1. Ending Overfishing: the Setting of Total Allowable Catches for 2015
Melanie Gomes
BirdWatch Ireland
BirdWatch Ireland, the Irish Wildlife Trust and CoastWatch.

2. Ending Overfishing: the Setting of Total Allowable Catches for 2015
The situation now
What are the consequences of ignoring the scientific advice ecologically and economically?
The tools we have to implement change
Recommendations to the committee
Setting correct fishing opportunities is fundamental to achieving the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), namely to end overfishing and to restore and maintain fish stocks above levels capable of producing the Maximum Sustainable Yield, MSY. (will mention this later).
The “maximum sustainable yield” or MSY is the largest amount of fish you can take out of the water, while still leaving enough to ensure sustainability (i.e. to ensure there are enough fish in the water to produce new generations).

3. The Situation Now

4. Biomass of table fish in 1900
Biomass of table fish in The data represent the total catch in 1900 in tons per square kilometer. For more information, see the “Sea Around Us Project,” a project devoted to studying the impact of the fisheries on marine ecosystems:
Image, courtesy of Villy Christensen, from Christensen, Villy, Guénette, Sylvie, Heymans, Johanna J, Walters, Carl J, Watson, Reginald, Zeller, Dirk & Pauly, Daniel (2003). Hundred-year decline of North Atlantic predatory fishes. Fish and Fisheries 4 (1), 1-24.
Biomass - A quantitative estimate of the total weight of living organisms in a particular habitat, it can be measured in terms of volume, mass, or caloric energy.
Biomass of table fish in 1900
Christensen et al. 2003, Fish & Fisheries Slide from Professor Jeremy Jackson Scripps UCSB

5. and in 2000… Biomass in 2000. Roughly 8 to 10 times less fish.
Image, courtesy of Villy Christensen, from Christensen, Villy, Guénette, Sylvie, Heymans, Johanna J, Walters, Carl J, Watson, Reginald, Zeller, Dirk & Pauly, Daniel (2003). Hundred-year decline of North Atlantic predatory fishes. Fish and Fisheries 4 (1), 1-24.
and in 2000…
Christensen et al. 2003, Fish & Fisheries Slide from Professor Jeremy Jackson Scripps UCSB

6. Current state of European stocks
Increase in overfished stocks from 39% to 41% in the NE Atlantic since last year.
Rate of overfishing has also increased.
In 2014 TACs were set at 35% above scientific advice (over 3 times that from % above the advice).
Overfishing has led to reduced profitability of the sector with a rate of employment loss of 4 to 5% per annum.
The European commission published its communication on Fishing Opportunities for 2015 earlier this year.
It guides the setting of TACs.
Increase in overfished stocks from 39% to 41% in the NE Atlantic since last year.
Rate of overfishing has also increased.
In 2014 TACs were set at 35% above scientific advice (over 3 times that from % above the advice).
Overfishing has led to reduced profitability of the sector with a rate of employment loss of 4 to 5% per annum (
Refs: Communication From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council Concerning A Consultation On Fishing Opportunities For 2015 Under The Common Fisheries Policy COM(2014) 388 final.
Note: In Ireland, subsidies under the EMFF are also increasing by almost €2 million between 2014 and Subsidies do not provide the solution but rather contribute to the problem if they are not spent wisely.
EU Commission Implementing Decision of 11th June 2014 (2014/372/EU) notified under document C(2014) 3781

7. Percentage of Fixed Quota Allocation per vessel of 117 vessels in N
Percentage of Fixed Quota Allocation per vessel of 117 vessels in N. Ireland
Not only is the setting of correct TACs and quotas fundamental to the achievement of the objectives of the CFP, namely to end overfishing and to restore and maintain fish stocks above levels capable of producing the Maximum Sustainable Yield, MSY, but there is a requirement under the CFP to favour more sustainable fishing vessels.
To quote from the CFP directly:
Recital 19 “Member States should endeavour to give preferential access for small-scale, artisanal or coastal fishermen”; Recital (4) “Furthermore, the CFP should contribute to increased productivity, to a fair standard of living for the fisheries sector including small-scale fisheries” and Recital 33 “Member States should promote responsible fishing by providing incentives to those operators who fish in the least environmentally damaging way and who provide the greatest benefits for society”.
Similarly to quote from Article 17 “Within the fishing opportunities allocated to them, Member States shall endeavour to provide incentives to fishing vessels deploying selective fishing gear or using fishing techniques with reduced environmental impact, such as reduced energy consumption or habitat damage1”.
The southern data I did look for it, but it was not publically available.

8. What are the consequences of ignoring the scientific advice ecologically and economically?

9. Ecosystem services from biodiversity
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the wealth of life on the planet and in this context we are talking about everything from small planktonic organisms to large fish and whales.
Why is biodiversity so important?
This relates to the healthy functioning of the marine ecosystem and in particular marine food webs – if there is an imbalance caused by loss of biodiversity and the ecosystem services this provides then this has knock on implications for both commercial and non-commercial species alike.
1. Atmospheric gas assimilation and climate regulation – The oceans absorb 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per day (around half of this is from fossil fuels) and largely through the assimilation ability of the plankton.
Absorption of CO2 is causing ocean acidification – and this is impairing the building blocks of major groups of animals in the sea. This has huge implications for marine phyla (the major groups of animals in the oceans) as most of the species calcify or build shells or skeletons out of calcium carbonate in some form (Molluscs eg mussels that are expected to calcify or make their shells 25% slower by 2100 and what does this mean for Irelands most important commercial fishery Nephrops (Dublin Bay prawn, scampi) (Crustaceans crabs, lobsters etc). Will it decrease species resilience to other factors such as disease?
2. Resilience. You saw the map of the increasing impacts and pressures. What provide this resilience? It is biodiversity the natural diversity of life is the resilience i.e. the ability to bounce back after natural or anthropogenic (human induced) pressures. This is the foundation that needs to be put first.
Diseases increase with impaired low diversity ecosystems and are predicted to increase in the marine environment - this directly relates to human health.
Directly relates to invasive species - degraded habitats are more easily invaded and recovery becomes more difficult once infested.
Jelly fish Pelagia noctiluca mauve stinger – Mediterranean spp in our seas. Jelly fish are part of the natural cycle although they are also part of the predictions as well as are toxic algal blooms and the Rise of Slime. Biodiversity is needed to restore the seas to their former states of glory.
Long Term Sustainable Economic prosperity of fisheries for example can only develop from a secure resilient ecological foundation.
We need to wake up to this and this needs to be realized and put into practice in policy.
3. Waste assimilation capacity and nutrient recycling -essential for ecosystem functioning. The deep sea has an amazing ability to recycle and redistribute nutrients. It has also amazing diversity that is being discovered all the time.
5. Food provision and productivity - fisheries
6. Biodiversity for social & cultural values: Coastal breathing places, water sports and tourism.
Worm et al. (2006). analysed local experiments, long-term regional experiments, and global fisheries data to test how biodiversity loss affects marine ecosystem services across temporal and spatial scales.
‘marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairing the ocean’s capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations’. The declines are EXPONENTIAL not a straight line but also are the benefits.
In addition the paper states that available data at this point suggest that trends are still reversible, if addressed by urgent and effective action.
Atmospheric gas assimilation & climate regulation
Resilience
Waste assimilation capacity & nutrient recycling
Food provision and productivity
Biodiversity for social & cultural values (e.g. marine tourism)
“Marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairing the ocean’s capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations”. Worm et al. (2006) 9

10. Overfishing
“Ecological extinction caused by overfishing precedes all other pervasive human disturbance to coastal ecosystems, including pollution, degradation of water quality, and anthropogenic climate change” (Jackson et al. 2001)
“Today, the synergistic effects of human impacts are laying the groundwork for a comparably great Anthropocene mass extinction in the oceans with unknown ecological and evolutionary consequences” (Jackson, 2008)
Jackson, J. B. C., Kirby, M. X., Berger, W. H., Bjorndal, K. A., Botsford, L. W., Bourque, B. J., Bradbury, R. H., Cooke, R., Erlandson, J., Estes, J. A., Hughes, T. P., Kidwell, S., Lange, C. B., Lenihan, H. S., Pandolfi, J. M., Peterson, C. H., Steneck, R. S., Tegner, M. J., Warner, R. R. (2001). Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems. Science, 293, 629 – 638.
Jackson, J. B. C. (2008). Ecological extinction and evolution in the Brave New Ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 105 (1), –

11. Dr Daniel Pauly UBC Fisheries Centre
Photo:
Irish Sea eg main fishery is Nephrops or the Dublin Bay prawn – an invertebrate on the lower trophic levels of the food web. You don’t get good fisheries below invertebrates!
Dr Daniel Pauly UBC Fisheries Centre

12. Economic loss
The New Economics Foundation published a report in 2013 which showed that:
Restoring 43 overfished European stocks to a biomass that supports their Maximum Sustainable Yeild (MSY) would deliver:
3.5 million tonnes more fish landed each year
An additional £2.7 billion (€3.5 billion) in revenues each year
100,000 new jobs (31% more in the EU fishing sector)
Sunken Billions report (2008) stated that economic losses in marine fisheries resulting from poor management, inefficiencies, and overfishing add up to a staggering US$50 billion (€40 billion) per year
The New Economics Foundation published a report in 2013 which showed that:
Restoring 43 overfished European stocks to a biomass that supports their Maximum Sustainable Yeild (MSY) would deliver:
3.5 million tonnes more fish landed each year
An additional £2.7 billion (€3.5 billion) revenues generated each year
100,000 new jobs created (31% in the EU fishing sector)
Sunken Billions report (2008) Economic losses in marine fisheries resulting from poor management, inefficiencies, and overfishing add up to a staggering US$50 billion ((€40 billion) per year But this report also argues that well-managed marine fisheries could turn most of these losses into sustainable economic benefits for millions of fishers and coastal communities. Its not too late.
Ref:
The “maximum sustainable yield” or MSY is the largest amount of fish you can take out of the water, while still leaving enough to ensure sustainability (i.e. to ensure there are enough fish in the water to produce new generations).
MSY refers to a maximum, it is by definition a limit and not a target.

13. The tools we have to implement change

14. Legislation
Common Fisheries Policy – reformed and into force on the 1st January 2014
According to Article 2(2) of the CFP, fishing opportunities must be set with the objective of progressively restoring and maintaining populations of fish stocks above biomass levels capable of producing MSY.
This needs to be achieved by 2015 where possible and progressively and incrementally for all stocks no later than 2020.
TAC decisions are set at the December Council – onus on the Minister to achieve the 2015 deadline.
Common Fisheries Policy – reformed and into force on the 1st January 2014
According to Article 2(2) of the CFP, fishing opportunities must be set with the objective of progressively restoring and maintaining populations of fish stocks above biomass levels capable of producing MSY.
This needs to be achieved by 2015 where possible and progressively and incrementally for all stocks no later than 2020.
To restore stocks to levels above BMSY, fishing pressure needs to be reduced below FMSY (fishing mortality).
Once above BMSY levels, stocks should be fished at rates slightly below FMSY, to account for scientific uncertainty and fluctuations in stock sizes. Fishing below FMSY would also bring economic benefits, due to the reduced costs of fishing on abundant stocks.
The TACs decided in December Council will be set under that framework for the first time. Simon Coveney will be representing Ireland to agree all the TACs, and he will need to follow the legal requirement to set TACs in line with MSY objective, subject to these deadlines. Onus is on Ministers to achieve the 2015 deadline with their decisions in December, or explain why/how they'll do it incrementally/progressively by some date up to 2020 instead.

15. Additional legislation
Additional marine protection requirements under EU environmental legislation:
The Habitats Directive
The Birds Directive
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive
Changes to management of fisheries activities may be necessary for Member States to meet these requirements
Article 11 of the reformed CFP outlines the processes for adopting conservation measures to meet these environmental requirements.
Additional marine protection requirements under EU environmental legislation:
The Habitats Directive
The Birds Directive
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive
Changes to management of fisheries activities may be necessary for Member States to meet these requirements
Article 11 of the reformed CFP outlines the processes for adopting conservation measures to meet these environmental requirements.

16. Marine reserves (NTZs) & their benefits
Increases of up to 100% of commercial scallops from the Isle of Man mobile gear closure of 2 km2 in 1989 as well as a greater abundance in upright seabed fauna that has been linked to increases in the collection of scallop spat (juvenile scallops).
Marine reserves can have a very positive effect on local tourism, for example, the 5.5 km2 Leigh Marine Reserve, in New Zealand, attracts over 100,000 visitors per year. This brings approximately NZ $20 million to the local economy each year.
Marine reserves or No Take Zones (NTZs) are fully closed areas to fishing and other activities. They form an essential component to any Marine Protected Area network to help secure a healthy ecological foundation.

17. Source: Fogarty et al. (2007) Slide from Prof Steve Gaines
Following the closure of George’s Bank fishing area off the American East coast, scallop numbers increased approximately 10-fold and haddock catches were between 2 to 15 times greater at the reserve boundary than elsewhere and you can see that here
73% of the entire United States Haddock catch is now taken within 5km of the closed area boundaries
Sustainable fisheries require political will to replace incentives for overfishing with incentives for responsible stewardship," said Kieran Kelleher, the World Bank's fisheries team leader.
Distribution of fishing effort around Georges Bank closed areas
Source: Fogarty et al. (2007) Slide from Prof Steve Gaines

18. Lundy Island No Take Zone (NTZ)
Set up in 2003, the UKs first marine reserve or NTZ
Lundy NTZ allows stocks of commercial species to regenerate quickly.
There has been a significant increase in the abundance of lobster and crab inside the NTZ: over seven times as many.
More breeding lobsters are also found inside the protected area than outside.
Other studies report that lobsters and their larvae ‘spillover’ into surrounding waters, where it is permitted to catch them, which is beneficial to local fisheries.
Refs: Wootton et al. 2012; Hoskin et al
A 7-fold increase, since 2003, in the abundance of large lobsters within the Lundy Island No Take Zone (marine reserve) off the North Devon Coast, with evidence of ‘spill over’ of juvenile lobsters from within the reserve to surrounding areas.
This proposal had the backing on the local fishermen and local community which made it so effective.
Marine reserves or NTZs are not the only solutions of course, but they are so effective at recovering damaged seabed habitats and protecting and restoring biodiversity they should be being maximized – we need the political will to do this.

19. Recommendations to Committee
Total Allowable Catches (TACs) must not exceed the scientific advice.
- ICES advises a level of catch consistent with MSY - if the catches set by Fisheries Ministers exceed this, stocks will not recover and grow, ultimately hitting the fishing industry's bottom line.
TACs in line with scientific advice on MSY have to be set for all stocks by 2015, where possible, and by 2020 in any event.
- Delays in achievement of this beyond this year's TAC decisions in December Council are only possible if the social and economic sustainability of the fleet is seriously jeopardised.
If the 2015 deadline is not achieved, evidence of this “serious jeopardy” must be provided, and TACs that do not exceed MSY advice must be implemented progressively and incrementally before 2020.
Total Allowable Catches (TACs) must not exceed the scientific advice.
ICES advises a level of catch consistent with MSY - if the catches set by Fisheries Ministers exceed this, stocks will not recover and grow, ultimately hitting the fishing industry's bottom line.
TACs in line with scientific advice on MSY have to be set for all stocks by 2015, where possible, and by 2020 in any event.
Delays in achievement of this beyond this year's TAC decisions in December Council are only possible if the social and economic sustainability of the fleet is seriously jeopardised.
If the 2015 deadline is not achieved, evidence of this “serious jeopardy” must be provided, and TACs that do not exceed MSY advice must be implemented progressively and incrementally before 2020.
Since 2004, scientific advice for cod in the North Irish Sea has been to stop fishing yet repeatedly fisheries Ministers have legislated fishing for this iconic species.

20. Recommendations to Committee contd.
4. Any increase in TAC for stocks subject to the discards ban (the landing obligation), must be subject to supporting evidence from ICES and limited in scope to ensure the total out-take will not jeopardise the CFP's MSY objectives. 
5 We need to allow for both natural and anthropogenic (human induced) threats, unknown ecosystem interactions and mismanagement.
- This is known as the Precautionary Approach – TACs should be even more precautionary when there is more uncertainty.
6. Ireland’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) network needs to be implemented as a matter of urgency.
Any increase in TAC for stocks subject to the discards ban (the landing obligation), must be subject to supporting evidence from ICES and limited in scope to ensure the total out-take will not jeopardise the CFP's MSY objectives. 
We need to allow for both natural and anthropogenic (human induced) threats, unknown ecosystem interactions and mismanagement.
This is known as the Precautionary Approach – TACs should be even more precautionary when there is more uncertainty.
Ireland’s ecologically coherent Marine Protected Area (MPA) network needs to be implemented as a matter of urgency, following best practice guidelines e.g. IUCN and examples that have worked elsewhere environmentally, socially and economically e.g. GBR Australia. There should be a subset of community backed marine reserves (no take zones) as a part of this.
Lastly when policy is being made – the input of the environmental people need listened to otherwise the policies will not be ecologically sustainable and therefore will not support long term social or economic stability.
No point in me or people like me, coming in here today unless some of this is taken on board.
Note: Omnibus regulation or landings obligation – there are currently discussions surrounding the merits of including technical measures in the regional discard plans. This seems to make sense although it is of utmost importance that there is no delay with the implementation. In mixed fisheries, fishing rates should be set according to the most vulnerable stock, which is best practice in fisheries management, and will also minimise discards.

21. Thank you
Melanie Gomes
BirdWatch Ireland