1. Oceanic Fisheries Programme Pacific Community
DFAT Harvest Strategy project
10th Heads of Fisheries meeting
14-17th March 2017
Oceanic Fisheries Programme
Pacific Community

2. Contents Background What are harvest strategies? Aims of the project
Project structure

3. Background
Key driver: Regional Roadmap for Sustainable Pacific Fisheries, and associated Report Cards
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) 12th meeting: agreed a work plan to develop ‘harvest strategies’ for key stocks and fisheries
Marine Stewardship Council certifications
E.g. PNA free school
South Pacific albacore longline

4. Elements of a Harvest Strategy
What are Harvest Strategies?
Elements of a Harvest Strategy
Biomass
Effort/Catch
TRP
LRP
Management Objectives
What do you want from your fishery?
Reference Points and Risk Levels
Where do you want to be? (targets)
Where do you NOT want to be? (limits)
How much do you not want to be there? (risk)
Harvest Control Rules
Management Strategy Evaluation
Testing the HCRs and choosing the “best”
Monitoring Strategy
Is the HCR performing as you would expect?

5. What are Harvest Strategies?
NOT just science!
Member driven exercise
Target reference points
(where you want to be)
Limit reference points
(where not to go)
Multispecies considerations
Performance
Measures
(How are we doing?)
Management
Objectives

6. Approach Need to ‘test’ alternative harvest strategies
In particular ‘harvest control rules’
Do rules achieve objectives of managers/stakeholders?
Are they ‘robust to uncertainty’?
What are the trade-offs between different HCRs?
Do this through ‘simulation testing’
Requires a modelling framework to do this
= Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE)

7. Aims of the project Still to receive final approval from NZ
Provide support to SPC and FFA to enhance science and member capacity for harvest strategy development
Also engage fishing nations in the process, through WCPFC

8. 1. Stakeholder engagement strategy 5.
Monitoring strategy framework 4.
Modelling framework for MSE developed
1. Stakeholder engagement strategy
Tools and capacity to enable informed decision making on management procedures
Improved regional management of oceanic tuna stocks
Pacific tuna
stocks
harvested within
sustainable limits
2.1
Engagement with SPC/FFA/PNA members 3.
Candidate harvest control rules identified
ENABLING
OUTPUTS
Increased value to Pacific Island
countries from
Pacific
tuna fisheries
2.2
LONG -
TERM
OUTCOMES
MEDIUM
OUTCOME
SHORT
TECHNICAL
Engagement with other
WCPFC members

9. Main points
Staged approach – allow SPC/FFA members to develop harvest strategies that meet objectives
Iterative approach to development
Secondly, take those options to WCPFC to achieve Commission-wide engagement and adoption
Plan: initial focus on skipjack and SP albacore

10. Output 1 Stakeholder engagement strategy
Primarily members but also wider stakeholders.
Develop tailored information resources to facilitate information uptake

11. Outputs 2
Engagement and capacity development with SPC/FFA/PNAO members
enhancing capacity and applying the outputs in decision-making on harvest strategy arrangements
Subsequently engage other Parties
Bring other CCMs and stakeholders up to a level where they can participate in the final decision making processes, such as agreement of compatible measures between high seas and EEZs

12. Outputs 3 -4 Technical development:
Output 3: candidate harvest control rules designed for inclusion in the modelling framework
Output 4: Modelling framework developed (computer simulation approach).

13. Output 5 Monitoring strategy framework:
Framework to identify whether things are going to plan – in the real world

14. Support focus Three key technical positions at SPC
2 modellers
1 ‘advisor’ – focussed on engagement strategy
Support for FFA fishery advisor engagement

15. Time Scale : 5 yr project
Start date : April 2017?

16. 1. Stakeholder engagement strategy 5.
Monitoring strategy framework 4.
Modelling framework for MSE developed
1. Stakeholder engagement strategy
Tools and capacity to enable informed decision making on management procedures
Improved regional management of oceanic tuna stocks
Pacific tuna
stocks
harvested within
sustainable limits
2.1
Engagement with SPC/FFA/PNA members 3.
Candidate harvest control rules identified
ENABLING
OUTPUTS
Increased value to Pacific Island
countries from
Pacific
tuna fisheries
2.2
LONG -
TERM
OUTCOMES
MEDIUM
OUTCOME
SHORT
TECHNICAL
Engagement with other
WCPFC members