Handline

Octopus is an important export seafood commodity in Indonesia with the country listed as one of the big four octopus producers globally. This fishery is an artisanal fishery, nevertheless, it significantly contributes to the community's livelihood. Sulawesi waters (Fisheries Management Areas 713, 714, and 715/FAO Area 71) cover more than 50% of the octopus national product, it produces high income for the fishers, but the detailed information about this fishery is not well known, i.e. the condition of the stock, unregulated, unreported and value-loss indication. The FIP aims to emphasize co-management among the stakeholders by developing adequate scientific research to support the sustainability of the stock and ecosystem in collaboration with universities and research entities, as a basis for management action at both national (through national octopus fisheries management plan with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries) and grass-root level with the community. This combination is expected to strengthen community participation in fishery management leading to improvement below the water in 2027.

The octopus fishery in the Unit of Assessment (UoA) is dominated by traditional fishing gears such as handline and spear. Fishers use small vessels under 1 Gross Tonnage (GT), and in some cases fish without vessels by gleaning the octopus near the shoreline during the low tide. This FIP is estimated to cover 300 fishers in several locations: Wakatobi, Selayar, Banggai Laut - Kepulauan, Luwuk, and Tojo Una-Una Regencies. This FIP is led by Yayasan Pesisir Lestari (YPL) and Blue Ventures, which are NGOs/CSOs that support community-led fisheries management: JAPESDA, FORKANI, FONEB, KOMANANGI, LINI, SFP, fishers group within the UoA. This FIP aims to link the grassroots movement with the national-level stakeholders and is expected to catalyze improvement by achieving the objectives of this FIP. 

Artisanal fishing in Santa Rosalía-Mulegé has drastically decreased in recent years. Much of the decline is due to the complete collapse of the jumbo squid fishery. As the squid fishery declined, artisanal fishermen shifted their effort to yellowtails, snappers and groupers species, which are now showing signs of overfishing.

The motivation for undertaking this FIP is to enable local stakeholders to improve the biological, social and economic system associated with small-scale fishing in the Santa Rosalía-Mulegé corridor, so that fishers and others who depend on fishing resources are incentivized to implement positive changes, and can share the benefits and enjoy a better quality of life. We believe this is possible if the systems are managed for long-term sustainability, ensuring that the benefits are propagated and enjoyed by future generations.

This multi-species finfish artisanal fishery was selected for a FIP because we believe that it is possible to significantly improve its performance, certainly relative to its existing conditions, so that local fish populations, fishers, buyers and consumers benefit. Whether we achieve this objective depends on our ability to identify the factors that limit or prevent the existing fishery from becoming more productive, stable and resilient to external shocks and to identify measures to overcome these limitations. It also depends on the willingness of local fishers and others to adopt and implement these measures, and the likelihood that, once implemented, these measures will produce the desired results. We believe these results are desirable and achievable.

The potential barriers to achieving sustainability are myriad. However, these barriers could be overcome because:

• There is a long tradition of small-boat (‘pangas’) fishing in the Santa Rosalía-Mulegé corridor;

• Local fishers have the potential to influence the abundance, survival and/or growth of the local fish populations;

• The catches of yellowtail, snappers and groupers is an important source of income for local fishers and the Santa Rosalía-Mulegé community;

• The fisher community from the Santa Rosalía-Mulegé corridor come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds; their ability to fish (access to permits, equipment, etc.) and the physical, biological, social and economic factors that affect them are common to all;

• There is potential support among the community, institutions, project partners and project funders; and

• There are viable options to improve the fishery in probable future scenarios.

During the Fishery Pre-Assessment, discussions with local fishers, observations of fishing behavior and catch records, and sampling data collected at various fishing ports determined that yellowtail, snapper, and grouper (represented by eight species) dominate catches in the Santa Rosalía-Mulegé corridor, caught with hook and line ("piola," local Mexican name) and surrounding gillnets ("chinchorro") as fishing gear.

Four separate Assessment Units (UoA) were identified to facilitate our fisheries assessment and improvement work plan:

• Yellowtail handline. There is a group of fishers who target yellowtail with handlines. They do not use gillnets during the same fishing days from the same fishing boats. The local yellowtail fishery targets fish from a population throughout the Gulf of California, so the actual population is larger than the geographic area covered by this PA. The yellowtail fishery only occurs when the migratory yellowtail is found in the local area.

• Yellowtail gillnet. A separate, but smaller, number of fishers target the same yellowtail population described above using gillnets, depending on the availability and abundance of this resource. Some fishers can sometimes switch from handlines to gillnets when targeting yellowtail, but not on the same day.

• Snapper handline. Handline fishers go after snappers, available year-round, usually when yellowtail is less available. They do not handline for other species on the same trips and sometimes target snappers and yellowtails during the same fishing trip. Because snappers are relatively territorial, the stock is roughly defined as those that occur within the SRMC geography.

• Grouper handline. A distinct handline fishery occurs by season or availability for grouper species. Some of the same anglers switch from other species to groupers, but usually only target groupers on a given fishing trip. Because groupers are territorial, the stock is roughly defined as those that occur within the geography of the SRMC area.

Because these 4 UoAs represent eight species exploited by two different fishing gears, by the same fishing fleet operating in the same fishing area under the same economic units and commercial fishing permit, recommendations provided by the PA for each one of 4 UoAs were compiled and prioritized within this multispecies finfish fishery to develop the FIP workplan and address the challenges of the fishery to improve its performance against the MSC standards indicators.

Although it is necessary to continue to implement a comprehensive program of monitoring fishing data for separate species and gear in order to detect changes in species abundance and assess species vulnerability to define specific measures and limit threats to the most vulnerable, combining the PA recommendations for this multispecies fishery will allow 1) to harmonize this FIP with other FIPs that are being implemented in other areas of the Gulf of California for the same species, and 2) facilitate the adoption of unified/coherent fisheries management measures within the entire Gulf of California region.

It is also expected that promoting and implementing fisheries enhancement measures for this single combined UoA will indirectly benefit each of the 4 separate UoAs through a potential spillover effect, as measures will be taken for the most vulnerable species.

Groupers and snappers are considered important fisheries commodities in Indonesia, both ecologically and economically. These fish are generally caught by small-scale fishers that operate in nearby reefs, thus undertaking sustainable grouper and snapper fisheries is of paramount importance for their continuous supply. As one of the important sites for grouper and snapper fisheries nationwide, in 2018 the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province enacted a sustainable grouper and snapper management through a Governor Decree, particularly for the Saleh Bay area. Since then, monitoring and evaluation have been conducted to ensure the management plan for snapper and grouper achieved its target. From the monitoring, it is known that two main species have dominated the fishery and became the export commodities, i.e. Malabar blood snapper (Lutjanus malabaricus) and Leopard grouper (Plectropomus leopardus) which are caught by Handline and Bottom Longline.

The grouper and snapper fisheries management in Saleh Bay has also included several regulations, such as minimum legal size, hook and mesh size, and integration with MPA management. Since the fishery targeted two species that are small-scale, the fishers are not subject to license and permit, they only need to register their boats with the government. To ensure its sustainability along with market value, the FIP will address the rebuilding stock strategy, draft harvest control rules, and (partially) manage the habitat/ecosystem (e.g. through MPA management effectiveness improvement).

The handline fishery is the most important, in terms of foreign exchange revenue. Current landings are about 28,000 MT annually, of which 80% is exported, mostly in fresh chilled form. These exports are worth about 70 million USD a year. 

The fishery targets surface-dwelling large yellowfin tuna, which in non-handline fisheries are often associated with dolphins. While Maldivians know of the fishery potential of yellowfin tuna, a targeted fishery using handlines started 1990s as a response to the private sector involvement in fresh tuna exports.  Livebait, often scads (Selar crumenophthalmus, Decapterus macarellus)  and triggerfish (Odonus niger), are used to attract and maintain large yellowfin tuna schools. Hooked scads/triggerfish on handline leads with sinkers are used to catch yellowfin and hauled manually. The fish are killed immediately, gilled, gutted, and bled before being stored on flake ice.  

The fishery is highly selective with no bycatch and virtually no negative interactions with ETP species.

The scope of the FIP is the entire Maldives handline fishery, conducted throughout the archipelago, but generally restricted to the south-central, central, and northern regions. The Maldives fishery segment is part of the wider Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna stock, but this fishery targets only adult tuna within the Maldivian EEZ.

Of the roughly 800 licensed tuna vessels in the Maldives, about 50% target exclusively yellowfin using handlines. The fishing licenses are renewed every year and managed by the Maldives Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture.