Sustainability of tropical small-scale fisheries: Integrated assessment in French Guiana

Like many tropical small-scale fisheries, the French Guiana coastal fishery is characterized by the high fish biodiversity of its ecosystem, the weak selectivity of the fleets exploiting the resources, and the heterogeneity of the vessels in terms of size and fishing techniques. The Rapfish method is used to assess sustainability within 11 fishery systems by means of 27 attributes relating to ecological, economic, social, and technological fields. Overall results indicate an average performance in the weak sustainability range. Comparisons made among the FSs show a gradient of sustainability performance from the western portion of the coast to the eastern portion. Several recommendations are formulated to raise the current “sustainability” status, such as the reduction of discards. This study is used as a complementary tool to the bioeconomic model in order to define a sustainable management plan for the French Guiana coastal fishery.     

Use of local knowledge in marine protected area management

For decades, fishermen in most parts of the world have been experiencing a reduction in fish abundances. Overexploitation and increasing demands are the glaring visible causes, but weakness or absence of fishery management is the core problem. Faced with repeated failure of fishery management and the resulting overexploitation in fish stocks, new management plans are needed in order to preserve both fishermen's jobs and food security. A growing number of published sources have proposed marine protected areas (MPA) as a fishery management tool. The decision of MPA design requires close collaboration with local fishermen communities for it to be accepted and respected. This paper focus on the case of a Uruguayan lagoon, the Rocha lagoon, which is exploited by two fishermen communities. The lagoon is located inside a national park. Park authorities are in the process of designing a management plan that defines a MPA inside the lagoon. The plan also sets out the rules to be upheld for the artificial opening of the sandbar that separates the lagoon from the ocean. It is shown that it is relevant to study the local ecological knowledge (LEK) in order (1) to understand the fishery related ecological issues within the lagoon and (2) to highlight an existing conflict between two fishermen communities. Studying the LEK allowed a clear representation of the factors that must be taken into account when defining the management plan. Furthermore, the LEK study in itself creates an appropriate place for inter-community debate and it enhances the acceptance of the future management plan.     

Significant effects of fishing gear selectivity on fish life history

Over the past few decades, extreme changes have occurred in the characters of exploited fish populations. The majority of these changes have affected the growth traits of fish life history, which include a smaller size-at-age, an earlier age-at-maturation and among others. Currently, the causes of these life history traits changes still require systematic analyses and empirical studies. The explanations that have been cited are merely expressed in terms of fish phenotypic adaptation. It has been claimed that the original traits of fish can be recovered once the intensity of exploitation of the fish is controlled. Sustained environmental and fishing pressure will change the life history traits of most fish species, so the fish individual’s traits are still in small size-at-age and at earlier age-at-maturation in exploited fish populations. In this paper, we expressed our view of points that fishing gear has imposed selectiv-ity on fish populations and individuals as various other environmental factors have done and such changes are unrecoverable. Ac-cording to the existing tend of exploited fish individual’s life history traits, we suggested further researches in this field and provided better methods of fishery management and thereby fishery resources protection than those available early.     

Winners and Losers in Marine Conservation: Fishers' Displacement and Livelihood Benefits from Marine Reserves

Marine reserves can create both benefits and costs to fishers. This article explores the perceptions of fishers in Kenya and Seychelles about displacement, spillover, and overall impacts of local marine reserves on their livelihoods. We test whether these perceptions are different among fishers from different geographic and socioeconomic conditions. Sixty-six percent of fishers had been displaced from marine reserves or coastal development and 90% believed they had caught fishes that spilled over from marine reserves. Poorer fishers in Kenya were both displaced from, and also felt like they benefited from, marine reserves. This highlights how people's experiences with marine reserves, both positive and negative, are affected by a range of social considerations that may not be incorporated in typical evaluations of ecological and economic marine reserve success.     

西非海洋渔业资源非法捕捞现状和对策

海洋渔业(尤其是小型海洋渔业)为世界各地的沿海居民提供了重要的食物来源、就业、经济收入。西非临近海域是世界上海洋渔业资源最丰富的地区之一,在西非沿海地区数百万居民以捕鱼为生,然而,西非众多捕鱼区却是最贫穷的地区。在全球化不断推进的今天,非法捕捞已严重威胁到海洋生态系统安全。西非临近海域的非法捕捞问题尤为严峻。在整合相关文献资料的基础上,分析了非法捕捞的主要影响,并对西非地区的非法捕捞现状和问题进行了讨论,认为部分欧盟国家是非洲西部海洋渔业资源主要非法捕捞者,西方学者认为中国是西非地区主要的非法捕捞者是不符合事实的。非法捕捞的根本原因是持续的鱼类需求和捕捞活动缺乏控制。基于以上分析,提出了西非非法捕捞的应对措施,以期有助于解决西非非法捕捞问题。     

Setting quotas using provisional data: a case study from the South Australian abalone fisheries

Stock assessments of quota or effort managed fisheries in which the duration of the fishing season is 12 months are invariably delivered well into the subsequent fishing season. As a result, quotas are frequently based on year-old data. This delay is often unavoidable because it may take months to collect, collate and analyse data necessary to assess fishery performance. The South Australian fisheries for blacklip (Haliotis rubra Leach, 1814) and greenlip abalone (H. laevigata Donovan, 1808) have addressed this issue by using provisional data on current stock status to inform application of the harvest strategy decision rules that set the quota for the next year. The primary index of relative abundance for these fisheries is catch per unit effort (CPUE). Our study uses 25 years (1988–2012) of CPUE data to quantify the differences between the provisional and complete-season CPUE estimates at the spatial scales used to assess the fisheries. We demonstrate that, in most cases, there was a strong relationship between the provisional and complete-season CPUE estimates for both species, with little evidence of bias. As the provisional CPUE estimates were a reliable and accurate predictor of the complete-season CPUE estimates, this provides a high degree of confidence in using provisional CPUE estimates to set quotas, thereby overcoming the difficulty of basing decisions on aged data. These findings are likely to be applicable to other fisheries, particularly those where much of the annual catch is obtained (or effort expended) in a short time period at the commencement of the fishing season.     

Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem-based management of the Antarctic krill fishery

Information about stakeholder aspirations is a fundamental requirement for ecosystem-based management, but the detail is often elusive, and debates may focus on simplistic opposing positions. This is exemplified by the Antarctic krill fishery, which, despite a current operational catch limit equivalent to just 1% of the estimated biomass and actual annual catches much lower than this, is the subject of a high-profile debate framed around ambiguous concepts such as sustainability. Q methodology was applied to explore the detailed views of representatives of three stakeholder sectors (the fishing industry, conservation-focused non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and scientists from seven countries involved in research on the krill-based ecosystem). The analysis distinguished two clear groupings, one of which included the views of all NGO participants while the other included the views of fishing industry participants and a subset of the scientists. Key differences between the groups included the priority given to different management measures, and to continued commercial fishing. However, the results also revealed considerable overlap between viewpoints. Both groups prioritised the maintenance of ecosystem health and recognised the importance of defining management objectives. Also, neither group prioritised a decrease in catch limits. This suggests that most participants in the study agree that management should improve but do not perceive a major problem in the ecosystem's ability to support current catch levels. Cooperation to identify shared management objectives based on stakeholder aspirations for the ecosystem might enhance progress, whereas polarised discussions about preferred management measures or ambiguous concepts are likely to impede progress.     

西沙群岛海洋资源调查评估与南海渔业开发维权

海洋移动自主观测平台在海洋观测技术中越来越为人们所倚重,发达国家相继投入了大量的研究和部署.研究一种具有全天候、长续航力的海洋移动自主观测平台是当前一系列海洋装备中的研究热点和未来趋势,尤其是最近5年,这项工作更是达到了新的高度.针对长续航力海洋移动自主观测平台的特征,文中将其分为长续航力自主潜航器系列和水下滑翔机系列两大类,结合其共性问题分析了世界各国的研究现状,并对其未来发展趋势作了展望,最后简要讨论了这些平台未来发展中的关键技术.     

基于底拖网调查数据的渔业资源质量状况评价体系构建——以北部湾为例

【目的】构建渔业资源质量状况评价体系,评估渔业管理成效,服务海洋渔业可持续发展。【方法】以北部湾底拖网调查数据为基础,结合渔业统计数据,构建渔业资源质量状况评价指标体系。该体系分3个层次,下设7项指标。通过专家经验法和平均赋值法对指标进行赋值,得到各指标权重,建立质量状况评价等级指数,并利用该等级指数对北部湾渔业资源进行评价。【结果与结论】1992―2017年北部湾渔业资源评价指标中有6项呈下降趋势;质量状况评价等级指数波动在0.44~0.56之间。自20世纪90年代以来,北部湾渔业资源一直处于临界状态。该评价结果与北部湾渔业资源利用的实际状况基本相符,证明该方法具有合理性和可操作性,可为其他海区渔业资源质量状况评价提供借鉴。     

Indicators of abundance and spatial distribution of lobsters (Homarus americanus) from standard traps

Indicators of abundance for American lobster (Homarus americanus) based on 8 years of trap catch rates (catch‐per‐unit‐effort, CPUE) were evaluated. Volunteer harvesters recorded count, sex and size of lobsters captured in standard traps on a daily basis during the fishing season in coastal Nova Scotia, Canada. We examined the extent to which standardised CPUEs of prerecruits predict the future catches of legal sizes and explored spatial patterns in the abundance of lobsters of different size and reproductive status. The standardised CPUE of prerecruits was correlated with legal size catches in only one of five areas examined. This area had a strong signal of incoming recruitment. Improving the capacity of prerecruit CPUE for predicting legal size catches several years later most likely lies with model incorporation of variables associated with catchability. The spatial distribution of catch rates showed that the area with the highest historical landings per unit area also had the highest relative abundance of prerecruits. The spatial distribution data point to further areas of research related to recruitment processes in lobster in coastal Nova Scotia.