Tokelau Stakeholder Workshop Report

Table of Contents

Introduction

Reaffirming Goals and Identifying Challenges

Previously Agreed Goals for the Fishery

Industry Reflections on the Status of the Fishery

State of the Fishery and Future Projections

Economic Condition of the Fishery

Developing a Management Program for Albacore

Attributes of Successful Management Programs

Tokelau Arrangement and CMS Overview

How TKA can help meet goals for fishery?

Which fishery attributes are essential to the regional implementation of the TKA?

What challenges still need to be addressed?

Exploring Management Options

History of TRP Agreement

Scenarios for Reaching TRP

What are your recommendations for adjusting the overall albacore catch?

What are your recommendations for adjusting the TKA limit?

Planning for National Implementation

Electronic Monitoring and Reporting

How Accountability Can Support Goals

Fiji’s Experience with EM/ER

Examples of Plans for National Implementation

Cook Islands

Samoa

Solomon Islands

Discussion – Planning for National Implementation

A Closer Look at the Catch Management Scheme

Country Consultations

Conclusions

Key Points of Agreement

Take Home Advice for the FFA Secretariat

Next Steps

National Level

Regional Level

Appendix A. Workshop Participants and their Affiliations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

On July 8-10, 2016, industry stakeholders in the South Pacific longline fishery, managers, the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and NGO partners[1] met at the Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi, Fiji. The meeting was intended to promote wider understanding and frank discussion of the Catch Management Scheme (CMS) associated with the Tokelau Arrangement (TKA), and to provide feedback to inform the ongoing development of the CMS.Representatives from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and FFA organized and facilitated the workshop. The workshop focused particularly on what this evolving regional arrangement will mean for different national fisheries management processes, and to discuss the potential impacts and opportunities for industry.

Reaffirming Goals and Identifying Challenges

Previously Agreed Goals for the Fishery

James Movick, Director General of FFA gave an overview of prior (since 2006) meetings, discussions and decisions regarding the southern albacore fishery. He reviewed how the TKA decided on a Target Reference Point (TRP) of 45% unfished biomass. The overarching goal TKA members have for the albacore fishery was summarized as “increased catch rates delivering enhanced vessel profitability.” Mr. Movick noted that the TKA participants will benefit from enhanced profitability in different ways, either through more profitable domestic fleets, access revenue from foreign fishing vessels, or through leverage for onshore investments.

Industry Reflections on the Status of the Fishery

Industry member, Charles Hufflet from the Tuna Boat Owners Association of Fiji (TBOA-Fiji), reflected on the status of the fishery, including the challenges the industry is facing, possible sources of those challenges, and the industry’s vision for the future of the fishery. Key takeaways from this presentation included that the science is currently based on data that is 3-4 years old, the CPUE is dropping over time, there has been a change in composition in the fishery (more yellowfin, Thunnus albacares,in the fishery currently), there has been a change in the timing of the fishery (there is no certainty in when the albacore will be in their “usual” spots), and the fishery is becoming economically unviable for domestic Pacific Island fleets.

State of the Fishery and Future Projections

Graham Pilling from the Pacific Community (SPC) discussed the state of the fishery and projections for the future. A few takeaways from this presentation included that recent catch of albacore is concentrated between 10 and 20 degrees south.Catch of albacore has been decreasing since 2012, with most of the corresponding decrease in effort occurring within EEZs.Currently, 70% of the fishing effort occurs in the EEZs and 30% on the high seas. The2013 stock assessment showed that the stock is not overfished and not subjected to overfishing, but there have been declines in catch rates, and the general biomass trend is downwards. The results of the future stock projection showed that if 2013 levels of effort are maintained, there is a 20% chance that the stock will fall below the limit reference point (LRP), which is 20% of unfished biomass. Furthermore, there is a reasonable chance the LRP will be breached in the next 10 years. If effort stays the same over the next 20 years, subsidized vessels may be the only profitable vessels remaining in the fishery, and catch will decline by 40%.

Economic Condition of the Fishery

Due to unexpected travel delays that prevented the FFA from attending the first day of the workshop, Graham Pilling from SPC also presented FFA’s Economic Conditions Index for the southern longline fishery. The index is based on relative fish price, catch rates, and cost of fishing (not including license or access fees). The purpose of the index is to provide a measure of relative changes in economic conditions over time. For the southern longline fishery, economic conditions exhibited cyclical fluctuations but the general trend is one of decline. In 2015, the economic conditions index improved considerably compared to 2014, albeit still below its long term average (1997-2015). This was mainly driven by a large drop in fishing costs thanks to a fall in fuel price. However, declining catch rates continue to have negative impact on economic conditions in the fishery.

The industry participants at the workshop commented thatthe fishing costs component of the index may not be representative for domestic fleets as operational costs are higher than foreign fleets because domestic vessels have to pay income tax, and also that, taxes on imported products the fleet uses are passed to the domestic vessels. Furthermore, keeping non-fuel costs constant in real terms was not the experience among the industry as important cost components such as bait has been increasing. It was believed the incorporating the contribution of increasing bait costs to the non-fuel component of the fishing cost index would actually paint a bleaker picture of the economic conditions in the southern albacore fishery.

Small-group discussions followed the above set of presentations, wherein participants were asked to discuss their goals for the fishery, and challenges they are currently facing. High-level notes were captured within each of the small discussion groups, after which participants reported out key ideas and themes to the entire workshop.

-Economic goals – To have a viable, stable and profitable fishery. This includes limiting capacity on the high seas, and establishing long-term tenure in the fishery.

-Social goals– To see TKA countries, and especially the domestic fleets, realize the benefits of a sustainable fishery.

-Management goals – Improve management, governance and coordination at all levels of the fishery, from national, to the broader Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission (WCPFC). In particular, participants would like to see a strong Conservation and Management Measure (CMM) adopted at the WCPFC, appropriate costs of management, coordination, data systems and monitoring.

-Biological goals – To have a sustainable stock that is improving in the near-term and long-term. There was agreement that, to this end, it is important to set appropriate catch limits and ensure they are met.

Developing a Management Program for Albacore

Attributes of Successful Management Programs

Kate Bonzon from EDF presented seven principles that could be considered in the drafting and implementation of a rights based management system.These seven principles are the product of extensive research to review approaches to fishery management fromaround the world.

1. Secure - Tenure length of the privilege should be sufficiently long for participants to realize future benefits.
2. Exclusive -Secure privileges should be assigned to an entity (individual, group or country), and be clearly recognized and defendable by law.
3. Limited - Controls on fishing mortality should be set at a scientifically-appropriate level that will ensure sustainable stocks and that is also consistent with economic and social goals.
4. Accountable - Participants should be required to stay within their allocated portion of the overall catch and/or comply with other controls on fishing mortality, often demonstrated through a monitoring program.
5. All Sources - Shares should include all sources of mortality (landings, discards, other anthropogenic stressors), and when combined, all sources of mortality should not exceed the catch limit(s) or other controls.
6. Scaled - Fishery management is set at the appropriate biological level, taking into consideration social and political systems.
7. Transferable - Shareholders can buy, sell, and/or lease quota or spatial/temporal access to management areas.

Workshop participants commented on the relevance of these attributes to the CMS.There were a variety of opinions and views in the room.One official commented that the allocation of the rights is what was going to drive the success of the program. Many participants thought it would be beneficial to postpone trading of quota.This was related to a concern that the initial TKA TAC and quota allocations are not aligned with the interim target reference point agreed to by the members and are above historical catch and effort.Allowing trading at the outset of the program could increase effort in the fishery as countries aspire to utilize their entire quota. This would make it harder in the future to bring catch limits in line with scientific/economic advice.

Tokelau Arrangement and CMS Overview

James Movick, Director General of FFA gave a general overview of the components of the TKA and CMS, noting the TKA represents a commitment to zone based management. The TKA national catch limits were established in accordance with three business rules:

1. Recognize aspirations – Minimum allocated catch limit of 2500 metric tons
2. Recognize past history – Highest annual catch from 2001-2012
3. Recognize some countries want to constrain catch – Allows a country to nominate a lower limit.

Mr. Movick reviewed FFA and TKA member efforts during the last annual WCPFC meeting to strengthen the CMM for south albacore, and noted the TKA agreed to establish their own management system, including implementing an interim TRP in the absence of a WCPFC-wide TRP.He also outlined the four objectives of the CMS (listed below) and gave an overview of the key provisions in the 3rd draft of the CMS, which include: enhancing collaboration in the management of South Pacific albacore tuna stock; maximizing economic returns, employment generation and export earnings; supporting the development of domestic and locally based fishing industries; andenhancing data collection and monitoring.

The discussion following Mr. Movick’s presentation touched on some of the national considerations regarding the implementation of the TKA and CMS.Some members commented that even though the TKA is a non-binding arrangement they were committed to applying the limits within their zone, and were supportive of moving to make the catch limits binding. Despite support for the TKA, there were concerns about allowing trading under the CMS before the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) was normalized and participants have a better sense for what each country is actually catching on an annual basis.One participant mentioned their support for across the board reductions in TAC, and emphasized that all of the Small Island Developing States (SIDs) should be given an allocation that they are allowed to trade.

There were a variety of questions about the compatibility between the TKA and the longline VDS, with one participant noting that the VDS was a multi-species arrangement. Many of the participants were concerned about albacore catch on the high seas (outside the EEZs of TKA members), with one country asking for clarity about the goals for handling catch on the high seas.Many participants believed the TKA should focus their efforts on reaching consensus at the WCPFC regarding high seas catch/effort, as they are concerned the TKA will cause effort to shift outside their EEZs. Mr. Movick explained that the goalis to get the commission to adopt a measure on the high seas that is compatible with the TKA and emphasized the importance of implementing the TKA/CMS.There are “compatible measures” provisions in the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and WCPFC convention that will help establish measures similar to the TKA in the broader Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) region.

Small-group discussions followed the above set of presentations, wherein participants were asked to discuss three questions.

How TKA can help meet goals for fishery?

During the discussion, four broad categories of how the TKA can help meet the goals for the south Pacific albacore fishery emerged.

1. Helping to achieve economic goals. Participants commented that the TKA could help achieve their economic goalsfor the fishery by stabilizing catch, improving profitability, supporting sustainability, providing for domestic economic development, getting the catch limit closer to maximum economic yield (MEY), and increasing local employment and revenues.
2. Helping achieve an appropriate TRP and catch limits to meet biological and economic goals. One group commented that the TKA was helpful in that it is progressing management of the fishery by establishing an overall limit for the stock and country-specific limits.Similarly, one of the breakout groups commented on the benefits of controlling fishing limits within all zones and another noted that quota systems can simplify management compared to an Olympic-style fishery. Many participants agreed that the TKA can be used facilitate the adoption of a TRP at the WCPFC level.
3. The TKA promotes broader cooperation.Cooperation in the fishery is important because of the geographic range and migratory nature of albacore (across EEZs and onto the high seas).One group expressed the need to cooperate around monitoring and compliance.The need for compatibility with agreements already in place in the region was also mentioned.One country posed the question as to whether or not larger fishing countries could help countries with smaller quotas by helping them access quota.
4. Helps promote domestication of the fleet. Participants noted that the TKA should promote domestication of the southern albacore fleet. In addition, participants would like to see improvements in the domestic licensing requirements for the region, including improving data reporting to SPC of foreign vessels flagged to TKA countries. They also described the need to be cautious with transferability, perhaps waiting to implement it until after the program was up and running.

There were a few challenges that emerged in this discussion, including improvements in domestic licensing requirements, where some participants wanted to see longer licensing periods, and the provision of improved data quality and quantity to SPC.

Which fishery attributes are essential to the regional implementation of the TKA?

Generally, participants agreed that all of the attributes are important, with some of the breakout groups highlightingLimited, Exclusive, Secure, Accountable as the most important in terms of what the TKA is designed to achieve.Below are comments from the breakout groups regarding these and other key attributes.

1. Limited - This attribute is essential to the goal of maximizing income.If the catch limits and effort continue to increase beyond scientific recommendations, there may be significant consequences to the health of the albacore stock. Furthermore, this will create market conditions where only subsidized vessels will be economically viable andable to stay in the fishery. One group suggested that “limited” could be a national decision, with countries voluntarily reducing their national allocation according to their own goals and objectives and science. Another group suggested moving to percentage shares so that the TRP can be modified as needed. A quota floor for smaller countries was also suggested.
2. Accountable - Participants noted it is important to recognize the need for effective monitoring and compliance with limits, as well as the need to recognize the differences in governance between countries that will affect their monitoring requirements and capacity.
3. All Sources and Scaled - These were of particular interest to the participants.Many groups noted the need to take into consideration and include all catches of albacore.Currently there are a number of albacore fishing countries outside the TKA, plus there is significant catch on the high seas- all of which could undermine the effectiveness of the TKA.Further, one breakout group noted that the south Pacific longline fleet catches other species, not just albacore, which are also in need of management.
4. Transferability - Participants wanted to be cautious with incorporating transferability, noting the need to not “move too far, too fast.” Many groups supported focusing on getting the catch limits right first. There was also a request that if transferability were to be incorporated into the CMS, the terms need to be clear.

What challenges still need to be addressed?

This question was intended to identify challenges in the southern albacore fishery that the TKA and CMS were not currently, or adequately, addressing.Comments from the breakout groups fell roughly into the following six categories of ongoing challenges.