(IUU) Fishing in Liberia
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The Effectiveness of Measures Adopted to Curb Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in Liberia. The Effectiveness of Measures Adopted to Curb Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in Liberia S. Ahmed Sherif Thesis for MSc Degree in Environment and Natural Resources Supervisor: Sveinn Agnarsson PhD. Faculty of Business Administration, School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland June, 2019 The Effectiveness of Measures Adopted to Curb Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in Liberia. This thesis is the equivalent of 30 ECTS towards a MSc degree in Environmental and Natural Resources from the Faculty of Business Administration from the School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland. © 2019 S. Ahmed Sherif This thesis may not be duplicated without the permission of the author. Printing: Háskólaprent Reykjavík, Iceland, 2019 Acknowledgement Special thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Sveinn Argnasson for his assiduous efforts and tolerance in guiding me to achieve everything contained within this paper in such a short time frame. His patience was invaluable, and I hope I engendered the spirit of a good student. I will remain grateful. Thank you. Special gratitude to the erstwhile Bureau of National Fisheries for affording me the scholarship, and the European Union, under whose supervision, the scholarship under the sectoral support which derived from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA), was fully implemented. To my family, I am appreciative of the support. Especially my mom, Hawa E. Sherif, your sacrifices will never be forgotten. And to my father Abubakar K. Sherif, I say thank you. To my little brother Abbas M. Sherif, I say thank you. Thanks for sharing my joy and sadness, as well as my failures and successes; this success. You always wanted this for me, especially at times I did not even consider. Your help during this period was immeasurable and for this, I will always be in your debt. Lastly to my kids, Kasim Abbas Sherif and Ahmed S. Sherif, though very young when I started, you both inspired me. I needed to achieve this so that this aspect of my life motivates you to do better. My life is now dedicated to making yours better than what I always dreamt of but never had. 3 Dedication Dedicated to J. P. Arthur for being there before, now and always. And my dearest mom, for the uncountable sacrifices in guiding and grooming the man I have become. 4 Abstract Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing continues to attract global attention due to its ability to undermine the development of coastal nations, degrade the marine ecosystems and destabilize the ability of the environment to recover from exploitations. Developing nations, especially in Africa, are the most vulnerable due the lack of adequate management tools and mechanisms to avert and discourage IUU fishing. The devastation caused by IUU fishing in this part of the world is most alarming due to the dependency rate of coastal nations to fisheries for livelihood and nutrition intake. Liberia being a developing coastal nation continues to be affected by varying forms of IUU fishing. Majority of the population live on the coast and rely heavily on these resources, especially as fish provide a cheaper means for animal protein. This study provides an assessment of the effectiveness of institutionalized structures employed to combat IUU fishing. The study investigates the effectiveness of policies to demarcate zones for fishing by vessel types by comparing the catch size of Artisanal and industrial fishing before and after the structures and policies went into effect. The data shows huge difference in catch size before 2010, favoring the industrial fishers. After 2010, the advantage is reversed and there was a spike in artisanal catch and steep decline in the industrial fishing. This study also provides a MSY-catch analysis to determine how much IUU fishing affects the stock size. It is seen that while the revenue generation by the fisheries sector is indeed affected by IUU fishing, the proportion of catch to stock is extremely low and has been near constant for almost two decades. This allows for the temptation to increase effort which could increase the contribution of the fisheries sector to the national GDP of Liberia. However, the analyses fall short of including IUU catch records from vessels arrested, fined or penalized during the same period, as well as the inclusion of tuna fishery catch records. A review of the COBECOS project is discussed and possible applications of the model to Liberia is discussed and recommended. 5 Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................. 9 List of Tables................................................................................................................. 10 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 15 1.1 Objectives .......................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Structure of Thesis ............................................................................................ 16 2 The Liberian Fisheries ............................................................................................. 18 2.1 Fisheries in Liberia ........................................................................................... 18 2.1.1 Marine Fisheries ................................................................................... 19 2.1.1.1 Industrial Fisheries ......................................................................... 19 2.1.1.2 Artisanal (Small-scale) Fisheries ................................................... 21 2.1.1.3 Aquaculture .................................................................................... 23 2.1.1.4 Deep Sea Fisheries (Tuna) ............................................................. 23 2.1.1.5 Recreational Fisheries .................................................................... 24 2.2 Importance of the Fishing Sector to the National Economy ............................. 24 2.3 Fisheries Management in Liberia ..................................................................... 25 2.4 Legal Framework .............................................................................................. 27 3 Theory ...................................................................................................................... 31 3.1 IUU Fishing With Respect to Region ................................................................ 33 3.2 Recent Trends ................................................................................................... 33 3.3 Corruption, Economic Drivers, and Other Conditions that Facilitate IUU Fishing .............................................................................................................. 34 3.4 The Impacts of IUU Fishing ............................................................................. 37 3.5 Impacts on the Sustainable Development Goals ............................................... 44 3.6 Addressing IUU Fishing ................................................................................... 45 3.7 Costs and Benefits of Risks to IUU fishers ....................................................... 48 3.7.1 The model .............................................................................................. 48 3.8 Costs and Benefits of Combating IUU Fishing ................................................ 51 3.8.1 The Costs and Benefits of Control Strategies (COBECOS) Project ..... 51 3.8.2 Theory and Model ................................................................................. 51 4 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 55 5 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 57 5.1 Trawling Restrictions on Industrial Fishing Vessels in Waters Exclusive to Artisanal Fishers ............................................................................................... 57 5.2 MSY vs. Artisanal and Industrial Catch Volumes............................................. 60 7 6 Measures against IUU Fishing in Liberia ................................................................ 63 6.1 Establishment of the West African Regional Fisheries Project (WARFP) in Liberia, and the Fight against IUU Fishing ..................................................... 63 6.1.1 Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MSC) in Liberia ..................... 66 6.1.2 The Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC) ............................................. 67 6.1.3 The Fisheries Observer Program ......................................................... 69 6.1.4 The Fisheries Inspector ......................................................................... 70 6.1.5 The Fisheries Sea and Areal Patrol ...................................................... 70 6.1.6 The Establishment of the MCSCC ......................................................... 71 6.1.7 Community Management Association (CMA)....................................... 72 6.1.8 Regional Engagements .......................................................................... 73 7 Assessment of existing measures in Liberia to Curb IUU Fishing .......................... 75 7.1 Limitation of the Source of Revenue Through