Bottom Trawl

This FIP concentrates on the stocks of the following species: Heterocarpus chani, H. woodmasoni and Aristeus alcocki. For the pre-assessment, the management unit is the stock of these three species found in Kerala coastal waters, mainly operating in an area called Kollam bank. 

The fishery is a mixed trawl fishery, with each vessel carrying six or seven types of trawl gear, including bottom, midwater and pelagic trawls. Each vessel may catch 200 – 250kg of shrimp per tow. The target Heterocarpus shrimp are caught in around 200-300 metres depth, with Aristeus alcocki mainly taken at 250-300m. Other deep-sea shrimp are also landed in the fishery, with for example Solenocera hextii being significant in the catch from ~150 meters. Small amounts of cephalopods and deep-sea shark species are also landed by the same boats.   

There are 700 – 750 boats operated from Sakthikulangra, and less than 50 from Vypin, 20% of which go fishing for deep-sea shrimp. Trips last between four and ten days, landing their catch in the early mornings in Kollam, which is the nearest landing site to the fishing grounds. A single vessel may do two to three hauls a day, with a towing duration of two to three hours. The fishing season is between September to May, with peak fishing from November to January. The SW monsoon brings bad weather to the coast of Kerala, which can prevent the fishery from starting until mid-September in some cases, as it takes two to three days steaming to reach the fishing grounds (Dr. Rehka Devi Chakraborty, CMFRI, pers. comm.). As with other mechanised trawl fisheries, the deep-sea fishery is subject to a ban during the monsoon period.

The responsibility for marine fisheries in India is shared between the National (Central) and State governments. The national legal framework in India gives individual States control of the seas and living marine resources up to 12 nautical miles (nm) from the shore, while the Central Government has control from 12 nm to the 200 nm exclusive economic zone (EEZ) boundary. This fishery is managed by the Department of Fisheries, Government of Kerala. 

According to the World Bank (2010) report, there are five major legal instruments of the Central government that directly govern marine fisheries and activities:

• The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897;
• Marine Products Export Development Authority Act 1972 (No. 13 of 1972);
• The Maritime Zones of India (Regulation of fishing by foreign vessels) Act, 1981 (No. 42 of 1981);
• The Maritime Zones of India (Regulation of fishing by foreign vessels) Rules, 1982;
• The Operation of Deep Sea Fishing Vessels, 20m OAL and above, Notifications dated 14 December 2006.

State legislation is based on a model Act prepared by the central government in 1979 (World Bank, 2010) with each State developing its own marine fisheries legislation to manage fisheries in their respective area. In Kerala State, fisheries management is guided by the Kerala Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1980 (KMFR Act). It was amended in 2017 and is in the process of being implemented across the State.

The Panama Republic is a relatively small country in surface (75,000 Km²), but has a substantial biological potential as seafood producing country thanks to its geographic location. Panama coasts add up to 2,988 kilometers, 1,700 in the Pacific and 1,288 in the Caribbean. The continental shelf has an extension of 250,900 Km² and the Exclusive Economic Zone reaches 319,188 Km²

The fishing activity in Panama occurs mostly in the Pacific Ocean with 95%, where also 80% of the populations inhabits. The Gulf of Panama upwelling during the dry season is the basis for the relevant fishing activities in the Panamanian waters.

The industrial fishing operates in the Pacific Ocean and focus on shrimp, small pelagics for reduction, tuna, dolphin fish and finfish species, being the export markets the main objective. The industrial shrimp fishery is one of the main economic activities for Panama. This activity started in the 1950 with 50 vessels growing up to 307 in the 1980’s. For 2004 Panama had registered 249 industrial vessels with shrimp fishing license which diminished to 170 in 2005. Currently, due the low yields, the number of shrimp vessels is below 150.

The Panama shrimp fishery is a multispecific fishery being the Western white shrimp the most important in volume and value, followed by the Crystal and Fidel shrimps. The fishery has been for years the most important in terms of income, revenue and jobs generated. However, after years of excessive fishing effort and the noncompliance with the management measures have placed the shrimp populations in critical status resulting in decreasing landings which, combined with the weaknesses of the international market and the increasing producing costs, difficult the design and implementation of harvest strategies and harvest control rules aimed at recovering the stocks to sustainable levels, mitigate the fishery environmental impacts and to satisfy the increasing  demands for social and environmental responsibility in the markets for the Panamanian production.

The Irish prawn - bottom trawl FIP is based in ICES Area VII. The Irish vessels involved in the fishery are mainly trawlers who target nephrops with some vessels carrying out freezing at sea.

FIP membership will be comprised of commercial fishing vessels (who require a licence issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to be allocated a quota to fish in the fishery), processors, retailers, the Irish Marine Institute and BIM (the Irish Sea Fisheries Board).

The initial focus on the FIP will be on establishing the FIP group itself and identifing and addressing any sustainability issues in the fishery.

The Suriname corvina bottom-trawl fishery has Cynoscion acoupa and Cynoscion virescens as main target species. The main landing points are located in the four estuaries of the country: the Marowijne estuary, the Suriname-Commewijne estuary, the Coppename-Saramacca estuary and the Corantijin-Nickery estuary. A vessel monitoring system has been implemented for all trawlers as of 2007 and licensing is compulsory for all fishing units. Sea Delight, Deep Sea Atlantic and CeDePesca are working towards the design and implementation of a FIP. Currently, an assessment of the fishery's performance against the MSC standard is taking place.