ESD REPORTING Presentation to ESD Workshops Dr Rick Fletcher

OUTLINE OF TALK Why are we doing this? Brief Overall Description of National ESD Reporting Framework Details of each of the 4 steps Aquaculture Cross Fishery and Regional Planning

NSESD (1992) “ using, conserving and enhancing the community’s resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased” Incorporates the 5 major issues of interest: Target Species, Ecosystem, Social, Economic and Governance What is ESD?

Why Not Just Environment?? Natural resource management needs more than just having minimum standards for affected populations The activity MUST produce some social or economic benefit or it is vandalism Depending upon societal values - acceptable impacts can be from “not to be harvested” (e.g. dolphins) to “fully exploit” (e.g. prawns). To effectively manage a fishery (and meet ESD Principles) requires integration of environmental, social and economic factors.

Issues and Needs Fisheries Legislative Requirements (all have ESD in their Acts in some form) Other Government Requirements e.g. EPBC (Used to be Schedule 4). Various state-based agencies want environment issues addressed (EPA, Councils etc). Market Leverage/Access Marine Stewardship Council Develop one reporting process that gathers the information to meets most of these needs Urgent need to respond to the EPBC requirements to enable exports past 2003

ESD Measurement and Reporting Many previous attempts have failed One size does not fit all Requires a process to systematically identify issues, develop operational objectives and then work out what indicators need to be measured. The objectives and acceptable range needs to be developed with all stakeholders Level of information presented needs to be appropriate to the issue

Why Have a Framework? Having a framework is NOT an alternative for undertaking other necessary actions It puts all actions and issues into context Without a framework it is too easy to conduct unnecessary work and/or miss working on the real issues Helps determine what actions should be undertaken Should maximise their benefits

National ESD Framework Began in March 2000 (after Geelong ESD Conference) Project has used a stakeholder reference group to provide ongoing advice An ESD reporting framework for wild capture was refined through 8 case studies & 2 workshops

National ESD Framework From this a “HOW TO GUIDE” was written to “operationalise” ESD for fisheries

How does the National ESD Process Work? - Part 1 Identify specific issues for each fishery by adapting the set of generic component trees in a workshop fashion

Separates ESD into 8 main components across 3 categories Target Species By catch and protected species Habitat impacts Trophic Changes Socio economic at 3 different levels Administration External impacts both Natural and human induced

Why use generic component trees? Likely issues identified were developed into a generic tree for each component of ESD These generic trees are used as the starting point for all assessments Enhances consistency of approach Requires specification of what are NOT issues as much as determining what are issues. Minimises ‘missing issues’ at first pass

FIRST TASK AGREE ON THE COMPONENT TREE STRUCTURE FOR THESE FISHERIES YOU CAN ADD ANY ISSUE YOU THINK HAS NOT BEEN INCLUDED WE DO NOT DEBATE THEIR PRIORITY - THIS IS DONE IN THE NEXT STAGE

How does the process work? Part 2 Often many issues are identified, their importance varies and not all will require full reports and explicit management Conduct a Risk Assessment on each of the identified issues to determine appropriate level of response –again in a workshop environment

RISK ASSESSMENT Likelihood NegligibleMinorModerateSevereMajorCatastrophic Remote Rare Unlikely Possible Occasional Likely Consequence We have developed five consequence tables specific to assessing issues related to fisheries

RISK ASSESSMENT NO DIRECT MANAGEMENT NEEDED DIRECT MANAGEMENT IS NEEDED

Reporting Process Part 3 Complete Suitably Detailed Reports on Each Issue Can you justify that your management actions (or in inactions) are appropriate given the level of risk and the current level of knowledge available? Is your current performance acceptable given the levels chosen?

PART 3 - Reporting Rationale for inclusion (risk rating) Operational Objectives (+Justification) Indicator Performance Measure (+Justification) Data Requirements Data Availability Evaluation Evaluation Reliability Management Response (Current, Future and if Trigger is reached) Summary of Actions and Conclusions External Drivers THESE THREE ARE A PACKAGE What specifically for this issue for this fishery do you want to achieve and WHY? These need to link directly to the objectives n

How does the process work? Part 4 Complete Application using information in Component Reports

Summary of ESD Framework Plus General Background Information = ESD STATUS REPORT Audits Other Stakeholders Government Specific Reports

Comparison to other Models

DETAILS ON COMPONENT TREES Wild Capture

Retained Species At some stage these SPECIES are wanted by some or all of the fishery - ie you do want to catch some

Revised Rock Lobster Tree

THREE BASIC CATEGORIES Target/Major ByProduct 1.Species by itself Minor Byproduct 2.Species is mostly taken in another fishery, that fishery will deal with the species explicitly and comprehensively 3.Other – nobody, including this fishery takes a significant (relevant to the stock) amount

Non-Retained These SPECIES are NEVER wanted to be caught - if possible eradicate all from catch

Non-Retained Rock Lobster

THREE BASIC CATEGORIES Major Non – Retained 1.Species by itself Protected/Threatened 1.Species by itself Minor Non-retained (group) 2.Group (minor - determined by a risk assessment for each species)

Indirect Environmental issues

Rock Lobster Environmental issues

Indigenous Issues It was thought that there should be an explicit discussion on the impacts on indigenous groups

The types of communities range from the industry itself to small dependent communities to those that are not dependent COMMUNITY WELLBEING

NATIONAL WELLBEING The broadest community addressed is at the national level

Governance These components address whether there are the appropriate mechanisms to actually achieve the objectives listed in the previous 7 trees.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE To have acceptable levels of governance Is the management plan being effective? Is Catch or Effort remaining within acceptable limits Does the management plan have the 10 key elements? Is there effective compliance? Is there effective consultation and reporting?

ESD Assessment Tools One of the initiatives of the ESD subprogram is the compilation of information on each of the major fisheries into an Assessment Manual to assist in the development of ESD reports and their assessment.

Assessment Headings 1. VULNERABILITY TO FISHING 2. BIOLOGICAL REFERENCE POINTS Spawning Biomass Lowest Level Reached Max. Exploitation Rate 3.ECONOMIC REFERENCE POINTS MSY/MEY

Assessment Headings 4. INDICATORS OF ABUNDANCE (Robustness) Catch Catch Rate Independent Survey Current Stock Size (Models) Probability of meeting “target” Mean Size Recruit. Surveys

Assessment Headings 5. MANAGEMENT RESPONSES (Effectiveness of tools) Size Limits Reproductive Closures Effort Output 6.ECOSYSTEM Impacts on Prey Impacts on Predators

Assessment Manual INDIVIDUAL FISHERY REPORTS

Method OverallGeneral Bycatch Listed Species Ghost Fishing Benthic Effects Discards/ Prov. Hand gathered LOWNilNIL NEGL. LineLOW NILLOW Potting/ Trapping LOW LOW- MODMOD- HIGH LOW- MODNEGL. Haul NetsLOW – MOD MODLOWNEGL.LOW -MODLOW Purse SeineLOW – MOD LOWLOW – HIGH NEGL. LOW LonglinesLOW-MODLOWLOW-HIGHLOWNEGL. Demersal Gillnets LOWMOD LOW - MODNEGL.LOW Prawn TrawlMOD- HIGH MOD – HIGH LOW – HIGH NILMOD- HIGHMOD Fish trawlHIGHMOD – HIGH LOW – HIGH NILHIGHLOW -MOD DredgeHIGHMODLOW-MODNILHIGH