A WWF COMMISSIONED REPORT PREPARED BY POSEIDON AQUATIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LTD REPORT AUGUST 2011 Sustainability A Blueprint for moving toward sustainable tropical © GUSTAVO YBARRA© GUSTAVO / WWF-CANON shrimp trawl fisheries - Foreword - Whilst there is widespread agreement that bottom trawling for tropical shrimp presents an urgent conservation problem, the complexity of these fisheries, both environmental and socio/economic, has often thwarted effective conservation efforts. The purpose of this WWF–commissioned report is to address this complexity by providing a set of management guidelines that, if adopted, will serve as the foundational measures from which lasting sustainability can later be achieved. The management guidelines presented here should not therefore be viewed as a definitive WWF vision of what should constitute sustainability in tropical shrimp trawl fisheries, nor should full adoption of these guidelines necessarily mean a fishery will be sustainable. For this, there are many areas that need to be fully addressed, such as issues of habitat protection, habitat restoration and strengthening protection to endangered, threatened and protected species, for example. However, it is WWF’s hope that these generic guidelines, when regionally applied, will provide an important pathway to help tropical shrimp trawl fisheries adopt better management practices that will eventually allow them to operate in a fully sustainable manner. Alfred Schumm Leader, WWF Smart Fishing Initiative August 2011 Report prepared by: Richard Banks and Graeme Macfadyen POSEIDON ARM LTD POSEIDON ARM LTD 13 RIBBON AV 2 FOX POND LANE PORT DOUGLAS LYMINGTON QLD 4877 HAMPSHIRE SO41 8FW AUSTRALIA UNITED KINGDOM TELEPHONE: +61 7 4099 3985 TELEPHONE: +44 1590 610168 [email protected] [email protected] www.consult-poseidon.com www.consult-poseidon.com Disclaimer The views contained in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of WWF. The content of this report relates to the date of publication, but may be superseded by ongoing developments in many of the fisheries profiled. A blueprint for moving toward sustainable tropical shrimp trawl fisheries TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................. I 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 2 BACKGROUND TO TROPICAL SHRIMP TRAWLING (TST)............................................................2 2.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERY....................................................................................................................................... 2 2.2 FLEET STRUCTURE ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 CATCH TRENDS ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 2.4 STOCK ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.5 CATCH COMPOSITION AND BYCATCH RETENTION .......................................................................................................... 13 2.5.1 Fish species...................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.5.2 Juvenile shrimp ...............................................................................................................................................17 2.5.3 Other threatened species................................................................................................................................ 19 2.5.4 Benthic interactions ....................................................................................................................................... 19 2.5.5 Ecosystem interactions .................................................................................................................................. 21 2.6 GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS AND JURISDICTIONAL MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................ 21 2.7 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS .............................................................................................................................................29 2.7.1 Input controls..................................................................................................................................................29 2.7.2 Output controls............................................................................................................................................... 31 2.7.3 Input versus output controls..........................................................................................................................39 2.7.4 Technical measures ........................................................................................................................................40 2.8 BUSINESS DRIVERS AND CURRENT PRACTICES ..............................................................................................................42 2.8.1 Market share, accessibility, and prices .........................................................................................................42 2.8.2 Wage and salary remuneration systems......................................................................................................43 2.8.3 Changes in cost structures.............................................................................................................................44 2.9 SOCIAL ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................................... 45 3 BENCHMARKING ASSESSMENT OF TROPICAL SHRIMP FISHERIES ........................................46 3.1 ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................46 3.2 MSC ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................................................................................... 47 3.2.1 Principle 1: Sustainability of the target stock ............................................................................................... 47 3.2.2 Principle 2: Impact on the ecosystem............................................................................................................49 3.2.3 Principle 3: Governance and policy performance........................................................................................ 53 3.2.4 Principle 4: Economic and social framework............................................................................................... 53 3.3 SUMMARY OF PROBLEM ANALYSIS AND CURRENT PERFORMANCE ................................................................................... 55 4 BLUEPRINT FOR MOVING TOWARD SUSTAINABLE TROPICAL SHRIMP TRAWL FISHERIES .59 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 59 4.2 LESSONS LEARNED............................................................................................................................................. 59 4.3 THE BLUEPRINT................................................................................................................................................63 4.4 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BLUEPRINT ................................................................................................................ 76 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................... 78 APPENDIX A. COUNTRY CASE STUDIES...............................................................................................................................78 A.1: Northern Prawn Fishery, Australia................................................................................................................ 78 A.2 Spencer Gulf fishery, South Australia..............................................................................................................83 A.3 Shrimp trawl fishery, Madagascar .................................................................................................................88 A.4 Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic shrimp trawl fisheries, US ....................................................................... 91 A.5 Shrimp trawl fisheries, Mexico ........................................................................................................................ 95 A.6 Deep- and shallow-water prawn fisheries, Mozambique...............................................................................99 A.7 Atlantic seabob trawl fishery, Suriname ....................................................................................................... 104 A.8 Arafura Sea and Mareoke, Papua, Indonesia............................................................................................... 106 A.9 Kerala and Orissa shrimp fisheries, India ...................................................................................................