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The importance of fishers’ knowledge as a management tool: a case study of the 2006 decline of the Firth Loligo fishery in North East and the implications for future management strategies

J.M. Smith, G.J. Pierce, and I. Theodossiou

The present paper reviews the recent history of the directed squid fishery in the , Scotland (UK), including the sharp decline in landings during the 2006 fishing season. This is a small, inshore fishery, in which many vessels are owned and operated by a single fisher, with three months of seasonal Loligo catch profits comprising more than 50% of their annual gross income. Face-to-face interviews with vessel owners who participate in the fishery were conducted in the ports of , , , Macduff and during early to mid 2007 to obtain a greater understanding of the importance of the Loligo fishery, with the aim to obtain a picture of (a) spawning and fishing ground locations, (b) environmental conditions perceived to be related to favourable catch per fishing effort, (c) importance of the cephalopod fishery to the fishers as an employment opportunity and source of income and (d) fishers’ opinions of possible factors leading to the decline of landings during 2006. It is hoped that suggestions for management produced by these stakeholders, when considered together with biological data such as life history models stemming from growth and maturation relationships, could provide the basis for a successful cephalopod stock management regime in this niche-market fishery, which is vulnerable to both socio-economic and biological collapse.

Keywords: Loligo, squid fishery, Moray Firth, management strategies

Contact author: J.M. Smith: University of , School of Biological Sciences, Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UK [tel: +44 1224 272866, fax: +44 1224 272396, e-mail: [email protected]].

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1. Introduction

The Moray Firth is a triangular inlet of the North Sea situated on Scotland’s northeastern coast. The area supports a variety of commercially viable industry activity, including oil production, malt whiskey distillation and whitefish and prawn fishing. The southern coast of the firth is dotted with historical fishing ports and villages, several of which continue to receive and process commercial landings on a daily basis. The town of Fraserburgh is the largest fishing port in this area, with over 200 registered fishing vessels at the end of last year (DEFRA, 2006).

The commercial squid fishery in the Moray Firth, comprised primarily from landings of the veined squid Loligo forbesi, typically takes place during the months of August through November. Squid is landed primarily in the ports of Buckie and Fraserburgh, although landings also occur in the smaller ports of Burghead and Macduff (see Figure 1.). Historically, the fishery has been small-scale, with 2-3 vessels off each fishing area participating in the directed fishery each year (J. Brown, SFPA, pers. comm.). During 2003, a large directed fishery was established approximately 50 metres offshore from Buckie, with increased landings also seen in Fraserburgh, partially a result of high catches off of Trouphead (Figure 2.). The fishery generated comparable landings in tonnes in 2005. When fishing effort off of Buckie yielded over 700 tonnes of squid with a market value of over GBP £1,000,000, with highest landings during the month of September and directed catch continuing as late as December.

The directed fishery in 2006 failed to yield the high landings of the previous seasons. Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) officers in Buckie reported large (> 10 m) vessels arriving and changing to squid gear in early August, but also reported the presence of unfavourable weather. A combination of strong tides and easterly gales occurred in September, and the Buckie fishery failed to materialize, with the exception of a few small vessels (< 10 m) fishing off Burghead. It was suggested that the environmental conditions had contributed to the low catch, as approximately 18 years ago when similar, prolonged weather conditions were present, squid and lobster were observed washed up along the shoreline in the area (J. Hay, SFPA, pers. comm.).

The present study attempts to investigate fishers’ knowledge to assess the biological and socio-economic importance of the Loligo fishery, with the aim to obtain a picture of (a) spawning and fishing ground locations, (b) environmental conditions perceived to be related to favourable catch per fishing effort, (c) importance of the cephalopod fishery to the fishers as an employment opportunity and source of income and (d) fishers’ opinions of possible factors leading to the decline of landings during 2006. Fishers’ knowledge has been shown in many instances to complement scientific knowledge, and by shedding light on biological processes in less understood species, has proven essential in circumstances where fished stocks require unique approaches to management (see Haggan et al., 2007).

2. Methods

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Contact was initiated with SFPA officers along the northeastern Scottish towns of Lerwick, Buckie, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen, Peterhead and Pittenweem via phone, email or in person. An interview questionnaire was developed to collect vessel and trip information, gear specifics, biological and economic catch details, management suggestions, and opinions regarding the decline of landings during the 2006 fishing season as compared to the higher landings from previous years. Questionnaires required specific responses to provide adequate data for the calculation of economic production functions (see Theodossiou, 2003) and the Gómez-Muñoz equation (Gómez-Muñoz, 1990) and were therefore primarily composed of closed-format questions, with the exception of questions regarding opinions about management and perceived reasons for the fishery decline. The Gómez-Muñoz model provides a means of estimating catch and effort in small-scale fisheries and has been used in the past for comparison with official statistics and to obtain data for poorly documented artisanal fisheries (e.g., Simón et al., 1996; Rocha et al., 2004; Young et al., 2006a).

The study area comprised the ports within the Moray Firth area that have traditionally experienced the highest amounts of Loligo landings during the past five years (data sourced from the annual Scottish Executive Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics). Ports selected for surveying included Burghead, Buckie, Lossiemouth, Macduff and Fraserburgh (Figure 1). A letter of intent and a colour flyer detailing the upcoming interviews were sent to the SFPA offices via facsimile prior to the commencement of the interviewing.

Contact with the Harbour Offices at study area ports of interest was initiated to collect the names of specific vessels and skippers who had fished for squid during the 2006 season, as well as their typical landing patterns and in-harbour activities. This information was used to compile a master list of vessels to target, although any available skippers or fishers not included on the master list were approached as well. During late February and early March 2007, face-to-face interviews were conducted with fishers, systematically directly targeting as many fishers as could be located who actively fished for squid during 2006, either on their boats, on the docks, or in some instances in public establishments near the harbour. Participants were first read a “Confidentiality Statement” which was also printed at the top of each questionnaire, informing them that their individual vessel name, number and surname would not be documented on data collection sheets. Questions were asked by the interviewer, and the responses were documented on the interview questionnaires by hand. Information or opinions volunteered by the interviewees were also documented to the fullest extent possible. The duration of each interview was between 15 minutes and 1 hour.

3. Results

3.1. Vessel and Trip Information

Of the ten interview questionnaires completed by active squid fishers, 80% of the vessels surveyed were < 10 m in length, with the remaining being > 10 m (all of the < 10 m boats were between 9 and 10 m in length). Vessels landing at Burghead were all < 10 m. It

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appears that the larger boats favour landing further east in Buckie or Fraserburgh. Engine size in the small boat class ranged from 120-240 hp, with the largest vessel (21 m) running on 650 hp. All skippers interviewed, with the exception of the > 10 m vessel out of Fraserburgh fished during daylight hours: the vessels were deployed just before sunrise, and continued to fish until sunset, when they made their way back to port. It was mentioned by most interviewees that the catch strategy was to either capture the animals in the water column as they descended after night time feeding, or to catch the animals as they congregated close to the seabed during the day. The median trawl time to fishing grounds was 30 min (represented by the Burghead fishers), but overall ranged from 10 to 45 min, possibly variable as a result of the horsepower range of the vessels. Burghead fishers fished 2 nm offshore, while the Buckie and Lossiemouth fishers traveled slightly further. Just over half of the surveyed fishers preferred what they described as “still,” “calm,” or “flat” sea state to maximise catch, while three fishers indicated that they do not believe water condition is correlated to catch levels. Seven (70%) of the fishers reported that clear water was necessary for a good catch, while two fishers did not perceive a difference in catch as a function of water clarity. One fisher believes that he experiences the highest catches of larger, faster swimming animals in cloudy water, possibly a result of the animals’ reduced ability to see the gear. Five (50%) of the fishers preferred sunny skies, while four others did not believe that weather conditions (except for extremes) affected catch levels.

The fisher interviewed in Fraserburgh was an exception among the interviewees. When fishing off of Troup Head he leaves the port just before 21:00 hr and only hauls twice per trip: once at 21:00 hr and again at 03:00 hr (but fishes during daylight when fishing off of Buckie).

3.2 Gear and Crew Effort

All vessels used ‘squid nets’ as gear, with the two > 10 m vessels also employing hopper nets for hard bottom trawling. The squid nets were described as 80 mm nets with a 40 mm cod end. The fisher from Fraserburgh with the > 10 m vessel used a hopper trawl with a “high side panel” to retain the animals in the net, and mesh size ranging from 6.25 in (approx. 16 cm) at the opening down to 35 millimetres at the cod-end. He stated that this mesh size was employed in an effort to retain larger animals only (animal size has a positive relationship with market price obtained). All fishers surveyed used one gear unit was used at a time, deployed for between three and six hauls per trip, with an average soak time between 2-2.5 hrs and average towing speed between 2-2.5 kt. It was generally reported that haul depth was as shallow as 10 m at the start of the season, when fishers were fishing close to the shore, but as the season progressed, distance offshore increased and therefore haul depth was increased to around 30 m, with some fishers fishing as deep as 50 m, and two fishing well over 100 m. Seabed substrate of target areas was classified as ‘sandy/shingle,’ with the exception of the two larger vessels that used hopper gear and could therefore haul over hard and stony bottom. Median crew size for the small vessels fishing off of Burghead was one whereas the two > 10 m boat skippers employed three men in addition to themselves. The boat which landed in Lossiemouth carried a crew of two men in addition to the skipper, and one of the Burghead < 10 m vessel skippers

4 ICES CM 2007/O:06 stated that he used one crew member. All skippers reported that any fishers on board worked the entirety of the trip, which was the entire duration of daylight (hours variable according to the month and therefore sunrise and sunset times). Nine of the ten fishers surveyed said that the most important reason to land (from a multiple choice list) was to preserve the catch. Once removed from the sea, Loligo squid is very quick to perish, and the quality of the animals must remain high in order to receive a good market price. Other popular reasons given to land were bad weather and darkness, although one fisher mentioned the presence of crustaceans in the nets, which would damage the skin of the squid, reducing their market value.

3.3. Evidence of Cephalopod Eggs

When speaking not only to the squid fishers, but also to numerous static gear fishers (e.g., creelers) and a dive boat captain who completed an interview questionnaire, all fishers who commonly see cephalopod eggs each year (occurrences varied by respondent from spring to early summer) commented that the amount of eggs seen and brought up when hauling gear during the first half of 2006 was more than they had ever seen previously.

3.4. Catch Information

The fishing season in 2006 was identified by fishers as being anywhere from June to August, with June being the most frequent answer. Fishers all reported that active squid fishing began at least a month earlier than in previous years. As the fishery did not produce landings comparable with past seasons, the majority of the fishers surveyed stopped directed squid fishing during the months of September, October or November. The fishers then went back to targeting prawns, with the addition of haddock and monkfish in the case of the larger vessel which lands in Buckie.

Most fishers indicated that if the hauls were fished properly (both far enough off the seabed to avoid sand and mud and in productive fishing areas), the catch would be “clean squid,” meaning there would be no by-catch and therefore minimal damage to the skin of the animals. Several fishers reported occasional by-catch of crabs, small haddock, mackerel, lobster, jellyfish and gold weaver. The maximum catch per haul reported for the 2006 season ranged from 5 to 70 boxes (1 full box = approximately 40 kg), with the highest catch occurring in either July, August or September. It is thought that these quantities are much below the maximum haul averages from previous years. The average number of boxes landed daily ranged from 2 – 10, with several fishers deeming the landings too variable to calculate a daily average. Squid landed was normally sold directly to a commercial seafood company where it was processed and shipped to overseas markets in Europe.

3.5. Economics

As might be expected, answers could not be obtained to all of the questions in this section of the interviews.

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Petrol costs ranged from £50-250 per day of active fishing for the < 10 m vessels with no additional crew besides the skippers. The two > 10 m vessels, which both employed a crew, reported weekly vessel costs, including petrol, crew and insurance, ranging from £3,000-10,000. Detailed seasonal gear costs were reported as zero in 70% of the interviews, but all fishers who participated in the survey admitted to spending time repairing the gear themselves, though it was not possible to quantify the total amount of time spent on this task during the fishing season. The three fishers who reported gear maintenance costs had new gear as an expense, ranging from £1,000-4,000.

The failure of the fishery to materialize in 2006 as in years past led to fishers experiencing lower than average income levels when compared to those of previous years.

3.6. Factors Affecting Catches

Fishers gave the following suggested explanations for the decline in landings during the 2006 fishing season:

• Larger boats with rock-hopper trawls damaged the spawning grounds or began fishing too early and heavily and removed too many animals when they were of small size; • Fishers started fishing too early (e.g., trawling in June as opposed to August as in previous years) before squid were to size; • Changes in the water temperature; • Changes in the availability of the squid population’s food sources; • Velvet crabs possibly feeding on cephalopod eggs; • Combination of strong tides with easterly gales (J. Brown, SFPA, pers. comm.).

3.7. Future Management Strategies

The percentage of fishers interviewed giving a positive response when asked if they would be in favour of a selection of suggested management strategies are listed in Figure 3.

Fishers were asked an open-ended question as to what other, if any, management schemes they would like to see implemented within the fishery. Seven (70%) of the fishers volunteered opinions, with 40% of those fishers giving “late start” as an answer, and 40% specifying a specific vessel length-based restriction (two fishers prohibiting vessels > 12 m from entering the fishery, one fisher to prohibit vessels > 14 m, and one fisher to only permit vessels <10 m within 3 miles from the shoreline).

4. Discussion

Economic information was difficult to obtain, resulting from both the sensitivity of the subject matter and the high level of difficulty recalling exact figures in a fishery which is known to experience very variable catch and effort. Figures from fish-selling agents, the

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fish markets and from SFPA should be obtained in the future to verify any economic information related to the sale of catch. SFPA data records would also be beneficial to create a clearer picture of the start and end of the season, as well as the quantities landed on a daily basis throughout the active season.

All fishers who commented on the presence of squid eggs during the spring and summer of 2006 expressed the opinion that there were more eggs present than had been seen in previous years that they had fished the area. What has been described as an overabundance of eggs seemed to have generated a larger interest in the fishery as compared to previous years, and this phenomenon is attributed to an initial increase in effort in the form of larger size and higher numbers of vessels entering the fishery at an earlier time during 2006 (large trawlers were also reported as a threat to small vessel fishers in a previous study; see Young et al., 2006b). As all the fishers commented on the very small animals that were caught when directed fishing commenced (described as “powder” in appearance by one fisher), it is obvious that the fishing began before the animals had reached a growth stage adequate for landing. It is also possible that other biological or environmental factors influenced the number of animals that hatched and were able to grow to adult size. It was mentioned by a former creel fisher that there was an abundance of blue crabs during the spring of 2006, and it is possible that the presence of blue crabs had a direct effect on eggs. Another fisher commented on the presence of Portuguese Man O’War, Physalia physalis, claiming that he had never seen them in the area prior to 2006. It is unknown if the atypical presence of these animals is directly related to the failure of the squid fishery to materialize, or if they are merely a result of some other environmental change of which the decline in squid landings was also an effect. Environmental data should be sourced to determine any significant changes or fluctuations in the fishing areas which could be responsible for changes in abundance and community composition.

As numerous fishers claimed to be willing to have observers on board, further investigation should involve the use of monitoring to collect data on gear specifics and fishing ground location. Market samples taken during the entire season would provide useful for determining growth relationships of the population. Identification of where egg masses have been seen and brought up, using GIS technology or by obtaining latitude and longitude from vessel equipment would further the estimates of spawning grounds for each season. Further data analyses, as well as additional fisher interviews are currently underway at the time this article was in press.

5. Acknowledgements

Field work for this research was partially funded by a bursary from the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS). The author would like to thank Mr. Angus Mair and Mr. James Brown of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA), as well as all the fishermen who gave their time to answer survey questions. Thank you to Dr. Jianjun Wang for producing the map used for Figure 1 in this manuscript.

6. References

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DEFRA Fisheries Statistics Unit, 2006. The Fishing Vessel List as of 1 December 2006. .

Gómez-Muñoz, V.M., 1990. A model to estimate catches from a short fishery statistics survey. Bull. Mar. Sci. 46: 719-722.

Haggan, N., Neis, B., and Baird, I.G. (eds.), 2007. Fishers’ knowledge in fisheries science and management. UNESCO Publishing, Paris. 437pp.

Rocha, F., Gracia, R., González, A.F., Jardón, C.M., Guerra, A., 2004. Reliability of a model based on a short fishery statistics survey: application to the Northeast Atlantic monkfish fishery. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 61: 25-34.

Simón, F., Rocha, F. and Guerra, A., 1996. The small-scale squid hand-jig fishery off the northwestern Iberian peninsula: application of a model based on a short survey of fishery statistics. Fish. Res. 25, 253-263.

Scottish Executive, 2000-2005. Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2000-2005. Available online at: www.scotland.gov.uk.

Theodossiou, I., 2003. Literature review for the application of Production Function Analysis and the estimation of Stochastic Production Frontiers in fisheries. University of Aberdeen.

Young, I.A.G., Pierce, G.J., Murphy, J., Daly, H.I. and Bailey, N., 2006a. Application of the Gomez-Munoz model to estimate catch and effort in squid fisheries in Scotland. Fish. Res. 78, 26-38.

Young, I.A.G., Pierce, G.J., Stowasser, G., Santos, M.B., Wang, J., Boyle, P.R., Shaw, P.W., Bailey, N., Tuck, I. and Collins, M.A., 2006b. The Moray Firth directed squid fishery. Fish. Res. 78, 39-43.

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Figure 1. Location of the study site fishing ports in the Moray Firth, from along the Moray coast eastward to , Scotland, UK.

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Scottish Squid Landings

800 Eyemouth 700 Peterhead Buckie 600 Shetland 500 Pittenweem 400 Lochinver Fraserburgh 300 Aberdeen Wick 200 Wick Stornoway Landings (Tonnes) Landings 100 Pittenweem Aberdeen 0 Buckie Orkney Eyemouth Lochinver 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Year 2005

Figure 2. Reported squid landings across all Scottish ports from 2000-2005.

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Early closure options

On-board monitoring or observing

Limit on catches of new recruits

Protected areas for spawning grounds

Restricted entry

Quotas (e.g., TACs, ITQs)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 3. Percentage of fishers interviewed in favour of suggested possible future management strategies.

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