Is the restriction of bottom towed gear the right measure of progress in MPA management?
On New Years Day The Times published an article entitled “Government misses deadline to restrict destructive fishing practices” The article reflected legitimate concerns held by the Inshore Fisheries and Conservations Authorities about their ability to do their job. The environmental NGO Blue Marine Foundation’s Chief Executive is quoted as saying the “system is broken”, but examination of the issues reveals a very different story.
Co-existence between effective marine conservation and commercial fishing is being achieved in England’s inshore seas, through dialogue with local communities that sit on our regional Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities. It’s time to recognise the progress they have been making.
Recent weeks have seen growing polarisation between the delivery of effective marine conservation through well managed Marine Protected Areas and maintaining viable commercial fishing livelihoods. On Boxing Day, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation warned the Fishing Industry in Scotland is at risk of being ‘crushed’ from demands from offshore wind marine space and “unreasonable demands” from the EU regarding access to UK fisheries under the post-Brexit trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), Scottish fishermen warn industry is at risk of being ‘crushed’ – BBC News. This concurs with new research from a consortium of organisations working in fisheries on the state of the fishing fleet, which is in decline across the whole of the UK.
New research is also showing that commercial fishing boats in harbours, is an important part of local economy, and that coastal communities value the many contributions that make up the life blood’ of our coastal fishing towns and harbours. This picture of decline in an industry that the UK has always had operating from its shores, is important context to any discussion on marine protected areas.
The latest reports from Blue Marine which is the basis for the Times article states that ‘the system is broken’, are not correct! The system, inshore at least, is not broken, it just isn’t being properly recognised for the contributions and progress that are being made. Blue Marine’s input echoes earlier petitions to government regarding the lack of progress in banning bottom-towed gear in MPAs Bottom trawling ban: Current protections “just lines on a map” – Oceanographic. This simply isn’t the case in the English inshore area. Looking beyond the headlines, the Oceanographic article reveals the real challenges. “Within the roadmap, Oceana UK highlights that while the UK’s small fishing businesses make up 72% of the total fleet, independent and small fisheries only receive 2% of the total allowable catch quota each year. The lion’s share goes to big corporations which fuels overfishing and much of the destructive, bottom-trawl fishing activity we see today”.
Is the degree of bottom towed gear the right measure of progress in MPA management? Bottom towed gear can be harmful to habitat, but the nuance here also matters. We have 3 main types of MPAs…. Marine Conservation Zones, Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas. They are all based on feature led protection…Portsmouth Harbour is an MPA. There is no benefit to wholescale ban on benthic trawling for demersal species in this MPA if your objective is to protect feeding terns, especially if said area is maintenance dredged to allow Warships Access. The duty that the IFCAs are under in MPAs requires them to be proportionate in the management, management that is rationale to their objective. This nuance is important if we are to support our inshore fishing communities.
The loudening arguments to ban bottom towed gear need to be balanced with attention to the middle ground that is being found, that enables both effective marine conservation and viable fishing livelihoods to coexist and even be symbiotic, where fishers not only comply with in-place management but actively contribute to local knowledge about the state of the marine environment and changes underway.
What is missing in this debate, is the regional management of inshore MPAs by IFCAs, through their delivery of DEFRA’s revised approach…. attention to this enables a more detailed understanding that pitting bottom towed gear against conservation is not always necessary or helpful.
Professor Williams highlights legitimate concerns in the article in The Times, but an agenda to blanket ban types of fishing in MPAs is inconsistent with the law and distracts from the fact that local management is increasingly marginalised at a time when the inshore fleet is in real trouble.
IFCAs represent a global important exemplar of achieving and implementing effective MPA management in ways that bring local communities, including local fishers and conservation groups, along with them as a part of the decision-making processes around how MPAs should be managed and the impacts that management will have on local livelihoods and marine habitats.
It’s time the NGOs and Defra started to support local management and community decision making, particularly as it is demonstrably delivering conservation benefits.