Session Organizers: Yutaro Sakai, Arizona State University; Kailin Kroetz, Resources for the Future

Network analysis is a powerful tool that can allow for visualization and quantification of relationships between multiple agents/units in complex systems. A network consists of nodes and edges. A node, for example, may be a fishery and an edge between two nodes may be the number of fishers who participate in both fisheries. Alternatively, in the case of permit transactions, a node may be a permit seller/buyer, and an edge between two nodes may be their transaction history. One can also construct networks representing relationships between firms, governments, and other potential fisheries stakeholders in a similar fashion. Once a network is constructed, network statistics allow researchers to examine how the network structure affects an agents choices/outcomes, as well as how the network itself changes in response to exogenous shocks. Network analysis has the potential to aid in fisheries management policy design and evaluation questions of current importance, including: providing a novel way to detect and measure spillover effects and providing a means of incorporating socioeconomic factors into quantitative ecosystem-based management frameworks.

We believe it is valuable for the fisheries economics community to have an opportunity to learn about and discuss the potential uses of network analyses. In this session, we will bring together emerging work that employs network analysis to benefit fishery management as examples of uses of network analysis. In addition, and in place of a final presentation, we will have a short panel discussion to highlight potential uses of network analysis and challenges to realizing its potential.

Session Organizers: Kate Barclay, University of Technology Sydney; Gil Sylvia, Oregon State University

Why are economics and other social sciences rarely integrated into fisheries and aquaculture management to determine impacts of fisheries relative to management goals? Why are we not constantly searching for approaches to improve management relative to social-welfare and related resource goals? We tend to focus on the amount of fish and not on the amount of economic and social benefits, but why? Are they just seen as simple correlates? Are competing and conflicting social objectives too hard to measure and evaluate given there is no consensus on what is best for society? This issue is a pressing one across the world, in developing countries as well as in wealthy states, with high resource management capacity. If fisheries and aquaculture management is to improve and the profession to advance, economists and other social scientists need to be critically involved in the year to year management process itself.

We invite participants to present papers about ways to improve the role of economists and other social scientists in effectively participating in the management process and conceptualizing and assessing the social impacts of fisheries and aquaculture.

Session Organizers: Cintia Gillam, Saint Mary’s University; Anthony Charles, Saint Mary's University

Healthy coastal ecosystems contribute substantially to provide ecosystem services to coastal communities, so effective management of human uses of ecosystems is crucial. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can be a relevant tool for this, to achieve conservation and sustainability goals, as well as social, economic and cultural benefits to communities around the world. However, MPAs can not only provide benefits but may result in various costs, and accordingly, assessing the economic benefits of MPAs requires also assessing social factors, notably existing power networks within communities, and issues of equity and inequity in the distribution of MPA benefits and costs. This is especially important with community-oriented MPA approaches. Such community participation might not lead to successful MPA initiatives if that involvement serves a hidden agenda, such as that of international NGOs or governments. Furthermore, it is relevant to analyze if the community receives enough support and empowerment to develop their own alternative livelihoods, and to take part in governance systems, including co-management arrangements in MPAs. This session explores how economic benefits to communities arising from MPAs may vary depending on the region, country, level of participatory approaches in decision-making processes, access to capacity building, and involvement of NGOs, private sector and governments.

Session Organizers: Amber Himes-Cornell, FAO; Chris Anderson, University of Washington; Adam Soliman, Fisheries Law Centre

Fish provide millions of people around the world with food security, nutrition, and livelihood opportunities, but the people in many fishing communities suffer from insecure tenure and access to resources on which they depend. Insecure tenure can cause social issues, loss of livelihoods and lower incomes, food insecurity, reduced nutrition, and the fundamental economic and biological problems of overcapitalization and overfishing.

To address some of these issues, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has supported stakeholders globally by developing the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (the VGGT), and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale fisheries in the Context of Food security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). Both Guidelines recognize that responsible governance of tenure is central to the protection of human rights, food security, poverty eradication, sustainable livelihoods, social stability, housing security, rural development, environmental protection and sustainable social and economic development. Thus, advancing knowledge on how the worlds marine and inland capture fisheries are accessed, used, and managed using many different types of rights-based approaches can provide a better understanding of this part of the solution towards socially, economically and biologically sustainable fisheries.

In 2018, the FAO and the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries co-hosted the Tenure and User Rights in Fisheries conference in Yeosu, Korea. Participants exchanged information by providing case studies on how tenure and rights-based approaches can harmonize the concepts of responsible fisheries in social and economic development. Participants also shared ideas on how to address concerns about fair and equitable application of user rights in capture fisheries.

A major outcome of the conference was a request for FAO to develop of Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure and User Rights in Fisheries. To undertake this, FAO is hosting a series of regional workshops in 2019 to gather inputs for drafting text to take to the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2020 for their consideration and approval. Subject to COFI approval, FAO would proceed with a Technical Consultation of Member States to negotiate the text of such voluntary guidelines.

For this session, we invite abstracts that discuss lessons learned and good practices that are relevant for the development and implementation of tenure and rights-based approaches to customary/indigenous, industrial, and small-scale fisheries management in the marine and inland waters of North America. The session will be composed of presentations and discussion among session participants. The information will help FAO develop a first draft of these new voluntary guidelines. We would like abstracts to address the following:

• What are tenure and user rights?
• What lessons have been learned from the implementation of existing fishing tenure and rights systems in North America?
• What advice (substantive and/or procedural) would you give to fisheries managers who are developing or modifying fisheries tenure and user rights systems in North America?
• What are the most essential good practices for creating new fisheries tenure and user rights systems in North America?

Session Organizers: Melina Kourantidou, University of Southern Denmark; Brooks Kaiser, University of Southern Denmark; Linda Fernandez, Virginia Commonwealth University; Niels Vestergaard, University of Southern Denmark

The primary focus of this session is to address challenges, risks, and opportunities in designing policies for management of both large-scale commercial and community-based subsistence fisheries in the circumpolar Arctic. We seek to bring together international and interdisciplinary research to expand the knowledge base for Arctic fisheries management that has been strongly challenged in recent years by stressors associated with both climate change and shifts in market dynamics. Climate-driven shifts in fish stock distributions and abundances are expected to have a strong influence on fishery-dependent communities in the Arctic. Data scarcity and lack of foundational biology knowledge in many of those Arctic fisheries limits the ability to assess how the expected ecological shifts might affect harvest opportunities, and therefore socioeconomic effects are hard to determine. The use of economic tools and models in policy design can expand the level of preparedness and help meet the upcoming challenges. In addition to better understanding of the ecosystem shifts, broadening the understanding of how shifts in market conditions such as global trade structures, demand and price dynamics may affect Arctic fisheries is key for designing policies that ensure socially desirable outcomes.

Other key topics, with a particular emphasis on Arctic fisheries, could include:

• Fisheries management policies resilient to change and adaptation strategies for climate change
• Stock shifts, opportunities and challenges; Management of northward moving species/ marine invasive species; Tradeoffs between community benefits and ecological risks
• Economic, Bioeconomic and Ecological-Economic Modeling
• Ecological and Economic insights for integrated management approaches (e.g. marine spatial planning - ecosystem based management etc)
• Utilizing past experiences from fisheries management, institutional settings, governance successes and failures to elicit lessons for designing future management
• Governance and management of high seas, highly migratory and straddling fish stocks; Transboundary fish stocks and cooperation across states; IUU fisheries in the Arctic high seas
• Connectivities and interdependencies of local fisheries management, globalized seafood markets and trade structures (including agreements, barriers and conflicts); Responses to global price dynamics and market pressures (e.g. sustainable certification schemes etc); Local and global seafood supply chains
• Fisheries co-management frameworks and integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in fisheries management

Session Organizers: Andrew Kitts, NMFS/NOAA; Sabrina Lovell, NMFS/NOAA; Kristy Wallmo, NMFS/NOAA; Dale Squires, NMFS/NOAA; Lee Benaka, NMFS/NOAA

Bycatch is a problem facing both commercial and recreational fisheries that can have negative biological, economic, or social impacts. Bycatch is often defined as discarded catch of marine species and/or unobserved mortality stemming from interaction with fishing vessels or gear. In commercial fisheries, non-target fish species or regulatory discards often make up bycatch, although protected species bycatch can also be a significant problem in certain fisheries (e.g. dolphins with commercial tuna fishing). Defining bycatch in recreational fisheries is more of a challenge, given that recreational fisherman often are not targeting specific species or will keep non-target species when caught. However, recreational fisheries often do interact with protected species of fish or in some cases, other species such as turtles. In the U.S., a variety of national laws regulating fisheries and protected species govern the management of bycatch and fisheries managers actively seek ways to reduce bycatch while maintaining viable fisheries. In addition to command and control methods to reduce bycatch, there are economic based options such as market-based incentives and intrinsic motivation (e.g. altruism, social norms) approaches. This session will explore the economics of bycatch and provide examples of solutions used or being developed to reduce bycatch in fisheries.

NOAA Fisheries recognizes the importance of reducing bycatch in commercial and recreational fisheries. To that end, the National Bycatch Reduction Strategy contains a wide variety of actions items to be undertaken by NOAA Fisheries. A specific action item in the Strategy is to advance ideas, solutions, and research regarding the economic aspects of bycatch reduction in U.S. fisheries. The proposed session will meet this goal by encouraging a wide discussion of economic bycatch reduction strategies that will include examples of research from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and around the world, by opening up submissions to any NAAFE participants.

The session will provide attendees with an introduction to bycatch issues and solutions in fisheries. It will expand the discussion stemming from a NMFS workshop to be held Feb. 2019 by providing a short synopsis of the findings from 8 case studies from the workshop and including other research studies that can complement the workshop findings. The ideas presented can be used to advance bycatch reduction in fisheries around the U.S. and the world.

Session Organizers: Megan Bailey, Dalhousie University; Anthony Charles, Saint Mary’s University

Conventionally, fisheries economics focused on types of fisheries, and forms of analysis, that ignored gender aspects. This special session provides a set of presentations aiming to demonstrate, and assess, how gender analysis can be applied to a range of issues in fisheries economics, fishery management and fishery trade, and how this may depend on the specific types and locations of fisheries.

This special session provides a set of presentations aiming to demonstrate, and assess, how gender analysis can be applied to a range of issues in fisheries economics, fishery management and fishery trade.

Session Organizers: Catherine Bryan, Dalhousie University; Shannon Arnold, Ecology Action Centre; Sadie Beaton, Ecology Action Centre

This session will bring together front-line workers, researchers, key stakeholders, and policy advocates for an in-depth exploration of the shifting labour landscape of Nova Scotian fisheries. Based on insights from both primary production and processing, this panel will offer a political economy of the province’s fisheries and aquaculture sector that emphasizes the social and relational outcomes of persistent and emergent patterns of employment within that sector. While these patterns are reflective of traditional divisions of labour and the long-standing organization of the fisheries more broadly, they are also indicative of new opportunities provided by policy—opportunities that map onto the state’s priorities vis-à-vis resource extraction and labour. This panel queries and problematizes these economistic priorities by drawing them into conversation with the lived-experiences and material realities of those working in the fisheries. To this end, the session will invite papers that explore, for example, the integration of temporary foreign workers in fish processing; patterns of out-migration from rural, coastal Nova Scotia and the implications for fish harvesting; the labour conditions in both contexts (harvesting and processing); and the effects of those conditions for those who work in the sector (as well as secondary effects for family and community). As a result, the perspectives and analysis provided by the session will be, at once, increasingly transnational and highly local, reflecting new and persistent recruitment practices within the sector.

Session Organizer: Ken Paul, Assembly of First Nations

The Supreme Court of Canada Marshall Decision (1999) affirmed commercial fishing rights based on the Peace and Friendship Treaty 1760-61. Following this landmark case, there has been a steady increase in the presence of First Nation fishers in the Atlantic commercial fisheries and a diversity of operations in both fisheries and aquaculture. This has also spawned federal support programs in fisheries and aquaculture for Indigenous Peoples in Canada resulting in burgeoning regional and local economies. This session will look at the challenges, successes and opportunities for Indigenous nations and Canada alike in the fishing and aquaculture economy.

Session Organizer: Megan Bailey, Dalhousie University

The market is increasingly being used, and potentially abused, as a mechanism for sustainable seafood governance. The main theory of change has been that through price premiums and/or market access, producers will be incentivized to improve their production practices. This theory of change has been criticized, however, as not adequately capturing consumer preferences and willingness to pay, not incorporating mid-supply chain actors, and for assuming that instrumental values (i.e., the bottom line) is all that drives corporate initiatives in sustainability. New theories of change, a wider scope for keystone actors, and broader theoretical motivations are necessary to fully understand how the market governs seafood consumption and production. This session invites authors to share field-based empirical data, predictive modelling approaches, and/or theoretical considerations for how best to support the sustainable seafood movement and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the seafood sector as forces of good. Examples to draw on may include calculations of the return on investment in CSR, full-chain seafood traceability, pre-competitive sustainability initiatives, and market incentives for socially responsible seafood (like Fair Trade).

Session Organizer: Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University

Food fraud is clearly becoming a noticeable issue in seafood and other commodities, as evidenced by increasing violations and troubling reports on mislabeling and fraud from groups like Oceana. Food fraud has been around for thousands of years, with the first known cases dating back to the Roman Empire. Yet some estimates suggest food fraud represents a nearly $70-billion problem worldwide, suggesting it has now gone mainstream. Two things have changed in recent years that are making a significant impact: supply-chain transparency from fish to fork, and consumer expectations empowered by social media. In Canada, according to a recent study by Dalhousie University, more than 40 per cent of Canadians believe to have been victims of food fraud already, and Oceana Canada identified seafood fraud in 44% of the samples it tested across the country. The economic impacts of seafood fraud and mislabeling have not been well-studied. What are the costs to consumers and the potential benefits to supply chain actors who participate in seafood fraud? What can be done to mitigate it? Two things have changed in recent years that may be making a significant impact: supply-chain transparency from fish to fork, and consumer expectations empowered by social media. In this session, we invite participants to discuss their research into the economic impacts of seafood fraud and mislabeling, and the potential business case for addressing seafood fraud through things like seafood traceability. Furthermore, studies on the extent to which consumer choice and preference, via willingness to pay for labelling information, for example, could help address seafood fraud are also invited.