and the migratory of the fishery, such engagement and communication are necessary to cultivate essential policies and regulations that will not only sustain this FIP, but also encourage government and industry in the neighboring regions to better manage relevant fisheries as well. 5) Market driven mechanism and fishery policy enforcement Closely working with the supply chain, the FIP will explore the mechanism of incentivizing sustainable or discouraging unsustainable practices through international and domestic markets. During the FIP process and MSC full assessment, the market link will be established between the EGTB squid fishery and the main buyers who promote sustainable seafood. Chinese government and public institutes are actively developing its own standard of sustainable seafood. Meanwhile, the ifish Database initiated by China Blue, China s first sustainable seafood rating scheme, is attracting Chinese retailers and regulators. The FIP has a large chance of being rewarded for the success and benefits of fishery management 5

6 by not only the export market, but also the increasingly growing market within China. The execution of the FIP echoes with the 13 th Five-year Plan ( ) in China when the fishery management reform progressively takes place. The lessons learned from executing the FIP will become valuable knowledge to Chinese fishery policy-makers, facilitating the enforcement of relevant fishery regulations. Table below lists scheduled activities in the upcoming three years ( ): Themes Activities Outputs/Impacts Time 1. Development of Fishery Information Collection and Reporting Protocol Supply-chain Mapping to identify key personnel and entities for information collection and reporting mechanism Interviews (in-person or telephone) of fishermen/industry players/fishery scientists/government officers and literature review will be conducted. Information collected will include but not limit to: Process of fishing, landing and distribution Export data of squid volume, estimation of local market sales Fishing methods and gears applied Operation of different squid fishing gears and its harvest composition By-catch composition and volume, and seasonal variation Fishing vessel annual registration and inspection Social and economic relationships of local fishermen communities A multi-stakeholder roundtable will be convened A protocol of data with participation from local and national fishery collection and authority and scientists to jointly develop a reporting to be protocol to collect essential data regarding the discussed and harvest. Details of data collection plan and agreed among necessary training will be carried out by a joint stakeholders effort of China Blue and fishery research institutes. 2. Baseline Assessment Risk-based assessment of fishery Referring to the MSC fishery pre-assessment and risk-based framework, a thorough analysis of the fishery and supply-chain will be conducted to form the FIP action plan. Key questions to be addressed: Supply-chain stakeholder mapping report developed Working group of processors, fishermen and distributors formed to experiment the information collection and reporting protocol Manual of data collection (landing protocol) developed monitoring Trainings of data collection and reporting delivered to fishermen and industry managers Needs assessment report developed and shared among FIP participants

7 Catch efforts for winter migratory groups, juvenile and egg-bearing groups Seawater quality for juvenile squid growth and foraging Spatial and temporal definition of squid spawning ground Biological data for squid that matures (required average mantle length, time span, sexual dimorphism and so on) 3. Convening stakeholders to execute FIP action plan A Scientific Advisory Committee Establishing Scientific (SAC) will be formed by leading fishery scientists from national and Advisory local institutes, which provides Committee technical guidance on the FIP development FIP action plan agreed by FIP participants A roundtable to be convened during China Seafood Expo in early November Detailed action plan proposed to FIP participants, discussed, agreed and ready to be executed 4. Policy Recommendation and Education Lessons learned from the first year of stakeholder mapping, trainings and Policy Recommendation Education and Training roundtable will be shared with fishery authorities through reports and presentations at conferences and workshop. Political support from national and local governments will be achieved through engagement with public research and policy oriented activities. Facilitate public institutes to develop a network of monitoring system along the coast and over the marine zone for squid fishery. Sustainable fishery education program will be developed and delivered to various stakeholders: Sustainable management skills and knowledge will be provided to squid fishermen, distributors, processors and buyers. Developing a squid fishing association to SAC to make a public announcement regarding its formation and mission FIP action plan to be publicly available and signed by all FIP participants Improvement recommendation reports developed and shared with policy-makers Educational materials (multimedia forms through various social-media channels) and training programs will be delivered. Awareness of consumers and fishing communities will be significantly

8 minimize internal competition, and to maximize information sharing and capacity for self-regulation and self-organization will be facilitated. Public education about avoiding consumption of unsustainable squid product (i.e., juvenile, egg-bearing product) will be carried out. 5. Market driven mechanism and fishery policy enforcement Resource monitoring and management Market Driven Develop specific reservation measures for the squid spawning ground Execute a trial of seasonal closure along with other measure for the squid spawning ground, and assess its impacts on stock recruitment Engage national and regional governments and public institutes to develop a monitoring and evaluation model for targeted squid fishery Make specific requirements for squid size to avoid catch of juveniles and egg-bearing squid Advise local squid fishery association to adopt sustainable practices with incentives from buyer or retailer partner enhanced. Efficient squid management and monitoring system is set up and fishery start a track of sustainable development. Sustainable squid acknowledged in market Participants Domestic Coordinator:China Blue Sustainability Institute (ChinaBlue) International Coordinator:Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) Govern. & Assoc.:China Society of Fisheries, Shantou Ocean and Fishery Bureau (SOFB), Zhangzhou Ocean and Fishery Bureau (ZOFB), Shantou Fisheries Industry Association Research Institutes:South China Sea fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science (SCSFRI) Chinese Domestic Enterprises:Shantou HaiMao Foodstuff Factory Co. Ltd. (Leader) Foreign Buyer Participants: Beaver Street Fisheries, Others TBD 6. Funding EGTB Squid FIP is a multi-stakeholder, multi-beneficiary project. All work in this FIP is acknowledged by whole participants, thus all participants are responsible for finance funds to carry out FIP. Potential Funding Sources: Sponsorship from domestic or foreign enterprises 8

9 Sponsorship from domestic or oversea charities (foundations) Research funds from Chinese governments Build a sustainable fishery fund in later stage of FIP, potentially contributed by certain percentage of squid sale values. 9