The Spot Prawn Fishery: A Status Report - Earth Economics

The Spot Prawn Fishery: A Status Report
•“To ensure conservation and protection of
invertebrate stocks and their habitat through the
application of scientific management principles
applied in a risk averse and precautionary manner
based on the best scientific advice available.
•“To meet the federal Crown’s obligations regarding
Aboriginal fisheries for food, social, and ceremonial
purposes.
•“To develop sustainable fisheries through
partnership and co-management arrangements
with client groups and stakeholders to share in
decision-making, responsibilities and costs and
benefits.
•“To develop fishing plans and co-operative
research programs which will contribute to
improving the knowledge base and understanding
the resource.
•“To consider the goals of stakeholders with
respect to the social, cultural and economic
value of the fishery”
(Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2000a).
This is a fully competitive, limited-entry fishery
that is managed through seasonal closures, inseason
closures, gear limits, mesh size requirements,
and minimum size limits. Two biological
objectives have directed the choice of management
tools: the prevention of growth overfishing
(size limits and trap escapement modifications)
and the prevention of recruitment overfishing (fixed
escapement standard; i.e., spawner index model).
Summary of Commercial Management and
Regulatory Measures
British Columbia’s spot prawn management system
is different from all other spot prawn management
systems. According to Fisheries and Oceans, spot
prawn management in Canada is a “work in progress.”
While management paradigms have historically
focused on short-term yield, there is a need to
change this culture and move toward a more longterm,
precautionary, ecosystem approach. BC is
continually evolving in this direction (Boutillier,
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Pers. comm., June
2001). Precaution and ecosystem considerations
are central to the BC system. Management operates
on a very fine scale and is highly adaptive.
Fine-scale management is fundamental to achieving
BC’s management goals and central to achieving
long-term sustainability for the spot prawn
fishery. It is obtained through reliance on realtime
management decisions and an involved atsea
monitoring system. This fine-scale management
system is at the crux of reducing the spot
prawn’s vulnerability to serial depletion and
localized overfishing (Boutillier, Fisheries and
Oceans Canada. Pers. comm., October 2001).
This section offers an overview of Canada’s spot
prawn management measures and regulatory
system. For a complete description of British
Columbia’s spot prawn management regime,
see Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s website
(www.pac.dfompo.gc.ca/ops/fm/shellfish/
Prawn/prawn).
•In 1979, a biological reference point—the spawner
index—was instituted to manage
fishing effort.
•Harvest log requirements were mandatory as
of 1983. Fishers are required to complete logbooks
describing fishing effort and catch by midnight
of each fishing day. The information must
be delivered to Fisheries and Oceans within four
weeks of the month in which fishing occurred.
•Coast-wide seasonal closures were set in place
for the South Coast (Areas 11–29) in 1984 and
along the North Coast (Areas 1–10) in 1989. Prior
to 1984, closures were set to coincide with the
period in which eggs are incubated and larvae
hatched (January–March). Closure timing is
now based on a biological reference point: a
minimum spawner index.
•In 1985, a minimum size limit of 30 mm (1.18
in.) carapace length was instituted. The size
limit was increased to 32 mm (1.26 in.) in 1996
and to 33 mm (1.30 in.) in 1997. A minimum
length of telson (middle segment of the tail fan
at the most posterior portion of the tail) of 20
mm (0.79 in.) was established in 1998.
•Trap mesh size limits became obligatory in 1988
to reduce the capture of undersized prawns and
mortality associated with bycatch and sorting.
•A license limitation system, with a length restriction
on transferability, was established in 1990.
•Hailing requirements—i.e., fishers must report in
prior to beginning fishing and on completion of
fishing—were instituted in 1992. Hailing data
facilitates in-season managment of the fishery.
20