EAFM & Risk Assessment Prioritizing Assessments Prof. Dr. Sahar Mehanna Head of Fish Population Dynamics Lab

Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) Fisheries management is increasingly concerned with impacts on fish resources AND their ecosystems Major management issue is fishing impacts on habitats, bycatch species, TEPS This has resulted in a new approach - EAFM. This requires consideration of the above non-target interactions. However, EAFM cannot address all interactions in detail – need to prioritize

Putting EAFM into practice Risk assessment has always been a part of stock assessment - but at a single species level (risk of overfishing) EAFM merely extends this approach to ecological interactions ERA undertaken at 3 levels: Level 1 – scale intensity consequence analysis (SICA) Level 2 – productivity susceptibility analysis (PSA) Level 3 – Full quantitative assessment

HIERARCHY OF RISK ASSESSMENT

THEREFORE….. If risks are identified at Level 1, these are further analyzed at Level 2 If a level 2 RA identifies risks then a full quantitative analysis is carried out The decision to analyze risks at each higher levels in the ERAEF depends on (i) estimated risk at the current level, (ii) availability of data to proceed to the next level, and (iii) management response to risks identified at the current level

ERAEF Further refinement of ERA Ecological risk assessment for effects of fishing (ERAEF) is a procedure for identifying and prioritizing risks posed to marine ecosystems by commercial fisheries. Available scientific resources can then be focused on the most pressing ecological problems Also focuses on the most urgent needs for information

LEVEL 1 ANALYSIS (SICA) QUALITATIVE - Level 1 aims to identify which hazards lead to a significant impact on any species, habitat or community. Analysis at Level 1 is for whole components (target; bycatch and byproduct; TEP species; habitat; and communities), not individual sub-components. Since Level 1 is used mainly as a rapid screening tool, a “worst case” approach is used to ensure that elements screened out as low risk (either activities or components) are genuinely low risk.

HOW TO DO A SIMPLE SICA ANALYSIS 1. Define ECOSYSTEM COMPONENTS to be analyzed SPECIES Target species Other retained species Discarded species Species impacted by the gear but not caught TEP species HABITATS Habitats impacted by the gear COMMUNITIES Ecological communities, e.g. pelagic, demersal, epibenthic and benthic (on and within the seafloor, respectively), planktonic, birds, reptiles, and mammals

HOW TO DO A SICA ANALYSIS Operational objectives (OO) clarified for each component and attribute 2. What’s at risk? Identify effects of ‘activities’ on each component. Activities can be,for example, commercial fishing & retaining species, commercial fishing and discarding species, recreational fishing, environmental degradation, anchoring, gear loss etc 3. Set up a ‘hazard matrix’ that identifies what components and attributes are impacted by what activities – qualitative 4. Risk Screening of identified hazards by SICA scoring

S = SCALE Scale is both spatial and temporal (time) – score

C=CONSEQUENCES, SCORING

I=Intensity What is the intensity of the activity on the ecological component & attributes? More frequent activities are scored highly on ‘intensity’

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL Assessment of SICA results should indicate: which risks can be ignored, which can be mitigated quickly by management of the fishery, and which should be subjected to further risk assessment. Also, this is a good time to check whether ALL ecological components and activities have been identified and included

EXAMPLE PF SICA

LINK BETWEEN SICA AND PSA

Level 2 PSA - PRODUCTIVITY Productivity Attributes FOR SPECIES: Average age at maturity Average maximum age Fecundity Average maximum size Average size at maturity Reproductive strategy Trophic level – based on 5 levels from level 1 (algae and plants) to apex predators (level 5). has info

Scoring Productivity Attributes Scored on a 1-3 scale for each attribute with 3 high risk For example, Attribute of age at maturity is scored 3 (high risk) if greater than 15 years, 2 if 5-15 years and 1 if less than 5 years A full scoring system is included in handout

SCORING PRODUCTIVITY ATTRIBUTES

Level 2 PSA - SUSCEPTIBILITY Susceptibility Attributes: Availability - overlap of fishing effort with a species distribution and takes into account species specific behaviors Encounterability - the likelihood that a species will encounter fishing gear that is deployed within the geographic range of that species Selectivity - the potential of the gear to capture or retain species Post capture mortality - the condition and subsequent survival of a species that is captured and released (or discarded)

Scoring Susceptibility Attributes Scored on a 1-3 scale for each attribute with 3 high risk For example, availability is scored 1 (low risk) if the stock is globally distributed, 2 if restricted to the same ocean as the fishery and 3 if restricted to the same country as the fishery The full scoring system will be included with the handout re productivity

SCORING SUSCEPTABILITY

Plot P against S = PSA Plot

EXAMPLE OF PSA ANALYSIS