Solway Cockle Fishery Management Study

2. Introduction

The Solway Firth straddles the border between England and Scotland in the Irish Sea and is one of the largest intertidal areas in the UK. It is of great environmental importance especially for over -wintering birds and there are numerous nature conservation designations throughout the area. Cockles are important species in this ecosystem and are an integral link between primary producers (phytoplankton) and other marine fauna (crabs, shrimps, starfish, fish and birds). Cockles are also of commercial importance and have been commercially harvested periodically since 1987.

The Scottish Solway was closed to cockle fishing in 2011 and has remained so to date. This followed five years of management under a Regulating Order ( RO) which was hindered by low stock levels impacting on revenue streams and along with local concerns surrounding this fishery resulted in its closure. Following reports of increasing stock abundance Marine Scotland - the Scottish Government directorate with responsibility for the management of Scotland's marine resources and environment - held a series of public meetings in 2012. At these events stakeholders demonstrated a willingness to support a position for the re-opening of a cockle fishery assuming a management regime could be put in place that provides for ecological sustainability and resilience and brings economic and social benefits for the local area. Potential mechanisms for achieving this were discussed with stakeholders including local fishers at the meetings. Building on this, it was decided that a scientific investigation of a potential management regime for a sustainable cockle fishery in the Solway Firth would be undertaken.

In developing such a management regime, Marine Scotland's primary objective was to test management mechanisms that offered increased harvesting controls to achieve sustainableextraction and encourage a long-term management ethos within the fishery. A secondary objective was to investigate potential benefits to local communities from a sustainably managed fishery. This management study set out to collect data over a three months fishing season during whichthe cockle beds were harvested under a science derogation for 'hand-gathered cockles' at a commercial scale, to test the suitability and viability of the management regime. The work was contracted to a local company, Deefish Ltd.

Due to poor cockle yields, the commercial extraction element of the study did not fulfil its full potential and had to be suspended in December 2013, after a 4 week operational period. It was re-started in July 2014 and ran for a further two weeks before the contractors asked to withdraw due to difficult market conditions. Whilst disappointing, Marine Scotland accepted the termination of the contract which brought the study to a close. Given the market conditions encountered by the contractor, it was felt little further could be learnt from the study in the time remaining.

Whilst the study was unable to test the full range of management approaches to the harvest ofa commercial volume of cockles over a sustained period of time, it was able to: 1) develop a range of harvesting controls; 2) develop a training scheme which improved H&S awareness; 3) develop an integrated, multi-agency approach for dealing with non-compliance with the full support of all local enforcement agencies; 4) test a new method of End-Product Testing ( EPT) analysis on seafood entering the food chain to lay the foundation for high-level food traceability; 5) raise awareness within both local communities and conservation organisations of the potential fora low impact sustainable fisheries model which minimises adverse social impacts. These outcomes are detailed in this report along with observations for the future development a sustainable cockle fishery in the Solway Firth.

2.1 Aims and Objectives

This study explores whether a management system based on the principles associated with a Territorial Use Right for Fisheries ( TURF) model can deliver a sustainable cockle fishery in the Solway Firth. TURFs grant exclusive and secure privileges to fish an area of sea to a specific group who, within that group, define a range of access and allocation criteria for a set period of time (often of long duration) to sustainably and fairly manage the stock (Poon & Bonzon, 2013). The assigned group/s undertake the internal management, such as allocations and incentives, within the group to promote and monitor sustainable fishing. TURFs have been successfully developed in countries around the world and in some regions they have been in place for centuries (Poon & Bonzon, 2013). TURFs are especially ideal for benthic and sedentary species such as shellfish fisheries (Defeo & Castilla, 2005). In the United Kingdom, a regulatory framework known as a Regulating Order ( RO) exists and can facilitate the application of a TURF system.

Research into TURFs has found that those which have been unsuccessful have often failed at the internal management stage. This was central to our investigation on how we can establish a successful and sustainable management regime in the Solway Firth. TURFs by nature are exclusive and therefore the aims of this study include investigating how to establish management criteria that are fair and equitable, which incentivise those involved to harvest sustainability and invest in the fishery over the long term whilst delivering benefits to the local area. If a TURF approach is successful it is possible to introduce these local management principles using a RO.

Specific research questions:

1. How successful was the trial management study for;

a) creating fair and transparent involvement for fishers?

b) incentivising fishers to harvest sustainably?

c) improving enforcement agencies' ability to track and police activity?

d) improving local communities' understanding and perceptions of the fishery?

2. What social and economic benefits could the local area realise from a TURF system?;

3. What local capacity is there to development, monitor and manage a TURF system? and;

4. What role would government have in future management of the Solway cockle fishery?

2.2 Background: Past Problems in the Solway

Small-scale hand-gathering of cockles has taken place for decades whilst commercial cockle harvesting in the Scottish Solway started in the late 1980s (Shepard & Clark, 1994) after demand from the Dutch created a viable market for large scale extraction (Jones 1997). Methods of collection started with large teams of hand collectors (>60 men), but rapidly expanded to tractor dredgers and hydraulic dredging vessels. Within the span of four years, six local vessels and a number of distance vessels were working in the area and onshore facilities were built to process shellfish which included cockles.

As shown in Figure 1, the late 1980s saw a dramatic increase in extraction which ceased in the early 1990s with the introduction of legislation which banned vessel dredging in Scotland. Due to a loophole in the legislation tractor dredging continued until banned in 1994. From 1998 to 2002 hand collection recommenced on the Solwaywith reports of between 30-100 collectors at any one time (Miles 2001) however no official landing records exist for this period. During this time the fisheries opened depending on annual stock assessments but with no restrictions once open.

Figure 1: Volume cockles landed by UK vessels from the Solway (Ayr Fisheries Statistics and MAFF - taken from SSMA 2004 Regulating Order)

During this period a number of problems were associated with the fishery which included anti-social behaviour from large numbers of individuals coming into the area to exploit the resources. This was exacerbated by a lack of facilities to house and support pickers whilst on the sands e.g. sanitation facilities, and no management of cars and other vehicles required for working on the sands, resulting in the disruption of public services (local bus services and schools runs). The police were repeatedly required to manage and resolve disputes whilst the fishery was open.

Noise was also a concern with the dredges on vessels resulting in some complaints, but the majority of the complaints were associated with uncontrolled hand gathering and tractor dredging. Most of these were in relation to disturbances to communities and to wildfowl feeding and roosting in the area ( SSMA, 2006). Finally, litter at access points frequented by locals and tourists was a major complaint with this fishery which may have been exacerbated by the transitory nature of many of the pickers who had less incentives to take care of the local area ( SSMA, 2006).

Due to these and other concerns around long term stock management the fishery was closed in 2002 and a management proposal was submitted by the Solway Shellfish Management Association ( SSMA) to govern the Scottish Solway under a RO. This was granted and the RO ran from 2006 to 2011. During this period the fisheries suffered many setbacks, primarilypoor cockle recruitment, which impacted on the financial model of the RO which meant the fishery could not remain open and the RO could not be tested to its full potential nor could a long term management regime be fully developed. Much has been learnt from the SSMA RO that has informed the development of management options. Since the Solway Firth Regulating Order expired in 2011 the cockle fishery has remained closed under the Inshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing for Cockles) (Solway Firth) (Scotland) Order 2011. However, there is increasing pressure from local fishermen to re-open the fishery.