large-scale harvest of tuna by the purse seine fishery began only in the ... when hundreds of boats and processing plants had no fish to catch or process.
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SPC Fisheries Newsletter No. 35 October - December 1985
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR NEWLY DEVELOPING FISHERIES by Ray H i l b o r n and John S i b e r t South P a c i f i c Commission Noumea, New Caledonia Introduction F i s h e r i e s c o n s t i t u t e t h e s i n g l e most important n a t u r a l r e s o u r c e w i t h p o t e n t i a l f o r i n c r e a s e d development in many c o u n t r i e s i n t h e South P a c i f i c region. C o u n t r i e s a r e now a t t e m p t i n g t o e x p l o i t deep b o t t o m s n a p p e r r e s o u r c e s i n o r d e r t o d e v e l o p a s t a b l e s o u r c e of r e v e n u e f r o m t h e s e valuable f i s h . Countries a r e a l s o a t t e m p t i n g t o i n c r e a s e t h e i r h a r v e s t s of t u n a , e i t h e r by d e v e l o p i n g t h e i r own f i s h i n g o p e r a t i o n s o r t h r o u g h i n c r e a s e d s a l e s of a c c e s s l i c e n c e s t o d i s t a n t w a t e r f i s h i n g n a t i o n s (DWFNs). The b i o l o g i c a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e s e two f i s h e r i e s r e s o u r c e s , snappers and t u n a , a r e q u i t e d i f f e r e n t , but t h e m a n a g e r i a l p r o b l e m s t o be faced i n t h e i r development a r e s i m i l a r . N e i t h e r h a s a l o n g h i s t o r y of e x p l o i t a t i o n i n t h e r e g i o n on t h e s c a l e r e q u i r e d f o r f u l l c o m m e r c i a l development, and t h e r e i s c o n s i d e r a b l e u n c e r t a i n t y a b o u t t h e p o t e n t i a l y i e l d s . Deep-bottom snappers a r e g e n e r a l l y f e l t to be u n e x p l o i t e d s t o c k s t h a t c o n s i s t of old l a r g e i n d i v i d u a l s . We know l i t t l e about t h e biology of these f i s h , i n p a r t i c u l a r t h e mechanism of r e c r u i t m e n t of j u v e n i l e s t o t h e p o p u l a t i o n s . The d e f i n i t i o n s of d i s c r e t e stocks a r e almost t o t a l l y unknown as w e l l . S i m i l a r l y , t h e r e a r e a l s o major u n c e r t a i n t i e s about t h e p o t e n t i a l y i e l d s from t h e tuna r e s o u r c e s . There a r e o f t e n modest l o c a l s u b s i s t e n c e or a r t i s a n a l f i s h e r i e s for t u n a , and i n some c o u n t r i e s c o n s i d e r a b l e y i e l d s a r e achieved through a c c e s s agreements w i t h DWFNs or l o c a l j o i n t v e n t u r e s . Data on t h e s e f i s h e r i e s have s y s t e m a t i c a l l y been c o l l e c t e d by t h e DWFNs for many y e a r s , b u t a r e n o t g e n e r a l l y a c c e s s i b l e i n a f o r m t h a t a l l o w s individual island countries to assess p o t e n t i a l y i e l d s . Furthermore, t r u l y l a r g e - s c a l e h a r v e s t of tuna by t h e purse s e i n e f i s h e r y b e g a n o n l y i n t h e l a t e 1970s, too r e c e n t l y t o p r o v i d e any r e a l i n s i g h t i n t o p o t e n t i a l y i e l d s . The Skipjack Programme of t h e SPC i n d i c a t e d a very l a r g e s t o c k of s k i p j a c k but c o u l d n o t p r e c i s e l y d e t e r m i n e t h e p o t e n t i a l y i e l d . The s i z e a n d p o t e n t i a l y i e l d of t h e y e l l o w f i n tuna stock a r e even l e s s u n d e r s t o o d , and almost n o t h i n g i s known a b o u t t h e l o c a t i o n and t i m i n g of spawning and r e c r u i t m e n t of e i t h e r of t h e s e two most important tuna s p e c i e s . T h u s , f o r b o t h s n a p p e r and t u n a r e s o u r c e s t h e r e a r e o n l y r o u g h i n d i c a t i o n s of probable l e v e l s of s u s t a i n a b l e e x p l o i t a t i o n on w h i c h t o b a s e d e v e l o p m e n t plans.
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There are many o b j e c t i v e s for f i s h e r i e s development, i n c l u d i n g an increase in foreign exchange, an i n c r e a s e of t h e l o c a l p r o t e i n supply, direct employment in the f i s h e r y , and development of l o c a l s e r v i c e and p r o c e s s i n g i n d u s t r i e s . When c o n s i d e r i n g a p p r o p r i a t e ways to develop under exploited f i s h e r i e s , both t h e u n c e r t a i n t y in t h e dynamics of the f i s h e r y and t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o b j e c t i v e s n e e d t o be c o n s i d e r e d . Nevertheless, i t is probably true t h a t l a r g e r , r e l a t i v e l y stable f i s h e r i e s would be a common g o a l . The most d e s i r a b l e mix of f o r e i g n e x c h a n g e revenue, local food production, and secondary i n d u s t r y w i l l undoubtedly depend on the s p e c i f i c economic g o a l s and c o n d i t i o n s in a p a r t i c u l a r s i t u a t i o n , but the need for growth and s t a b i l i t y in t h e f i s h e r y a r e universal. While i t does seem c l e a r t h a t both the tuna and deep-bottom snapper f i s h e r i e s can grow considerably in most countries of the region, i t i s not c l e a r how f a r they can grow, nor what kind of s t a b i l i t y can be expected. There have been some s p e c t a c u l a r f a i l u r e s in f i s h e r i e s management which have occurred, in part, because of overemphasis on rapid development. The cost of overdevelopment has been the loss of potential benefits. Figure 1 shows the catch history of the Peruvian anchoveta f i s h e r y , which for s e v e r a l y e a r s was t h e l a r g e s t s i n g l e f i s h e r y in the w o r l d , producing more than 12 m i l l i o n tonnes in i t s peak y e a r . Peru used i t s anchoveta fishery primarily to gain foreign exchange and create employment, and rapidly developed a c a p i t a l - i n t e n s i v e purse seine f l e e t and f i s h meal processing industry. A combination of poor r e c r u i t m e n t , El Nino, which concentrated the f i s h , and serious overfishing led t o a dramatic drop in catches during the early 1970s, when i t became obvious that a r e d u c t i o n in fishing pressure was necessary to allow the stock to rebuild. However, the Peruvians were so indebted from financing the growth of their industry, and there was such p o l i t i c a l pressure from the fishing industry to keep fishing to provide ongoing employment and cash flow, that the fishing p r e s s u r e was not reduced s u f f i c i e n t l y . The t r a g i c r e s u l t i s that between 1973 and 1982, the stock, which once supported the world's largest fishery, was f i s h e d to commercial e x t i n c t i o n . (Catches of anchoveta in 1984 t o t a l l e d 26,000 t o n n e s , or about 0.2% of t h e peak y e a r ' s c a t c h , as by catch in o t h e r fisheries.) A stock that was capable of producing n e a r l y 10 m i l l i o n tonnes of annual y i e l d has been effectively wiped out. A resource t h a t promised so much to help develop a country t u r n e d i n t o a s e r i o u s economic l i a b i l i t y when hundreds of boats and p r o c e s s i n g p l a n t s had no f i s h to c a t c h or process. We need to emphasize t h a t t h e problem was not i n t r i n s i c a l l y b i o l o g i c a l but t h a t those r e s p o n s i b l e for managing t h e f i s h e r y were p o l i t i c a l l y unable to reduce f i s h i n g p r e s s u r e when t h e r e had been a biological need to do so. Figure 2 shows the catch history of the North Sea herring s t o c k . The stock had supported a substantial fishery for many y e a r s , and then e f f o r t and catch were increased because of high p r i c e s and high abundance. The increase in fishing pressure combined with poor recruitment r e s u l t e d in a decrease in the stock. Again, t h e r e was an obvious and urgent need to reduce fishing pressure, and again the f i s h e r y managers were p o l i t i c a l l y unable to take the necessary s t e p s . The sad r e s u l t i s a l l too f a m i l i a r . Another very valuable fishery that could have provided g r e a t economic and social benefits was permanently reduced t o a f r a c t i o n of i t s p o t e n t i a l . However, the North Sea h e r r i n g appears to be coming back, and a f t e r 10 years of reduced fishing i t may again be a viable resource. Nevertheless,
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FIGURE 1: THE CATCH HISTORY O F THE PERUVIAN ANCHOVETA FISHERY. By 1984 all direct commercial fishing had ceased.
PERUVIAN ANCHOVETTA
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