Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis –Final Report
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Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis –Final Report Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis Final Report Submitted to Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 06 January 2010 eftec 73-75 Mortimer Street London W1W 7SQ tel: 44(0)2075805383 Report prepared for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by: Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec) 73 – 75 Mortimer St, London, W1W 7SQ Tel: 020 7580 5383 Fax: 020 7580 5385 www.eftec.co.uk Main contributors: Stephanie Hime Zara Phang Chelsea Thomson Reviewer: Rob Tinch Acknowledgements The research team wishes to acknowledge the guidance and help with all aspects of the research provided by the following: • The SAIF team for reviewing the review framework & steering group • Respondents to questionnaires and interviews • Workshop participants As ever, any remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors. eftec offsets its carbon emissions through a biodiversity-friendly voluntary offset purchased from the World Land Trust ( http://www.carbonbalanced.org ) and only prints on 100% recycled paper. Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis –Final Report CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................. 4 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 7 1.1 Management of UK Inshore Fisheries ............................................ 7 1.2 Data needs .......................................................................... 8 1.3 Outline of report ................................................................... 8 2 IDENTIFYING AND OBTAINING LITERATURE .................................................... 10 2.1 Defra literature ................................................................... 10 2.2 Additional Literature sources ................................................... 10 2.2.1 Stakeholder research questionnaire ........................................ 15 2.2.2 Format and structure of interviews ........................................ 15 3 REVIEW FRAMEWORK ......................................................................... 21 3.1 Framework Design ................................................................ 21 4 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA ........................................................................ 25 5 IDENTIFYING DATA GAPS ...................................................................... 27 5.1 Simple assessment ............................................................... 33 5.2 Cross-tabulations of basic data by fishing gear type ........................ 43 5.3 Cross-tabulations of basic data by location .................................. 47 5.4 Cross-tabulations of functional groups by data types ....................... 54 5.5 Further development ............................................................ 56 5.6 Examples of research containing key data ................................... 57 5.6.1 Sources covered in review ................................................... 57 5.6.2 General Overview ............................................................. 59 eftec 2 March 2010 Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis –Final Report 5.6.3 Data gathering ................................................................. 60 5.6.4 Evaluating policy options ..................................................... 61 5.6.5 Uncertainty in fisheries management ...................................... 63 5.6.6 Detailed studies of specific resources and issues ......................... 66 5.6.7 Data collection and analysis for social aspects ........................... 68 5.6.8 Overall summary of extended reviews ..................................... 71 5.7 Ongoing studies ................................................................... 71 6 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................. 75 REFERENCES ........................................................................................ 78 ANNEX A – INITIALLY IDENTIFIED PROJECTS AND RESEARCH OF INTEREST ........................ 112 ANNEX B – RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................ 122 ANNEX C - ADDITIONAL REFERENCES IDENTIFIED BY THE CONSULTATION PROCESS ............... 124 eftec 3 March 2010 Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis –Final Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this project is to analyse the availability of data relating to UK inshore fisheries and their management, identifying gaps and drawing conclusions for future research needs. Necessary steps include: • analysing Defra’s existing evidence base and providing key conclusions arising from this; • identifying external research projects that might usefully contribute to the evidence base for inshore fisheries; • identifying gaps in the evidence base; and, • identifying options for priority areas for further research needed for the development of a long term strategy for a sustainable inshore fleet. STUDY CONTEXT Fisheries need to be managed sustainably, both to maintain a healthy marine environment and to ensure that future generations can benefit from fishery resources. The Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries (SAIF) team launched this gap analysis to determine the type and relevance of information available to support the development, implementation and evaluation of inshore fisheries policy. Obtaining literature: Information was obtained from several sources including online resources, specialist databases, specific industry knowledge bases, published literature and Defra. In addition, a stakeholder consultation was carried out to identify further evidence and tap into the knowledge of the inshore fisheries community. Review of evidence: A review framework was developed within Microsoft Excel to summarise each piece of information obtained and form the basis for the gap analysis. This framework included several fields relating to the referencing of the information, a summary or abstract field, and a number of categorical fields to mark whether specific types of economic, social or environmental information were present. A further area within the workbook was used to assess the relevance of each piece of information reviewed. The relevance assessment related to overall relevance for the inshore fishing fleet, information contained, its robustness in terms of the methodology used to collect it, and overall general quality. Each article was evaluated under the following headings: year published; study location; fishing type; sample size; and policy context. These categories were each assigned values eftec 4 March 2010 Provision of Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries Research Gap Analysis –Final Report of high, medium or low, which were then evaluated together to determine the final overall relevance of the article. Following the review, classification and initial relevance assessment of each piece of evidence, the review framework has been used to determine the gaps within the current inshore fisheries evidence base. For greater flexibility, an extension to the project is now converting the MS Excel spreadsheet to MS Access format. This will enable those familiar with MS Access and SQL to write additional queries to supplement those standard searches provided by the database and gap analysis spreadsheet. The MS Access database will also display information and enable the standard gap analysis to be conducted in a more user friendly manner, although the MS Excel version will also remain available. The database will be identical to the spreadsheet in content and can be updated as required in future through the addition of records directly into MS Access tables. The identity between these two media for data storage will only be maintained if new additions are placed separately in both the MS Access database and the MS Excel spreadsheet. Further evidence on data gaps and research was derived from a consultation with key stakeholders, and via a more detailed review of selected references. CONCLUSIONS The review of over 500 pieces of research has not revealed any ‘absolute’ gaps, in the sense of data types or policy areas for which there is no research available. There are however many relative gaps where the evidence base is thin. This is particularly the case for inshore fisheries specifically, and for particular inshore fisheries management options. Evidence on key reference points such as stock carrying capacities seems to be sparse, and in many cases social and economic data are lacking, in the sense of being considered only in a handful of studies. Going to more specific levels (individual stocks, or individual ports) would be likely to reveal deeper gaps in the evidence base. It should be noted however that the gap analysis results derive from a meta-level assessment of what is covered in research papers, not on a detailed review of the specific data and results. The stakeholder consultation identified several areas for which participants felt data were lacking. These included information relating to the geographical location of inshore fishing activity, notably the lack of VMS data for the under 10-m vessels forming the inshore fleet. Stakeholders generally wanted more information on the impacts of fishing on the environment. Information on catch per unit effort of inshore fishers, and general