Nearly a half century of high but sustainable exploitation in the Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) fishery

Richerson, Kate; Punt, André E.; Holland, Daniel S.

doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2020.105528

Cited by 34 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…"Total annual vessels" reports the mean annual number of active commercial vessels in the given fishing community, with SD, for crab years 2008 to 2017. communities of San Francisco, Monterey, and Morro Bay. These regional differences were particularly pronounced during the early season, when the majority of Dungeness crab landings occur (32,33). In the late season, northern region networks were more complex and less centralized, lessening most topological differences between regions (SI Appendix, Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate shock effects and mediation in fisheries

Fisher

Moore

Jardine

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Climate shocks can reorganize the social–ecological linkages in food-producing communities, leading to a sudden loss of key products in food systems. The extent and persistence of this reorganization are difficult to observe and summarize, but are critical aspects of predicting and rapidly assessing community vulnerability to extreme events. We apply network analysis to evaluate the impact of a climate shock—an unprecedented marine heatwave—on patterns of resource use in California fishing communities, which were severely affected through closures of the Dungeness crab fishery. The climate shock significantly modified flows of users between fishery resources during the closures. These modifications were predicted by pre-shock patterns of resource use and were associated with three strategies used by fishing community member vessels to respond to the closures: temporary exit from the food system, spillover of effort from the Dungeness crab fishery into other fisheries, and spatial shifts in where crab were landed. Regional differences in resource use patterns and vessel-level responses highlighted the Dungeness crab fishery as a seasonal “gilded trap” for northern California fishing communities. We also detected disparities in climate shock response based on vessel size, with larger vessels more likely to display spatial mobility. Our study demonstrates the importance of highly connected and decentralized networks of resource use in reducing the vulnerability of human communities to climate shocks.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate shock effects and mediation in fisheries

Fisher

Moore

Jardine

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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show abstract

“…The benefits of this recovery have largely been accrued by large vessels following the substantial consolidation and attrition of fishing effort which accompanied the rationalization of the sector (Russell et al., 2016, 2018). In contrast, the Dungeness crab biomass appears stable (Richerson et al., 2020), and in recent years, the fishery has occupied a central position in regional fisheries participation networks (Fuller et al., 2017), drawing diverse participants from US West Coast ports and generating the largest total ex‐vessel revenue (Rasmuson, 2013). However, there are mounting concerns regarding the anticipated impacts of ocean acidification (Bednaršek et al., 2020) and hypoxia (Froehlich et al., 2014) on crab stocks, and in recent years, fishing opportunities have been constrained by harmful algal blooms (Moore et al., 2019; Ritzman et al., 2018) and whale entanglement issues (Santora et al., 2020) associated with climate variability and change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes to the structure and function of an albacore fishery reveal shifting social‐ecological realities for Pacific Northwest fishermen

et al. 2020

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Marine fisheries around the globe are increasingly exposed to external drivers of social and ecological change. Though diversification and flexibility have historically helped marine resource users negotiate risk and adversity, much of modern fisheries management treats fishermen as specialists using specific gear types to target specific species. Here, we describe the evolution of harvest portfolios amongst Pacific Northwest fishermen over 35+ years with explicit attention to changes in the structure and function of the albacore (Thunnus alalunga, Scombridae) troll and pole‐and‐line fishery. Our analysis indicates that recent social–ecological changes have had heterogenous impacts upon the livelihood strategies favoured by different segments of regional fishing fleets. As ecological change and regulatory reform have restricted access to a number of fisheries, many of the regional small (<45 ft) and medium (45–60 ft) boat fishermen who continue to pursue diverse livelihood strategies have increasingly relied upon the ability to opportunistically target albacore in coastal waters while retaining more of the value generated by such catch. In contrast, large vessels (>60 ft) targeting albacore are more specialized now than previously observed, even as participation in multiple fisheries has become increasingly common for this size class. In describing divergent trajectories associated with the albacore fishery, one of the US West Coast's last open‐access fisheries, we highlight the diverse strategies and mechanisms utilized to sustain fisheries livelihoods in the modern era while arguing that alternative approaches to management and licensing may be required to maintain the viability of small‐scale fishing operations worldwide moving forward.

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“…Despite limits on the number of participants, vessels participating in Dungeness crab fisheries race to catch available crabs as quickly as possible. Nearly all legal-size males are caught in a matter of weeks after the start of the season, and catch rates decline rapidly as fishers deplete the population (Richerson et al 2020). Most fishers exit before the fishery legally closes and participate in other fisheries or outside work.…”

Section: Focal Fisheriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of population synchrony, life history, and access constraints on benefits from fishing portfolios

Oken

Holland

Punt

2021

Ecological Applications

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Natural resources often exhibit large interannual fluctuations in productivity driven by shifting environmental conditions, and this translates to high variability in the revenue resource users can earn. However, users can dampen this variability by harvesting a portfolio of resources. In the context of fisheries, this means targeting multiple populations, though the ability to actually build diverse fishing portfolios is often constrained by the costs and availability of fishing permits. These constraints are generally intended to prevent overcapitalization of the fleet and ensure populations are fished sustainably. As linked human-natural systems, both ecological and fishing dynamics influence the specific advantages and disadvantages of increasing the diversity of fishing portfolios. Specifically, a portfolio of synchronous populations with similar responses to environmental drivers should reduce revenue variability less than a portfolio of asynchronous populations with opposite responses. We built a bioeconomic model characterized by the Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister), Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and groundfish fisheries in the California Current, and used it to explore the influence of population synchrony and permit access on revenue patterns. As expected, synchronous populations reduced revenue variability less than asynchronous populations, but only for portfolios including crab and salmon. Synchrony with longer-lived groundfish populations was not important because environmentally-driven changes in groundfish early life survival were mediated by growth and natural mortality over the full population age structure, and overall biomass was relatively stable across years. Thus, building a portfolio of diverse life histories can buffer against the impacts of extremely poor environmental conditions over short time scales, though not for long-term declines. Increasing access to all permits generally led to increased revenue stability and decreased inequality of the fleet, but also resulted in less revenue earned by an individual from a given portfolio because more vessels shared the available biomass. This means managers are faced with a tradeoff between the average revenue individuals earn and the risk those individuals accept. These results illustrate the importance of considering connections between social and ecological dynamics when evaluating management options that constrain or facilitate fishers' ability to diversify their fishing.

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Nearly a half century of high but sustainable exploitation in the Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) fishery

Cited by 34 publications

References 41 publications

Climate shock effects and mediation in fisheries

Climate shock effects and mediation in fisheries

Changes to the structure and function of an albacore fishery reveal shifting social‐ecological realities for Pacific Northwest fishermen

The effects of population synchrony, life history, and access constraints on benefits from fishing portfolios

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