Effort Management
Published: 15/11/2006The current fisheries management systems are predominately based on Total Allowable Catches (TAC) and quotas. The combination of this type of management and the depletion of many commercial species has led to a number of problems, in particular discards, unreported landings and high-grading. These known problems have made various stakeholders call for a change in management strategies towards a system based on effort regulation, where the fishing effort is adjusted to the available resources.
The main difference between management systems based on TAC’s and quotas and systems based on effort is that effort systems aim at managing the input, the level of harvesting capacity, whereas TAC and quota systems seek to manage the output, the quantity of fish that is extracted from the sea. However, both systems have the same objective, namely to limit fishing mortality.
By limiting the amount of fishing effort, the amount of fish extracted from the ocean will be limited, and can thus be adjusted to the size of the resource. The method requires that the management authorities have a good knowledge of the quantity of fish caught depending on type of vessel, its size and the fishing technique used. In order for the catches not to increase over time the authorities need to have control over the changes of vessels that may lead to increased capacity to catch fish for a given amount of regulated effort. Hence, in order to balance the fleet capacity with the resource, the total allowable effort (TAE) would need to be constantly adjusted in order to account for technological changes. There would be a strong incentive for operators to adopt new technologies and substitute uncontrolled inputs for the controlled inputs, resulting in effort creep. That is, if the fishing is profitable there is an economic incentive to increase the exploitation of fish, which could mean more or better equipped vessels. Therefore, just as in the case with the TAC – based management system, improvements in control and enforcement would continue to be of great importance in a system based on effort management.
The effort is normally expressed as number of days at sea per month, which would have to be adapted to the gears used, the area or zone where the fishing is taking part, target species, the condition of the stock, and the capacity of the vessel. It is argued that the major advantage of an effort system compared with a system based on TAC:s and quotas, is that the effort system allows the fishermen to land their entire catch. This could potentially minimise discard and the incentive for unreported landings, which in turn would enable the industry to provide fisheries scientists with better data on fish stocks.
Current trials of effort regulation in the EU are applied in the North Sea, Kattegat, and west of Scotland within the framework for the North Sea cod recovery plan. Type of gear, fishing zone, and target species control the amount of days at sea for the fishing vessels operating in these areas.
The North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NSRAC) has proposed an effort management scheme as an alternative way of managing certain fish stocks in the Kattegat. The EU Commission has welcomed this initiative and intends to trial such a scheme as an alternative to the existing TAC and quota system.
November 2006