Ecosystem based management

1. Ecosystem based management Fish 513A

2. Logistics • Find time for alternative meetings • Class activities • Readings • Student Responsibility • Web site • Finding discussion times

3. Wikipedia definitions Ecosystem-based management is an environmental management approach that recognizes the full array of interactions within an ecosystem, including humans, rather than considering single issues, species, or ecosystem services in isolation

4. An ecosystem An ecosystem is a biological system consisting of all the living organisms or biotic components in a particular area and the nonliving or abiotic component with which the organisms interact, such as air, mineral soil, water and sunlight.

5. Management Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal.

6. Elements of marine management • Fisheries • Input controls # vessels, size, gear, effort • Output controls: total allowable catches, size limits • Area controls – closed areas seasonal or permanent • Land use affecting run off • Tidal and Wind Power • Communications Cables • Transportation • Oil and Gas • Mining

7. The Litany of Disaster • Plundering of sea otters and fur seals • Sequential depletion of whales • Collapse of cod • Overfishing estuaries and coral reefs

8. It isn’t single species management that failed • It was the failure to do single species management well • I contend that if we did single species management well, keeping populations at or above BMSY, we wouldn’t have nearly the problems we now have

9. However, there are obvious deficiencies in single species management that mean we do want to move to considering ecosystem effects • By catch of birds, mammals and fish needing protection • Impacts of fishing gear on fragile environments • Impacts of removals on other species often at higher trophic levels such as marine birds and mammals • We are trying to maintain human communities

10. EBFM in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands • Annual allowable catches on the major species, pollock, cod, flatfish, crabs, herring • 2 million ton cap • By-catch limits for halibut, salmon, birds • Closed areas to protect spawning grounds • Closed areas to protect sea lions • Closed areas to protect sensitive habitats from trawl contact

11. The framework for managing the BSAI • Magnuson-Stevens FMC Act • The Marine Mammal Protection Act • The Endangered Species Act • The National Environmental Policy Act • Migratory Bird Treaty • FAO agreements – straddling stocks etc. • Alaskan State legislation

12. Garcia et al 2003 Ecosystem approach to fisheries: key issues • Human and Ecosystem well being • Resource scarcity • Maximum acceptable fishing level • Maximum biological productivity • Impact reversibility • Impact minimization • Rebuilding resources • Ecosystem integrity • Species interdependence • Institutional integrity • Uncertainty, risk, precaution • Compatibility of management measures • Polluter pays principle • User pays principle • Precautionary approach • Subsidiarity, decentralization and participation • Equity

13. Pikitch et al 2004 EBFM should • (i) avoid degradation of ecosystems, as measured by indicators of environmental quality and system status; • (ii) minimize the risk of irreversible change to natural assemblages of species and ecosystem processes; • (iii) obtain and maintain long-term socioeconomic benefits without compromising the ecosystem; and • (iv) generate knowledge of ecosystem processes sufficient to understand the likely consequences of human actions.

14. Francis et al 2007 10 commandments • Keep a perspective that at is holistic, risk-averse and adaptive. • Question key assumptions, no matter how basic. • Maintain old-growth age structure in fish populations. • Characterize and maintain the natural spatial structure of fish stocks. • Characterize and maintain viable fish habitats. • Characterize and maintain ecosystem resilience. • Identify and maintain critical food web connections. • Account for ecosystem change through time. • Account for evolutionary change caused by fishing. • Implement an approach that is integrated, interdisciplinary and inclusive

15. The two stages of EBFM • The easy stuff • Reducing by-catch by technical measures, incentives and closing “hot spots” • Protecting sensitive ecosystems by closing them to specific gears or all fishing • The hard stuff • Understanding the ecosystem trade-offs, perhaps through models • Finding social agreement on the appropriate objectives (e.g. Human food vs seals), setting reference points

16. EBM tools • Ecosystem models • Fleet models • MPA models: spatial planning in general

17. Fishing Fleets And communities Managers Other species Physical environment Single species models

18. The tradeoffs • Worm et al 2009 • Walters • Smith et al forage fish

21. Tradeoffs in sustainable management of marine ecosystems Carl Walters Mote 2002 Symposium

22. Fisheries managers regularly face three main kinds of tradeoffs • Immediate fisher well-being versus long term fishery value • Existence values (biodiversity, mammals, birds, etc.) versus consumptive values • Expected consumptive value versus risk of collapse (increasing risk and variability with increased harvesting)

23. Alternative visions of future marine ecosystems • Restoration and protection of non-consumptive values, regardless of economic impact • Maximization of consumptive (fishery) values, without regard to collateral damage • Ecosystem “cultivation”: use of fisheries to control ecosystem structure as well as to produce direct economic value

24. Lots of both values Non-consumptive Value Achievable states Fishery Value We have been slow to admit that these visions may be deeply incompatible The “concave tradeoff” hypothesis (better support by data, models) The “convex tradeoff” hypothesis (belief, pretense, hope, wishful thinking) Compromise sacrifices much of both values Non-consumptive Value Fishery Value

25. It is easy to trade off among values/stakeholders when the tradeoff relationship is convex • Each stakeholder can get most of the maximum possible, without the other stakeholder(s) having to give up much. • There is a compromise policy that gives each stakeholder a “fair share” of whichever ecosystem value that person might care about.

26. It is very difficult to make “fair” choices when tradeoff relationships are concave • Simple, economic weighting of alternative values generally leads to conclusion that overall value would be greatest by choosing one or other extreme option (ignore existence values, or stop fishing) • There is no public standard or ethical principle that tells us what minimum value is tolerable for whichever value measure is seen as “less important”

27. The convex tradeoff assumption is hidden in some intuitive management prescriptions • Good single species management would be adequate to insure protection of other values • Fisheries take is acceptable provided it does not reduce stocks enough to make them incapable of meeting current “demand” by other species that they support“Because consumption of herring by marine mammals may exceed the natural mortality rate used in the stock assessment, there is reason to be concerned about the future availability of herring for growing populations of marine mammals.” • Species that compete with fisheries for particular prey can switch to other, unharvested prey types to meet their needs (the food web will save them).

28. Shrimp response to cod overfishing off Newfoundland See Worm and Myers 2002

29. The cod-shrimp tradeoff is apparently concave

30. (Cod-shrimp interaction is not restricted to Newfoundland area) (Source: Figure 3, Worm and Myers 2002)

31. Has fishing down the food chain off Newfoundland been bad?

32. MSA Section 406 Ecosystem Workshop January 9-10, 2008 Mike Burner

33. Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Ecosystem Fishery Management Plan Concept Lessons Learned

34. Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Approaches • Harvest Ban on All Species of Euphausiids • Harvest Control Rules for Coastal Pelagics • Marine Protected Areas • Oregon Coastal Coho Harvest Control Rule • Sablefish Assessment

35. Harvest Ban on All Species of Krill (Euphausiids) Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Approaches • Initiated by the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. • Broadened to Entire EEZ by Pacific Council • Recognizes Importance of Krill in Marine Food Web • Enhances Recovery and Protection of Overfished Rockfish and Salmon Species Listed under the ESA.

36. Harvest Control Rules for Coastal Pelagics Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Approaches HGyear+1 = (Biomassyear – Cutoff) * Fraction(0.05-0.15) * Distribution • Pacific Sardine-150,000mt • Buffer Against Overfishing • Ecological Role as Forage

37. Marine Protected Areas Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Approaches

38. Oregon Coastal Natural Coho Harvest Matrix Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Approaches

39. Sablefish Assessment Existing Ecosystem-Based Management Approaches • Utilizes Environmental Indicator (sea surface height) as a Predictor of Larval Survival and Year-Class Strength. • This Environmental Parameter is only One of Several Abundance Indices.

41. Conclusions • EBM can encompass a wide range of concepts • We have a range of tools • We are a long way from agreeing on objectives