2013 - University College Cork

REBUILDING DEPLETED FISH STOCKS IN THE
WATERS AROUND IRELAND
Research Centre/Department/School:
AFDC, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Science
Contact PI: Dr Emer Rogan (e.rogan@ucc.ie)
Researchers: Dr Sarah B. M. Kraak (sarah.kraak@marine.ie)
Start Year: 2008 – End Year: ongoing
Funding Body: National Development Plan 2007—2013
Science, Technology & Innovation Programme (SeaChange)
Funding: €627,633
Collaborating Partners: Marine Institute,
University of Essex (U.K.)
Web: http://afdc.ucc.ie
Research Projects Listing
The current challenges in fisheries management are (i) achieving MSY for all stocks by 2015 (as
agreed in the Johannesburg declaration), (ii) mixed fisheries, where several species are caught by
the same fishery in different mixtures, and (iii) the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management
(EAFM). This project aims to look at these challenges in the context of the demersal fisheries
in waters around Ireland. The project will do this through proposals for fisheries management
systems, and evaluating them through simulations. The work started with a critical evaluation of
automated Management Strategy Evaluations (MSE), especially those MSEs that had overlooked
the human factor: Harvest Control Rules (HCR) may lead to stock recovery if implemented perfectly,
but it is impossible for them to be implemented perfectly under the reality of rational fisher
behaviour. The second study looked at fisher behaviour in the context of the Tragedy of the Comments,
and analysed under which conditions fishers might be expected to behave more for the
common good. The third study proceeded with the actual proposal of a new management system,
which not only takes into account mixed fisheries and ecosystem considerations, but also allows
flexibility to the fishers and incentivises fishing behaviour that will lead to keeping their activities
within agreed limits. The fourth study critically evaluated the current EU plan for four cod stocks,
especially noting that the human factor had been one of the causes for the plan’s failure to meet its
objectives. The collaboration in the fifth study explores spatial management of fisheries, which is
now facilitated by the new technologies of the VMS, e-logbooks, and Fully Documented Fisheries
concepts. The project is steadily working towards unravelling the causes for a failure of fisheries
management and improving the approach to fisheries management based on these new insights.
KEY PUBLICATIONS & OUTPUTS
KRAAK, S. B. M., Kelly, C. J., Codling, E. A., and Rogan, E. 2010. On scientists’ discomfort in fisheries advisory science: the
example of simulation-based fisheries management-strategy evaluations. Fish and Fisheries, 11, 119-132.
KRAAK, S. B. M. 2011. Exploring the ‘Public Goods Game’ model to overcome the Tragedy of the Commons in fisheries
management. Fish and Fisheries, 12, 18-33.
KRAAK, S. B. M., Reid, D. G., Gerritsen, H. D., Kelly, C. J., Fitzpatrick, M., Codling, E. A., and Rogan, E. 2012. 21st century fisheries
management: a spatio-temporally explicit tariff-based approach combining multiple drivers and incentivising responsible
fishing. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69(4): 590–601, doi:10.1093/icesjms/fss033.
KRAAK, S. B. M., Bailey, N., Cardinale, M., Darby, C., De Oliveira, J. A. A., Eero, M., Graham, N., Holmes, S., Jakobsen, T.,
Kempf, A., Kirkegaard, E., Powell, J., Scott, R. D., Simmonds, E. J., Ulrich, C., Vanhee, W., and Vinther, M. 2012. Lessons for
fisheries management from the EU cod recovery plan. Marine Policy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2012.05.002
Gerritsen, H. D., Lordan, C., Minto, C., KRAAK, S. B. M. 2012. Spatial patterns in the retained catch composition of Irish
demersal otter trawlers: high-resolution fisheries data as a management tool. Fisheries Research, 129–130: 127–136. 10.1016/
j.fishres.2012.06.019.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
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