2. Biology 450: Fish WeekBiology 450: Fish Week Lecture 15: Fisheries Scott Heppell Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Oregon State University 042 Nash Hall 737-1086, Scott.Heppell@oregonstate.edu

3. Fisheries –Direct and indirect effects

4. Fishermen go fishing because we buy the fish they catch.Fishermen go fishing because we buy the fish they catch. When fishing is good and the fishers make good money, more fishers join the fishery.When fishing is good and the fishers make good money, more fishers join the fishery. They don’t stop joining until they stop making good money.They don’t stop joining until they stop making good money.

5. What is a sustainable fishery? “one in which fish populations are allowed to replace themselves”–CA Marine Life Management Act “one that prevents overfishing while achieving optimal yield”–Sustainable Fisheries Act “one that is environmentally non-degrading and ensures the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations”–FAO Sustainable Fisheries Development

8. TrawlingTrawling

9. TrollingTrolling

10. Other MethodsOther Methods Traps & Pots Long-Line

11. Oregon’s Commercial Fisheries 1992-2001Oregon’s Commercial Fisheries 1992-2001 Average PoundsAverage Pounds 245.3 million / yr245.3 million / yr Av. Landed ValueAv. Landed Value $69.6 million / yr$69.6 million / yr Groundfish Shellfish Other Salmon Albacore

12. Oregon’s Commercial Fisheries Groundfish PoundsOregon’s Commercial Fisheries Groundfish Pounds Shoreside FisheryShoreside Fishery for Whitingfor Whiting

13. Commercial Fishery IssuesCommercial Fishery Issues Over-capacity in the fishing fleets. Sport versus commercial fishing allocations. Individual fishing quotas. Can we do the stock assessments? Bycatch and discards. Mixed stocks - protecting the weak stocks. Wild versus hatchery salmon. Habitat damage by fishing gear. Marine reserves - how big and where? Ecosystem management.

14. The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 for the purpose of managing fisheries 3-200 miles offshore of the United States of America coastline. The Pacific Council is responsible for fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. www.pcouncil.org Pacific Fishery Management Council

15. Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (1976, amended 1996) Any fishery management plan which is prepared by any Council, or by the Secretary, with respect to any fishery, shall: 1.contain conservation and management measures 2.contain a description of the fishery 3.assess and specify the present and future condition of the fishery 4.specify the pertinent data needed for management and conservation 5.consider and provide for temporary adjustments regarding access to the fishery 6.describe and identify essential fish habitat 7.assess and specify the nature and extent of scientific data needed 8.include a fishery impact statement 9.specify objective and measurable criteria for identifying when the fishery is overfished 10.establish a standardized reporting methodology for bycatch and to minimize bycatch

16. Direct effects of fishing in marine ecosystems

17. Direct effects of fishing Reduced biomass Changes in age structure Increased per capita productivity Unreported catch

18. Reference points used in stock assessment (PFMC) B 0 is the estimated biomass of the stock before fishing (assumed to be at carrying capacity) “overfished” = biomass estimated to be at 25% of unfished stock (B 25% ) “Recovery Goal” is B 40% Target fishing mortality rate (F 50% ) is one that should result in a fished stock biomass of 50% of B 0 “Allowable Biological Catch” (ABC) = F 50% * exploitable biomass Optimum Yield (OY) <= ABC

19. Two kinds of overfishing Growth overfishing –Harvesting fish before they have a chance to reach their full growth potential Yield per recruit analysis – fishing levels to the right of the “hump” Reduces average mass of individuals in the catch Recruitment overfishing –Harvesting fish at a rate that reduces, rather than augments, the average reproductive potential of individuals This is what leads to population decline!

20. Decline of West Coast Rockfishes NOAA Fisheries 2038 2030 2074 2023 2090 2027 2058 yelloweye rebuilding target year 

22. Unreported catches for some species may be 90%!!!

24. Indirect effects of fishing in marine ecosystems

25. Indirect effects of fishing Food web impacts of directed harvest Bycatch and Discards Habitat impacts Pollution

26. Fishery Bycatch Catching More than You Bargained For Hal Weeks, OR Dept of Fish and Wildlife

27. What is Bycatch? Common sense definition - the unintended capture of unwanted organisms -wrong species -wrong size -wrong sex -tastes bad, can’t sell it, regulations, etc Legal definition - The term bycatch means fish which are harvested in a fishery, but which are not sold or kept for personal use, and includes economic discards and regulatory discards. Such term does not include fish released alive under a recreational catch and release fishery management program. MSFCMA Sec 3, Para 2.

28. Why Do We Care? M-SFCMA National Standard 9: Conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (A) minimize bycatch and (B) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch M-SFCMA Section 303 (required provisions of fishery management plans) (11) establish a standardized reporting methodology to assess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in the fishery, and include conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable and in the following priority - (A) minimize bycatch; and (B) minimize the mortality of bycatch which cannot be avoided

29. Potential problems from bycatch (Why do we care - REALLY?) conservation - levels of mortality on incidentally caught species allocation - deprive other groups of harvest opportunities philosophical - how we interact with natural resources

30. No Fishing Gear is Perfectly Selective Mixed Catches are Inevitable

31. Issues to Consider How do we define the problem? How do we measure the problem? Why bycatch and discard occur? What tradeoffs are acceptable? Is it context specific? Charistmatic dolphins vs. Insignificant invertebrates? Role of management actions in both creating and solving the problem?

32. Bycatch is a multi-faced problem No bycatch only when INDIVIDUAL prey items are taken Harpoon fisheries Dipnet fisheries

33. Fishing Nets as Filter Feeding People and fishing vessels are essentially predators and require substantial energy Nets are filtering mechanisms to capture many prey Target concentrations of desired prey Not terribly selective unless species schools can be targeted (e.g., mid-water trawls)

34. Why Does Bycatch and Discard Occur? Ecological associations - fishing gear is non-selective to some degree –Nets are filters –Baited hooks and traps attract a mix of species Regulations - sometimes you’re not allowed to keep what you catch

36. Pacific halibut bycatch in groundfish fisheries Halibut are large flatfish; ecologically they are part of the groundfish community Traditional hook and line fishery; managed by International Pacific Halibut Commission Harvest by nets and traps (pots) not permitted Bycatch is largely an allocation issue

37. Halibut Bycatch Issues Bycatch in NPFMC groundfish fisheries –LL for sablefish, cod –pot fisheries for cod, crab –Groundfish trawl fisheries Constraining bycatch mortality limits catch of target species

38. Measures to Reduce Halibut Bycatch Mortality NPFMC Halibut Bycatch Caps in Fixed and Mobile Gear Fisheries - Close Groundfish Fisheries before Target Catch Attained Trawl Fisheries - NPFMC Vessel Incentive Program (largely ineffective) More Effective Measures Include: increased awareness and communication –Publish bycatch numbers! fishery structuring (areas, seasons) more careful handling on deck

39. Fishery interactions with marine mammals, birds, and sea turtles Competition Predation (usually us on them) Benefits from discards Bycatch Indirect food web effects?

40. Bycatch of turtles, birds and mammals Trawls Gillnets Long lines Fixed gear Problem is generally not that encounters are high on an individual basis, but that there are so many boats, nets, and lines out there. Example: in southeast U.S., most shrimpers say they only caught 1-2 sea turtles per year, sometimes none at all. There were over 30,000 boats licensed.

41. Seabird Bycatch in AK Longline Fisheries Seabirds attracted to vessels and baits If baits are accessible, seabirds can become hooked Seabirds taken in AK long-line fisheries include Northern fulmars, albatrosses, gulls, and shearwaters

42. Efforts to reduce seabird bycatch Industry Outreach Regulatory Observer Data Set techniques – line droppers Blue bait Tori poles and streamer lines

43. Eastern Tropical Pacific Tuna Purse Seine Fishery Purse seining developed in 1950s Previous methods were pole and line, and long-line West Coast albacore are NOT caught with purse seines

44. Purse Seine Operations Tuna schools near the surface Circular net set around tuna school, then “pursed” closed

45. Dolphin often Indicate Tuna in the ETP

46. Why encircle dolphins? Indicators of larger, more valuable tuna Tuna and other fishes follow floating objects (logs, debris, dixie cups, etc) Larger tuna are able to follow and keep up with dolphins Why? Not known!

47. Dolphin Release Dolphins will not jump out of the net Small mesh panels reduce entanglement Backdown procedure pulls net out from under dolphins Small boats hold net open and herd dolphins to submerged portion

48. Dolphin mortality a philosophical and conservation problem Affection for marine mammals in the U.S. Steep declines in some dolphin stocks

49. Dolphin mortality reduction Regulations on U.S. - flag fleet Marine Mammal Protection Act

50. Dolphin mortality reduction Gear modifications - Medina panels Behavior changes - backdown and release procedures IATTC observer program Limit seining to daylight hours Political and market pressures Mortality limits Captain-captain education and persuasion

52. What About Other Species?

53. No Free Lunch!

54. Sea Turtles Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic shrimp fisheries Kemp’s ridley turtle critically endangered Mortality in shrimp trawls due to drowning

55. Turtle mortality reduced through use of excluder devices Significant opposition from fishermen due to reduced catch rates

56. How to estimate bycatch? Logbooks Observers Dead animals All require extrapolation...

57. Recent West Coast Actions to Reduce Bycatch of Overfished Rockfishes Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) in Shrimp Trawls -Small Footrope Rule in Groundfish Trawls -“Pineapple trawl” – headrope starts way back from footrope

58. Where do we go from here? Thinking “big picture” in fisheries management

60. Ecosystem-based management of marine resources NOT managing ecosystems Managing resource extraction with ecology in mind –Interactions among organisms –Responses to physical variance –Responses to direct and indirect effects of fishing Managing human activities in a holistic framework –Multiple uses, multiple stakeholders

61. Scientific Consensus Statement on Marine Ecosystem-Based Management, COMPASS 2005

62. Some issues with EBM: Ecosystem definition and boundaries Multiple use = multiple agencies, nations –Enforcement? Data quality Stochasticity Lack of assessment tools that integrate physical and biological information

63. Key elements of EBM: Protection and restoration of marine ecosystems, rather than single species Maintain native biodiversity and resiliency Consider cumulative impacts Facilitate connectivity Develop multiple indicators of ecosystem health Acknowledge uncertainty Coordinate policy Encourage participatory governance

65. Ocean Zoning Concept: designate areas for particular uses, including networks of reserves or protected areas Examples in Alaska, tropics Areas may be permanent or rotating (time-area closures) Example activities: –Trawling –Other fishing –Aquaculture –Tourism –Energy acquisition

66. Group 1Group 2 Stewart-Smith, Kathryn E.Rogers, Micah M. Dinger, James T.Moore, Christine M. Farris, Michael R.Taylor, Linda Louise F. Murphy, Gayle D.Alvord, Charlotte A. Cannoy, NoahPatton, B. Wren Group 3Group 4 Henderson, Jeremy S.Miller, Skylar E. Lycett, Kristen A.Silbernagel, Justin J. Eder, Esther H.Lamb, Robert W. Correa, JansenPreston, Daniel L. West, Darcie E.Baxter, Trista A.