Msc Assessment Report the Australian Antarctic Mackerel Icefish Fishery at Heard and Macdonald Islands
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DARFT FINAL REPORT V1 AUSTRALIA HIMI MACKEREL ICEFISH MSC ASSESSMENT REPORT THE AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC MACKEREL ICEFISH FISHERY AT HEARD AND MACDONALD ISLANDS Contract Number: SCS-MFCP-F-0071 Version: SCS_V4 Draft Final Report Date: 8 April 2005 Client: Austral Fisheries Accredited Certification Body: Scientific Certification Systems, Inc. Marine Fisheries Conservation Program 2000 Powell Street, Suite 1350 Emeryville, CA 94608, United States Assessment Team Dr. Chet Chaffee, Project Manager, SCS Dr. Trevor Ward, Greenward Consulting Dr. Norm Hall, Murdoch University Dr. Graeme Parkes, MRAG SCS DOCUMENT SCS_V4 DRAFT FINAL 1 DRAFT FINAL REPORT V4 AUSTRALIA HIMI MACKEREL ICEFISH Amendments Issued Since Original Draft Amd. No Date Description Of Amendment 1 12/04 Draft Report for Client Review 2 4/05 Draft Report for Peer Review and Public Comment 3 SCS DOCUMENT SCS_V4 DRAFT FINAL 2 DRAFT FINAL REPORT V4 AUSTRALIA HIMI MACKEREL ICEFISH TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................5 1.1 THE FISHERY PROPOSED FOR ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................5 1.2 KEY ISSUES FOR THE ASSESSMENT .........................................................................................................6 2 THE AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC HIMI MACKEREL ICEFISH FISHERY.........................7 2.1 THE TARGET SPECIES.............................................................................................................................7 2.2 OVERVIEW OF FISHERY ..........................................................................................................................8 2.2.1 General Area of the Fishery.................................................................................................................8 2.2.2 Fishery Background..........................................................................................................................10 3 FISHERIES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM......................................................................................12 3.1 Organization........................................................................................................................................12 3.1.1 CCAMLR ..........................................................................................................................................12 3.1.2 AFMA................................................................................................................................................14 3.2 LEGAL STRUCTURE AND POLICY SETTING, ............................................................................................16 3.2.1 Legislation.........................................................................................................................................16 3.2.2 Management Policy ..........................................................................................................................16 3.3 Management Responsibilities.................................................................................................................18 3.4 Management Objectives....................................................................................................................18 3.5 MANAGEMENT MEASURES...................................................................................................................20 3.6 Compliance measures.......................................................................................................................22 4 HARVEST STRATEGIES......................................................................................................................23 5 PROCESSING AND TRANSHIPMENT.......................................................................................24 6 THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS.....................................................................................................24 6.1 EVALUATION TEAM..............................................................................................................................26 6.2 OTHER FISHERIES IN THE AREA AND SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS CERTIFICATION EVALUATIONS.................26 7.0 THE MSC EVALUATION PROCESS.........................................................................................26 7.1 MSC PRINCIPLES AND CRITERIA..........................................................................................................26 MSC PRINCIPLE 1......................................................................................................................................26 MSC PRINCIPLE 2......................................................................................................................................27 MSC PRINCIPLE 3......................................................................................................................................28 7.2 INTERPRETATION OF MSC PRINCIPLES FOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS ..........................................29 7.3 SUBMISSION OF DATA ON THE FISHERY................................................................................................31 8 ASSESSMENT TEAM MEETINGS AND INTERVIEWS.........................................................32 8.1 JUSTIFICATION FOR SELECTION OF ITEMS/PERSONS INSPECTED..............................................................32 8.2 FISHING INDUSTRY AND FISHERY MANAGEMENT MEETINGS..................................................................32 8.3 STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS AND INTERVIEWS .........................................................................................34 9 ASSESSMENT TEAM PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS .....................................................37 MSC PRINCIPLE 1......................................................................................................................................38 MSC PRINCIPLE 2......................................................................................................................................75 MSC PRINCIPLE 3........................................................................................................................................123 10 TRACKING, TRACING FISH AND FISH PRODUCTS..........................................................176 11 PEER REVIEW AND PUBLIC COMMENT.............................................................................177 SCS DOCUMENT SCS_V4 DRAFT FINAL 3 DRAFT FINAL REPORT V4 AUSTRALIA HIMI MACKEREL ICEFISH 12 CERTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION AND PERFORMANCE SCORES....................177 13 MEETING CONDITIONS FOR CONTINUED CERTIFICATION.......................................182 13.1 GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR CONTINUED CERTIFICATION ...................................................................183 13.2 SPECIFIC CONDITIONS FOR CONTINUED CERTIFICATION.....................................................................183 14 MSC LOGO LICENSING RESPONSIBILITIES......................................................................189 15 REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................190 APPENDIX 1 – STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS.....................................................................................193 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................194 2. AN INTRODUCTION TO ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT (EBM) ........................................................195 3. TARGET FISHERY.....................................................................................................................................197 4. ECOSYSTEM ............................................................................................................................................198 5. FISHERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS............................................................................................................203 SCS DOCUMENT SCS_V4 DRAFT FINAL 4 DRAFT FINAL REPORT V4 AUSTRALIA HIMI MACKEREL ICEFISH 1 INTRODUCTION The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the long- term protection or “sustainability” of marine fisheries and related habitats. First started as a joint initiative between Unilever and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the MSC is now a fully independent organization that is governed by an independent Board of Directors advised by a panel of scientific, economic, and fishery experts. The MSC’s original mission statement promoted responsible, environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable fisheries practices, as well as the maintenance of biodiversity, productivity and ecological processes of the marine environment. The current MSC mission statement (redrafted in 2001) provides a slightly more focused mission and reads, ³To safeguard the world¶s seafood supply by promoting the best environmental choice´. Dedicated to promoting “well-managed” or “sustainable” fisheries, the MSC initiative intends to identify such fisheries through means of independent third-party assessments and certification. Once certified, fisheries will be awarded the opportunity to utilize an MSC promoted eco-label to gain economic advantages in the marketplace. Through certification and eco-labelling, the MSC intends to promote and encourage better management of world fisheries, many of which have been suggested to suffer from poor