Transcript Document
THE BLACK SEA FISHERIES NEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Dr. Eng. SIMION NICOLAEV National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa“, Constanța, Romania ,Coordinator of Black Sea Working Group of GFCM a) The dimension, geographical, geological and ecological peculiarities render the Black Sea the character of marine large ecosystem (MLE) b) The majority of fish species having economical value are shared in the EEZ of several states (sprat, whiting, dogfish, turbot etc.) or are migratory (anchovy, horse mackerel, bluefish, bonito etc.), having spawning, feeding and wintering areas located in different areas of the Black Sea c) The Black Sea ecosystem is highly productive and offers many goods and services for recreation, food, pharmaceuticals, mining and navigation. This impact of uses on the ecosystem, and especially the impact of fisheries, is the key-task for the sustainable development of the marine environment. On a larger time scale, the ecosystem is affected by global climate changes, which will probably influence many aspects of fish distribution, dynamics and abundance of fisheries resources d) At the same time, the recent history of the Black Sea showed, probably more than elsewhere, a tight inter-dependence between fish stocks, eutrophication, pollution, climate changes, habitat changes and opportunistic settlers 2 The main historical features: collapse of pelagic fisheries (at the end of the 80s) due to the combined effect of successive over-exploitation of fish stocks, increasing pollution and eutrophication, population outbursts of alien planktonic species, strong decadalscale climatic fluctuations. Fish consumption at present reached a moderate level, with increase in the last 15 years more than 50% to 100% in the different BS coastal states. Reduced share of marine species in total fish products consumption (except TR) is notable. Countries 1996 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 Bulgaria Georgia Romania Russia Turkey Ukraine 3 2.5 2 4.3 4.3 4 3.5 7-8 13.7 4.3 4.1 8.56 14.0 4.6 ? 7.8 17.5 4.4 4.0 7.59 14.9 4.6 4.0 6.92 15.0 Total fish consumption per capita (fresh water and marine species in kg/year) in 2005-2010 3 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 0 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 TONS 100,000 Total catch in the Black Sea area Starting with 2002, the total catches registered a slight but continuous decline from 486,500 to until 361,000 in 2005 (see Table). 2007 represented an exception from the general rule, a maximum catch of 555,500 to being registered. After 2007, a sharp decline (28%) of the total catches occurred again by 2009 (395,000 to). In 2010 a slight increase of total fish catches to 421,000 to was registered, followed by 340,000 to/2012. In fact, excluding 2007, this decline became continuous since 2002. The most important reduction of about 96% occurred for anchovy landings, from 378,000 to in 2007, to 192,000 to in 2009. The preliminary data for 2012 indicated the continuation of anchovy landings reduction, to the level below 200,000 to. For compensation of these significant reductions in total landings, some fleets, as the Turkish and Ukrainian, increased the catches of other species, mainly the sprat, whose catch increased by 270%, from 40,900 to (2007) to about 110,000 in 2011. In 2012, the total reported landings of sprat decreased drastically below the level of 30,000 to. This is an alarming scenario for the Black Sea ecosystem, situation whose impact must be carefully analysed. During the past 5 years, anchovy and sprat accounted for more than 80% of the total catch, horse mackerel 5-8%, whiting 3-5%, Atlantic bonito 3-7%. The most important changes in the volume and structures of catches have been registered in the marine fisheries of 4 Turkey, which continues to lead with 80% from total Black Sea landings. The most significant threats for Black Sea Marine Living Resources remain: ● Overfishing: the drastic drop of total landings during the past 5 years by over 40% may be a result of significant changes in the structure and functionality of the marine ecosystem, but, to a similar extent, the result of an extremely high rate of fishing effort. The reduction in the number of fishing vessels registered in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania is insignificant, the fishing effort at regional level being high. ● Climate changes, resulting in anormalities in water mass stratification, circulation and temperature, have determined in certain areas the change of the fish behavior (mainly anchovy, sprat, dogfish) and the complete extinction of certain species (E.g. sprat, dogfish and whiting in Georgia). The massive jellyfish agglomerations in certain areas prevent performing trawling hauls during sprat fishing. 5 ● Illegal and unregulated fisheries (IUU): It is a general issue in all BS countries. A Roadmap for reducing IUU fisheries was elaborated. ● Lack in regional cooperation: No progress in the adoption of LBD for fisheries has been achieved so far. ● The recent STOCK assessment of GFCM together with STECF, presented during the 37th session of GFCM, is the following: - Turbot and spiny dogfish are both overfished and subject to overfishing; - Sprat, whiting and anchovy - uncertain; however, all stocks are believed to be either partially or fully overfished; - For turbot, there might be different entities (overall status = status of different stock entities) 6 AQUACULTURE Despite the opportunities offered by marine aquaculture, this sector remains undeveloped in the Black Sea: the aquaculture production in 2010 was 202 t in Bulgaria (consisting from different fish species and mussels); in Ukraine it increased from 171 to in 2010 to 553 to in 2012, and decreased from 8,485 to (2010) to 5,087 to in 2012, out of the total of 212,410 to for the whole Turkey (trout, sea bream and sea bass). ● Since 2007, the European Commission ensured financial support for the Black Sea subgroup of the Scientific Technical Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), which provided recommendations for the annual TAC regulation of Romanian and Bulgarian fisheries in Community waters. FISHERIES PROJECTS ● In 2010, the preparation of several fisheries related projects started, some of them were approved in 2011: - Black Sea fish (GCP/INT) - FAO/Gov is under preparation; - EU/ Black Sea CBC - Strengthening the regional capacity to support the sustainable management of the Black Sea fisheries (Romania/NIMRD). 7 The 16th Meeting of AG FOMLRM (Istanbul, 11-12 November, 2013) • • • • • • • • The main issues discussed: Presentation of National Reports; The 3rd Black Sea Assessment: SoE, SAPIR, BSIMAP - fishing component; AG FOMLRM reporting formats; Fisheries indicators development; Black Sea Biodiversity and Landscape Conservation Protocol - Annexes 2 and 4; Progress with fishery projects; Conservation of cetaceans; Establishment of AG FOMLRM proposals for the implementation of the MoU between BSC and GFCM. 8 FACT SHEETS 1. 39 participants in attendance from Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine, the European Commission, FAO, BSC Permanent Secretariat and GFCM Secretariat. 2. A questionnaire collecting info on IUU fishing was compiled by all BS riparian states and analysed in a background paper. 3. 21 presentations were delivered and discussed during the workshop. GOALS 1. Assess the nature and the extent of IUU fishing in the Black Sea. 2. Collect and review information provided by BS riparian countries on their fleet, experience in the fight against IUU fishing and MCS. 3. Enhance cooperation with BSC on the basis of the MoU in the interest of all BS riparian countries. 4. Envisage technical assistance and training opportunities through a multiannual roadmap. ROADMAP 1. The workshop agreed to urgently address the problems posed by IUU fishing in the BS on the basis of a roadmap. 2. The roadmap identifies actions relating to the following aspects: (i) political and institutional, (ii) legal, (iii) scientific, (iv) technical, (v) socio-economic and education related and (vi) MCS. 3. The roadmap was submitted to the attention of the 2nd meeting of the GFCM WGBS for review and then transmitted to the 37th Session of the Commission. 9 1. BLACK SEA COMMISSION • AG FOMLRM Activities • BS SAP Eco Q01: Preserve commercial marine living resources Eco Q02: Restore/rehabilitate stocks of commercial marine living resources • BSC/GFCM Memorandum of Understanding 2. FISHERIES RELATED PROJECTS • SESAME • ODEMN • CREAM • KNOW SEAS • PERSEUS • COCONET • ComFish • MareFrame 3. CBC/BS JOP Strengthening the Regional Capacity to Support the Sustainable Management of Black Sea Fisheries 10 Cooperation between BSC - GFCM based on the Memorandum of Understanding The Partners have agreed on the following areas of cooperation for this MoU: 1) Promoting ecosystem based approaches for the conservation of marine environment and ecosystems and the sustainable use of marine living resources; 2) Assessment of human-marine biodiversity interactions, including in relation to fisheries and aquaculture activities, and mitigation of their impact on marine habitats and species; 3) Identification, protection and management of marine areas of particular importance in the Black Sea (hot spots of biodiversity, areas with sensitive habitats, essential fish habitats, areas of importance for fisheries and/or the conservation of endangered species, coastal wetlands); 4) Integrated maritime policy; 5) Legal, institutional and policy related cooperation. 11 • First Coordination Meeting of the GFCM ad hoc Working Group on the Black Sea, Bucharest, Romania, February 2012 • Participation of Black Sea experts in the GFCM Stock Assessment Working Groups, Split, November, Croatia, 2012 • Joint GFCM BSC Workshop on IUU Fishing in the Black Sea, Istanbul, Turkey, February 2013 • Training/workshop on AZA, Trabzon, Turkey, February 2013 • Ad-Hoc meeting on Black Sea aquaculture species diversification, Trabzon, Turkey, February 2013 • GFCM database of experts in the Mediterranean and Black Sea • 2nd Meeting of the ad hoc Working Group on the Black Sea, Varna, Bulgaria, April 2013 Participation in the 37th Session of GFCM Participation in the First Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea 12 Fisheries management measures related to turbot in the Black Sea Members and cooperating non-Members of GFCM shall ensure that turbot in Black Sea waters is exclusively fished using bottom-set gillnets and that the following conditions are respected: - Mesh size is equal to or larger than 400 mm The mesh size of the net shall be determined as the mean value of the series of 20 selected meshes; in case of different mesh sizes in the fishing net, the meshes shall be selected from the part of the fishing net having the smallest meshes. Meshes shall be measured only when wet and unfrozen; meshes that have been broken or repaired shall not be included. - To be landed, turbot shall have a minimum size of 45 cm measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail fin (total length). Fisheries management measures for the mitigation of marine mammals’ by-catch In order to mitigate the impact of bottom-set gillnet fisheries on marine mammals; populations, Members and cooperating non-members of GFCM shall ensure that monofilament or twine diameter shall not exceed 0.5 mm. Monofilament or twines shall be assessed when unfrozen. Monofilament or twines with a mesh that is broken or has been repaired shall not be selected. Members and cooperating non-Members of GFCM should set-up adequate monitoring in order to collect reliable information on the impact that bottom-set gillnets targeting picked dogfish have on cetaceans’ populations in the Black Sea. 13 - Identification of common principles and instruments for the implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and marine environment management; - Development of common indicators to asses the status of MLR and the impact of fisheries on the marine environment; - Joint contribution for further elaboration/revision of BSIMAP; - Elaboration and implementation of a harmonized scheme for reporting at national level and exchange of data between BSC and GFCM; - Joint contribution to the delineation of some fish stock boundaries (E.g. spiny dogfish, turbot etc.); - Development of rules and procedures to organize and implement the fish stock surveys together with the relevant environmental parameters in situ; - Delineation of shared and migratory species groups at the regional and sub-regional levels, as well as the identification of their migration routes; - Standardization of fishing gear construction and methods to use them in scientific surveys; - Identification of additional ways to reduce fish mortalities (steps to reduce total fishing effort, improvement of selectivity etc.); - Option for using alternative fishing methods to reduce cetacean by-catch and other impacts on the marine environment (demersal biocoenoses etc.) 14 - Cetaceans’ survey for the entire Black Sea - with the support of ACCOBAMS and-or other sources; - Identification of the fishing methods/techniques with minimum impact on cetaceans’ populations; - Agreement between BSC and GFCM on the common working plan content and its implementation; - Work on the SoE report, fishery component; - Preparation of new fishery projects focused on priority areas: joint surveys for demersal an pelagic fish (hydroacoustic), delineation of fish stocks boundaries etc.; use the opportunity offered by the Black Sea FAO Fish Project funded by the Turkish government; - Study of the influence of climate change on fish populations behavior (E.g. changes of thermocline, zooplankton population dynamics); identification of hot spots for climatic anomalies in the Black Sea; - Socio-economic considerations to the fisheries management, in particular to small-scale fishery. 15 16