Copyright, 2014: The Seafood CRC Company Ltd, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Department of Fisheries (Western Australia). Other investors in the CRC are the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Seafood CRC company members and supporting participants.
Non-technical summary
This project demonstrated the benefits of conducting an economic assessment of fisheries as part of the process of determining the annual catch quota for a fishery. The bioeconomic model, which estimates the maximum economic yield of fishing, was used in determining the catch quotas for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Background
Due to the low stock of puerulus, significant changes in fishery management were implemented in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons (44 and 73% reduction in nominal fishing effort, respectively, compared to 2007/08) to reduce the catch in the fishery. In effect, each unit represents a fixed percentage of the total allowable fishing effort.
Need
Objectives
Methods
Optimum economic yield under effort controls
The cost per pot lift at a given effort level was based on projected future vessel costs and pot lifts per vessel per season at a given effort level. Projected pot lifts per vessel per season at a given level of effort were calculated based on the projected number of vessels and a given level of effort.
Assessment of 2008/09 and 2009/10 (effort-controlled years)
Predicted vessel numbers were calculated as follows; during the 2007/08 effort, the number of vessels was assumed to remain constant; while under a reduced effort level it was assumed that the number of vessels in the fishery would take three. The difference in fishing costs was determined between what was predicted under the maintenance of 2007/08 effort levels and what was predicted for the reduced effort levels and actual costs.
Assessment of 2010/11 and 2011/13 (quota-controlled years)
The price-catch relationship was used to estimate the beach price that would have been obtained with the catch achieved under maintenance of the 2007/08 effort level. Operating costs for the pot lifter such as bait, fuel and crew costs were assumed to be the same for the years examined.
Optimum economic yield under ITQs
The range of LPH and associated catch quotas that provided the MEY level for the next 5 years was then considered in developing a reference target range for fisheries management as part of the harvesting strategy being developed for the fishery. Relationship between the expected number of boats fishing in the northern and southern regions in a given season for the estimated potlifts expected to meet the TACC.
Results and discussion
Optimum economic yield under effort controls
After the initial MEY assessment assuming a fixed price, an assessment was made of the relationship between price, catch and the exchange rate. The middle black line represents the baseline scenario, the upper blue line represents a 20% price increase and 20% cost decrease scenario, and the lower red line represents a 20% scenario.
Assessment of 2008/09 and 2009/10 (effort-controlled years)
In Zone A, the predicted vessel numbers under actual effort levels were 5% lower than actual vessel numbers, with the decrease in vessels being 15% rather than the predicted 19%. In Zone C, the predicted vessel numbers under actual effort levels were less than 1% lower than actual vessel numbers with the actual and predicted decrease in vessels being 13%.
Assessment of 2010/11 and 2011/13 (quota-controlled years)
In the last two fishing seasons, there was a gradual increase of the season from 7.5 to 10.5 months, allowing for a higher share of live product to be sold. The introduction of size and quality price differentials when individual catch limits were introduced for the 2010/11 season resulted in a 'high grade' level of 10.8%, i.e. 10.8% of legal lobsters caught were fishermen returned to the sea because of the price. Since the transition to fishing quotas, there has only been a small reduction of about 5% in the number of vessels, so fixed costs associated with vessels would not have changed significantly.
Under effort reductions in 2008/09 and 2009/10 there was an increase in bait use as part of the effort reduction was achieved with weekend closures and anglers attempted to maximize their catches during these closures by using additional bait. The value of the licenses was declining in the 2000s as the commercial fishery was facing significant economic pressure from rising costs, lower lobster prices and declining catches as a result of low recruitment. As a result of reductions in the number of pots allowed to be used by fishermen, many fishermen who wished to continue fishing had to buy/.
At the time of the introduction of individual catch limits in 2010/11 there was a significant increase in license value of around 70%. Bait used compared to rock lobster catch and effort for the effort-controlled seasons through 2009/10 and catch controls from 2010/11.
Optimum economic yield under ITQs
Sensitivity analyzes to estimate the effects of a +/- 20% cost variation indicated that an LPH of approximately 0.3 was optimal at higher costs compared to an optimal LPH of approximately 0.4 at lower costs (Figure 6.4.4a). Keeping the number of boats at current levels of about 280 resulted in a slightly higher LPH of about 0.4 compared to the base case where the number of vessels varied with effort levels. An estimate of the total impact of removing some existing management controls, such as protection of maximum female size, setose (mature) females and 76-77mm shell length lobsters, on MEY results in a total increase in profits of approximately AUD$15 million.
The projected catch rates are comparable for different harvest levels (and thus different catch quota levels) (Fig. 6.4.1). The estimate of catch and catch rate by the stock assessment model by the northern (upper) and southern (lower) zones for the five seasons for different LPH levels. The stock assessment model estimate of egg production for the three breeding stock management areas for the Northern region (top) and for the one breeding stock management area for the South zone (bottom) for the five seasons for different levels of LPH.
The NPV of profits over the five seasons at different levels of LPH for the entire fishery. Sensitivity analyzes to determine the effects of recruitment set at average levels for recruitment to the fishery to compare with current actual levels of recruitment that have been below average for seven years on the average annual NPV of profits.
Discussion and conclusions
Moreover, in contrast to the restructuring in the northern shrimp fishery's transition to a MEY effort level, where there was a significant government subsidy for the purchase of vessels (Viera et al., 2010; Norman-López and Pascoe, 2011), there was also no government purchase of vessels , leaving the western rock lobster industry. An assumption in the population assessment model is that, for example, a 50% reduction in pot lifting results in a 50% reduction in the effective effort. Therefore, the expected reduction in catches and the economic benefits would be conservative estimates in the MEY assessment.
A simple example of this would be the introduction of GPS which occurred in the early 1990s (Brown et al., 1995). The target range represents the upper end of the MEY range where catch and GVP would be higher and a greater number of boats would likely operate, leading to an increased level of employment in the fishery. This predictive capability has also been important in the MEY assessment in that it enables the determination of MEY catch and effort levels that include the level of recruitment expected over the next 3-4 years based on puerulus settlement.
This has provided industry, managers and researchers with the opportunity to compare the effects of fishing on the two levels of fishing effort to aid in the decision-making process whether to maintain fishing at a MEY level or return to fishing at a mainly based on maintaining breeding level above a threshold reference point. However, management at MEY level has downstream social and economic effects, such as a reduction in the number of vessels and employment, which must be taken into account in the decision-making process.
Benefits and adoption
Further development
Planned outcomes
Acknowledgements
An economic analysis of management options in the western rock lobster fishery of Western Australia. Improving economic efficiency through detailed review of input controls in the western lobster fishery.
Ensure that egg production in fisheries' breeding stock management areas (see Figure 2) remains above the threshold for the next five years with a probability greater than 75%. In particular, Table 1 (Appendix 1) summarizes the threshold and limit values for each of the BSMA. Fishing effort limits ensured that the parent stock limit was not exceeded in each fishing zone.
It also introduced the concept of Legal Proportion Harvested (LPH), which is a measure of fishery performance against harvest target. The Department's MEY analysis simply examines the income of the fishery as a whole (total catch x beach price) and operating costs (vessel, fuel, bait and wages) to determine a catch level that would generate the most profit. Relaxing any of these rules would lead to higher catch rates (Figure 8) and thus improve the profitability of the fishery.
Threshold and reference limit values6 for egg production are set for the four Breeding Stock Management Areas (BSMA) such that Fisheries Sustainability Objective 1 to 4 can be applied. The limit values for the fishery are set at 20% below the threshold values for each of the BSMAs. In the meantime, an indicative threshold value has been set based on the current average egg production pattern of the mid-1990s.
Definition: Gross value of production (GVP) in the context of the HSCR for the western rock lobster fishery is measured as the total dollar return to all anglers in the fishery.
