Hinweis zum Urheberrecht
Bericht / Forschungsbericht / Abhandlung zugänglich unter
URL: https://epub.sub.uni-hamburg.de/epub/volltexte/2009/1443/
REVIEW OF MIXED STOCK FISHERIES FOR ATLANTIC SALMON IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY WATERS, EXCLUDING THE BALTIC SEA
Potter, Ted ;
Ó Maoiléidigh, Niall
| Originalveröffentlichung: |
| (2006) http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/publications/factsheets/legal_texts/mixed_stock_salmon_fisheries_en.pdf |
| pdf-Format:
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| BK - Klassifikation: |
| 48.67 |
| Sondersammelgebiete: |
| 21.3 Küsten- und Hochseefischerei |
| DDC-Sachgruppe: |
| Biowissenschaften, Biologie |
| Dokumentart: |
| Bericht / Forschungsbericht / Abhandlung |
| Sprache: |
| Englisch |
| Erstellungsjahr: |
| 2006 |
| Publikationsdatum: |
| 07.05.2009 |
| Kurzfassung auf Deutsch: |
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background on salmon stocks and fisheries
1. The migratory behaviour of the anadromous Atlantic salmon presents many
opportunities for their exploitation, and a wide range of fisheries have developed,
operating in rivers, estuaries, coastal waters and the open ocean.
2. In many areas, there is a public right to fish for salmon, although exercise of this
right is generally restricted by licence and further regulated by byelaws. In other
areas fisheries are privately owned, although they are still generally subject to
statutory regulations.
3. A salmon ‘stock’ is a unit of a size which provides a practical basis for fishery
managers, while still helping to ensure the conservation of the contributing
populations; a range of ‘stock’ units have been used in the management of
salmon, but the primary management unit is generally taken to be the ‘river stock’.
4. Some EU Member States permit the operation of fisheries in coastal waters which
harvest salmon stocks originating from rivers in other Member States. The
Commission has come under criticism for continuing to allow the operation of
these fisheries.
Management principles for mixed stock salmon fisheries
5. There is no agreed definition of mixed stock fisheries (MSFs) for salmon. Any
definition should be related to the primary fishery management objective, which is
to maintain river stocks within precautionary limits. MSFs might therefore be
defined as any fisheries for salmon operating outside estuary limits.
6. MSFs make salmon fishery management more complicated because it is difficult
to identify or control how many fish are being taken from each river stock. They
may also result in the harvesting of fish from stocks outside the sphere of
jurisdiction of the management agency.
7. Unless management measures in an MSF allow for a high probability of meeting
conservation limits in smaller stock units (e.g. rivers), or at least the possibility of
effective rebuilding of weaker stocks or populations, the fishery may have
undesirable and irreversible impacts.
8. There should be a general presumption against operating MSFs unless they can
be shown not to contravene basic conservation policies. Exceptions might be
permitted if there is an essential socio-economic requirement that has been
clearly identified, although it is imperative that the risk of stocks falling outside or
remaining outside safe biological limits are evaluated and balanced against the
socio-economic objective.
9. It is possible that where only a small number of stocks are known to be exploited
by a MSF, for example within an isolated geographic area, it may be possible to
manage the fishery on the basis of protecting the weakest stock(s).
2
Mixed stock salmon fisheries in the Community waters
10. The average annual declared catch of salmon in homewater MSFs throughout the
North Atlantic between 2000 and 2004 was 1320 t. EU Member States
accounted for about 50% of this catch while the remainder was mainly taken in
Norway and Russia. The majority of the legal salmon catch in Community coastal
waters was taken in Ireland (450 t) and in the three UK jurisdictions (total 208 t).
Very small coastal catches have been reported for Sweden.
11. In Ireland, only drift nets are operated outside estuaries and therefore conform to
the definition of salmon MSFs; these nets accounted for 72% of the total Irish
catch in 2004. Fish from virtually any Irish can be taken by drift nets in all district
fisheries, allthough exploitation is generally highest the closer to the river of origin
the fishery operates. Salmon from UK (Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and
Wales), Spain, Germany and Denmark have also been taken in the Irish fishery.
Current exploitation rates on four stocks from England and Wales range from
<1% to >10%.
12. In England and Wales, there were 10 fisheries operating in coastal waters in the
early 1990s. The largest of these was the North East Coast fishery which
accounted for about 66% of the total national catch between 1985-89. In 1996, a
national policy was adopted to phase out fisheries which could be shown to
exploit predominantly mixed stocks. The phase-out has been completed for
seven of the coastal fisheries, but for the larger fisheries is still on-going.
Approximately 36% of the total catch in England and Wales was made in coastal
fisheries in 2004.
13. In Northern Ireland, there are salmon fisheries operating in coastal waters and the
estuary of the river Foyle. Considerable progress has been made in recent years
to reduce the impact of MSFs. Further efforts are being made to negotiate buyouts
and other voluntary measures with remaining fishery operators.
Approximately, 50% of the total national landings were made in coastal MSFs in
2004.
14. In Scotland, salmon fishing rights, both in freshwater and in the sea, are private
heritable titles which may be held separately from any land. For the coastally
operated fixed engines there has been a 93% reduction in fishing effort between
the periods 1952-56 and 2000-04, and approximately 21% of the total national
catch was made by these nets in 2004. An unknown amount of netting by ‘net and
coble’ also takes place in coastal waters. There are continuing and on-going
efforts by angling interest to buy out netting rights in different areas, and in 2005,
a substantial number of the remaining fishing stations in the North-East Region
were purchased.
15. Commercial fisheries occur along the Swedish coast, and about 90% of the
coastal catch is recorded by commercial fishermen who operate different kinds of
trap nets. The Swedish mixed stock fishery has been declining in recent years
with 16% of the total national catch taken in coastal waters in 2004.
3
Effects and implications of reducing Mixed Stock Fisheries
16. The immediate effect of closing an MSF for salmon will be to increase catches in
estuary and river fisheries. Fishing effort in the licensed fisheries might be
expected to increase, although limits on the available time or locations to fish may
restrict any significant increase in fishing effort by traditional methods.
17. If exploitation rates within the estuary and river fisheries did not change, the
spawning escapement would also be expected to increase by the same
proportion as the catches. This would be expected to have immediate beneficial
effects to the stock status and the river ecology.
18. In stocks that are currently meeting their conservation limits, removal of an MSF might generate a large exploitable surplus which would not be harvested without an increase in the level of exploitation. This may permit a relaxation of existing regulations while still providing a high probability of meeting conservation limits, although conflicts may occur between net and rod interests and between existing and new fishermen.
19. Depending upon the nature of the stock and recruitment relationship in these
rivers, there is a possibility that increasing numbers of spawning fish would be
sufficient to inhibit production, if in-river exploitation was not increased to utilise part of the surplus.
20. Illegal fishing may increase following the removal of an MSF. In most
jurisdictions, legislation is in place to control the sale of illegally caught fish, but there will almost certainly be a need for an increase in enforcement activity.
21. Where interest groups contribute to the buy-out of a fishery, they may consider that they have a greater right to benefit from the increased stocks than those who have not contributed.
22. MSFs should be replaced with well managed river/estuary fisheries, regulated to meet the objective of ensuring that river stocks exceed their conservation limits.
The balance of the harvest assigned to the commercial and recreational interests
may be determined on socio-economic grounds.
23. It is generally agreed that the capital value of the recreational fisheries exceeds that of the net fisheries often by a substantial margin. However, there is an important difference between the value of commercial and recreational fisheries for salmon which must be taken into account. Quite small catches of salmon can make a significant contribution to a netsman’s income. Some commercial fisheries may be considered to have a heritage value.
Options for improving MSF management in Community waters
24. A range of approaches may be considered for reducing or eliminating the impacts of MSFs operating in coastal waters, although there should be a general
presumption against operating MSFs unless they can be shown not to contravene
basic conservation policies.
25. It might be possible to manage MSFs if sufficient information was available on the stocks being exploited by the fishery. Options, such as tagging or Genetic Stock Identification, may permit stocks to be identified in order that exploitation can be adjusted within precautionary limits. However, the cost of such approaches may be prohibitive.
26. The number of stocks exploited in an MSF may be reduced, or the predominance
of one stock in the catch may be increased, by limiting the areas where, or time
when, the fishery may operate.
27. It may be possible to limit closures of an MSF to fixed periods, to allow stocks to rebuild to levels where some exploitation may be possible or to allow the collection of more detailed information on the patterns of exploitation by the fishery.
28. In order to close an MSF, the act of fishing for salmon in coastal waters or
keeping any salmon caught in nets or traps fished for other species could be
made illegal, but powers to impose such restrictions may be constrained within
some jurisdictions
29. Where a decision is made to close an MSF, the impact on fishermen may be
significantly reduced by phasing it over an extended period rather than instigating an immediate closure, for example by reducing the numbers of fishermen that may operate as existing participants retire.
30. Buy-out or compensation arrangements may be employed in a variety of
situations to encourage fishermen to give up their rights to fish or to accelerate phase-out procedures. |
