Penney Andrew J, Guinotte John M
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences Ministry of Fisheries, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Marine Conservation Institute, Bellevue, Washington, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Dec 16;8(12):e82273. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082273. eCollection 2013.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/105 on sustainable fisheries (UNGA 2007) establishes three difficult questions for participants in high-seas bottom fisheries to answer: 1) Where are vulnerable marine systems (VMEs) likely to occur?; 2) What is the likelihood of fisheries interaction with these VMEs?; and 3) What might qualify as adequate conservation and management measures to prevent significant adverse impacts? This paper develops an approach to answering these questions for bottom trawling activities in the Convention Area of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) within a quantitative risk assessment and cost : benefit analysis framework. The predicted distribution of deep-sea corals from habitat suitability models is used to answer the first question. Distribution of historical bottom trawl effort is used to answer the second, with estimates of seabed areas swept by bottom trawlers being used to develop discounting factors for reduced biodiversity in previously fished areas. These are used in a quantitative ecological risk assessment approach to guide spatial protection planning to address the third question. The coral VME likelihood (average, discounted, predicted coral habitat suitability) of existing spatial closures implemented by New Zealand within the SPRFMO area is evaluated. Historical catch is used as a measure of cost to industry in a cost : benefit analysis of alternative spatial closure scenarios. Results indicate that current closures within the New Zealand SPRFMO area bottom trawl footprint are suboptimal for protection of VMEs. Examples of alternative trawl closure scenarios are provided to illustrate how the approach could be used to optimise protection of VMEs under chosen management objectives, balancing protection of VMEs against economic loss to commercial fishers from closure of historically fished areas.
联合国大会关于可持续渔业的第61/105号决议（2007年联合国大会）向公海底层渔业的参与者提出了三个难题：1）脆弱海洋生态系统（VMEs）可能出现在哪里？2）渔业与这些VMEs相互作用的可能性有多大？3）哪些措施可能符合充分的养护和管理措施，以防止重大不利影响？本文在定量风险评估和成本效益分析框架内，针对南太平洋区域渔业管理组织（SPRFMO）公约区域内的底拖网捕捞活动，开发了一种回答这些问题的方法。利用栖息地适宜性模型预测的深海珊瑚分布来回答第一个问题。利用历史底拖网作业努力的分布来回答第二个问题，用底拖网渔船清扫的海底面积估计值来制定折扣因子，以反映以前捕捞区域生物多样性的减少。这些因子被用于定量生态风险评估方法，以指导空间保护规划，从而回答第三个问题。对新西兰在SPRFMO区域内实施的现有空间封闭措施的珊瑚VME可能性（平均、折扣、预测的珊瑚栖息地适宜性）进行了评估。在对替代空间封闭方案的成本效益分析中，将历史捕捞量用作行业成本的衡量指标。结果表明，新西兰在SPRFMO区域底拖网作业足迹内的现有封闭措施对于保护VMEs而言并非最优。文中提供了替代拖网封闭方案的示例，以说明该方法如何用于在选定的管理目标下优化对VMEs的保护，在保护VMEs与因历史捕捞区域封闭给商业渔民造成的经济损失之间取得平衡。
