Jacki Schirmer Research Fellow School of Resources, Environment and Society - ANU

1. Assessing the social impacts of changes in fisheries policy: a review of recent Australian experience Jacki Schirmer Research Fellow School of Resources, Environment and Society - ANU Co-operative Research Centre for Forestry jacki.schirmer@anu.edu.au

2. Background • Worldwide, many areas are being overfished • Marine waters typically managed by governments • Fishers are private sector business operators who are granted licence to fish (various permit systems) • Governments try to reduce overfishing by: • Declaring reserves/protected areas limiting commercial and/or recreational fishing • Reducing the number of permits/licences granted to fish • Placing conditions on fishing e.g. restrictions on number of lines, nets, type of equipment, number of hours people can fish

3. Recent Australian examples… • Securing our fishing future, Nov 2005. Fishing licences bought back through a tender process. Aim is to reduce number of operators fishing in some Commonwealth fisheries. Also, Marine Protected Areas declared over some ocean areas. (see http://www.daff.gov.au/fisheries/domestic/fishingfuture). • Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve. 2007. 300ha marine reserve declared over reef area used by endangered Grey Nurse Sharks. All commercial and recreational fishing banned (http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/cod-grounds/index.html) • Great Barrier Reef Marine Protected Area ‘Green Zones’. New areas reserved from fishing in 2004. (e.g. www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/ecita_ctte/estimates/add_0506/eh/md.rtf) • Many other examples just within Australia…

4. Where does SIA come in? • Increasingly, governments are commissioning SIA as part of developing policies which change marine resource access • But fisheries have some unique characteristics – specific SIA methods are often needed • Key challenges: • Identifying fishers • Talking to fishers – how to consult and involve • Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities • Many other challenges – but these three are some of the most common when undertaking technical assessment

5. 1. Identifying fishers using affected area Two key challenges: • ‘Latent’ effort – often only some fishing permits are being used. Who is actually fishing the area? • Government catch records • Fish receiver records • Fisher records (in some cases, electronic tracking device records) • What if there are no permits, or permit covers a much larger area than that affected by the proposed change? • Surveys conducted at boat launch/landing sites • Depending on size of area, direct survey of boats entering the marine area that will be affected (take your boat out) • Consultation in local community • Ensure surveys/consultation undertaken at relevant times of day, month & year to capture variation in activity due to seasonal differences, holidays etc

6. 2. Talking to fishers – how to consult and involve Key issues: • Fishers need to fish whenever weather is good, income depends on it • E.g. one meeting I held, a fisher gave up around $AUD5,000 of potential fish catch to attend • Different fishers fish different times of day, month • Some fishers may go out fishing for a few hours; others for up to 50 days on the ocean in a single trip • How to get them in same room at same time? Should you even try? • How to design a participatory process they can take part in?

7. 2. Talking to fishers – how to consult and involve (cont.) Approaches to consulting & involving: • If you have to have pre-scheduled times for meetings: • Set up many meeting times to suit different fishing schedules • Remind fishers immediately prior to the meeting – many not used to working on fixed time schedule • Use the weather! If possible, don’t pre-schedule meeting times: • Wait until weather is too bad for fishing • Ring fishers, get them to come out for a meeting then. Fax, phone important tools • Don’t schedule any meetings • Set up your office from the dock or at the fish receiver – as every fisher finishes unloading catch, they often like to talk • Find out what local places fishers frequent, set up office there • For large trawlers, possible go out on the boat (although that can mean 20 days at sea…) • Ensure you have plenty of time and fit into their work schedules

8. 3. Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities Issue: • A change has been proposed in an area of ocean • Fishers can travel long distances, may land catch a long way from where they caught it; may live somewhere else again • How to identify spatial flows from marine area to human communities on land: • Where do fishers live and spend income? • Where are fish landed and processed (flow-on jobs)

9. 3. Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities Solutions: • Town Resource Cluster analysis - developed by Fenton and Coakes • Aim is to trace spatial flows between natural resources and human communities • Requires considerable investment in surveying fishers and identifying the spatial location of their activities as well as the volume & type of activity • Key example demonstrating approach: • Fenton DM and Marshall NA. 2001. A guide to the fishers of Queensland, Part A. CRC Reef Technical Reports 36,37,38. URL: <http://www.reef.crc.org.au/research/fishing_fisheries/commercial.html>

11. 3. Linking changes in the ocean to changes in human communities (cont.) If resources do not permit full TRC: • In surveys, ensure identification of: • Proportion of fisher’s activity dependent on the marine area – and how this varies over time • Locations where catch is landed (flow-on effects) • Where fishers lives & spends income (flow-on effects) • This data enables identification of most flows from marine area to human communities • Often there are limits to how precisely you can identify flows from an ocean area to human community as: • Records don’t allow identification of whether catch was from the specific area of ocean you are interested in • Fishers change activity on daily, monthly, yearly basis • These limitations must be clearly communicated

12. Conclusions • Are there “fisheries-specific” SIA challenges? • To an extent – many similar challenges in other types of SIA • Are the Australian challenges and solutions presented applicable elsewhere? • Your experiences and feedback sought!