South Georgia Icefish Pelagic Trawl
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MSC SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES CERTIFICATION South Georgia Icefish Pelagic Trawl Final Report May 2016 Prepared For: Polar Ltd Prepared By: Acoura Marine Ltd. Acoura Marine Final Report South Georgia Icefish Pelagic Trawl Final Report May 2016 Authors: Andy Hough, Jim Andrews, Graham Piling Certification Body: Client: Acoura Marine Polar Ltd Address: Address: 6 Redheughs Rigg 37 Fitzroy Road Edinburgh PO Box 215 EH12 9DQ Stanley Scotland, UK Falkland Islands Name: Fisheries Department Name: Alex Reid Tel: +44(0) 131 335 6601 Tel: +500 22669 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web: www.Acoura.com version 3.0(24/03/15) Acoura Marine Final Report South Georgia Icefish Pelagic Trawl Contents 1 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 6 2 Authorship and Peer Reviewers ..................................................................................... 8 2.1 Assessment Team .................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Peer Reviewers ...................................................................................................... 9 3 Description of the Fishery ............................................................................................ 11 3.1 Unit(s) of Assessment (UoA) and Scope of Certification Sought ........................... 11 3.1.1 UoA and Proposed Unit of Certification (UoC) ............................................... 11 3.1.2 Final UoC(s)................................................................................................... 12 3.1.3 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and Catch Data ................................................ 13 3.1.4 Scope of Assessment in Relation to Enhanced Fisheries .............................. 13 3.2 Overview of the fishery ......................................................................................... 13 3.3 Principle One: Target species background ............................................................ 16 3.4 Principle Two: Ecosystem background .................................................................. 25 3.4.1 The aquatic ecosystem .................................................................................. 25 3.4.2 Retained and bycatch species ....................................................................... 26 3.4.3 Endangered, threatened or protected (ETP) species ..................................... 29 3.4.4 Habitats ......................................................................................................... 30 3.5 Principle Three: Management system background................................................ 32 3.5.1 Administrative boundaries .............................................................................. 32 3.5.2 Sovereignty .................................................................................................... 33 3.5.3 CCAMLR ....................................................................................................... 33 3.5.4 Administration of the fishery ........................................................................... 33 3.5.5 Licensing of fishing vessels ............................................................................ 33 3.5.6 Fishery Management objectives..................................................................... 34 3.5.7 Incentives for sustainable fishing ......................................................................... 37 3.5.8 Compliance monitoring .................................................................................. 38 3.5.9 Research ....................................................................................................... 38 3.5.10 Monitoring & evaluation of management performance ................................... 39 4 Evaluation Procedure ................................................................................................... 40 4.1 Harmonised Fishery Assessment .......................................................................... 40 4.2 Previous assessments .......................................................................................... 40 4.3 Assessment Methodologies .................................................................................. 41 Requirements .............................................................................................................. 41 4.4 Evaluation Processes and Techniques ................................................................. 42 4.4.1 Site Visits ....................................................................................................... 42 4.4.2 Consultations ................................................................................................. 42 Page 2 of 143 version 3.0(24/03/15) Acoura Marine Final Report South Georgia Icefish Pelagic Trawl 4.4.3 Evaluation Techniques ................................................................................... 42 5 Traceability .................................................................................................................. 45 5.1 Eligibility Date ....................................................................................................... 45 5.2 Traceability within the Fishery ............................................................................... 45 5.2.1 Tracking, tracing and segregation systems within the fishery ......................... 46 5.2.2 Management systems related to traceability .................................................. 46 5.3 Eligibility to Enter Further Chains of Custody ........................................................ 46 5.3.1 Parties eligible to use the fishery certificate ................................................... 46 5.3.2 Change of ownership ..................................................................................... 47 5.3.3 Landing points ............................................................................................... 47 5.3.4 Eligibility of Inseparable or Practicably Inseparable (IPI) stock(s) to Enter Further Chains of Custody ........................................................................................... 47 6 Evaluation Results ....................................................................................................... 48 6.1 Principle Level Scores .......................................................................................... 48 6.2 Summary of PI Level Scores ................................................................................. 48 6.3 Summary of Conditions ......................................................................................... 49 6.4 Recommendations ................................................................................................ 49 6.5 Determination, Formal Conclusion and Agreement ............................................... 49 7 References .................................................................................................................. 50 Appendix 1 Scoring and Rationales .................................................................................... 57 Appendix 1.1 Performance Indicator Scores and Rationale .......................................... 57 Appendix 1.2 Risk Based Framework (RBF) Outputs ................................................. 117 Appendix 1.3 Conditions ............................................................................................. 118 Appendix 2 Peer Review Reports...................................................................................... 119 Appendix 2.1 Peer Reviewer 1 ................................................................................... 119 Peer Reviewer 2 ........................................................................................................... 126 Appendix 3 Stakeholder Submissions ............................................................................... 136 Appendix 3.1 Written Submissions Made by Stakeholders ......................................... 136 Appendix 3.1.1 Comments on entry into assessment .............................................. 136 Appendix 3.1.2 Comments on Public Comment Draft Report .................................. 136 Appendix 3.1.3 Verbal Submissions Made by Stakeholders .................................... 140 Appendix 4 Surveillance Frequency .................................................................................. 141 Appendix 5 Objections Process ........................................................................................ 142 Appendix 6 Consultancy ................................................................................................... 143 Page 3 of 143 version 3.0(24/03/15) Acoura Marine Final Report South Georgia Icefish Pelagic Trawl Index of Tables Table 3.1: TAC and Catch Data ......................................................................................... 13 Table 3.2. Biomass estimates of C. gunnari from trawl survey data from surveys 2000-2015 (Belchier et al., 2015). ......................................................................................................... 19 Table 3.3. Icefish in Subarea 48.3 – Biomass (tonnes) estimates from groundfish surveys since 2000. Surveys in 2007 and 2008 were in September and April, respectively. The CCAMLR Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and catch taken are shown relative to the median biomass estimated by the survey. From Earl and Darby (2015). ........................................