Seeking remedy for management maladies

I have also pointed to the axiomatic adoption by management systems and the models they use of the fallacious contention that fishing is the prevailing, if not the only, factor responsible for changes in fish populations, and that by regulating fishing effort or catches they can maintain "sustainable fisheries".

Recently I received a book, which represents a diagnostic attempt at the sources of the poor record of the governmental management of marine fishery resources, its basic assumption being that fisheries management is an economic problem, admittedly subject to environmental constraints. The book,Fisheries Management: Pandemic Failure, Workable Solutions, was written by Dr G Pontecorvo and. Dr W E Schrank, with contributions by M Holliday (NOAA/NMFS) and D B Olson (University of Miami), (Emerald Publ., 2009).

According to the writers' approach, the combination of competitiveness of the fishery industry, fish stocks variability, inadequate science, poor understanding of oceanic environment, and the increasing demand, make overfishing highly likely worldwide. While fishery science has learned much about the biology of individual species, it remains a far cry from understanding the inter-species relationships, not to speak about the "dramatic annual variations in the size of fish stocks", the workings of the marine ecosystems, and how those in combination with fishing affect commercial fish stocks.

Giulio Pontecorvo, now Professor Emeritus, is an economist who used to head the Columbia University Graduate School of Economics. William E Schrank, also Professor Emeritus, is an industrial/mechanic engineer turned economist, who did fisheries research at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's. Mark Holliday, a biologist and resources economist by studies, holds a policy administration position at NMFS. Donald B Olson taught meteorology and physical oceanography at the Rosenstiel School of the University of Miami.

Although the book has been written with a strong economics accent, stressing the influence of expanding forces of market and technology, the authors have recognised the variability of the ocean's environment, habitat deterioration, and the consequent variability of fish stocks. They pointed out the weakness of the biological understanding of fish population dynamics and ruled out any long-term status quo. Hence, their criticism of laws requiring a return to the status quo ante thatcan oblige people but not fish, and their emphasis of interdisciplinary approach to management.

Involving economics in fisheries management has led to fish resources privatisation trends that, however, have been restrained by the worry of a creation of monopolies. Nonetheless, the introduction of quota systems, such as ITQs and hence some degree of privatisation proved inadequate to prevent major declines of some groundfish and large pelagics.

The book concludes that the level of uncertainty in the scientific understanding of the fisheries management problem and the inadequacy of any predictive theory of fish populations dynamics preclude solving of the problem of maintaining certain status quo in fisheries by the existing legislation, and such means as ecosystem management, marine protected areas or ITQs. "There's no adequate marine biology theory on which to base fishery management decisions, (and) the absence of scientific credibility leaves decisions subject to industry opposition which, in time, reduces the ability of the fishery services and society to reach the implicit goal". This implicit objective of maintaining a status quo is impossible to achieve, for the "inherent variability in the ocean environment combined with the variability of fish populations".

Doubtless, the book is stronger on analysing the problematique of fisheries management and diagnosing its maladies than on proposing effective therapy. There are few "workable solutions" in this otherwise very important and interesting book, and perhaps including this phrase in its title was a bit pretentious. The one recommendation, workable or not, which I found in the book's conclusion was to stop feeding farmed fish with fishmeal and oil derived from small pelagics, which should be used for direct human consumption, and to devise ways for converting non-palatable fish products into desirable ones.

Dr Brian J Rothschild, Dean Emeritus of the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology, and one of the most respected American fisheries scientists, proposed in a recent paper, The Overfishing Metaphor, published in the January-February 2011 Newsletter of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, an alternative to the current use of models as a scientific basis for fisheries management. Criticising sticking to the 50-year old models and to over 100 year old perceptions, he suggests assessing fish stock abundance by frequently measuring rate of capture. “If stocks get too small, we can slow fishing down. If stocks get too big, we can speed it up,” he says. This places the focus on obtaining optimum yield rather than depending on poorly defined criteria such as “overfished” and “overfishing.” For this purpose, says Dr Rothschild, “we can put impartial monitors on fishing boats to get more direct and regular data that will reflect more of the actuality in the sea and would shift the focus from maximum yield to optimal yield.”

Eight years ago I wrote in a SAMUDRA article: "…mismanagement is a parentless baby. Scientists blame political managers; managers blame the industry, the industry blames both and the environment. But fisheries management is a system comprising all the above and more. It is like an engine in which all the parts must work in a synchrony, while being fed with the right fuel, and lubricated with the right oil. It must have adequate scientific information and analysis, which must include understanding of the role of environmental factors. It needs managers that would use the above to form workable rules, acceptable to industry, and otherwise enforceable. Enough if one of those goes wrong, the whole management machinery misfires".

I'm afraid that little has changed since in the "official" fishery science and management, although more and more scientists are aware of the needfor a serious revision.