The Spot Prawn Fishery: A Status Report - Earth Economics

The Spot Prawn Fishery: A Status Report
existing trapping grounds with subsequent
economic impacts for all trappers. We believe
an onboard observer program is needed to
assess the type and magnitude of bycatch in
trap and trawl fisheries. After a year of data
collection, potential bycatch problems in the
fisheries can be addressed from a scientific
basis. Certain gear restrictions or area closures
may become necessary to minimize
bycatch, particularly for shelf rockfish
species. In addition, the establishment of a
restricted-access fishery program for trap
and trawl vessels should reduce the amount
of fishing effort and its consequent impact
(California Fish and Game Commission
2000a).
SPOT PRAWN BYCATCH — STATUS OF THE
OBSERVER PROGRAM
The numbers of bycatch observations and data
available from the spot prawn fishery are limited.
Many variables affect both the amount and type
of bycatch caught, particularly in trawl gear.
These factors range from location, time of year,
tow speed, tow duration, type and diameter of
roller gear, mesh size, presence or absence of a
fish-excluder device, and the type of excluder
used (Reilly, CDFG. Pers. comm., June 2001).
These factors, in combination with limited observation
and analysis, have restricted the CDFG’s
capacity to determine the nature and extent of
bycatch issues in the fishery. As a result, the
CDFG stated, in a memo to the California Fish
and Game Commission, that a “more extensive
observer program would be desirable if the funds
were available” (CDFG 1999).
The Commission approved the request for an
observer program effective July 2000. As of late
2000, 21 trap vessels and 21 trawl vessels were participating
in the program. To date, CDFG has collected
observations from approximately 80 spot
prawn trawl tows, representing fishing grounds
off Fort Bragg and south to the northern Channel
Islands off Point Conception. Data have also been
gathered from about 200 trap strings, covering fishing
grounds from Monterey south to San Diego,
and including the islands off Southern California
(Reilly, CDFG. Pers. comm., June 2001).
California’s Observer Program is funded through
an observer fee. Fees have been set as follows:
•$250 for each trap vessel, $250 for any trawl vessel
with spot prawn landings of less than 1,000
pounds in 1998 and 1999.
•$500 for each vessel landing 1,000 pounds or
The field of Ecological Economics
“is not a single, new paradigm
based in shared assumptions and
theory” (Costanza et. al. 1997, p. 50).
It is a transdisciplinary field that
uses methods and information
from economics, ecology, and other
fields to address the difficult areas
of development and environmental
sustainability. The discipline
works from the initial premise that
the “earth has a limited capacity for
sustainably supporting people and
their artifacts determined by combinations
of resource limits and
ecological thresholds” (Costanza et
al. 1997, p. 75). It places the human
economic system as a subset of,
and entirely dependent on, natural
ecosystems. The relationship is
explicit.
Ecological Economics incorporates
the strengths of traditional economics
and includes additional
ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
areas critical to development and
natural resource management in
the 21st century. There are four
general categories of decisionmaking
criteria: 1) economic scale,
environmental impacts, and sustainability;
2) fair distribution of
opportunity and benefits; 3) economic
efficiency; and 4) democracy
in governance.
Traditional economics assumes
that with economic growth, problems
of sustainability, distribution,
and efficiency will be solved. Issues
of governance and democracy are
believed to be beyond the scope of
economics. Ecological Economics,
on the other hand, does not
assume that growth is a cure-all.
Ecological sustainability, fairness,
economic efficiency, and democratic
decision-making processes must
be part of the definition of success
for any development project or
management system, and must be
directly integrated into plans and
policy from the beginning.
For example, the World Bank and private
financiers have provided thousands
of loans for shrimp aquaculture
in developing nations.Yet neither
the project plans nor the
appraisal reports included the: loss
in value associated with the reduction
or destruction of ecological
services such as water purification;
declining coastal fisheries; compromised
water quality; salinization of
coastal farmland; or displacement of
coastal communities.These loans are
now recognized as having been
profitable for shrimp farmers, but
also responsible for creating much
greater social costs overall. Some
countries, like India, have banned
shrimp farming nationwide.
Fisheries management failures and
resulting fisheries collapses can be
directly attributed to the failure of
traditional economic analysis to
consider the negative externalities
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