Assessing the social impacts of changes in fisheries policy: a review of recent Australian experience Jacki Schirmer Research Fellow School of Resources, Environment and Society - ANU Co-operative Research Centre for Forestry

Background  Worldwide, many areas are being overfished  Marine waters typically managed by governments  Fishers are private sector business operators who are granted licence to fish (various permit systems)  Governments try to reduce overfishing by: Declaring reserves/protected areas limiting commercial and/or recreational fishing Reducing the number of permits/licences granted to fish Placing conditions on fishing e.g. restrictions on number of lines, nets, type of equipment, number of hours people can fish

Recent Australian examples…  Securing our fishing future, Nov Fishing licences bought back through a tender process. Aim is to reduce number of operators fishing in some Commonwealth fisheries. Also, Marine Protected Areas declared over some ocean areas. (see  Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve ha marine reserve declared over reef area used by endangered Grey Nurse Sharks. All commercial and recreational fishing banned ( grounds/index.html) grounds/index.html  Great Barrier Reef Marine Protected Area ‘Green Zones’. New areas reserved from fishing in (e.g. /eh/md.rtf) /eh/md.rtf  Many other examples just within Australia…

Where does SIA come in?  Increasingly, governments are commissioning SIA as part of developing policies which change marine resource access  But fisheries have some unique characteristics – specific SIA methods are often needed  Key challenges: Identifying fishers Talking to fishers – how to consult and involve Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities Many other challenges – but these three are some of the most common when undertaking technical assessment

1. Identifying fishers using affected area Two key challenges:  ‘Latent’ effort – often only some fishing permits are being used. Who is actually fishing the area? Government catch records Fish receiver records Fisher records (in some cases, electronic tracking device records)  What if there are no permits, or permit covers a much larger area than that affected by the proposed change? Surveys conducted at boat launch/landing sites Depending on size of area, direct survey of boats entering the marine area that will be affected (take your boat out) Consultation in local community Ensure surveys/consultation undertaken at relevant times of day, month & year to capture variation in activity due to seasonal differences, holidays etc

2. Talking to fishers – how to consult and involve Key issues:  Fishers need to fish whenever weather is good, income depends on it E.g. one meeting I held, a fisher gave up around $AUD5,000 of potential fish catch to attend  Different fishers fish different times of day, month  Some fishers may go out fishing for a few hours; others for up to 50 days on the ocean in a single trip How to get them in same room at same time? Should you even try?  How to design a participatory process they can take part in?

2. Talking to fishers – how to consult and involve (cont.) Approaches to consulting & involving:  If you have to have pre-scheduled times for meetings: Set up many meeting times to suit different fishing schedules Remind fishers immediately prior to the meeting – many not used to working on fixed time schedule  Use the weather! If possible, don’t pre-schedule meeting times: Wait until weather is too bad for fishing Ring fishers, get them to come out for a meeting then. Fax, phone important tools  Don’t schedule any meetings Set up your office from the dock or at the fish receiver – as every fisher finishes unloading catch, they often like to talk Find out what local places fishers frequent, set up office there For large trawlers, possible go out on the boat (although that can mean 20 days at sea…)  Ensure you have plenty of time and fit into their work schedules

3. Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities Issue:  A change has been proposed in an area of ocean  Fishers can travel long distances, may land catch a long way from where they caught it; may live somewhere else again  How to identify spatial flows from marine area to human communities on land: Where do fishers live and spend income? Where are fish landed and processed (flow-on jobs)

3. Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities Solutions:  Town Resource Cluster analysis - developed by Fenton and Coakes  Aim is to trace spatial flows between natural resources and human communities  Requires considerable investment in surveying fishers and identifying the spatial location of their activities as well as the volume & type of activity  Key example demonstrating approach: Fenton DM and Marshall NA A guide to the fishers of Queensland, Part A. CRC Reef Technical Reports 36,37,38. URL:

3. Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities (cont.) If resources do not permit full TRC: In surveys, ensure identification of:  Proportion of fisher’s activity dependent on the marine area – and how this varies over time  Locations where catch is landed (flow-on effects)  Where fishers lives & spends income (flow-on effects) This data enables identification of most flows from marine area to human communities Often there are limits to how precisely you can identify flows from an ocean area to human community as:  Records don’t allow identification of whether catch was from the specific area of ocean you are interested in  Fishers change activity on daily, monthly, yearly basis  These limitations must be clearly communicated

Conclusions  Are there “fisheries-specific” SIA challenges? To an extent – many similar challenges in other types of SIA  Are the Australian challenges and solutions presented applicable elsewhere? Your experiences and feedback sought!