Criteria for a good catch: A conceptual framework to guide sourcing of sustainable salmon fisheries

The identification of sustainably managed fisheries is problematic for marketers and consumers of Pacific salmon food products owing to lack of well-defined and robust criteria that take into account current ecosystem science of salmon. We present the rationale for an alternative conceptual framework for salmon management that supports the development of sustainable sourcing criteria. Our approach contrasts with current large-scale fisheries certification programs such as that of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and general consumer recommendation services such as Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch (SFW) program. Our framework is based on the “place-based” character of salmon populations and recognition of fundamental aspects of salmon ecology, particularly the evolution of population life histories that are locally adapted to freshwater spawning and rearing habitats. We describe how this framework underpins development of science-based sourcing criteria and how it differs in important respects from the industrial approach that historically and currently is the basis for most salmon management. We conclude with a discussion of how the framework and its application may provide a model for redirecting salmon management, in general, towards a more science- and place-based approach and why that is likely to be sustainable in the long term in a way that most contemporary salmon management is not.

Using model simulations to compare performance of two commercial salmon management strategies in Bristol Bay, Alaska

In this paper, we discuss the costs and benefits, in relation to economics and Alaska’s salmon management policies, associated with two management strategies on the Egegik and Togiak sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) fisheries in Bristol Bay, Alaska. “Daily management” allows managers to open or close the fishery on a daily basis, whereas a fixed fishing schedule allows fishing, to the extent practical, on fixed days of the week. To compare the strategies, we simulated the effects of daily management and a fixed fishing schedule on the two fisheries. Our simulations show that a daily management strategy results in higher yearly catches, less yearly variation in escapement, and fewer years of escapement below the goal range. A fixed fishing schedule results in less yearly variation in catch and a more stable harvest rate, with the harvest stability more pronounced when effort was held constant. Daily management is a desirable strategy for fisheries that are managed for maximum sustainable yield, have high fishing effort, have a small fishing area, or have a more temporally compressed run. A fixed fishing schedule is a desirable strategy for fisheries with less intense effort, budgetary or efficiency concerns, or stock components that differ in run timing.