Research Document - 2002/084

Limits to overfishing: reference points in the context of the Canadian perspective on the precautionary approach

By Peter A. Shelton and Jake C. Rice

Abstract

Over the last 20 years Canada has subscribed to a philosophy that accepts limits to overfishing. However, there has been no effective framework for implementing a precautionary approach to prevent overfishing. A recent Canadian federal inter-departmental discussion paper provides a consolidation of thinking regarding the precautionary approach from a wide range of fields. It states that Canada applies the precautionary approach in situations when a decision must be made about a risk of serious or irreversible harm and when there is high scientific uncertainty. We evaluate potential fisheries limit reference points in the context of avoiding of serious or irreversible harm and in situations of high scientific uncertainty. Although it seems likely that the subset of reference points that should be considered as limit reference points are going to vary on a stock by stock basis, some guidance is provided on characteristics which may lead to useful limit reference points in the context of the federal framework. Once appropriate limit reference points are defined for a stock which set the boundary when further reduction in spawner biomass or increase in exploitation would constitute serious or irreversible harm, then implementation of the precautionary approach requires these limits to be avoided with a high probability. The process of incorporating the appropriate risk levels within a precautionary approach in the context of the federal framework is discussed. We argue that, while it would be useful to have the precautionary approach imbedded within a broader framework that considers optimising multiple objectives in fisheries management, the setting of limits, albeit preliminary in some cases, should proceed for each exploited stock as rapidly as possible.

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