Yalu Estuary Manila Clam fishery MSC Fishery Assessment Report Public Comment Draft Report Authors Client Contact Dr. Rob Blyth-Skyrme—Lead & Thaihong Food Co. Ltd Principle 2 1, Wenyuan Road Dr. Mikio Moriyasu—Principle 1 Economic Development Zone, Donghong City, Dr. Jocelyn Drugan—Principle 3 Liaoning Province, China [email protected] +86-0415-3338888 July 9 2021 1 Table of Contents Yalu Estuary Manila Clam fishery 1 MSC Fishery Assessment Report 1 1 Table of Contents 2 Table of Figures 4 2 Glossary 6 3 Executive Summary 8 4 Report Details 12 4.1 Authorship and peer review details 12 4.2 Version details 14 5 Unit(s) of Assessment and Certification and results overview 15 5.1 Unit(s) of Assessment (UoA) and Unit(s) of Certification 15 5.2 Assessment results overview 26 6. Traceability and eligibility 29 6.1 Eligibility date 29 6.2 Traceability within the fishery 29 6.3 Eligibility to enter further chains of custody 31 6.4 Eligibility of Inseparable or Practicably Inseparable (IPI) stock(s) to Enter Further Chains of Custody31 7 Scoring 33 7.1 Summary of Performance Indicator level scores 33 7.2 Principle 1 35 7.3 Principle 2 75 7.4 Principle 2 Performance Indicator scores and rationales 92 7.6 Principle 3 148 7.8 Principle 3 Performance Indicator scores and rationales 161 8 Appendices 186 8.1 Assessment information 186 8.2 Evaluation processes and techniques 187 8.3 Peer Review reports 194 8.4 Stakeholder input 225 8.5 Conditions 225 2 8.6 Client Action Plan 262 8.7 Surveillance 267 8.8 Risk-Based Framework outputs 268 8.9 Harmonised fishery assessments 10 8.10 Objection Procedure 11 9 References 12 10 Template information and copyright 19 3 Table of Figures Table 1. Unit of Assessment and Unit of Certification ..................................................................... 8 Table 2. Fisheries program documents versions .................................................................................. 14 Table 3. Unit of Assessment (UoA) ................................................................................................. 20 Table 4. Consideration of the scope criteria for eligible enhanced fisheries (FCP 7.4.6) ............... 21 Table 5. Clam production from Putian (market size) ..................................................................... 25 Table 6. Principle level scores ............................................................................................................... 26 Table 7. Traceability within the fishery .......................................................................................... 30 Table 8. Summary of Performance Indicator Scores and Associated Weights Used to Calculate Principle Scores. ................................................................................................................................................... 33 Table 9. Final Principle Scores............................................................................................................... 34 Table 10. Manila clam abundance estimation survey stations (Putian Clam Association, 2018) 38 Table 11. Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and catch data ................................................................. 43 Table 12. Catch data for mechanical dredge survey sampling undertaken in 2014, 2016 and 2018 in Putian (fishing time is 5-6 hours). (Source: Taihong, December 2019). ............................................... 77 Table 13. Bycatch species as recorded in logbooks for the Donggang fishery (Taihong 2018) ... 79 Table 14. ETP species recognised by the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife, and their potential to interact with the fishery (analysis by Cappell 2019). .......................... 81 Table 15. Production of manila clam from Donggang, 2015-2019 (source: client) ...................... 87 Table 16. Scoring elements for Principle 1 and Principle 2. ......................................................... 91 Table 17. Small-scale fisheries .................................................................................................... 186 Table 18. Offsite meetings held for the fishery assessment (13th April – 24th April 2020. ......... 187 Table 19 Decision Rule for Calculating Performance Indicator Scores based on Scoring Issues, and for Calculating Performance Indicator Scores in Cases of Multiple Scoring Elements. (Adapted from MSC FCPV2.1 Table 4) ................................................................................................................................. 192 Table 21. Condition 1 .................................................................................................................. 225 Table 22. Condition 2 .................................................................................................................. 228 Table 23. Condition 3 .................................................................................................................. 259 Table 24. Condition 4 .................................................................................................................. 259 Table 25. Condition 5 .................................................................................................................. 260 Table 26 Condition 6 .......................................................................................................................... 260 Table 27 Condition 7 ........................................................................................................................... 261 Table 28 Condition 8 ........................................................................................................................... 261 Table 29. Condition 9 .......................................................................................................................... 261 Table 30. Condition 10 ........................................................................................................................ 261 Table 31. Fishery surveillance programme. ................................................................................ 267 Table 32. Timing of surveillance audit ........................................................................................ 267 Table 33. Surveillance level justification .................................................................................... 267 Table 34 Responses received to the RBF questionnaire for the Principle 1 assessment of the Putian wild Manila clam stock. ...................................................................................................................... 277 Table 35. CA Scoring Table ............................................................................................................. 1 Table 36 .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Table 21. Catch data for mechanical dredge survey sampling undertaken in 2014, 2016 and 2018 in Putian (fishing time is 5-6 hours). (Source: Taihong, pers. comm., December 2019). ........................... 4 Table 38. PSA productivity attributes and scores (Table PF4) ........................................................ 5 Table 39. PSA productivity attributes and scores ........................................................................... 6 Table 40. Susceptibility attributes for wild Manila clam in the Putian region (Table PF5, MSC 2018b). 7 Table 41. Susceptibility results for Manila clam ............................................................................. 8 4 Table 42. Productivity Susceptibility analysis MSC RBF worksheet results for Manila Clam. ........ 9 5 2 Glossary B Biomass BOF China Bureau of Fisheries CA Consequence analysis CAPPMA China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance CAG Catch and Grow CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CMP China Maritime Police CMS China Maritime Supervision Corps DOF Department of Ocean and Fisheries EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone ETP Endangered, Threatened or Protected species F Fishing Mortality FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FCP Fisheries Certification Process FCM Fisheries Certification Methodology HAC Hatch and Catch IFQ Individual Fishing Quota ITQ Individual Transferable Quota Kg Kilogram Lb. Pound, equivalent to roughly 2.2 kg LOA Length Over-All LTL Low Trophic Level LTMP Long Term Management Plan MARA Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs MLS Minimum Landing Size MSC Marine Stewardship Council MSE Management Strategy Evaluation MSFD Marine Strategy Framework Directive MSY Maximum Sustainable Yield nm nautical mile OFB Ocean and Fisheries Bureau OFL Over-Fishing Level PCA Putian Clam Association PI Performance Indicator PO Producer Organisation PRC People’s Republic of China PRI Point of recruitment impairment PSA Productivity Susceptibility Analysis RBF Risk Based Framework SCS SCS Global Services SAC Special Area of Conservation 6 SG Scoring Guidepost SSB Spawning Stock Biomass SI Scoring Issue SSB Spawning Stock Biomass t and mt metric ton TAC Total Allowable Catch WWF World Wildlife Fund UoA Unit of Assessment UoC Unit of Certification VME Vulnerable marine ecosystem VPA Virtual Population Analysis 7 3 Executive Summary This assessment of the Yalu Estuary Manila Clam (Ruditapes philippinarum) Fishery was conducted by SCS Global Services (SCS), an MSC-accredited, independent, third-party conformity assessment body (CAB), in accordance with the MSC Principles