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This project was to support local action to secure the long-term viability of the fishery.
Overview
PROJECT SUMMARY
The Marine Stewardship Council's Standard for Well-Managed and environmentally sustainable fisheries has been awarded to the Loch Torridon Nephrops Creel Fishery after many years of effort. Local action to secure the long-term viability of the fishery was stimulated by the removal of the three mile limit in 1985, and the "free for all" which followed, in which creelers were competing for fishing space with trawlermen who could now fish much closer inshore all the way round the Scottish coastline. The result was conflict and acrimony. The creelers in the Torridon fishery argued their case for special protection from trawling, which regularly damaged and destroyed creel fleets and catches. Groups called Port Committees were set up to try to resolve this conflict, but these were ineffectual without effective political backing.
The Torridon creelers and their Fishermen's Association (the Highlands and Islands Fishermen's Association (HIFA)) raised their problems with their local Community Council, the Highland Councillor and MSP, who saw the sense of their arguments and fought for them in government agencies and in the Scottish Office. The position improved only slowly, and it was only in May 2001 that Rhona Brankin, then inshore fisheries minister in the new Scottish Executive, signed a Statutory Instrument creating a five year trawl closure, thus protecting the creel-only fishery from trawlers. This also created a mixed-gear zone, and a trawl-only zone.
Since then, the creelers have managed their protected fishery as well as possible, so that when the Scottish Executive comes to review the closure, it will see that returning to a mixed fishery would be inconceivable. The benefits of the creel fishery are many:
Environmental
1. The use of escape gaps in the creels means that only the larger prawns are caught, leaving the small ones to grow and mature.
2. Egg-bearing females are returned to the sea.
3. There is a voluntary limit on catch effort.
4. There is a negligible by-catch.
5. There is no adverse impact on the sea-bed.
Economic
1. Creel-loss due to trawling no longer occurs
2. The market for live creel-caught prawns is very lucrative. The price for live prawns is about four to five times higher than that for trawled/processed prawns.
3. Many creel boats employ two fishermen, and the area can support many more creel boats than trawlers. This means well-paid, regular employment for local people who might otherwise leave the area, looking for work elsewhere.
4. The fishery creates direct local employment for those who pack and transport the prawns
5. The fishery also creates indirect local employment in other local businesses.
Community
1. The more young people stay in the area, the more likely it is that local schools will remain viable.
2. Communities are dying all over the West of Scotland. We are providing our young people with real employment opportunities to maintain a good balance of population, and avoid the slide towards a mostly retired population.
Finally, the fishery was afforded protection to some extent because of the conflict that arose between the creelers and the trawlermen. We think that groups who wish to copy the blueprint of protection and sustainable fishing in their area should require only the twin arguments of good practice and sustainability, without the further justification of needing to find a means of resolving the kind of conflict problems that we had when we set out.
KEY PARTNERS
There have been a number of agencies and individuals from outside the community who have been key to the development of the fishery and co-operative:
Officers in Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Highland Council's Fisheries Officer, the Head of the Maritime Group at Scottish Natural Heritage, and officers of the Fisheries Research Services (FRS). Rhona Brankin, Minister responsible for Inshore Fisheries in 2001, who was also a target for lobbying efforts.
Technical and financial support and also help with enforcement of the closure came from the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (although since certification the fishery is effectively self-policing).
The three main organisations were Scottish Natural Heritage, FRS and Moody Marine on behalf of the Marine Stewardship Council. SNH and FRS have ecological and monitoring roles in the area already. These have been developed and enhanced through the project.
The level of external involvement has changed out of all recognition from the early stages of protesting about the trawlers when local people had no outside help. The Management Group receives support and monitoring inputs from SNH and FRS, who are very supportive. FRS, SNH and the University of London are currently supervising a PhD studentship which will contribute to the monitoring of and research into the fishery. Certification with the Marine Stewardship Council requires a level of monitoring for which the Management Group would have to employ outside consultants if SNH and FRS were not involved.
FUNDERS
The certification project has not attracted any capital funding (although Shieldaig Export Ltd, as a business, has). Revenue funding for the certification project has been obtained from HIE, The Highland Council, WWF, and RACE, to gain certification and to buy escape gaps for the creels. As mentioned above, the project has also received a Marine Innovation Award of £1,000.
There has been a small increase in the volume of the prawns marketed by Shieldaig Export Ltd. The ratio of large to small prawns has improved and, as a result, Shieldaig Export Ltd has been able to obtain higher prices.
Certification has meant that Shieldaig Export Ltd may be able to use the MSC logo, which will mean that its prawns will command a further premium.
THEMATIC CRITERIA
Highland Economy; Pollution; Conservation.
Plan
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
There were two main aims of the project:
To prevent the depletion of stocks and eventual closure of the fishery and to protect the livelihoods of local Nephrops fishermen
OUTPUTS
The improvements that have been made have the potential to go on indefinitely provided the voluntary code of practice is adhered to and monitoring results continue to be satisfactory.
SNH, FRS, and Glasgow University are jointly funding a PhD studentship to study the fishery and its effects on the Nephrops and the other biota.
FUTURE STEPS
The current Sustainability Certification is valid for five years, i.e. till 16th January 2008. However the Management Group has already made a big effort to ensure that the closure is extended indefinitely and certification can be renewed as required, provided that monitoring continues to produce satisfactory results. Hopefully the project will never end.
The Management Group are continually looking at possible ways of improving the management of the stock, and are aware that if they encounter problems they may have to modify the code of practice.
The creel-only fishery exists only in the area closed by the Statutory Instrument. The group would like to see the expansion of creel-only areas, the introduction in other fisheries of legal or statutory measures on catch limitation, and the adoption of escape gaps. The voluntary code has no legal backing. The creelers and their fishermen's association are currently pressing to have the code given legal backing.
Currently prawns can only be legally landed if the length of the carapace is a minimum of 22 millimetres. The Management Group adopts a local standard of around 40 millimetres or a maximum of 26 prawns per kilo.
Progress
The project to obtain the Marine Stewardship Council's Sustainability Certification for the Loch Torridon Nephrops Fishery started in 2002. It was born out of an awareness of the fate of so many other fisheries world-wide - depletion of stocks and the eventual closure of the fishery - and a determination to protect the livelihoods of local Nephrops fishermen who have set up a successful co-operative, Shieldaig Export Ltd., which maximises the benefits for its members by cutting out the middle man and selling direct to markets in Spain.
The immediate catalyst was the signing in 2001 by the then Scottish Inshore Fisheries Minister, Rhona Brankin of Statutory Instrument, No. 174, excluding trawlers from the Loch Torridon inshore waters. The closure of the fishery to trawlers created an opportunity for the local fishermen to take advantage of the existence of the Marine Stewardship Council's Sustainability Certification Scheme.
However the aspiration to create a sustainable prawn fishery can be traced back to 1985 when the removal of the three mile inshore fishery limit allowed trawlers to fish closer inshore than previously and to compete with local creel fishermen. Their methods were a threat to the long-tem viability of the fishery, for trawlers scoop up all the prawns indiscriminately and lead to reduced catches with long recovery times. They also probably cause significant damage to the sea-bed and to creels.
Over the next 15 years representatives of the creel fishermen campaigned to control the activities of trawlers in the area. They enlisted local support and made representations to the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Executive. The Highlands and Islands Fishermen's Association was deeply involved in lobbying for the closure and with obtaining an agreement with the trawlermen who were represented by Mallaig and North West Fishermen's Association. The lobbying culminated in the signing of the Statutory Instrument, which created three zones - an inshore zone from which trawlers are excluded, a middle zone to which both trawlers and creel boats have access, and an outer zone from which creel boats are excluded. The Statutory Instrument came into force on 30th May 2001 and lasts for five years.
Representatives of the fishery first learned of the possibility of sustainability certification at a meeting of the West of Scotland Fish Producers Organisation at which a representative of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) gave a talk about its work. Shortly after the signing of the Statutory Instrument local fishermen made contact with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and after discussions about their Environmental Award scheme decided to apply for certification.
The Torridon fishermen decided that the main reason for going for the award was so that when the Scottish Executive came back to review the closure towards the end of the five-year period, the creelers would be able to point to what they had done to manage the fishery, and would have independent corroboration of the facts, and proof that the fishery had been well-managed, having been given the protection it deserved.
Since receiving the Award, the prawn fishermen have set up the Loch Torridon Nephrops Fishery Management Group, made up of members elected from their own number. All the fishermen in the co-operative agree to adopt a voluntary code of practice, which has three main elements:
- The return to the sea of ovigerous (egg-bearing or 'berried') females
- The limitation of the catch effort to 200 days fishing a year, with limited numbers of creels, and
- The use of creels with escape gaps (these simple plastic fittings had been developed by Magnus Livingstone, the son of one of the local fishermen, who had designed and tested these while a student at Aberdeen). The idea had come from one of the local fishermen, John MacGregor.
During 2002 there was a rigorous assessment of the management of the fishery. This was carried out on behalf of the MSC by consultants Moody Marine.
The Management Group is required to make detailed reports, including details of landings and boats, and to provide other evidence to prove that the fishery satisfies the three criteria of the MSC:
- sustainability of the exploited stock
- maintenance of the ecosystem, and
- an effective management system.
To help with the costs of the assessment process Shieldaig Export received funding assistance from The Highland Council and Highlands and Island Enterprise (HIE) of around £5,000. The company also received funding from Ross and Cromarty Enterprise (RACE) (£4500) and Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) (£5000) to help with costs of inserting the escape gaps in the creels, and a Marine Innovation Award of £1,000, which was also used to meet the costs of complying with the procedures required for certification.
At the end of the assessment process the company was informed that its application for certification on behalf of the fishery had been successful and the sustainability certificate was awarded on 16th January 2003.
The certification is valid for five years in the first instance. During this period Moody Marine will continue to monitor the fishery on behalf of MSC, with an inspection visit each year. In the meantime the Management Group is co-operating with other organisations (see 14 below) to ensure the monitoring of the resource.
The fishermen completing the fitting of escape gaps to all existing creels and have made arrangements with the manufacturer for new creels to be supplied with escape gaps already fitted.
The Loch Torridon Nephrops Fishery is only the fourth in the UK, and the seventh in the world, to gain certification from the MSC.
Review
ACHIEVEMENTS
The project has achieved several important outcomes in capitalising on the opportunity created by the closure of the fishery to trawlers:
- It has gained acceptance among local creel fishermen of the voluntary code of practice.
- It has demonstrated the success of the innovative escape gaps.
- It has satisfied the Marine Stewardship Council's assessment criteria for a sustainable fishery
- It has made arrangements for the long-term monitoring of the sustainability of the fishery.
- It has created sustainable management of the fishery which has significantly enhanced its economic value when compared with the economic benefits in the years when the area was open to trawlers. (The value per tonne of the prawns landed currently is approximately four to five times the value of the prawns landed by trawlers.) This has brought enhanced economic benefits to the members of the co-operative and will bring continuing benefits to future generations of fishermen. The closed area supports eleven boats with one or two man crews.
- It has created a regime which should benefit the ecology of the area: a creel, normally left on the seabed for no more than 48 hours at a time, has a very small footprint. Current monitoring methods indicate that the voluntary code of practice will ensure a sustainable harvest while having no significant adverse impacts on the ecology of the area.
- It has collected base-line data for monitoring purposes, as of January 2003.
- It has enlisted the support of other organisations: Scottish Natural heritage (SNH) has a close involvement in the management of the closed area and will help in the task of monitoring the effects of the new methods.
- It has created a mood of confidence in the fishermen and in the surrounding community.
The following groups have benefited:
- the fisherman, who now have control over the fishery and the exploitation of the resource
- young economically active people, who would not otherwise be able to stay in the area or would have to look for jobs in tourism or fish-farming, now see an alternative future for themselves. The fishery currently supports five full-time jobs for packers and drivers, administrator and marketing, as well as providing work on a regular part-time basis for four other people.
- the wider community of several hundred people, who share in the new mood of confidence about livelihoods for local people and their children
- the local primary school, whose roll has now stabilised
- other local businesses, who supply goods and services or benefit in some other way from the fishery, for example nearby restaurants such as the Applecross Inn which now has a very good reputation for local sea-food.
MEASURING ACHIEVEMENTS
The Management Group makes use of a number of quantitative measures:
- The results of the monitoring
- The sustainability indicators they have to provide for Moody Marine
- Comparison of landing prices between areas
The group also reviews levels of confidence and involvement in the community and liaises with the Torridon Initiative, a partnership headed by SNH, which aims to maximise the economic and environmental benefits to be gained from the wise management of the resources of the larger Loch Torridon area.
PROCESS (local involvement)
The most influential locals were two local fisherman, John MacGregor and Ken Livingstone; Norman Cameron, who was a member of The Highland Council for many of the years when lobbying was going on; and Liz Pritchard, the Secretary of the Shieldaig Community Council.
Other locals who are directly involved include;
All the local fishermen who have adopted the voluntary code of practice.
The seven members of the Torridon Nephrops Fishery Management Group are involved in the work required to maintain certification.
Also involved were members of the local community council, the local member of the Highland Council and the local MSP.
People are increasingly involved with the project for a number of reasons:
The awareness of the threat to livelihoods, the sense of injustice at the way the fishery was being damaged by the trawlers, the opportunity to enhance the value of the fishery once the creel-only zone had been secured, and a very common sense attitude to securing benefits which will continue to be available for future generations.
There are six fishermen, elected from the whole group, on the Management Group. Another local person, who is not a fisherman but who has been co-opted for his skills in lobbying in high places, serves as chair of the group. The administrator of Shieldaig Export acts as secretary to the group.
LESSONS
One of the early mechanisms the prawn fishermen were offered as means of seeking a resolution to the conflict between creelers and trawlermen was "Port Committees". Two prawn fishermen spent several years going to the meetings of these committees, which were chaired by representatives of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. Agreements would be made within a meeting, but creelers would still find their creels dragged by trawlers the next day. The two representatives of the prawn fishermen eventually resigned from these committees, unclear whether the failure to implement the agreements was due to bureaucracy, lack of resources, or lack of political will.
The lesson learned here was to go to the people with the power and persuade them to help your cause rather than get bogged down with groups which might be led by individuals who could not or would not go that extra mile for you.
There is a need for tenacity - never give up. And teamwork is very important - get good people on your side and keep in communication with them. Focus on those who can help you and do not be distracted by ineffective mechanisms.
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