ILVO VALDUVIS An innovative way of assessing the sustainability of fishing activities Presentation for the 2015 ICES Annual Science Conference, Copenhagen Arne Kinds, Kim Sys, Laura Schotte, Koen Mondelaers and Hans Polet ‘Managing change in the Belgian fishery’

ILVO The Belgian fishery anno vessels; tons/year Mixed groundfish fishery Range of fishing grounds 83% beam trawl – Low selectivity – Sea bed disturbance – Fuel-intensive

ILVO Towards sustainability? 2008 fuel crisis – Incentive to save fuel – Adaptations to the beam trawl gear (e.g. sumwing, lighter nets, etc.) NGOs and retail – Pressure to demonstrate sustainability (since 2010) – Maintain market access Competition with other countries! MSC not an option … EU and national polcies

ILVO A framework for change Integrated Sustainability Assessment (after Weaver and Rotmans, 2006) Explore solutions to persistent problems of unsustainable development Cyclic step-by-step approach Stakeholder-driven The VISTRAJECT project ( ) ‘A trajectory towards sustainability in the Belgian fishery’ Develop shared vision of a sustainable future Define sustainability goals and actions Promoters: government, NGOs, PO, ILVO The VALDUVIS project ( ) Develop indicator-based sustainability monitoring tool Bring more nuance into the sustainability debate! Multi-use tool, tailored to needs of different end users

ILVO ISA in the Belgian fishery Kinds et al. (2015), submitted

ILVO Outcomes of VISTRAJECT ‘Roadmap towards sustainability’ 7 topics -Healthy fish stocks -Low impact fishery -Protection of sensitive areas -Sustainable entrepreneurship -Small-scale coastal fishery -Safety and well-being -A new generation of fishers VALDUVIS will provide the toolbox for measuring the progress towards sustainability

ILVO ISA in the Belgian fishery Kinds et al. (2015), submitted

ILVO The VALDUVIS project Individual assessments Monitoring Progress towards sustainability goals (VISTRAJECT) Tool to assess and monitor the sustainability of the Belgian fishing fleet based on individual fishing data Provide fishers insight into their sustainability

ILVO Why individual assessments? Electronic Reporting System (ERS) = underused! Detailed data for each fishing trip  Fishing tactics vary greatly between fishers + no fishing trip is the same!  High degree of detail at a relatively low cost

ILVO How does it work? STEP 1: trip data STEP 2: calculations STEP 3: visualization Methodology for calculations is described in fact sheets for each indicator Assessments can be provided ‘real-time’

ILVO Information at different levels Trip Vessel Segment Fleet 4 levels

ILVO The VALDUVIS radar chart Case study: beam trawler, inshore fishing vessel, <221 kW (average for 2013) Reference point 14 indicators in 12 themes Score between 0 (worst case) and 100 (best practice)

ILVO Designing the tool ① Selection of stakeholders -cfr. VISTRAJECT ② Agreement on data use -Interim solution (time lag) ③ Selection of sustainability themes ④ Selection/design of indicators ⑤ Visualizing sustainability scores

ILVO Stakeholder participation Science Practice February 2013 Proposal for data collection and transparency Feedback and approval October 2014 Proposal for further implementation time Feedback and approval December 2013 Proposal for indicator system and reference points June 2014 Proposal for visualization of sustainability scores ‘Multistakeholder process’ Crucial in the development of the tool (selection of themes and indicators, continuous feedback)

ILVO Stakeholder participation

ILVO Let’s recap!

ILVO Learning, evaluating and monitoring Learning experiences and lessons are made explicit – VISTRAJECT: communicating results to the public – VALDUVIS: first attempt at end-use validation + lay basis for follow-up

ILVO VALDUVIS in 2015 Pilot testing on 4 vessels – Test use on board (effort for fisher, data transfer) – Automation and real-time scoring – Evaluate the interest of fishers in using the tool – (Evaluate the interest of buyers in using the tool)

ILVO VALDUVIS in Update indicators Internal  external benchmarks – The more data, the better the benchmarks (VALDUVIS ≠ MSC); European projects (e.g. Interreg) Accreditation of methodology and data flow Toolbox: how to improve sustainability? Market applications (~ FIP? Niche markets?) Improve methods for stakeholder participation

ILVO Conclusions VALDUVIS is innovative in several ways: – Utilization of ‘official’ data (applicable to other fisheries) – Cost-effective – Stakeholder-based – Multi-purpose ISA is appropriate for managing change in the Belgian fishery VALDUVIS is appropriate for monitoring progress towards sustainability – BUT: no consensus about all purposes among stakeholders

ILVO Thank you! Kim Sys Arne Kinds ©Karl Vanginderdeuren