Review of Current Fisheries Management Performance and Conservation Measures in the WECAFC Area
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ISSN 2070-7010 FAO 587 FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE TECHNICAL PAPER 587 Review of current fisheries Review of current fisheries management performance and conservation measures in the WECAFC area management performance and conservation measures in the WECAFC area This technical paper provides an inventory and describes trends in legal, administrative and management frameworks in place for managing marine capture fisheries in the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) area. The review includes 16 countries and overseas territories and is part of an ongoing process initiated by FAO to report on the state of world marine capture fisheries management. The review identifies a number of challenges in fisheries management, including inadequate legislation; ad hoc management processes and plans; uncoordinated monitoring and enforcement; insufficient stakeholder identification and participation, conflict resolution and fishing capacity measurements; limited incorporation of issues pertaining to the operation of multispecies fisheries and use of the ecosystem approach; unequal application of management tools and measures across fisheries subsectors; and rising fisheries management costs coupled with stagnant budgets for governments. Actions are listed to address the challenges and specific recommendations are made to address legislative issues, apply participatory approaches and fisheries management processes. The 15th session of WECAFC endorsed the review outcomes and adopted recommendation WECAFC/15/2014/4 “on strengthening fisheries management planning in the WECAFC area”. This technical paper aims to inform fishery policy decision-makers, fishery managers and other stakeholders with interest in fisheries in the Wider Caribbean Region. ISBN 978-92-5-108672-8 ISSN 2070-7010 FAO 9 789251 086728 I4255E/1/12.14 Cover photographs: Susan Singh-Renton. FAO FISHERIES AND Review of current fisheries AQUACULTURE TECHNICAL management performance PAPER and conservation measures in 587 the WECAFC area Prepared by Susan Singh-Renton Deputy Executive Director Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Ian McIvor Research Assistant Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat Saint Vincent and the Grenadines FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2015 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISBN 978-92-5-108672-8 © FAO, 2015 FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way. All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request or addressed to [email protected]. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. iii Preparation of this document This document was prepared as part of the ongoing activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Fisheries and Aquaculture Department in the monitoring and analysis of emerging issues with implications for fisheries and aquaculture at the global, regional and national levels. This document provides an inventory of, and describes the trends in, legal and administrative frameworks, management regimes and the status of marine capture fisheries for 16 countries and overseas territories in the Western Central Atlantic (Area 31) and northern part of the Southwest Atlantic (Area 41) based on the results of a questionnaire. Its purpose is to serve as an easy-to-read and informative reference for policy decision-makers, fishery managers and stakeholders. Similar reviews have been completed for the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean areas. Hence, this review fills an important gap in the global review of fisheries management that FAO is conducting. The preparation of this document was initiated by Mr Raymon van Anrooy, Secretary of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), and was accomplished with the support of Ms Cassandra De Young, Fishery Policy Analyst of FAO, and that of the executive secretariat of the Commission. The main authors, Susan Singh-Renton, Deputy Executive Director and Ian McIvor, Research Assistant (pelagic fisheries) of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat, received considerable support from their colleagues and the contributors from the participating countries. The country review studies, which add essential information to this regional review, can be found in Appendix II of this document. They are reproduced as submitted. This document was edited by Richard Arthur, and José Luis Castilla Civit assisted in formatting it for publication. iv Abstract TThis technical paper provides an inventory of, and describes trends in, legal, administrative and management frameworks in place for managing marine capture fisheries in the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) area. This review includes 16 countries and overseas territories and is part of an ongoing process initiated by FAO to report on the state of world marine capture fisheries management. The review identifies a number of challenges in fisheries management, including: inadequate legislation; ad hoc management processes and plans; uncoordinated monitoring and enforcement; non-management-driven scientific information; insufficient stakeholder identification and participation, conflict resolution and fishing capacity measurements; limited incorporation of issues pertaining to the operation of multispecies fisheries and use of the ecosystem approach; unequal application of management tools and measures across fisheries subsectors; and rising fisheries management costs coupled with stagnant budgets for governments. Actions are listed to address the challenges, and specific recommendations are made to address legislative issues, apply participatory approaches and implement a successful fisheries management process. The fifteenth session of WECAFC (March 2014) endorsed the review outcomes and adopted recommendation WECAFC/15/2014/4 “on strengthening fisheries management planning in the WECAFC area”. This technical paper aims to inform fishery policy decision-makers, fishery managers and other stakeholders with interest in fisheries in the Wider Caribbean Region. Singh-Renton, S. & McIvor I. 2015. Review of current fisheries management performance and conservation measures in the WECAFC area. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 587, Bridgetown, Barbados, FAO. 293 pp. v Contents Preparation of this document iii Abstract iv Abbreviations and acronyms vii Contributors viii Foreword x 1. Introduction 1 2. Methods 3 2.1 Definitions, Sampling Coverage and Interpretation of Chart Data 3 3. National marine fisheries frameworks 5 3.1 Basic legislative frameworks 5 3.2 Costs and funding of fisheries management 7 3.3 Compliance and enforcement for fisheries management 11 3.4 Stakeholder involvement and transparency in fisheries management 14 3.5 Conflict management 16 3.6 Indirectly related legislation affecting marine capture fisheries management and participation in RFBs 18 3.7 International legislation affecting marine capture fisheries management and RFB participation 19 3.8 Management of fishing capacity 19 3.9 Marine capture fisheries under management – general characteristics 20 4. Review of fisheries management tools in use within the largest marine capture fisheries 23 4.1 General characteristics of fishery and activity trends 23 4.2 Management tools in use within the major fisheries 25 4.3 Funding outlays and cost-recovery in fisheries management within the major fisheries 30 4.4 Participatory mechanisms and conflict management within the largest fisheries 33 4.5 Fleet capacity management and enforcement methods in use within the largest fisheries 37 5. Status of stocks 41 6. Summary and conclusions 43 References 49 Appendix I – The top three fisheries 53 vi Appendix II – Country reviews 55 Anguilla (James C Gumbs) 57 Antigua and Barbuda (Ian Horsford) 65 Aruba (Byron G. Boekhoudt) 79 Brazil (Sérgio Macedo Gomes De Mattos) 89 Caribbean Netherlands (Pieter van Baren) 111 Colombia (Argiro de Jesus Ramirez Aristizabal) 117 Dominican Republic (Jeannette Mateo) 137 Mexico (Isabel Cristina Reyes Robles) 161 Nicaragua (Ing. Yessica Collado) 193 Panama (Barbara Morales) 215 Saint Lucia (Sarah N. George, Sarita Peter and Thomas Nelson) 233 Suriname (Mario Yspol and Yoland