III-2. PROVISIONAL DISCUSSION ELEMENTS

Setting the Scene for the Expert Consultation

Overcapacity is often cited as the primary cause of overfishing, economic waste, and the unsustainable development of living marine resources. Numerous international and domestic fisheries studies indicate that overcapacity and excessive fish harvesting capacity are prevalent in many common property and open access fisheries, regardless of the scale of fishing or the type of fishery. Overcapacity and excessive fish harvesting capacity can also occur in limited access fisheries. Wherever these situations occur, overcapacity contributes to overfishing, economic waste and unsustainable development.

One of the great challenges to achieving sustainable fisheries involves the management of fishing capacity in such a way that avoids or, at least, mitigates the deleterious effects - such as overfishing and/or economic inefficiency - of overcapacity.

Objective of the Expert Consultation

The expert consultation Catalysing the Transition away from Overcapacity in Marine Fisheries is an opportunity to gather experts from a diversity of technical backgrounds - including resource economics, marine policy, biology, marine and coastal management - and cultural backgrounds - including South America, Southeast Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe.

The group will discuss and provide guidance on ways to facilitate the adoption and implementation of capacity reduction programs and, more specifically, on the difficulties associated with adopting and implementing such programs. In doing so, and as part of the issue of how to get various stakeholders to embrace capacity reduction programs, the guidance will likely also offer ideas on how to mitigate the negative effects of capacity reduction programs.

As stated in the Prospectus:

The purpose of the Expert Consultation will be to identify and outline innovative strategies and mechanisms for reducing overcapacity and subsequently avoiding the regeneration of overcapacity.

The Expert Consultation recognizes the need to catalyze political will, partnerships, and policy reforms in order to create capacity reduction programs are going to be. Thus, the participants will work to:

• identify the sorts of approaches that can be used to implement both incentive blocking and incentive adjusting strategies for managing situations of overcapacity;
• identify impediments to introducing and implementing capacity reduction programs;
• identify innovative opportunities and strategies for overcoming impediments to reducing overcapacity - such as innovative opportunities for investing in disinvestment; and
• suggest elements for ensuring the ongoing success of a capacity management package.

In addition, the Expert Consultation will cover issues such as subsistence, employment, and the raising of revenues and foreign exchange in various types of industrial fisheries. The discussions will also take into account the flow-on and downstream effects that adjustment programs can have on other sectors, including artisanal fisheries sectors.

Approach of the Expert Consultation: Facilitated discussion of issues within the context of three situations

As a basis for discussions, the Expert Consultation will make use of (i) a background paper, and (ii) a framework of three situations that will help to focus discussions on a variety of possible topics/issues and/or impediments.

(i) The background paper briefly summarizes current knowledge and issues regarding fish harvesting capacity and provides a synthesis of both measurement studies and management strategies.

(ii) Three situations will be used as the basis for the more specific discussions during the expert consultation.

Each skeleton situation below describes a possible circumstance in which a capacity reduction program may be applied. Although the situations may reflect conditions found in many parts of the world, they are not intended to refer to any one particular real fishery.

These situation descriptions are intentionally simplistic. The idea is to let these cases provide a basic framework for the group’s discussions about various topics/issues that might need to be considered when trying to get capacity reduction programs adopted and implemented.

Examples of the actual sorts of topics/issues that may either help or prevent the adoption or implementation of capacity reduction programs are also listed below.

Using brainstorming and other facilitation techniques, the participants will generate their guidance on how to catalyze the transition away from overcapacity.

Results & Outputs

The principal output expected from the expert consultation will be guidance on how to catalyze the transition away from overcapitalized fisheries. (Tentative title: Catalysing the Transition from Overcapacity: Guidelines of the Rome Expert Consultation: Report of the expert consultation on catalysing the transition from overcapacity, Rome, 2002)

The principal output will be available prior to the 25^th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) that is being held in Rome in 2003.

Framework Situations

Situation 1 - Overcapacity in an industrial fishery

Stock:

single stock

not highly variable

Fleet & Participants:

single industrial fleet

Jurisdiction

single jurisdiction

Situation 2 - Overcapacity in a small-scale fishery

Stock:

single stock

not highly variable

Fleet & Participants:

single small scale fleet

large numbers of participants

Jurisdiction

single jurisdiction

Situation 3 - Overcapacity in a mixed-scale fishery

Stock:

two stocks

not highly variable

Fleets & Participants::

two relatively homogeneous fleets - one artisanal, one industrial

identified participants in the industrial portion of the fishery

“reasonable” numbers of participants in the artisanal portion of the fishery

Jurisdiction

single jurisdiction

Possible Topics and Issues for Consideration

When trying to generate interest and support for capacity reduction programs, it may be useful to be aware of:

• Politics and the political environment(s) in which the program is being developed, adopted and implemented;
• Management and managerial issues;
• Economic development strategies and development objectives;
• Social concerns;
• Financial issues; and
• Legal issues.

It may also be useful to consider how these different elements may facilitate or prevent the adoption and subsequent implementation of capacity reduction programs.

A few, more specific examples of just some of the issues that may be - or may not be - of relevance to fisheries managers when trying to design, gather support for, and successfully implement capacity reduction programs are listed below. This list is clearly not complete. It is intended to inspire additional ideas and issues for consideration by the participants.