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Check against delivery. FRCC Report on the Strategic Conservation Framework June 20 th, 2005 Good morning, we are joined here today by an audience connected by telephone, Welcome to all . My name is Jean Guy d’Entremont, I am the Chairman of the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. Some other members of the FRCC are here with me today, and I would like to introduce them: Gabe Gregory , Vice-Chair of the Council; An advisory was sent to the media throughout Atlantic Canada and Québec inviting them to join us by phone today. We are here today to release our advice to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, the Honourable, Geoff Regan, on the long-term conservation requirements for the snow crab resource in Atlantic Canada. This is the first report by the FRCC since a new direction was assigned to the Council. It was intended that the Council devote its effort to the long-term strategic conservation frameworks starting with snow crab. One year later, the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council ( FRCC) is pleased to present you with its report entitled “A Strategic Conservation Framework for Atlantic Snow Crab”. The report is a result of extensive discussions and consultations with harvesters, processors, DFO biologists and fisheries managers throughout Atlantic Canada and Québec. The Council chose Newfoundland as the location for its Press Conference as Newfoundland and Labrador has the largest fishery for snow crab and the conservation challenges facing the industry are more critical here than elsewhere. Having said that, the recommendations put forward in our report to the Minister are applicable to all the snow crab fisheries. Some of the conservation-oriented measures recommended have proven to be successful in some areas and should be implemented elsewhere. I would now like to discuss the report and provide you with some additional general comments. I will then ask my colleagues to elaborate on the 3 major sections of the report. As mentioned in my letter to the Minister, the review has presented the FRCC with a significant and interesting challenge. The Council’s mandate was clearly related to the long-term conservation of the snow crab fisheries on the east coast of Canada. The Council felt however, that we could not look at conservation in isolation of other factors influencing the resource and industry. We note in the report the four elements that will help attain a sustainable fishery. These relate to the environment, economics, and social. The other is the institutional element, in other words the management, science, and administrative bodies that ensure the proper functioning of the fishery. The Council is of the opinion that sustainability can only be reached if all of the above factors are considered in a long term strategy. The Council has tried to avoid being prescriptive in its suggested action items. It has also avoided, as indicated earlier, making direct recommendations to a single segment of the industry. The Council observed a large number of uncertainties that will likely influence the future of the resource. The genetic impact of harvesting only large male crab, the impact of other fishing sectors, and the environmental conditions are examples of the unknown factors that will likely have a significant impact on the sustainability of the resource. Despite the many variables that influence the stability of the harvest, industry presently claims that the most significant uncertainty faced by the snow crab resource is the potential for short-term politically-based decisions regarding the management of effort and the distribution of this effort to the resource. The opportunity brought about by the expansion of the resource on many fishing grounds throughout Atlantic Canada has also the potential for creating socio-economic dependencies similar to that which led to the demise of the groundfish resource. The comments we have to make today will only highlight some of the key initiatives that the FRCC believes need to be taken to ensure that the snow crab spawning stock and recruitment are adequately protected and conserved. I will now turn to Dr. Brad de Young who will provide you with a brief overview of section 3 of the report referred to as Knowledge to protect snow crab. Or as we called it during the elaboration of the report – the Science section. Presentation by Dr. Brad de Young Thank you Jean Guy Sustainable fisheries require knowledge. Our review of other snow crab fisheries and those in Atlantic Canada clearly revealed many gaps in our knowledge that limit our ability to enhance the sustainability of snow crab fisheries. We do not expect perfect knowledge, and expect that uncertainty will always be part of decision-making in fisheries science and management. Nonetheless we should minimize our uncertainty, hence our risk, and work to improve our knowledge and understanding. We must work to ensure that there is sufficient knowledge, or safeguards to protect snow crab. Throughout our consultations, we heard that there was too little science and not enough known about snow crab. The FRCC has made recommendations to acquire knowledge to protect snow crab with a focus on five topics:
I will speak first of the stock structure of snow crab. Little is known of the stock structure of snow crab. The present snow crab management areas do not correspond to self-sustaining biological units. Snow crab are more productive in some areas than others and recruitment in some areas is likely highly dependent on snow crab larvae being carried by ocean currents. Improving our knowledge of the stock structure will not require that we change the whole management structure. There are practical strengths to the present layout management areas structure. The council believes that incorporation of knowledge of the stock structure would help to manage all areas. We believe however, that the effects of fishing should be analyzed on the basis of the biological unit structure rather than the management areas. Of course, for this to work, there must be good two-way communication between science and management, a theme of the Council for many years. At present, there are no clear scientific guidelines for decision-making that are explicitly tied to snow crab conservation. Because it is not possible to age snow crab, population models are not used in the scientific assessment. Instead, most of the data used are familiar to fishermen – the numbers of crab of different sizes, the catch per unit effort, the numbers of crab discarded, the total catch and others. The use of these empirical data makes it easier for all groups, including fishermen, to take part in discussions and recommendations that lead to the setting of the quota for the coming year. The FRCC does have some concern, however, that the process, while open, does not have enough clear guidelines to ensure that the goal of sustainability is clearly defined. In the absence of clearly defined biological targets and limits, decision-making is not based upon agreed rules and can become susceptible to bias. It is then easy for bad news to be discounted, for example blaming poor catch rates on bad weather rather than low abundance, resulting in poor assessment and management decisions leading to over-harvesting and unsustainability. The FRCC recommends that biomass and exploitation rate targets be developed for snow crab to guide the decision-making process. These are important biological characteristics underlying the present management approach. Such targets and limits should be based upon biological units. There are many different ways in which to manage fisheries. Snow crab are managed through the setting of the Total Allowable Catch. Many different types of data are used in the determination of the appropriate Total Allowable Catch, some of the data is now collected with the assistance of harvesters. The quality of the available information, and the amount of information available to decision makers, is not uniform throughout Atlantic Canada. In the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador , for example, where it has been difficult to conduct effective scientific trawl surveys, it is not possible to estimate the total biomass of snow crab. It would be very helpful to track the percentage of biomass that is removed by fishing as this is one of the most important direct indicators of the effects of fishing upon the resource. The FRCC would like to see more efforts to improve the surveys to estimate the state of the snow crab resource. As well the Council would like to see more awareness, from science and management, of the harvest rate, and the percentage of the biomass that is removed by fishing. Even in places where trawl surveys are not possible other techniques such as tagging experiments can be used to estimate this harvest rate. The information used in the snow crab fisheries varies throughout the Atlantic region and Québec. It is not necessary that everyone use the same types of information. There are good reasons to take different approaches in the Gulf and in southern Labrador . It would be very helpful, however, if there were greater communication between scientists around the region who are working on snow crab. Good ideas should be shared and equally important, at the regional scale, these snow crab are all part of one very large population. While there may be no direct immediate link between snow crab in the southern Gulf and Labrador , paying attention to changes in one region may pay off in improved understanding elsewhere. The Council recommends the creating of a Snow Crab Science Council that would meet on a regular basis to improve the flow of information between administrative regions of Atlantic Canada and Quebec . The industry has the general feeling that there is not enough scientific study of snow crab. There remains some fundamental gaps in our understanding of snow crab biology. For example, very little is known about the distribution of snow crab, where the females, males and adolescents are relative to each other. Most of the current effort is directed towards the setting of next year’s TAC. As partnership develops, and joint stewardship inevitably expands, there will be a need for joint industry-science activity. The Council makes no specific recommendations about how to structure such activity but recommends that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and harvesters work jointly to develop an economically viable program for collecting and interpreting information on snow crab. Back to Mr. d’Entremont, Chair FRCC Thank you Brad! To summarize the key harvesting issues and opportunities, I will ask Gabe Gregory to provide a short summary. Presentation by Gabe Gregory, Vice-Chairman of FRCC, Thank you Jean Guy SOFT-SHELLED SNOW CRAB and FISHING SEASONS First I would like to discuss the whole issue of soft-shelled crab. Soft-shell condition is a biological stage of growth that results from the crab moulting, shedding its shell to grow to a larger size. Snow crab, unlike lobster, does not continue to moult throughout its life. The males stop moulting upon becoming mature and upon maturity they acquire large claws. These large clawed males are the targets of the fishery. Soft-shelled crabs on the other hand, are juveniles or adolescent crabs. They represent the future recruitment to the fishery and the future mature males that will mate with the females. Consequently, soft-shelled and new hard-shell snow crab must be protected to conserve and sustain the resource and the fishery. Harvesting soft-shelled crab is similar to catching 14-16 inch codfish. They are the future. Unfortunately, soft-shelled crabs have been and continue to be a significant component of the harvest in many areas of the Atlantic snow crab fishery. The harvest of soft-shelled crab results from poor fishing strategies that allow fishing seasons to overlap with the moulting periods of crab. The fishing seasons vary significantly with the starts occurring during the early spring. While other crab seasons begin as late as July. Fishing during the spring has strategic advantages because it avoids harvesting during the winter mating season and it is at a time when moulting (soft-shelled or white) snow crab is generally not present. The late starting fisheries overlap the summer months and increase the risk that catches of soft-shelled crab will be proportionately high. Throughout our public consultations participants expressed the view that one of the greatest threats to the sustainability of the snow crab resource was the need to address the high incidence of soft-shelled crab being harvested in the fishery. Harvesters indicated that up to 90% of the catch can be comprised of soft-shelled crab and the majority of participants concur with the observation of fisheries scientists that most of the soft-shelled crab captured in traps do not survive when returned to the water. Harvesting these soft-shelled crabs is a waste of the resource and represents a significant threat to the conservation of snow crab stocks. A general increase in soft-shell snow crab over an area, for a persistent period of time, should be taken as a clear warning sign. The Council is of the view that the practice of harvesting a high proportion of soft-shelled crab must stop immediately. The traditional harvesters in the Gulf of St Lawrence have noted that the significant resource decline in the late 1980s appeared to be the result of “excessive catches of soft – shelled crab.” This period of resource decline was followed by a re-building strategy on the part of industry and DFO that led to the establishment of a soft-shell protocol. The protocol requires that a continuous process of at-sea monitoring regulate snow crab fishing activity. The monitoring must cover the entire distribution of the resource over the fishing season to be effective. It is designed to monitor each area of the fishery based on a system of pre-determined grids of equal size. If 20% of the catch in any grid is comprised of soft-shelled crabs then that grid is closed for the remainder of the year. This soft-shell protocol was initially instituted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1990 and when combined with an efficient observer program coverage (there is at about 30% observer coverage in the Gulf while in other areas it is less than 1%), has been demonstrated to be an effective means to conserve and protect the snow crab resource. It is suggested that conservation strategies such as area grid closures should apply to all gear types that disturb the ocean bottom such as certain gillnetting activities and trawling that are of particular concern to the conservation of snow crab. In the past, very high incidence of soft-shelled crab in the harvest has resulted in complete mid–season closures and despite the seasonal closure the fishery was re-opened in the fall. In the Council’s view, these areas should remain closed to protect recruitment and allow the maturing crabs to contribute to reproduction over the winter period. It must be a priority that poor fishing strategies and practices change, as they will significantly increase the probability of resource declines. Poor fishing practices exacerbate the normal cyclical resource declines and will impede the productivity of snow crab stocks. The FRCC has concluded that the avoidance of soft-shelled crab is of paramount importance to sustainability and that fishing season should be set as early as possible and close as early as possible. The FRCC recommends that a 20% soft-shell protocol be established for all snow crab fisheries and that the at-sea observer program establish as its primary objective the monitoring of soft-shelled crab in the fishery. The FRCC also recommends that the Total Allowable Catch be reduced significantly in areas where the biomass of mature male crab is relatively low and the incidence of soft-shelled snow crab in the fishery is consistently above the 20% threshold. HANDLING MORTALITY Next I would like to talk about the issue of handling mortality. The fishery is targeted to capture and retain hard-shelled mature male crab. The traps used in the fishery however, also capture incidental catches of non - targeted snow crab such as undersized males, females and soft-shelled crabs. The average incidental catch varies depending on the area fished but ranges from below 10% to above 50%. These non-targeted snow crabs are discarded during the harvesting activity. Collectively, the discarding and handling practices in the industry are a concern to the conservation of the resource due to the high fishing mortality that results. The results of a recent study indicated that total handling mortality on hard-shelled males ranged from 10% to over 50% depending on the height of drop and the duration of air exposure. The percentage on soft-shelled crab would likely be much higher as this study focused on normal fishing activity. There appears to be a general lack of awareness and training as to the proper handling practices for conservation of the snow crab resource. Some harvesters have realized the impact of mishandling snow crab and have adapted their vessels and fishing techniques to effectively reduce the mortality incurred by discarding. These conservation oriented fishing and handling strategies need to be adopted by all participants in the fishery to promote sustainability. The FRCC has concluded that handling-induced mortality is a significant conservation issue that is adversely affecting recruitment in the fishery. The FRCC recommends that industry develop a standard code of practice to reduce the mortality caused by discarding. Such a code of practice should focus on effective and timely means to return crab to the water and should be adopted in conservation harvesting plans and be included as a condition of licence. The FRCC recommends an industry-training program be developed and made mandatory to demonstrate best handling practices to assist in developing awareness and improving education for harvesters. HARVESTING CAPACITY Next I would like to share our perspective on the issue of capacity. The snow crab fishery has been prosecuted in Atlantic Canada for approximately 40 years. For most of the first three decades, participation was limited largely to a so-called ‘full-time or traditional’ inshore crab fleet. Despite limiting the number of licensed enterprises and the number of traps deployed, the snow crab resource declined sharply during the mid to late 1980s due to a combination of poor fishing practices and cyclical changes in abundance. Following the collapse of most groundfish stocks the snow crab fishery expanded considerably. While new fishing grounds were explored fishing capacity outpaced the growth of the resource. In the Maritimes and Québec the number of fishing licences rose from about 500 in 1992 to more than 1000 in 2004. Meanwhile the number of snow crab fishing licences in Newfoundland and Labrador increased from about 70 in the early 1980s up to 750 by 1992 and then to over 3,400 in 2004. In an ideal world, overcapacity in the fishing fleet would not be a problem as the TACs would be set based on perfect information to establish a predetermined precautionary target exploitation rate; monitoring, control and surveillance would ensure that catches were exactly as determined; and fishing practices would be universally responsible. Unfortunately, as already stated we operate under conditions that are far from ideal. Therefore, to achieve long-tern sustainability the harvesting capacity must be balanced with the available resource. Views expressed at consultations indicated that the number of fishing licences and number of traps deployed in the fishery must continue to be limited in order to effectively control fishing effort. Harvesters indicated that DFO is overly influenced by political motivations rather than managing the fishery on a conservative and sustainable basis. Other representations noted that while capacity increased during the expanding years of the fishery, there are no defined rules or strategies to rationalize fishing capacity during periods of resource decline. Snow crab licensed enterprises rely on the species for the majority of their income and in some areas enterprises depend on snow crab for between 90 and 100% of their income. The expected resource declines in Newfoundland and in eastern Nova Scotia or decreases in market prices will jeopardize the economic component of sustainability for many participants in the snow crab fishery. Given the very high dependence on snow crab any material decline in the resource or market returns will cause severe economic hardship. Typically, when resource decline occurs, fleets in the affected area focus on: expanding fishing effort through increasing the trap hauls in the fishery; increasing the number of traps deployed; gaining access to other fully exploited stocks; and attempting to change the management regime to allow fishing effort to shift to more productive fishing grounds for the same species. The snow crab fishery in many areas is now characterized by increasing fishing effort, declining catches per unit of effort, high exploitation rates, and socio-economic and political pressures to maintain TACs unsustainably high. These factors combined with poor fishing practices and increasing numbers of traps used in many areas pose significant threats to the bio-ecological and economic components of sustainability. Therefore, the FRCC recommends that in areas where fishing capacity is sustainable that the number of participants in the snow crab fishery be capped at the current number of participants and that current trap limits be maintained. In other areas, The FRCC recommends that DFO work with various fleet sectors to develop effective mechanisms on a fleet-by-fleet, area-by-area basis to reduce fishing capacity. Such mechanisms should contain targets for capacity reduction as well as some form of free and open transferable fishing entitlement up to an agreed aggregate limit to achieve long-term viability. Priority should be given to known areas of resource decline and in areas where resource indicators signal a declining trend. In the Council’s view, the Newfoundland and Labrador based fleets and those of Eastern Nova Scotia particularly, should make this an immediate conservation priority. RESERVES AND PROTECTED AREAS As was already mentioned there is much uncertainty in fisheries science and fisheries management. Even with the best of intentions stock collapses can and do occur. There is growing recognition of the need to enhance the bio-ecological component of sustainability through the establishment of reserves and protected areas that will act as buffers to protect from the unintended consequences of decisions made with imperfect knowledge. Over the past few decades the fishery has expanded to cover what is now believed to be the full range of snow crab habitat in the Atlantic region. There are no longer any unexploited areas to act as buffers in the event of severe depletion due to fishing. Refugia would preserve some residual reproductive potential, and additional benefits could arise if a protected area is closed to all fishing that alters the habitat, e.g. bottom trawling. The general principle of ecosystem preservation to enhance sustainability has broad acceptance in terrestrial systems, where parks and reserves are quite common, but its application in the ocean is very limited. Refuges for crab have been tried elsewhere, for example blue crab in Chesapeake Bay , which provides half of the blue crab landings in the United States . Species such as snow crab and scallops make good candidates for reserves because they are relatively immobile and it is possible to directly regulate the impact on the adults and on their reproduction. The FRCC believes that refugia could provide a buffer to mitigate the limited knowledge of the factors that control snow crab production. It recommends that DFO work with all stakeholders toward the development of a network of reasonably sized and spaced reserves to protect the long-term sustainability of snow crab. Back to Mr. d’Entremont, Chair FRCC Thank you Gabe The final section will be presented by John Angel. This section is on modernizing the management. The tone of the report reflects more on what was heard in the Maritimes and Québec industry although comments received in NL also reflect the concepts brought forward that it is now time for a new management regime. Presentation,by John Angel Thank you Mr. Chairman. The FRCC ’s deliberations on the management section of the report were in many ways the most difficult. The subject matter does not lend itself to as strict an analytical approach as might be appropriate for science requirements or conservation measures. All stakeholders have a view on management and they expressed those views forcefully. This is due to the fact that the fishery in Atlantic Canada is more than a mere economic activity. It is fundamentally entwined with the economic, cultural and general well-being of coastal communities. It is as much or more about the management of people than it is of a resource. The challenge then becomes one of:
It’s a tall order. The Council has identified four critical issues that must be addressed to achieve a sustainable management regime: 1. Participants do not play a meaningful role in the management of their fishery. The industry does not feel that it has an adequate say in the management of the snow crab fishery. Mechanisms must be found to replace the top-down decision-making process that characterizes the fishery with one that grants participants meaningful and effective input into management decisions. Progress must be made on instilling an atmosphere of trust and in developing a cooperative approach. 2. The substance of decisions is frequently unsatisfactory. Harvesting rules are often inconsistent/counter-intuitive;
3. There is a lack of transparency in the decision-making process. The process is secretive. Annual recommendations and analysis of management options are developed within DFO and are presented to senior staff and the Minister in private. It is well known that extensive lobbying and private meetings with the Department and/or the Minister take place which creates mistrust and lack of confidence in the regime. While, it is clear that those who are the most critical of the process are often the strongest lobbyists, most participants seem to want more transparency in the process. Much was heard about “depoliticizing“ the decision-making process. 4. The management structure must be opened up to a wider variety of interests. An analysis of the issues regarding a more participatory approach has led the Council to the conclusion that it is time to change the way the Atlantic snow crab fishery is managed - away from a closed, top-down system and toward a more open, transparent, participative model. Fortunately, the climate for that change seems ripe. The DFO appears committed to the concept of shared-stewardship in its March, 2004 document “A Policy Framework for the Management of Fisheries on Canada’s Atlantic Coast” that speaks about the stakeholders participating in the management process. The current minister seems supportive as noted in a March 10, 2005 press release on creating stability in the fishery:
Harvesters seem to be equally ready for a shared-stewardship approach. Most are generally dissatisfied with the current top-down style and wish to change a system where they perceive that political considerations sometimes override conservation concerns.The FRCC ’s interest in shared-stewardship is rooted in its belief that if stakeholders are permitted a genuine and purposeful role in the management of the fishery, they will accept more responsibility and accountability for its long-term sustainability. The Council has developed four recommendations to address these issues: 1. Create a proper legislative foundation for the management of the fishery The FisheriesAct is a product of a former time. It is simply no longer capable of responding to modern and innovative fisheries management approaches. It needs a total overhaul - notably in the areas of open-transparent, third-party decision-making for access and allocation, provisions for shared decision-making/industry collaboration and a well-grounded administrative sanctions process. 2. Create an open, transparent decision-making process for access and allocation issues In preparation for the legislative change noted above, the Council recommends the establishment of a permanent, rules-based structure to adjudicate access and allocation decisions in the form of an independent board or panel structure. Such a board would operate at arm-length from both DFO and the industry. Board or panel members should be professionals appointed for their adjudicative skills and merit and not for their political affiliation. The board would conduct public hearings, receive submissions and make public recommendations to the Minister. 3. Move quickly to shared-stewardship. It is time to accelerate the process of shared-stewardship through the development of a framework for co-management that will foster participation by the stakeholders. Such a framework should provide the clear rules and requirements for participation including representation and guidelines and processes for an open-transparent approach. 4. Make the advisory process more inclusive. During consultations, harvesters expressed the view that they do not wish to include other parties in the management process. Despite this viewpoint, the Council is of the view that transparency cannot be achieved unless all interested parties are included in the process. The very nature of the ocean environment and its resources being excluded from open public participation is not realistic in the context of shared-stewardship. The Council is recommending that the process be open to wider participation at a level appropriate for constructive input. The Council believes that implementation of the above recommendations will create a system that is fair, transparent and subject to clear and consistent rules and procedures. It is time to revamp the system to allow the industry the necessary scope to participate in a meaningful way in the effective management of the fishery and it is time to put political motivated decision-making in the past. The only requirements are the commitment to the concept and the will to get it done by all the parties. Back to Mr. d’Entremont, Chair FRCC Thank you John. The FRCC believes that a sustainable use of the snow crab resource can be achieved by the transfer of knowledge and best practices between and amongst different regions of the Atlantic fishery. There is a wealth of knowledge and good practices already in place to ensure the long-term sustainability of the resource. Threats to the sustainability of the resource are due, in large part to the lack of knowledge of snow crab biology, the apparent cyclical nature of the resource that may require adjustments in management, but of most concern is the lack of appreciation of the impact of poor fishing practices in a number of areas. Harvesters, mainly from the Gulf of St. Lawrence that have experienced the effect of poor fishing practices in the late 1980’s have an appreciation for the measures that have been put in place to minimize their occurrence , however, many harvesters have yet to understand and appreciate the effects poor fishing practices can have on sustainability. If proper harvesting and conservation measure are not soon adopted in Newfoundland and Eastern Nova Scotia , the Council is concerned that they will experience first hand what happened in the Gulf snow crab fisheries in the 1980s, with the difference however, that over 3,000 families will be affected compared to a few hundred in the Gulf. -30- For information: Arthur Willett |
