Workshop Report: Economic Aspects of Bycatch Reduction Andrew Kitts, Lee Benaka, Dennis Heinemann, Sabrina Lovell, Noelle Olsen, and Dale Squires (editors) U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/SPO-214 February 2021 Workshop Report: Economic Aspects of Bycatch Reduction A. Kitts, L. Benaka, D. Heinemann, S. Lovell, N. Olsen, and D. Squires (editors) NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/SPO-214 February 2021 U.S. Department of Commerce Wynn Coggins, Acting Secretary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Benjamin Friedman, Acting NOAA Administrator National Marine Fisheries Service Paul Doremus, Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Recommended citation: A. Kitts, L. Benaka, D. Heinemann, S. Lovell, N. Olsen, and D. Squires (editors). 2021. Workshop Report: Economic Aspects of Bycatch Reduction. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS- F/SPO-214, 46 p. Copies of this report may be obtained online at: http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/tech-memos/ ii Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................ iv Introduction and Background ....................................................................................................................... 1 Opening Remarks.......................................................................................................................................... 2 Mitigating Fisheries Bycatch: Regulatory Framework, Economic Instruments, and Technological Change ............................................................................................................................ 3 Case Studies .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Amendment 80 Sector Bering Sea Non-Pollock Groundfish Trawl (Multispecies Trawl Flatfish) ......... 9 Vaquita Bycatch in Small-Scale Commercial Gillnet Fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico .................................................................................................................................. 12 Cod Bycatch in the Northeast Recreational Haddock Fishery ................................................................ 19 California Large Mesh Drift Gillnet Fishery: Bycatch and Regulatory Changes since the 1980s ......... 20 North Atlantic Right Whales in Relation to the U.S. Lobster Fishery, Joint Research, NOAA and DFO Canada ........................................................................................................................ 22 Reducing Seabird Bycatch in Alaskan Longline Fisheries ..................................................................... 25 Bycatch Issues in the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishery .................................................................. 27 Hawaii Swordfish (Shallow-Set) Longline Fishery and Sea Turtle Bycatch .......................................... 31 Common Themes ........................................................................................................................................ 34 Next Steps, Future Opportunities, Potential Collaborations ....................................................................... 37 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Appendix A – Workshop Participants ........................................................................................................ 44 Appendix B – Workshop Agenda ............................................................................................................... 46 iii Acknowledgments The Steering Committee would like to thank all case study leads for writing and presenting the case studies; Kristen Koch, David Detlor, Doug Lipton, and Rebecca Lent for their opening remarks; and workshop participants for insightful discussions as well as helpful reviews of this report. Special thanks to Lee Benaka for compiling the case studies and associated workshop discussions for this report, to Dale Squires for providing the theoretical background for the economic aspects of bycatch, and to Joe Terry for an extensive review of this report. iv Introduction and Background The National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) National Bycatch Reduction Strategy1 guides NMFS’ efforts to reduce bycatch and bycatch mortality. To aid in the implementation of the Strategy, NMFS’ Office of Science and Technology (OST) formulated an action item to advance ideas, solutions, and research regarding economic aspects of bycatch reduction in U.S. fisheries. To advance these ideas and solutions, OST convened a workshop on the economic aspects of bycatch reduction at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA on October 29-31, 2019. The workshop focused on incentive-based approaches to bycatch reduction. Workshop participants included researchers from multiple disciplines as well as fisheries managers and stakeholders (see list in Appendix A). The goal of the workshop was to discuss the application of economic research to real-world bycatch problems using a case-study approach. Workshop organizers selected case studies to represent a variety of geographic regions, types of fisheries (including recreational and commercial fisheries), and those that interacted with protected species and seabirds. Case study leads presented the salient features of the fishery and described the bycatch issue along with steps taken to reduce bycatch and discard mortality. Workshop participants then discussed potential additional solutions. Discussions of solutions fell under three broad categories: 1) market-based incentives, 2) direct regulatory approaches, and 3) intrinsic motivation (e.g., altruism, social norms) approaches. The goal was to provide a menu of approaches for reducing bycatch in each of the case study fisheries. After a welcome to La Jolla by Kristen Koch, the Science and Research Director of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, David Detlor, the Acting Director of the Office of Science and Technology, provided an overview of the National Bycatch Reduction Strategy. Doug Lipton, NOAA Fisheries Senior Scientist for Economics, guided workshop participants through the ways economists think about problems such as bycatch in fisheries. Rebecca Lent, Executive Director of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), provided an overview of a recent IWC bycatch workshop. Dale Squires, an economist with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, presented the theoretical underpinnings of the tools within economics that can be, and are, used to address fisheries bycatch issues. A day and a half of presentations and detailed discussion of eight current bycatch case studies followed these series of opening remarks. The final half day of the workshop focused on identifying overarching themes and possible solutions that emerged from the case studies, discussing the practicability of implementing the solutions, and recommending future collaborative efforts that could be initiated to foster continued exploration of bycatch solutions. Based on review of the case studies and workshop discussions, workshop participants realized that solutions to bycatch issues must come from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Each bycatch case study showed that, due to the complexity of bycatch problems, using just one approach, whether it be a technology change, direct regulation, market-based incentive, consumer/public/fishermen/angler education program, or change in social norms, cannot single-handedly address the bycatch problem. Further, tools used in one case will not necessarily apply to another. Sets of solutions must be tailor-made on a case-by-case basis. Workshop participants also found that bycatch problems must be addressed early so they do not become so severe that no set of solutions can eliminate the bycatch and restore the population to a healthy level. 1 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/bycatch/national-bycatch-reduction-strategy 1 Opening Remarks Three speakers provided background and context for the workshop: David Detlor, Doug Lipton, and Rebecca Lent. David Detlor described NMFS’s focus on documenting and mitigating bycatch levels in our nation's fisheries over the past two decades. In 1999, NMFS established of the National Observer Program, which provides support and policy coordination for regional observer programs as they deploy almost 1,000 observers each year to characterize discards at sea and record fisheries interactions with protected species and seabirds. In 2011, the National Observer Program published the first National Bycatch Report, which comprehensively documented bycatch of fish and protected species in major U.S. fisheries; updates were published in 2014, 2016, and 2019. In 2016, OST contributed to NMFS’s National Bycatch Reduction Strategy, which was designed to guide NMFS bycatch monitoring, estimation, research, conservation, and management, as well as enforcement of bycatch regulations and communication about bycatch issues. The strategy was motivated by the fact that “impacts from bycatch and bycatch mortality vary across fisheries, and can have adverse biological, economic, and social consequences.” Most importantly, from the perspective of this workshop, the strategy provides guidance for NMFS by identifying the importance of improving the understanding