Using quantitative behavioural approaches to develop sustainable fisheries

鱼产品销售商和消费者对买卖可持续渔业产品的兴趣日益增加。这一运动始于1990年代底栖鱼类种群崩溃之后，因此，许多渔业的目标是获得国际海洋管理理事会（海安会）的认证，该理事会为可持续捕捞做法制定了标准。因此，许多努力都集中在实现这一认证，研究通常集中在人口动态，种群评估和渔具开发等主题上。然而，仍然缺乏关于鱼类对渔具的行为的知识。最近，相机技术的进步和成本的降低使科学家能够回答更多的问题。然而，在考虑渔具开发工作时，大多数情况下的视频都是作为定性测量处理的，忽略了决定渔具有效性及其捕获或避免副渔获物（捕获后丢弃在海上的不需要的物种/大小）的能力的关键问题。设计良好的研究，量化鱼类对渔具和渔具组成部分的反应行为，甚至更少，错过了明确显示哪些行为导致捕获或逃逸的机会，而这些方面是可持续渔业的定义。我的第一个发现补助金，我将启动一个全面的研究计划，旨在发展可持续渔业，通过量化动物行为的渔具。在最初的五年里，我将建立一个长期的实验计划，旨在减少1）拖网和延绳钓中的格陵兰鲨鱼（Somniosus microcephalus）和2）盆中的小雪蟹（Chionoeclampo opilio）的误捕。 这些研究将为每种动物在捕获过程中的行为提供新的视角，为纳入MSC建议提供重要证据，并最终实现当前捕获方法的潜在可持续性，并导致更可持续的新设计（即避免混捕）。目前对加拿大渔业来说，格陵兰大比目鱼（Reinhardtius glossoides）渔业中的格陵兰鲨鱼副渔获物是该渔业获得MSC认证的一个障碍。在加拿大的雪蟹渔业中，雪蟹种群正在从过度捕捞中重建，需要技术改进，以及从一个几乎对其行为一无所知的物种中重建。该研究计划将提供短期（1-3年）战略，以量化行为，为渔具设计提供信息和改进，同时制定长期（3-10年）渔具开发战略，设计基于行为观察和定量分析结果。 该研究计划将为学生提供培训，以获得发展可持续渔业的技能，与国际合作者合作，并获得必要的量化能力。这种技能在加拿大和国际上都有很高的需求。

There is an increasing interest from fish product marketers and consumers to buy and sell products from sustainable fisheries. This movement began in the 1990s following groundfish stock collapses and as a result, many fisheries target certification from the International Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which sets standards for sustainable fishing practices. As such, much effort has been focused on realizing this certification with research typically focused on topics of population dynamics, stock assessment, and fishing gear development. However, there is still a dearth of knowledge on fish behaviour to fishing gear. Recently, advances in camera technology and cost reductions has enabled an increase to the capacity of questions that scientists can answer. However, when considering fishing gear development work, video for most cases is handled as a qualitative measurement and misses key questions that determine the effectiveness of fishing gears and their ability to catch or avoid bycatch (unwanted species/sizes discarded at sea after capture). Well-designed studies that quantify fish behaviour in reaction to fishing gear and fishing gear components are even fewer and miss an opportunity to show explicitly which behaviours lead to capture or escape, aspects that define sustainable fisheries. With my first Discovery Grant I will initiate a comprehensive research program aimed at developing sustainable fisheries through quantifying animal behaviour to fishing gear. In the first five years, I will establish a long-term experimental program aimed at reducing the bycatch of 1) Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) in trawls and longlines and 2) small snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in pots. These studies will provide novel perspectives to how each animal behaves during the capture process, providing significant evidence for the inclusion of a MSC recommendation, and ultimately realize the potential sustainability of the current capture methods, and lead to new designs that are more sustainable (i.e. avoids bycatch). Currently for Canadian fisheries, Greenland shark bycatch in the Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) fishery is a barrier for that fishery to obtain MSC certification. In the Canadian snow crab fishery, snow crab populations are rebuilding from overfishing, necessitating technical improvements, and from a species that has almost nothing known of its behaviour. This research program will provide short-term (1-3 years) strategies to quantify behaviour to inform and improve fishing gear design, while establishing long-term (3-10 years) strategies for fishing gear development with designs based on behaviour observations and results from quantitative analyses. This research program will provide training for students to acquire skills to develop sustainable fisheries, work with international collaborators, and gain necessary quantification capabilities. Such a skill set is in high demand in Canada and internationally.