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Monitoring and Assessment Program on the

Sustainable Utilization of Spanner Crab

Resources under Policy Change

DANANG ADITYA NIZAR

42105277

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Context situation

In the age of climate change and highly consumptive societies, people are becoming more aware on the

needs of sustainable attitudes towards fishing and seafood consumption. According to the report

published by The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2002, 18% of major

marine stocks are over-exploited globally and 10% of stocks have become depleted as the result of

constant overfishing. This fact is alarming because the fall of fishing industry will not just harm the

biodiversity and marine ecosystem around the world, but also affecting the livelihood of many

communities since there are approximately 35 million people who is highly dependent on fishing

industries for their employment and main food resources (Cummins 2004; FAO 2002).

In conjunction with this tendency and consideration, Queensland Government has implemented a new

policy to support the sustainable fishery of the Australian Spanner Crab (Ranina ranina). This new

regulation will reduce the total allowable catch (TAC) by 15% annually, without changing the fishery

season. TAC is a very important concept in improving the sustainability of fishing industry, because it

sets the acceptable sustainable yield; a harvest rate today that will not adversely impact the future

fisheries stock (Charles 2001).

Background

R. ranina or Spanner Crab can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific region from the western Indian

Ocean until the north-central Indian Ocean; including Seychelles, Philippines, Japan, Hawai’i and the

east coast of Australia (Barnard 1950, de Moussac and de San 1987, Brown et al. 1999). This species

have been exploited commercially in those regions, although the market is relatively small as opposed

to Mud and Blue Crab industry (Dichmont and Brown 2010; Hill and Garland 2009). In Australia,

Spanner Crabs inhabit the southern Queensland and northern New South Wales water, with no

evidence of significant existence in the other States (Kennelly 1992; The State of Queensland,

Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation 2011). The Spanner Crab industry

in Queensland expanded rapidly during 1990s after the development of export markets in Asia, during

that period the fishing effort expanded from 2,200 boat-days in 1990 to 14,900 boat-days in 1994—a

massive 500% increase in less than 5 years (Dichmont and Brown 2010). This trend peaked in 1994,

when the landing records1 reach 3,000 metric tons and became the largest total catch of an individual

species in Queensland (Williams 1997). Currently, live export market to Asia is still becoming the main

engine for Spanner Crab industry in Queensland with the value of around $8 million and the total catch

of 2000 tons—with 80% of the catch located in Queensland (Commonwealth of Australia 2001; Brown

et al. 2010).

The implementation of new regulation that reduces the TAC by 15% is part of the long policy history in

Queensland Spanner Crab industry. In 1997, Queensland Government reduced the number of daily

catch limit and extended the weekend closure period to 24 hours in order to restrain further expansion

1 Landing records derived from the sale of caught fish and provide information on the landed catch (Cooper 2006).

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of Spanner Crab exploitation (Dichmont and Brown 2010). The continuous effort shown by the

government by releasing the Spanner Crab Management Plan in 1999, which regulates every single

aspect of Spanner Crab fishery; such as closing season, managed area, apparatus requirement and the

annual quota (State of Queensland 1999). Under adaptive environmental management (AEM) approach,

these policies are considered as experimental probes and people should learn from them in order to

help develop the best possible natural resource management (Lee 1993). According to Walters (1986),

AEM is important in designing policies that provide continuous resource productivity and enhance the

learning opportunity. This is where monitoring and assessment program is essential to support AEM,

since it enables the practitioners to measure key indicators and assist them through comparison which

will transform into a learning process (Hilborn and Sibert 1986). Therefore, formulation of monitoring

and assessment program is essential to review the effectiveness of the new implemented regulation, in

improving the sustainability of Spanner Crab fishery. This report is then structured based on the two

different aspects of sustainability that is intended to be enhanced by the new regulation: (1) the

ecological sustainability and (2) the socio-economic sustainability.

Ecological sustainability

Environmental impacts

One of the distinct characteristic of AEM is that it focuses on the adaptation of possible impacts in the

future. Understanding the potential impacts of TAC reduction by 15% is an integral part of the

monitoring system, since it will form a basis in deciding which key indicators to measure along the

process. In order to do this, review of environmental factors (REF) should be conducted to assess the

likely impacts of the new regulation and determine the interventions—if required (Johnstone 2012).

Although it is clear that the main purpose of the new regulation is to reduce the rate of commercial

harvest and thus maintain a more stable stock abundance, it is also important to understand other

environmental factors that might influence those elements, such as water temperature and seabed

characters (Cooper 2006; Brown et al. 2008). This will help the managers to determine which factors

have the most significant impacts on the fishing industry (e.g. catchability, stock abundance, population

distribution) which then can be formulated into robust management outcomes.

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For example, government has modified the TAC from 1,727 tons to 1,923 tons in order to better utilize

the resource (State of Queensland, DPIF 2008). Nonetheless the effect of this policy was not as expected,

since the rate of commercial harvest was decreasing as the TAC increased by the government as shown

in Figure 1. Therefore, it requires more than just the modification of TAC to influence the harvest rate

of Spanner Crab fishery. The result of REF should be integrated with stock assessment, which includes

the past, current and future trends of species stock (Cooper 2005). The stock status will then provide

necessary information for the managers to decide on the future actions. Queensland Government has

done several stock assessments conducted by different government bodies, and most of the

assessments show the similar result: Spanner Crab has been ‘Sustainably Fished’ and ‘Not Fully Utilized’

(Commonwealth of Australia 2001; State of Queensland, DEEDI 2011a; State of Queensland, DEEDI

2011b; State of Queensland, DEEDI 2009). However, this fact doesn’t diminish the relevance of

monitoring program in regards to the new regulation. Given there are limited biological data regarding

the species, result derived from the monitoring program might fill the knowledge gap which is

increasingly important as there is a need for high quality data to continue develop a more advanced and

sound stock assessment model (Commonwealth of Australia 2001; Kaus et al. 2008).

Stock assessment

There are a lot of references on how to measure the sustainability of fishing industry and what relevant

indicators should be used, and most of them are referring to the importance of assessment against the

stock assessment data (Commonwealth of Australia 2012; Oakley et al. 2003). Stock assessment is

important within the AEM framework, because it predicts the most likely outcomes based on the

different management alternatives and uncertainty factors behind it, such as age structure, natural

mortality and multi-species interactions (Charles 2001). Both fishery-independent and fishery-

dependent data are needed in conducting stock assessment, in order to obtain the whole perspective

from commercial and recreational harvester and marine scientist (South East Fisheries Science Center

n.d.). Research surveys conducted by government are usually become the main source for fishery-

Figure 1. Correlation between TAC rate and the commercial harvest (adapted from Annual Status Report of Queensland Spanner Crab Fishery 2006 – 2011)

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independent data, while fishery-dependent data are derived by the harvesters through landing records,

portside sampling, log books and vessel trip reports (Cooper 2006). These methods are regulated under

Spanner Crab Management Plan for the purpose of maintaining the reliability and quality of the fishery-

dependent data (State of Queensland 1999). Stock assessment is also an important tool to determine

whether the species stock is experiencing an overfishing or in an overfished state, using combination of

biological indicators, such as mortality rate and stock size, and threshold that is defined by the

managers (Cadima 2003; FAO 2005). Overfishing refers to the concept of high rate stock removal, which

caused the mortality rate exceeds the mortality threshold, while overfished state occurs when the stock

size is fall below the agreed threshold and not necessarily caused by fishing-related activities (Cooper

2006). Therefore, it is possible that a species stock is overfished but not in an overfished state and vice

versa, diagram below shows four different categories based on these principles.

Table 1. Four categories of fishing condition based on overfishing and overfished concept (adapted from Cooper 2006)

Stock size < Stock size threshold Stock size > Stock size threshold

Mortality rate > Mortality threshold Stock is overfished Stock is not overfished

Overfishing is occurring Overfishing is occurring

Mortality rate < Mortality threshold Stock is overfished Stock is not overfished

Overfishing is not occurring Overfishing is not occurring

These two different concepts are important to be integrated within the monitoring program, because by

knowing the status of Spanner Crab stock condition, it will assist the development of management

requirements regarding the future intervention. Another distinct component of stock assessment is the

application of structural model, which able to project the future stock and catches of Spanner Crab, by

following the evolution of different cohorts (Cadima 2003).

Ecological sustainability indicators

In order to monitor the effectiveness of the new regulation, it is necessary to assess the Spanner Crab

fishery against the sustainability indicators, as the example shown in Table 2. The criteria are

quantified by different indicators, which can be used to assess the sustainability of the fishing industry.

Each indicator also complemented by explanations of situation leading to minimum sustainability

condition, thus managers will have quantitative measures to determine when the fishing industry is at

an alarming state (Charles 2001). Nonetheless, all these criteria and indicators are subjective, thus it is

possible to develop different sustainability indicators based on the management needs. As mentioned

earlier, the ability to compare between different sets of monitoring data is important within the AEM

framework (Hiborn and Sibert 1986). Therefore, it is recommended for the managers to explore these

indicators into a more comprehensive tool by creating a sustainable index based on the indicators, as

shown in Table 3. There are two ways in aggregating the index, one is to use a weighted arithmetic

average—which allow compensation between any low and high value indicators with equally weighted

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indicators—and the other option is to use geometric average, which makes the extreme value will have

a significant impact on the total sustainability level. By using this index, managers have the ability to

determine which indicators need a priority in the management intervention and how each indicator

contributing to the overall level of sustainability.

Socio-economic sustainability

Socio-economic impacts

Fishing industry is the fifth largest primary industry in Queensland and employs approximately 7,000

people; and for the Spanner Crab industry, the Commercial Gross Value of Production reach $4.6 million

(Fenton and Marshall 2001; CRC Reef n.d.; State of Queensland, DEEDI 2011). Therefore it is essential to

assess the socio-economic impacts of the new policy, since the role of socio-economic factors in creating

a sustainable manner is as important as the ecological factors and those factors should be

complementing each other (Charles 2001). Socio-economic Factor Analysis (SFA) is an effective tool to

conduct this type of assessment because it allows the managers to determine the potential impacts in

regards to the policy change and the required management interventions, and the product will be the

Socio-economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) (Commonwealth of Australia 2005; National Marine

Table 2. Ecological sustainability criteria and indicators (Charles 2001)

Table 3. Index of sustainability (Charles 2001)

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Fisheries Service 2007). Impacts can be divided into two categories; direct and indirect (or usually

called as flow-on impacts). In this particular case, direct impact refers to changes experienced by

stakeholders who are directly engaged in the Spanner Crab fishing industry, such as changes to

production output, household income and business expenses (i.e. changes to cost of conducting the

fishing operation) (Commonwealth of Australia 2005). The basic concept of indirect impact is changes

generated at broader level (i.e. regional) as influenced by the direct impact, such as the changes in

employment structure in a region and changes to service provision in a region, in regards to the

decrease of TAC (Commonwealth of Australia 2005). SFA provides a qualitative and quantitative

measure of socio-economic change which can be used to assist the development of future baseline

projections and allows a comparison of data overtime, which is an integral part AEM framework (NMFS

2007; Hilborn and Sibert 1986). Referring to National Marine Fisheries Service (1979) and Flynn

(1983) there are five socio-economic variables that are important to be integrated within the fishery

monitoring program and a focal point to understand the impacts of a fishing management action.

Following are the variables adjusted to the TAC reduction case:

1. Size and demographic characteristics of the Spanner Crab industry workforce, which will help to

develop a linkage between the impact of demographic, income and employment and the fishery

workforce.

2. Beliefs and attitudes of the stakeholders, which is important to understand the behavior in

regards to the industry.

3. Effects of the proposed actions (i.e. new implemented regulation) on the social structure and

how this change affect the ability of Spanner Crab industry to support the fishing communities

4. Non-economic social aspects of the new implemented regulation, such as health and safety

issues.

5. Historical dependence on and participation in the fishing activities by the communities, income

distribution and rights.

Socio-economic sustainability indicators

Similar to the ecological factors, the development of sustainability indicators is integral in assessing the

socio-economic sustainability. According to Charles (2001), ecological and socio-economic

sustainability—along with institutional and community sustainability—are part of the ‘sustainability

triangle’ (Figure 2) and thus cannot be separated one another. The example of sustainability indicators

Figure 2. Sustainability triangle with its four elements (Charles 2001)

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is shown in Table 4. All the methods used to develop this tool are identical with the ecological

sustainability discussed in previous section. The sustainability index also needs to be created based on

these indicators, as it allows the managers to compare between ecological and socio-economic

sustainability and determine the presence or absence of the sustainability in each factor (Charles 2001).

This is important in order to assess the effectiveness of policy in supporting the overall sustainability

framework, not just partially in terms of ecological or socio-economic factors. Given that the Spanner

Crab fishing activities are not concentrated in particular region, managers should develop a social

profile of different fishing communities. This aspect is important, because different communities will

have different responses towards the new implemented regulation thus the result will assist managers

to identify and predict certain needs of particular communities (Schirmer and Casey 2005). Therefore,

the required management interventions will be specific to certain communities, since there is no one

size fits all in terms of policy implementation. Examples for the social indicators that might be used to

develop the social profiling are as follows:

1. Fishing methods/licenses held; this will help to measure the levels of dependence of

communities towards the Spanner Crab fishery and thus assist the prediction of the

communities’ adaptability to the new regulation

2. Number of years participating in fishing sector; this will give another perspective on the level

of dependence on Spanner Crab fishing as a livelihoods and also as an indicator to determine the

level of attachment towards Spanner Crab as a fishing commodity

3. Household spending profile; this measures the spending on common household items and help

to identify the contribution of Spanner Crab fishery to the local economies and the dependence

of particular area towards this commodity.

(Schirmer and Casey 2005)

Outcomes and recommendations

As mentioned in the earlier section, this monitoring and assessment program is intended to assess the

effectiveness of the new implemented policy, in terms of improving the ecological and socio-economic

Table 4. Socio-economic sustainability criteria and indicators (Charles 2001)

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sustainability. The outcomes of this program will assist the managers to determine the changes in the

sustainability level caused by the new regulation and whether those changes are heading to the

expected direction or not. As for the sustainability index, it gives the ability to compare between the

sustainability level in terms of ecological and socio-economic factors, thus managers are able to

determine which factors have the weakest sustainability and caused by which indicators (Charles

2001). The final product of this program also might be used to develop scenarios of potential impacts

which consist of different predictions on how the ecological factors (e.g. abundance and distribution of

Spanner Crab) and the Spanner Crab fishing industry affected by the new implemented regulation.

These scenarios also enable the managers to prepare mitigation strategies to address the possible

adverse impacts predicted in the different scenarios (Schirmer and Casey 2005). This ability is essential

for the program to support the AEM framework, as strategies in response the potential impacts are an

integral part of AEM (Lee 1993; Hilborn and Sibert 1986). One of the main challenges in conducting this

program is the data collection, especially for the ecological sustainability. According to Brown (2010),

there are limited sets of data regarding the biological factors of the Spanner Crab and consequently this

will increase the uncertainty within the process. Stock assessment, for example, is dependent heavily on

the biological data to produce a highly quality assessment (Cooper 2006). Due to this high rate of

uncertainty in fishing assessment, it is recommended for the managers to adapt a Precautionary

Approach Framework to compensate the absence of adequate scientific information (Bauffard 2010).

Conclusion

Monitoring and assessment program is an indispensable part of AEM approach. Therefore, it is

important to develop such program in order to assess the whether the new regulation has achieved its

original intention, which is to improve the overall sustainability—both in terms of ecological and socio-

economic—of Spanner Crab fishing industry. One of the most important tools to examine the ecological

sustainability is stock assessment, since it has the ability to forecast the potential impacts caused by the

policy change and determine the status of the species stock. The list of ecological sustainability criteria

along with its quantified indicators is required to become the baseline for the assessment. Based on this

data, index of sustainability might be developed which allows the managers to compare the

sustainability between ecological and socio-economic factors. This is very important in order to obtain

more comprehensive result of assessment regarding the overall level of sustainability—not partially.

The social profile of fishing communities is also essential in conducting the assessment on socio-

economic sustainability, given the fact that the Spanner Crab fishing activities are spread out without

any concentration in particular region. This will help the managers to develop a required management

intervention that will fits the different communities with its own distinct characteristics.

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