Human dignity: A fundamental guiding value for a human rights approach to fisheries?

Recently, a human rights approach has been center-staged within fisheries governance as a response to the limits of private property rights in reducing insecurity and vulnerability among fishers and fishing communities. Despite its growing adoption in international legal frameworks and among civil society organizations, the conceptual pitfalls of the human rights approach to fisheries (i.e., its neoliberal tendencies and the neglect of collective rights and social duties) raised by critical scholarship remain largely unsettled, leading to practical concerns about whether such a framework will ultimately benefit fishers on the ground. To further contribute to the debate, this article presents a nuanced discussion of the human rights perspective by introducing the concept of human dignity. Specifically, it argues that human dignity, with its greater conceptual scope and depth, could act as a foundational value with which to mitigate some of the shortcomings of the human rights approach. The purpose here is suggestive rather than definitive and is aimed at highlighting the link that has not been clearly made between human rights and human dignity. I argue that heightened attention to human dignity has the potential to create wider support for the human rights approach and ultimately help facilitate its efficacy in fisheries.     

Is Europe ready for a results-based approach to fisheries management? The voice of stakeholders

The reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), adopted by the European Union in 2013, aims to achieve sustainable exploitation of marine resources. Beyond the mainstream of stakeholders׳ engagement, the literature increasingly calls for shared accountability in fisheries management. In such scenarios, identifying stakeholders׳ insights becomes critical for a successful design of innovative management approaches. This paper analyses how the stakeholders perceive a results-based management system for four fisheries in different European sea-basins as well as at a pan-European level. The results indicate a need for adaptive and participatory management approaches, building on regional adaptations within transparent and plural frameworks for fisheries. To succeed, the system should explicitly address its associated public and private costs; neither participation nor accountability comes for free.     

Assistance networks in seafood trade – A means to assess benefit distribution in small-scale fisheries

This article addresses the connections between value chain actors in the tropical-marine small-scale fisheries of Zanzibar, Tanzania, to contribute to a better understanding of the fisher-trader link and how connections in general might feed into livelihood security. A sample of 168 fishers and 130 traders was taken across 8 sites through questionnaires and observations. The small-scale fishery system is mapped using a value chain framework both traditionally and from a less economic point of view where the assistance-exchange networks between fishery actors add another layer of complexity. Auxiliary actors previously disregarded emerge from the latter method thus shedding light on the poorly understood distribution of benefits from seafood trade. Female actors participate quite differently, relative to males in the market system, detached from high-value links such as the tourist industry, and access to predetermined or secured sales deals. Data shows that the fisher-trader link is not as one-sided as previously presented. In fact it has a more symbiotic exchange deeply nested in a broader trading and social system. Expanding the analysis from this link by taking a further step downstream highlights traders’ own sales arrangements and the social pressures they are under in realizing them. A complex picture, inclusive of diversified perspectives, on interactions in the market place is presented, as well as a reflection on the remaining critical question: how to integrate this type of data into decisions about future fisheries governance.     

To land or not to land: How do stakeholders perceive the zero discard policy in European small-scale fisheries?

The landing obligation recently adopted by the European Union's (EU) Common Fisheries Policy aims to eradicate discards in EU fisheries. The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential social and economic impacts of the discard ban in European small-scale fisheries (SSF) and the critical factors for its successful implementation. An exhaustive systematic literature review and a stakeholder consultation were carried out in order to (i) collect detailed information about current knowledge on discards in EU SSF and gauge stakeholder perceptions about potential impacts of the discard ban in European SSF, (ii) examine the capacity of the SSF industry to implement the discard ban, and (iii) explore the limits and feasibility of implementing such a measure.The results of this study show that little attention has been given by the scientific community to discards in EU SSF. Indeed, the systematic literature review shows that this problem is relatively unexplored in the EU. In addition, the effectiveness of a discard ban in industrial fisheries is still unclear, mainly because discard data are not systematically collected by fisheries authorities. Stakeholders mostly perceive that the new landing obligation was developed with industrial fisheries in mind and that compliance with the landing obligation in EU SSF will be difficult to achieve without high economic costs, such as those related to the handling and storage of unwanted fish on board.     

The precautionary approach to non-native fisheries—The case of striped bass in Texas

Fisheries managers have long relied on non-native fish to improve, sustain, or create recreational fishing opportunities, often without adequate consideration of potentially negative ecological consequences. There is growing advocacy for using the precautionary approach to avoid potentially serious or irreversible harm to the environment in the face of scientific uncertainty. This paper uses striped bass (Morone saxitilis) in Texas to examine possible effects that might have resulted had the precautionary approach been applied before stocking began in the 1960s when the species was considered non-native to Texas. The current range of reproducing striped bass populations extends from the North Atlantic Ocean to the U.S.–Mexico border. However, the western extent of the species current range beyond Louisiana is probably the result of stocking begun in 1965 that continues today. The historic range is yet unresolved. The best available information suggests that striped bass are not native to Texas, fish stocking has resulted in beneficial economic impacts, and any negative effects (i.e., harm) are currently unknown. It seems unlikely that application of the precautionary approach would have led to different outcomes in Texas than currently exist. However, the complete striped bass story has yet to be written.     

The EU landing obligation and European small-scale fisheries: What are the odds for success?

A landing obligation was formally implemented in the European Union (EU) for the first time, as part of the recent reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Given the reasonable success of the landing obligation in some countries such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Norway, this policy is seen as a viable approach to tackle the long-recognized discarding problem in EU waters. However, there has been some debate on whether there is sufficient evidence to support the feasibility of such a measure in the EU-CFP. The EU landing obligation will implicitly include all small-scale fisheries (SSF) provided the species captured are subject to catch limits or minimum sizes (in the case of the Mediterranean). SSF were included irrespective of the fact that the discarding problem in the EU has been historically associated with medium- to large-scale fleets (in particular largely mixed species trawl fisheries). Additionally, past experiences with a discard ban policy are still limited to specific countries and/or specific fisheries. This paper examined the appropriateness and feasibility of the recently implemented EU landing obligation in SSF. The effects in the long-term are unpredictable, but available evidence suggests that in the short to medium-term a landing obligation is likely to bring more negative social, economic and ecological impacts than benefits.     

‘All in’: Snow crab,capitalization, and the future of small-scale fisheries in Newfoundland

The collapse of cod stocks off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 1990s has been widely identified as one of the greatest human-ecological catastrophes of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the crisis, heated debates took place about how the fishery should be structured in the future in order to facilitate the recovery of stocks and sustain coastal livelihoods. In the end, the trade union representing fishers and fish processing plant workers in the province proved successful in resisting pressures from fish processing companies to introduce full-scale privatization. It was also able to expand access to the lucrative snow crab fishery, thereby improving incomes for most remaining independent fishers in the province. Nevertheless, this paper argues that policy changes made shortly after cod moratorium, in combination with changing environmental, demographic, and market conditions, have created a situation which now threatens to undermine the capacity for small-scale fishing enterprises to remain independently owned and operated into the future.     

Ichnological data as a useful tool for deep-sea environmental characterization: a brief overview and an application to recognition of small-scale oxygenation changes during the Cenomanian�CTuronian anoxic event

The oceanic anoxic event at the Cenomanian?CTuronian transition (OAE-2) is a worldwide phenomenon related with variations in atmosphere?Cocean dynamics. This event coincides with significant changes in the palaeoenvironment determining marine mass extinction affecting numerous groups of organisms. Ichnological analysis of the Cenomanian?CTuronian boundary interval has been conducted in three selected sections from different ecological and depositional settings in the western Tethys. Indeed, a brief overview of existing knowledge in this domain highlights increasing recognition of the usefulness of trace fossils in the characterization of even minor-scale deep-sea environmental changes linked to sea-level dynamics. At the study sites, variations in ichnological features, including trace fossil composition, tiering patterns and ichnofabrics, can be related to fluctuations in bottom- and pore-water oxygenation during the Cenomanian?CTuronian interval. In the Barnasiówka section (Polish Outer Carpathians), changes between oxic/dysoxic??characterized by Chondrites, Planolites and even Thalassinoides??and euxinic conditions, without trace fossils or only with Chondrites, can be explained by variations in gravity flows influencing the benthic habitat. In the El Chorro and Hedionda sections (Betic Cordillera), longer anoxic intervals during the OAE-2, characterized by the absence of trace fossils, are interrupted by shorter dysaerobic and aerobic sub-events associated with Chondrites, Palaeophycus, Planolites, Thalassinoides, Trichichnus and Zoophycos, but showing significant differences between these two sections related to the palaeogeographically differentiated influence of upwelling conditions.     

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”: comparing fisheries reforms in South Africa

The paper argues that the reduction of history to “apartheid” has hamstrung efforts to reform the South African fisheries since 1994, by privileging race over class and state. The salience of the latter in the maintenance and reproduction of endemic inequality is demonstrated by a comparison of the current reform process with that in the 1940s. This reveals a series of striking similarities and shows how the initial redistribution agenda in both instances was subverted in favour of a consolidation of monopoly capital and state control over the marine commons.     

Economic dimension of the collapse of the ‘false cod’ Epinephelus aeneus in a context of ineffective management of the small-scale fisheries in Senegal

Small-scale fisheries are often seen as a solution for ensuring sustainability in marine exploitation. They are viewed as a suitable alternative to industrial fisheries, particularly when considering their social and economic importance in developing countries. Here, we show that the booming small-scale fishery sector in Senegal, in the context of increasing foreign demand, has induced the collapse of one of the most emblematic West African marine fish species, a large grouper Epinephelus aeneus, historically called ‘false cod’ by European fishers. The overexploitation of this species appears to be on account of the increasing effort sustained by a growing international demand and important subsidies, which resulted in a relative stability of the average economic yield per fishing trip and an incentive for continuing targeting this species to almost extinction. It is a critical time for addressing and mitigating the pressure of the small-scale fisheries to prevent declines of fish species that are highly valued by northern markets. A balance between conservation and exploitation is necessary to maintain ecological viability while considering the socio-economic importance of the small-scale fisheries. However, a new strategy is needed for conservation that will consider and articulate simultaneously the concerns regarding unmanaged and growing small-scale fisheries, rampant subsidies and increasing foreign demand.     

User participation and institutional change in fisheries management: a viable alternative to the failures of ‘top-down’ driven control?

This article investigates the role and value of user participation in fisheries management. New empirical data on changes in the institutional structure of fisheries management systems is presented by examining the management structure of two Danish fisheries. The analysis focuses on how user participation functions are institutionalized as co-management between administrators and user groups. General lessons for successful user participation in management are deduced. The paper concludes that co-management is able to overcome some of the fundamental problems related to modern fisheries management and that co-management can work as an active and effective management tool rather than as an impediment to efficient management.     

Echyridella menziesii (Bivalvia: Hyriidae) as a predator of zooplankton of different sizes; are large non-indigenous Daphnia a potential food source?

Interactions between two recent invaders to New Zealand, the cladocerans Daphnia galeata and D. pulex, and native filter-feeding freshwater mussels, are unknown. We examined predation rates of the common native mussel Echyridella menziesii (kākahi, kāeo) on non-native Daphnia (comparatively large zooplankton in New Zealand), relative to two common native species, the smaller cladoceran Bosmina meridionalis and rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus. Controlled laboratory experiments were conducted in which each zooplankton species was exposed to bivalve predation for a two-hour period. Comparing treatments to non-mussel controls, removal rates of non-indigenous D. pulex and native B. calyciflorus were statistically significant. Nevertheless, kākahi removal rates may not be ecologically significant for daphnids (1.7% D. galeata and 7.4% D. pulex). Kākahi removed 8.8% of B. meridionalis and 30.2% of B. calyciflorus, suggesting that small, feeble zooplankton species (particularly rotifers) are most susceptible to predation, and potentially function as an energy source for native freshwater mussels.     

Coupling iodine speciation to primary,regenerated or “new” production: a re-evaluation

In two recent studies (Tian et al., Deep-Sea Res. I 43 (1996) 723–738; Campos et al., Deep-Sea Res. II 43 (1996) 455–466), in order to explain the observed temporal variations in the distributions of the dissolved iodine species at the time-series stations in the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, diverse assumptions were invoked on the relationships between changes in the speciation of dissolved iodine in the surface oceans and biological production such that the surface enrichment of I⁻ was linked to both regenerated production and primary production while the surface depletion of [IO₃⁻+I⁻] was linked to “new” production. However, while some of the major conclusions in these studies are critically dependent on these assumptions, the validity of the assumptions has yet to be verified with experimental evidence. On the other hand, while there are still significant unknowns in the understanding of the cycling among dissolved iodine species in the surface oceans, presently available data from laboratory cultures and field observations are consistent with an alternative conceptual model in which IO₃⁻ and NO₃⁻ are taken up at some ratio to each other during NO₃⁻ uptake and almost all of the IO₃⁻ taken up is exuded as I⁻. Thus, the depletion of IO₃⁻ and the enrichment of I⁻ in the surface water are linked to NO₃⁻ uptake. This alternative model is also consistent with the data sets presented by Tian et al. (1996) and Campos et al. (1996). By linking the surface depletion of IO₃⁻ to NO₃⁻ uptake, significantly different biogeochemical behavior of the marine dissolved iodine system may be inferred. The extent to which I⁻ may be oxidized to IO₃⁻ within the euphotic zone during the residence time of the water in the surface ocean is still an open question.     

An early footprint of fisheries: Changes for a demersal fish assemblage in the German Bight from 1902–1932 to 1991–2009

Groundfish survey data from the German Bight from 1902–08, 1919–23, and 1930–1932 and ICES International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS) quarter 3 data from 1991 to 2009 were analysed with respect to species frequencies, maximum length, trends in catch-per-unit-effort, species richness parameters (SNR) and presence of large fish (Φ₄₀), the latter defined as average presence of species per haul with specimens larger than 40 cm given. Four different periods are distinguished: (a) before 1914 with medium commercial CPUE and low landings, Φ₄₀ ≈ 2, high abundance in elasmobranchs and SNR conditions indicating highly diverse assemblages, (b) conditions immediately after 1918 with higher commercial CPUE, recovering landings, Φ₄₀ at > 4 in 1919, and SNR conditions indicating highly diverse assemblages, (c) conditions from 1920 to the early 1930's with decreasing commercial CPUE, increased landings, decreasing Φ₄₀, SNR conditions similar to later years indicating less diverse assemblages, and a decrease in elasmobranchs. In the IBTS series (d), Φ₄₀ remains low indicating an increased rarity of large specimens, and SNR characteristics are similar to the third period. Dab, whiting and grey gurnard have increased considerably in the IBTS series as compared to the historic data. Φ₄₀ is suggested an alternative indicator reflecting community functional diversity when weight based indicators cannot be applied.     

From low- to high-value fisheries: Is it possible to quantify the trade-off between management cost,risk and catch?

Fishery managers are faced with the challenge of maintaining sustainable fisheries at the lowest possible cost while conforming to international and national obligations. Given that fisheries range from low to high value, there is a real need to understand how to trade ecological and economic risks, and the various costs associated with their management, against the benefits from catch. Key to this is an understanding of (a) the costs corresponding to a given level of acceptable risk, or conversely, (b) the change in risk given a change in cost investment. This paper first defines biological, economic and ecosystem risk at a whole-of-fishery level, and then develops a simple model to quantify the trade-offs between risk, cost and catch. Using as case studies Australia's federally managed fisheries that range from data-rich to data-poor, risk was quantified for target species in terms of both their limit and target reference points (defined as “biological risk” and “economic risk”, respectively), and for ecosystems in terms of overall ecological impact (defined as “ecosystem risk”). A statistical linear model was used to quantify the risk–cost–catch frontier for each of the three forms of risk. The most parsimonious models were statistically significant for each. However, the management and research costs were mostly positively correlated with risk, indicating that these tended to be reactive to risk, as opposed to risk decreasing in response to increased costs. The only model where this was not the case was for the ecosystem risk, which is probably because these risks have only recently been assessed and the management response to these risks across all the fisheries has so far been limited. For target species risks, it was not possible to develop a model for proactive use. However, the method itself has merit and, if the costs were defined to a greater level of resolution, and/or a time-dynamic modelling approach considered, these issues could potentially be addressed.     

The gentleman’s agreements: a fisheries management case study from the Southwest of England

This paper assesses the unique ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ that exist between the crab fishermen of South Devon and trawlermen from the UK and other EU member states. The reasons for the success of the arrangements are discussed, particularly as the agreements apply to fisheries that are currently characterised by over-capacity, rent dissipation and non-compliance with regulations. The agreements are analysed in relation to other common-property resource-management systems, and their compatability with the principles of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is established. Finally the agreements are compared and contrasted with the concepts of subsidiarity and co-management.     

Using conservation as a tool to resolve conflict: Establishing the Piran–Savudrija international Marine Peace Park

Border disputes between neighbouring States are a regular occurrence and have the potential to undermine relations at national, regional, local and even individual level. In this instance the conflict over Piran Bay in the Northern Adriatic Sea has led to conflict between the neighbouring States of Croatia and Slovenia. The lack of resolution of this conflict resulted in Croatia being delayed in its accession into the European Union (EU). The border dispute remains unresolved and will go to international arbitration in 2013. Yet it is unlikely that arbitration will provide a solution agreeable to all stakeholders. It is likely that residual feelings of injustice will remain, especially at local level. Analysis of the political context of the dispute and recognition of the biological importance of the region has led to opportunity to combine politics and biological conservation to establish an International Marine Peace Park (IMPP) as a potential mitigation measure to help resolve the conflict. This initiative aims to develop regional ownership over a shared marine space linking the local communities of Slovenia and Croatia that co-habit the adjacent Istrian peninsula. The area of the proposed Piran–Savudrija IMPP hosts numerous habitat types and species which are representative of the region and are of international and national conservation importance. The policies and opportunities associated with EU accession provide the potential political, economic and environmental frameworks to develop a regional agency or a bi-national steering committee for the management of the area. This could allow local communities to develop equitable management and restore good relations while preserving an important regionally representative marine area.