Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy

Hosch, G., Belton, B., & Johnstone, G. Catch and effort trends in Myanmar’s offshore fleets operating out of Myeik-2009–2018. Marine Policy, 123, 104298.

Abstract

This paper analyses catch and effort in the data deficient commercial offshore fisheries of Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region, using a unique dataset of fish catch landing records. We analyse 26,517 logbook records for five gear types – fish and crab traps, squid and purse seines, and demersal trawls - collected by the Department of Fisheries (DOF) between June 2009 and April 2018. This analysis allows us to assess the impact of evolving management measures introduced during this period to control total effort and fishing activity. Catch per unit effort fell by between −27% and −64% across the five gear types over this period. This pattern is consistent with trends reported by national and regional stock assessments. The basic fishery management measures introduced from 2012 onwards were shown to significantly modulate total fishing pressure across several gear types within years, but their inconsistent implementation failed to significantly reduce fishing pressure across the entire study period. These findings may serve as foundation for future improvements in management effectiveness. Findings suggest that consistent fishery-dependent data collection and analysis programmes are necessary for providing the knowledge and guidance to underpin adaptive, science-based, and objective-driven fisheries management.