Wednesday, 08 December 2010

SSMO AND NAFC MARINE CENTRE WORK TOGETHER TO CONSULT STAKEHOLDERS ON THE BEST OPTIONS FOR SUSTAINING SHETLAND’S VALUABLE INSHORE SHELLFISH RESOURCES

With a full Marine Stewardship Council assessment for the four most important of Shetland’s inshore shellfish species taking place immediately after Christmas, the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation (SSMO) is continuing to look at innovative ways in which to manage these resources.  The Board is currently considering options for stock management through limiting gear, landings or through the use of technical conservation measures, and will be consulting all of its members early in the New Year. 

Jennifer Mouat Fisheries Manager with the SSMO said, “The SSMO continues to review appropriate management measures to ensure the long term environmental and economic sustainability of the fishery.  Management controls, such as the restriction of fishing effort, are being discussed at a national level and will inevitably translate into policy at some stage in the near future.  By looking at this at a local level now, Shetland will continue to be a recognised innovator in inshore shellfisheries management throughout Europe allowing local fishermen to take the initiative and control their fishery in the most appropriate way.  Introduction of effort or other limitations will be achieved most successfully if stakeholders have access to information about all available management options and an opportunity to have their say.”

To this end, prior to undertaking the consultation the SSMO has been working with the Head of Marine Science and Technology at the NAFC Marine Centre, Dr. Martin Robinson, who also happens to be recognised as a European expert in inshore shellfisheries research from his early career in Ireland. 

When asked about the upcoming review by the SSMO, Martin commented: “A transparent and locally organised process will not only empower inshore fishermen to help define the future of the Shetland shellfisheries rather than have it dictated from elsewhere, but also help dissolve associated myths and reduce the ‘knee-jerk’ reactions that can sometime occur when management is discussed. For example, rushing out to buy pots at the mention of pot limitation as some English fishermen are doing now is a flawed idea both in terms of what a fisherman will get back in return for his economic investment in each pot, but also because there are many examples globally where equitable division of effort amongst fishermen is not based on how many pots they happen to have at the time legislation is introduced.

“Vessel fishing capacity, landings track record and/or number of crew are all used in other fisheries globally to define individual’s access rights to and/or the share of the available resource.  Pots exert an area of catching influence, and as you crowd an area with more and more, these will overlap and interfere or interact with each other to reduce the effective fishing capacity of the pot.  Buying lots of extra gear also tends to increase soak time (how often the fisherman can work them), but the most effective fishing occurs between 24 to 72 hours in fisheries of this type, and relative fishing power rapidly reduces after that.   More gear and longer soak will equal less return for a pot over its lifetime reducing a fisherman’s economic sustainability; obviously gear proliferation also places additional pressure on biological sustainability.  Buying and deploying pots in an effort to restrict access to others has been something that has occurred in Ireland in recent years with no effort restrictions in place, but other than being an uneconomic practice it can also cause tensions in areas where a community approach to fishing, where everyone had a fair chance, has been the historical norm.”

Dr. Robinson added: “Effort limitation, which along with the number of vessels accessing the stocks can be defined as an ‘input control’, is not the only method of rationalising harvest strategies however.  Placing limits on the amount of products taken from the sea ‘output control’ or enforcing more stringent criteria about the type of product that can be landed (e.g. bigger sizes only, only one sex), deemed ‘technical conservation measures’, can also be used as an alternative or in combination with other controls. There are lots of lessons that can be learned from other fisheries and I am glad that the NAFC Marine Centre is helping the SSMO members profit from these during this process.  I hope that the system that the SSMO develops will be one that will address the biological sustainability of the stock itself but also the economic and social sustainable of fishermen.”

Further information:

For further information, please contact: Jennifer Mouat, SSMO, tel 01595 696284 or email jennifer@ssmo.shetland.co.uk

Or Dr Martin Robinson, NAFC Marine Centre, tel 01595 772000, email martin.robinson@nafc.uhi.ac.uk

Or Louise Rosie, Shaw Marketing and Design, tel 01595 692465, email louise.rosie@shaw-online.com