An Overview Of Our Solution
A decision-support tool for planning resilient fisheries
Who is this solution impacting?
Ecosystem
Oceans/Coasts
Community Type
Urban
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: North America
Problem
Describe the problem
Fishing communities in British Columbia are at risk of dying out due to an array of interconnected challenges including declines in fish populations, poor market prices, loss of access to fish and high entry prices. Recognizing this, Ecotrust Canada has designed a new tool to help fishing communities figure out how to bounce back. The fishery decision tool enables communities to design multi-species fisheries that work better for their cultures, economic needs, interests and the health of their resources. It has already supported one Aboriginal community to make a case, through a treaty process, for increased access to fisheries and diversification. The tool continues to encourage coastal communities to solve sustainability dilemmas by thinking creatively yet practically.
Biodiversity Impact
We aim to build a conservation economy – one that provides good livelihoods, supports recognition of Aboriginal rights and title, and promotes sustainability. Using the decision tool, a community creates a series of diversified fishery combinations and receives reports on the economic, social and environmental performance of those. Reports are generated by a database that contains costs of fishing, employment potential and fish stock health. The community can now compare combinations to see which, for example: maximize employment, keep boats fishing all year, best utilize existing infrastructure, or are most resilient to environmental changes. This visioning exercise supports planning for sustainable fisheries in three ways. 1. It is a one-stop-shop for hard-to-find fishery information that can lead to better decisions about resource use. For example, both trends in fish stock health and potential revenues are presented, emphasizing their interdependence. 2. It illustrates win-win-win scenarios by demonstrating how a community can successfully diversify fishing to meet economic, social and environmental goals. For example, it can highlight which fishery combinations will result in high profits, maximum employment, and minimum harm to marine systems. 3. It facilitates planning for long-term viability in addition to meeting today’s needs. For example, removing economic dependence on single species would increase fishermen’s ability to adapt in shifting environmental conditions, reducing pressure on weak populations.
Solution
The fisheries decision tool protects biodiversity by facilitating the reduction of fishing pressure on vulnerable fish populations. For example, in British Columbia, many Aboriginal groups historically focused their commercial fishing on salmon, but dwindling or unpredictable returns of this iconic species suggest that the health of salmon stocks is diminishing. To lessen pressure on salmon (key to our coastal ecosystems, economy, and culture) a community could use this decision tool to visualize alternative fishing scenarios as an important step toward a more diversified suite of fishing activity (including healthier and/or underutilized species). Our tool can catalyze this change because a community willing and interested in diversifying, may not know what other fishing opportunities are available or how to plan for investment over the long-term. It presents information about which populations may be vulnerable, and those more likely to be stable, for all commercial coastal fisheries in British Columbia. In addition, the tool presents other information critical to economically and socially viable fisheries ƒ?? such as the timing of fishing seasons, equipment required, and start-up costs. It is uncommon to have all of this information in one place, making the tool uniquely helpful. We then assist communities in a visioning exercise where fishermen can select combinations of fisheries and see how one combination would perform compared to another and how it would meet their objectives. // Our solution began in one Aboriginal community on Vancouver Island, and is now being scaled-up and replicated in three new communities on the North Coast of British Columbia at their request. These communities participate in commercial fisheries that cover an area of over 13 million hectares, spanning the entire British Columbia coast. In addition, we have presented the fishery decision tool to a number of other communities, organizations, and individuals who have an interest and/or investment in sustainable fisheries in coastal British Columbia.
Replicability
How many years has your solution been applied? 3 years // Have others reproduced your solution elsewhere? Yes // As the designer/developer of the fisheries decision tool, Ecotrust Canada facilitates the application of this solution. We introduce the tool to communities who have recognized a need for change in their fisheries; help them use the tool to design an individualized vision of a fishery suitable to their needs, using their information combined with normally-hard-to-find provincial data; and offer support in building on that vision. In general, we implement and support inclusive strategies that allow communities a greater say in the way coastal resources are being utilized. Encouraged by our successes and positive responses during the earliest applications of the fishery decision tool, we have upgraded the tool in the past year. We have broadened the scope and improved the quality of information in the database that the tool relies on. We have also enhanced the tool’s software, making it more interactive and easier to use. These improvements will allow the tool to address a wider array of community questions or concerns about their fisheries. We are now in the process of engaging communities on the North Coast of British Columbia and have also begun to connect with an alliance of fishing communities from the entire coast of British Columbia.
Human Well Being and Livelihood Impact
The fishery decision tool empowers fishing communities to not only rebuild commercial fisheries, but also to ensure that these new versions achieve their long-term economic, social, cultural and environmental goals. Over 6,000 people live in the communities where this highly interactive solution is being used. Fishing has always been a cornerstone of healthy rural living in coastal British Columbia, central not only to the economic health of the province and its inhabitants, but also to Aboriginal culture. Increasingly, however, the community-based small-scale fishing owner-operators we have relied on are finding it hard to keep this important tradition viable – for both their own economic and cultural health and that of their community. This tool allows us to help these fishing communities figure out how to bounce back – and remain viable for the long term. In the communities we work with there is recognition of this need for change and a local commitment to be a part of the solution. The decision tool allows fishermen to plan for a future where, for example, more people have year-round employment and their fishing activities are diversified to be resilient to market or environmental changes. These fisheries would support a broader fishing economy (e.g. locally owned processing plants, bait shops, marinas), that also indirectly also improves the broader local economy. // The decision tool empowers communities to more effectively participate in the stewardship and governance of fishery resources. Those using the tool are provided with the information needed to hold informed discussions about the potential trade-offs and concerns that would come from participation in a commercial fishery. This process raises debates about how to achieve sustainable fisheries. When comparing the performance (economic, social and environmental) of different combinations of fisheries, people participate in discussions on how resources are accessed and allocated. They also discuss how resources are utilized and distributed in a community or region. For example, a common debate is around fair leasing of fishing licenses and cost/risk-sharing policies between the governing body and fishermen. The outcomes of the process facilitated by the decision tool are community-based solutions that address local issues, as identified by those communities. The tool could also be a catalyst for policy change. Many of the communities we work with feel disenfranchised by current fishery policy, but feel unable to influence it. The decision tool allows the envisioning of alternative policies and creates reports that could become part of a policy change proposal. Ultimately, the tool is designed to be for communities, managed by communities, to address their own challenges and design their own solutions to meet their own, individual community needs. All within a management framework committed to fisheries viable for economic health now and for the long term.