IFM Specialist Conference 2018

Transcription

1 IFM Specialist Conference 2018 Managing Fisheries in Estuarine and Coastal Waters Mandy Knott Senior Scientist 23rd May 2018 Photo: Oystercatchers feeding on Foulney mussel bed December NWIFCA

2 What can and can t IFCAs do? IFCA duties IFCA duties assigned by Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MACA) s.153: Management of Inshore Fisheries - IFCAs must manage the exploitation of sea fisheries resources in the District. IFCAs must: (a) seek to ensure that the exploitation is carried out in a sustainable way; (b) seek to balance the social and economic benefits of exploiting the sea fisheries resources with the need to protect the marine environment from, or promote its recovery from, the effects of such exploitation; (c) take any other steps in the authority's opinion are necessary or expedient for the purpose of making a contribution to the achievement of sustainable development; (d) seek to balance the different needs of persons engaged in the exploitation of sea fisheries resources. MACA s. 154 Protection of Marine Conservation Zones IFCAs must seek to ensure that the conservation objectives of any MCZ in the district are furthered.

3 Definitions under MACA Sea Fisheries Resources Any animals or plants, other than (see below) that habitually live in the sea, including those that are cultivated in the sea. Excludes: (a) salmon, trout, eels, smelt and shad; (b) any other fish of a kind which migrates from fresh to salt water, or from salt to fresh water, in order to spawn; (c) any freshwater fish. Exploitation Any activity relating to the exploitation of such resources, whether carried out for commercial purposes or otherwise, including: (a) fishing for, taking, retaining on board, trans-shipping, landing, transporting, or storing such resources; (b) selling, displaying, exposing or offering for sale or possessing such resources; (c) introducing such resources to the sea or cultivating such resources.

4 NWIFCA District and Estuaries merger of two different Sea Fisheries Committees Cumbria and North West now extends to tidal extent of estuaries out to 6nm jurisdiction inland to local authority boundaries 3 sets of byelaws to amalgamate including Environment Agency for estuaries Main Estuaries and Bays all EMS Dee Estuary English side Mersey Ribble and Alt Morecambe Bay Wyre, Lune, Keer, Kent, Leven Duddon Estuary Ravenglass Solway - English side

5 Marine Protected Areas - MPAs European Marine Sites (EMS) EU Directives SACs and SPAs Ramsar sites Ramsar Convention (1971) SSSI - Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ ) MACA 2009

6 NWIFCA Estuarine and Coastal Fisheries Intertidal / semi subtidal cockles Intertidal / semi subtidal mussels Shrimps tractor and boat beam trawls Flatfish flounder (flooks), plaice, Dover sole, dab, turbot, brill Winkles eg Drigg Coast Bass, cod, thornback ray, codling, whiting, mullet, mackerel Crab, Lobster potting hard substrate

7 Challenges large district - ~ 500 miles of coastline and out to 6nm small team constantly changing environment and natural variability ephemeral features, shifting sandbanks and channels suitable controls areas labour intensive eg. intertidal hand-gathering of cockle and mussels re. stock assessment and enforcement reactive management necessary sub-tidal survey turbidity, side scan sonar, vessel Solway Protector (tired old lady dedicated as patrol vessel not designed for science) time series of survey data snapshot in time staffing (old and young) retention and training

8 Heysham Flat Bottom Skears accessibility challenges

9 Challenges - Heysham Flat th May

10 Challenges - Heysham Flat th May

11 Challenges - Heysham Flat th May

12 Challenges - Heysham Flat rd May

13 Heysham Flat th July

14 Challenges - Heysham Flat th July

15 Challenges - Heysham Flat th October

16 Challenges - Heysham Flat th October

17 Challenges - Heysham Flat th October

18 Falklands accessibility and assessment challenges

19

20 Falklands accessibility and assessment challenges

21 Challenges - South America / Falklands

22 Challenges - South America / Falklands

23 Challenges - South America / Falklands

24 South America / Falklands sand movement

25 Future Potential NWIFCA Perspective commitment to sharing resources and joint working improved and increased sightings recording capacity new vessel and increased survey capacity - dedicated science lab and facilities - six berths double tide-ing - intertidal work - drying out quads on board - improved capacity for grabs, dredge and trawls - Side Scan Sonar and drop-down camera - IFCA Sonar camera - use of Olex for ground discrimination Small Fish Surveys understanding fish nursery functions increased confidence in HRA especially intertidal fisheries increase use of commercial fishing vessels to assist citizen science?

26 Future Potential

27 Future Potential