Lecture 4: The Process of Fisheries Management

1. Lecture 4: The Process of Fisheries Management Chapter 2

2. Definitions of Fish Management • Manipulation of aquatic organisms, aquatic environments, and their human users to produce sustained and ever increasing benefits for people. • Use of ecological, economic, political, and socio-cultural information in a decision making process that results in actions (e.g., regulations) to achieve goals established for fisheries / aquatic resources.

3. Objectives of Lecture 4 • Introduce students to the general process of fisheries management (aquatic ecosystem management). • Emphasize the importance of team work, a goal-oriented approach, on-going evaluation and revision, and an ecosystem perspective. • Present an example of the FM Process (Great Lakes Lake Trout).

4. Fisheries Management Process • A stakeholder driven, goal-oriented, cyclic process that is self-evaluating and adaptive. • Purpose: conserve aquatic ecosystem resources for perpetual benefits to human societies.

5. Forces that Shape Management

6. Ecology • Organisms, Populations, Assemblages, Communities • Life history, behavior, population dynamics • Ecosystem • Physico-chemical variables, aquatic and terrestrial • Interaction that determines distribution and abundance • Interactions with humans, too

7. Economics • Marketplace and non-market forces that influence monetary value of fisheries resources • Fish management agency budgets • Where do they get their money?

8. Politics • Laws and official policies • Government employees • interpret and enforce policy • Stakeholders • Special interests • Industry and “regulated” community • Conservation groups (TU, WVRC) • Grassroots and citizens (watershed organizations) • Tax and “rate” payers

9. Socio-cultural • Traditions, values, norms, religions, philosophies • The motivation for management because the end product is believed to have value • Examples:

10. Fish Management as a Team Sport • Ecology, economics, politics, socio-cultural factors in space and time • Management requires a multi-disciplinary, team-work approach • Opportunity knocks=specialized “niches” • Ecologists • Specialized ecologists • Economists • Policy experts • Social scientists • Environmental Law • Statisticians Fed/State Agencies Public The Stakeholder Group

11. The Management Process • Choice of goals • Selection of objectives • Identification of problems • Choice and implementation of actions • Evaluation of actions • Revision of the management program ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

13. Adaptive Management A combination of aggressive experimentation with management actions coupled with careful evaluation and timely revision. Because uncertainty exists: • Base management on research • Be flexible and willing to change • Assess management along the way • Not an incremental, reactive approach

14. The Management Process Goals: Long-term statements about what management programs are to achieve and that define the purpose of management. Objectives: Specific, measurable expected outcomes that indicate achievement or progress toward attainment of goals. Must state When! Problems: Factors (ecological, economic, political, socio-cultural) expected to impede achievement of goals and objectives.

15. The Management Process Actions: Activities chosen and implemented to overcome problems. Evaluation: Determines whether the actions implemented have helped to solve problems and achieve goals and objectives. Revision: Changes in the management program based on findings from the evaluation process (did the actions work? Why or why not? What can be done to better achieve goals?).

16. Management and the Role of Science • Scientific Research is Used To: • Set reasonable, measurable objectives for the resource and determine which goals are feasible. • Assess current conditions within the system of interest. • Identify factors potentially limiting the value of the resource. • Predict the response of the resource value to various management options. • Provide information that can be used to evaluate the effects of management actions.

17. Management and the Role of Science The Value of Science is Maximized in the Context of the Management Process

18. Example of the Management Process: Great Lakes Lake Trout • Native to Great Lakes • Declined due to: • Sea lamprey • Over fishing • Habitat loss

19. Abundance of stocked and wild lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Michigan and Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior in 1929-93, expressed as a percentage of the 1929-43 mean (from Hansen et al. 1995).

20. Pre 1940: Annual harvests of Lake Trout totaled nearly 3 million Kg (over 6 million lbs.) By 1960, Lake Trout were extinct from L. Erie, L. Ontario, and L. Michigan and were effectively extinct from L. Huron and L. Superior

21. Other Problems that Developed in the Great Lakes • Deep-water cisco populations collapsed. • Blue-pike were extirpated from L. Ontario and Erie. • Human populations exploded leading to loss of near shore habitat, high levels of pollution from toxic chemicals, and high levels of nutrient inputs.

23. Great Lakes Fishery Commission Established in 1954 through a collaborative effort by the US and Canada • 5 Duties: • Formulate research programs designed to determine the need for measures to make possible maximum sustained productivity of all fish populations. • Coordinate the research programs. • Recommend appropriate measures on the basis of the findings of the research programs. • Formulate and implement a program for eradicating sea lamprey. • Publish or authorize the publication of scientific information obtained from the research programs.

24. Fundamental Concept of Great Lakes Fishery Commission The Commission adopts and advocates an ecosystem approach to management and research of Great Lakes fishes.

25. Ecosystem Management • Protection, maintenance, and rehabilitation of native organisms, communities, and their habitats • Sustaining ecosystem diversity and function • Ecosystems as management units rather than a single species

26. GLFC Focused on 3 General Areas • Healthy Great Lakes Ecosystems: “The conservation of biological diversity through rehabilitation of native fish populations, species, communities, and their habitats has a high priority.” • Integrated Management of Sea Lamprey • Institutional/Stakeholder Partnerships

27. Lake Trout Management Goal: Rehabilitate the lake trout population of L. Ontario such that the adult spawning stock encompasses several year classes, sustains itself at a stable level by natural reproduction and produces a usable surplus.

28. Lake Trout Management Objective: By the year 2000, demonstrate that rehabilitation is feasible by developing a trout stock consisting of 0.5 – 1.0 million adult fish with adult females that average 7.5 years of age and produce 100,000 yearlings annually.

29. Lake Trout Management Ultimate Objective: To develop a lake trout population in Lake Ontario of 0.5 to 1.0 million adults that produce 2 to 3 million yearlings annually and provide 450,000 kg of usable surplus.

30. Lake Trout Management • Problems: • Sea lamprey predation. • Overharvest of stocked trout. • Environmental degradation (eutrophication, pollution). • Lack of optimal strains and procedures for stocking.

31. Lake Trout Management • Actions: • Control of sea lamprey through application of selective lampricides. • Regulate the sport fishery through slot limits. • Water quality legislation. • Stocking.

32. Lake Trout Management Evaluation: Ongoing field studies evaluate production and age/size of adult spawning stock

33. Lake Trout Management Revised Objective: By 2017, sustain the density of wild trout at a catch of 26 age-2 fish in bottom trawling conducted during July

34. TAKE HOME MESSAGE • Natural Resource Management depends on the Interplay of Scientific Research and Socio-Economic Value Systems • Consequently, Natural Resource Managers cannot simply be good Biologists. They must also have a working knowledge of Policy, Economics, and Social Sciences. • Natural Resource Managers must also engage the public in the Management “Process” early on. • Fisheries Management is a goal-oriented, “STAKEHOLDER” process that must continually evaluate and improve the management program.