Fishing capacity management in Taiwan: Experiences and prospects

Taiwan has developed its fisheries since the 1950s and become one of the major fishing nations in the high seas. Facing overcapacity and strong criticism by related Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, Taiwan did not only formulate lots of regulations to limit fishing capacity, but also spent around US$350 million from 1991 to 2008 to scrap 30% capacity of large scale longline fishing vessels and 18% of coastal fishing vessels. This study provides the insight that efficient use of budget and communication with fisherman, and coping with comprehensive stock assessment, would be the key issues in establishing a successful fishing capacity management.     

Precious coral fisheries management in Taiwan—Past,present & future

Taiwan used to have the biggest precious coral fisheries industry in the world. However, due to changes in the fishery, including increased fishing restrictions and the replacement of obsolete vessels, the scale of the industry had been gradually reduced since 1979. Unfortunately, the initiative proved to be poorly managed and resulted in an increase in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) coral fishing. This forced the government to review and amend the precious coral fisheries management regulations, which had been in place for decades. The Taiwanese government introduced stringent monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) management methods, already used in deep water fisheries, as a precautionary approach. At the same time, an investigation and evaluation of existing resources was carried out. Together, these initiatives were introduced in order to encourage the domestic industry to adopt the concept of ecosystem-based fishery management.     

Fishing industry and related perspectives on the issues raised by no-take marine protected area proposals

In the face of growing calls for no-take marine protected areas (NTMPAs), the views of fishing industry representatives in south-west (SW) England on related issues are analysed. Only 23% thought NTMPAs were the way forward and a range of concerns were expressed, e.g. that the ‘terrestrial’ protected areas approach and related biodiversity conservation objectives will be extended to the seas, and that fish yield reductions from the loss of access to NTMPAs are very unlikely to be compensated for through spillover/export. Some interesting approaches to ameliorating these concerns emerged, such as being open and honest that NTMPAs are primarily intended to achieve biodiversity conservation benefits, reducing uncertainty concerning the potential for any secondary fisheries spillover/export benefits, justifying NTMPAs on an objective, rational basis rather than on a subjective, precautionary basis, and the quid pro quo streamlining of wider fisheries management approaches. This research reveals a more diverse range of perspectives amongst fishing industry representatives on the issues raised by NTMPA proposals than is often assumed.     

Fishing occupational health and safety: A comparison of regulatory regimes and safety outcomes in six countries

The actual or potential effects on fishing health and safety of the full scope of national and international regulatory regime components governing commercial fishing are often poorly understood. Especially lacking are comprehensive reviews of all the government policies that directly and indirectly affect fishing risk within countries with significant commercial fisheries. We present the results of a comprehensive, multi-national project that compares the regulatory regimes of six countries (Canada, US, UK, Iceland, New Zealand, and South Africa) and examines the impacts (either real or perceived) of legislation and regulations on fishing occupational health and safety outcomes. A conceptual model is proposed that identifies potential sources of direct and indirect risks to fishing health and safety in order to throw light on potential pathways from regulation to fishing safety. Our results highlight differences and gaps in the regulatory frameworks of the countries studied and point to the urgent need for improved assessment and for access to accurate and standardized statistics regarding fishing-related injuries and illnesses. We conclude with several recommendations for moving forward.     

Angling management organizations: integrating the recreational sector into fishery management

This paper examines ways to reduce conflicts and improve the sustainability and value of marine recreational fisheries by fully integrating the recreational sector into the management of fisheries. One possibility involves a novel approach, here called angling management organizations (AMOs), which combines three of the more pervasive and promising trends in fishery management worldwide—management devolution, strengthened harvest rights, and co-management. AMOs are community-based organizations that are designed to conform to seven basic principles of integrated fishery management, which are described below. AMOs are loosely related to rights-based producer organizations in commercial fisheries, and are expected to strengthen resource stewardship, reduce enforcement and monitoring costs, alleviate management conflicts, and produce greater long-term net economic benefits in recreational fisheries. The other organizational structures considered here, including the management status quo, do not conform to all seven principles and are not expected to be as effective as AMOs.     

海洋灾害抵御与捕捞养殖管控的路径选择与科技策略

高效利用中国现有的海洋科技能力,针对海洋灾害与捕捞养殖管控现状及局限,以灾害抵御与捕捞管控为重点,探索中国海洋可持续发展新路径,对中国抓住国际海洋发展机遇,积极参与全球海洋生态治理行动具有重要的理论和现实意义。文章结合全球及中国的海洋灾害、捕捞养殖等历史数据,依据全球及中国发布各种海洋资源发展计划、宣言、决议等政策措施,在对全球及中国海洋生态治理进展、海洋灾害抵御与管控现状与背景进行全面论述的基础上,揭示了海洋灾害防御与捕捞管控存在的问题,并从系统研究、科技转化和国际合作等方面提出了科学发展战略和对策建议。     

Systems engineering principles in fisheries management

Fisheries management receives valuable, but often fragmented information from academic disciplines such as biology, economics, and social sciences. A multi-disciplinary perspective seems to be necessary if the fisheries are to become sustainable. Globally, overcapacity is considered as the most serious threat to sustainable fisheries, which indicates the need for a stronger integration of technological aspects into fisheries management. This paper discusses application of systems engineering principles and integration of technology into fisheries management. The systems engineering process facilitates implementation of multi-disciplinary information from researchers to fisheries managers in the decision-making towards sustainable fisheries, but may also be used to overcome multi-disciplinary obstacles among scientists. The article concludes that use of systems engineering principles may become a valuable contribution to fisheries management because of increased transparency and reduced risk associated with the decision-making process.     

Fishing institutions: Addressing regulative,normative and cultural-cognitive elements to enhance fisheries management

Institutional approaches in natural resource management in general and in fisheries in particular seldom address cultural aspects or social institutions like kinship. In this study, a broad institutional approach is used to investigate the institutionalization of small-scale fisheries and seaweed farming in a seagrass dominated bay in Zanzibar. Regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive institutions and their rapid/slow moving properties are analyzed. The results show that dynamics of cooperation and conflict between different institutional elements and the balance of forces among actors are crucial to understand fisheries management dynamics. Regulations are, despite their importance, insufficient to promote sound management if they are not backed up by norms and cultural-cognitive institutions. Fisheries management would benefit by broadening the institutional perspective to increase the efficiency of management and to avoid blueprint solutions. The study shows that gaining knowledge about the wide institutional setting takes time but the investment is worth it in the long run.     

The complex legal status of the Current Fishing Pattern Zone in the East China Sea

The purpose of this article is to analyze the legal status of fisheries in the East China Sea (ECS) pursuant to these fisheries agreements, focusing on the legal issues of the Current Fishing Pattern Zone (CFPZ) which is provided for in the Fisheries Agreement between Korea and China. The CFPZ is a zone or area in which Korean and Chinese fishing patterns that existed before the agreement are respected. Although the legal status of fisheries in the CFPZ appears to be very simple, it is in fact very complex due to the overlapping jurisdictions of Korea, China and Japan. Therefore, the fisheries regime is rather vulnerable with the possibility of increasing legal conflicts. However, it is noteworthy that fisheries conflicts come up rarely in these relevant waters. This article explores the bilateral fisheries agreements and EEZ laws of the respective states, and thereafter deals with the legal issues that arise in the execution of these agreements regarding the area of overlapping waters.     

Objectives of fisheries management: case studies from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark

The main objectives of fisheries management are generally similar throughout the world. These are often stated in policy documents such as the Common Fisheries Policy and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. However, at the local level often the key objectives of management are more detailed, characterised by both the overriding management structure and the status and type of fishery concerned. In this paper, we consider case study fisheries from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark to compare some of the various types of fisheries and fisheries management systems that exist in the European Union. From this, we define the key objectives for each management system.     

An overview of marine fisheries management in China

China is the world's largest country in terms of fish production, yet its fisheries management is comparatively unknown outside the country. This article gives an overview of the current management system and highlights some of its challenges. In the past 30 years, the Department of Fishery Administration has formulated and organized a series of conservation and management regimes and measures. The most important tools are minimum mesh size regulation and a range of input control measures, including seasonal closures and attempts to control fishing capacity through licensing and limiting total engine power. However, fisheries output is only controlled through a nation-wide total catch limit. Certain progress has been achieved, but there are still problems as the resource situation is poor. While the existing measures could, in principle, improve sustainability, their enforcement is insufficient, and they do not limit fishing effort in a way that would allow recovery.     

闽南-台湾浅滩海域生态系统渔业资源容纳量

以在台湾海峡及其邻近海域开展的海洋科学调查研究所获得的有关闽南-台湾浅滩海域的初级生产力为基础,通过对渔业资源种类组成和结构的调查、浮游植物有机碳含量,鱼类、虾类、蟹类、头足类等主要种的营养级及其有机碳含量检测和生态效率的测算,采用营养动态模型和Cushing模型估算该海域渔业资源容纳量(自然生产量).同时,采用Gulland模式和MSY简单模式估算渔业资源最大可持续开发量.结果表明该海域渔业资源容纳量为125.23×10~4t,最大可持续开发量为61.92×10~4t.1996年以来实际年渔获量在62.05×10~4～67.29×10~4t,平均64.74×10~4t,超过了渔业资源的剩余产量,呈现过度捕捞态势.     

Status,trends and challenges in the sustainability of small-scale fisheries in the Philippines: Insights from FISHDA (Fishing Industries' Support in Handling Decisions Application) model

Managing small-scale fisheries in a developing country like the Philippines is very challenging because of high pressures from expanding fishing population, poverty and lack of alternative options. Thus, resource-focused fisheries management initiatives such as marine protected area (MPA) establishment will likely result in further marginalization of the poor fishers which could pose more serious problems in coastal communities. In this study, the status of small-scale fisheries in 44 coastal towns in the Philippines was assessed using FISHDA (Fishing Industries' Support in Handling Decisions Application), a simple decision support tool which requires minimal or easily-generated data. Results showed that 68% (30 out of 44) of the studied towns have unsustainable fisheries unless 58% of their fishing grounds are protected from all fishing activities. Alternatively, 53% of the active fishers in towns with unsustainable fisheries must totally stop fishing to avert fishery collapse. Alarming as it may sound, this is still an underestimate as catches incurred by the highly efficient and destructive illegal fishing activities such as blast, poison and large-scale fishing, which are reported to be still rampant in many coastal areas in the Philippines, were not accounted for in this study. This study demonstrated that MPAs alone may not be enough to avert fishery collapse even if MPA size is increased from the current 3% to 15% of the municipal waters, i.e. up to 15 km from the shore, as required by the Philippine law. Various challenges confronting the fishery and important recommendations to address them are further discussed.     

Measures of the Fishing Capacity of Chinese Marine Fleets and Discussion of the Methods

The peak-to-peak (PTP) and data envelopment analyses (DEA) methods were used in a quantitative study of the marine fishing capacity in China. The results showed that: the better input index in the PTP methodology is total power rather than number of ships when measuring the Chinese marine fishing capacity. urther analyses made it clearer that the excess of marine fishing capacity in China is primarily an excess of total power of fishing ships. This paper then suggests that the number of ships should be reduced by 35.2 percent, the gross tonnage should be reduced by 29.8 percent and the total power by 37.3 percent in China, if the current marine catch stays at the 1999 base line level. The discussion proposes the idea of supplement peak year. We also discovered that the PTP methodology is suitable for market economics and is better as a longitudinal analysis in time arrays, but the DEA approach is useful for the transverse comparison of fishing capacity in a given time period. The analyses also showed that the capacity, which has been based on the practical catch, is commonly underestimated. Therefore the fishing capacity reduction required in practice is generally larger than the value given by calculation.     

Red snapper discards in the Gulf of Mexico: Fishermen's perceptions following the implementation of Individual Fishing Quotas

In 2007, an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program was introduced to the valuable red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) fishery in the US Gulf of Mexico. This study assessed the current perceived scale and causes of red snapper discarding in the Gulf in recent years within the commercial reef fish fishery, according to commercial fishermen. Data were collected through interviews, which took place with fishermen in April and May 2010, and which were unexpectedly halted due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in late April 2010. Results suggest that for those fishermen fully participating in the IFQ program, snapper discarding has decreased since program implementation. For those not fully involved in the program (e.g., due to participation costs), discarding has likely since increased.     

论渔业法之违反捕捞许可规定到共同管理渔区作业行为的法律责任

近年来我国渔业作业群体的数量明显增多,同时违反捕捞许可到共同管理渔区作业的违法行为也日益严重。在《中华人民共和国渔业法》及相关渔业立法中已经存在明确界定,但是对于法律责任没有具体阐明,严重影响了渔业活动的正常秩序与渔业资源的可持续发展。文章根据违反捕捞许可到共同管理渔区作业的现状出发,结合渔业法等相关规定,分析增设法律责任的必要性与可行性,提出完善相关法律责任,细化责任认定;加大惩治力度,提高违法成本等建议。     

Local ecological knowledge and practical fisheries management in the tropics: A policy brief

This policy brief is a summary product of seven case studies examining the integration of local ecological knowledge in fisheries management. Each case began with a series of in-depth interviews with local fishers, after which their answers were examined using both social and biological approaches to assess the possibility of using the information as the basis of simple, valid and locally acceptable indictors for fisheries management. We found that allocation and knowledge issues are closely interlinked and must be addressed in concert, and that the negotiation of shared understandings between multiple sources of knowledge must be a continuous process within an adaptive framework rather than a question of identifying a fixed set of indicators.     

Fishing for social realities—Challenges to sustainable fisheries management in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve

Social-ecological complexity challenges conservation-oriented interventions even in settings with a small number of actors and conflicts involved. This article examines the development and trajectory of King and Snow Crab fisheries in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (BR), the highly remote but globally connected Southern tip of the Americas. The feasibility of the Chilean legal instrument of Marine Management Areas (MMA) is assessed as a tool for mitigating impacts of overfishing in the area. Examining the local fishers’ perspectives in complement to a context analysis we find that external management models such as the MMA are not suited to make Cape Horn fisheries sustainable. Instead, efforts should be dedicated to a continuous process of stakeholder collaboration for developing site-specific management concepts and structures. These should be embedded in the larger BR initiative. Considering the area's particular conditions, several recommendations for such a process are formulated.     

Factors that influence the entry–exit decision and intensity of participation of fishing fleet for the Galapagos lobster fishery

The Galapagos Islands are a prime example of a place where fishery management policies have been established without first understanding the behavior of fishermen. Since the creation of the Galapagos Marine Reserve in 1998, there has not been a single study in the archipelago that investigates fishing behavior and the factors affecting this behavior. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by describing and analyzing the decisions of the fishing fleet for the red spiny lobster fishery. It focuses on factors that affect the short-term decisions regarding both participation and intensity of participation in the lobster fishery. This paper finds that the fishing fleet in the Galapagos Islands behaves as profit maximizing firms, because they consider all the benefits and costs that affect both their participation decision as well as their decision about how frequently to be active after they have decided to participate. The results also show that there is a large latent effort in the lobster fisheries that could threaten the sustainability of any initiatives aimed at increasing catchability, prices, or markets. It is expected that this analysis will be valuable to policy makers when designing or improving the management plans for Galapagos fisheries.