won't harm hake fishing

Reading through mor eof the twitter articles. This one is particularly interesting as it reveals that the expert used to analyse potential imapct on fisheries was actually recommended by the fisheries industry. Presumably they recommended him expecting a different conclusion! That's the problem with independance!

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NMP phosphate dredging activities will not harm hake fishing
by Namibian Marine Phosphate on Friday, June 22, 2012 at 10:02pm ·
A key component of the licence granted to Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) to develop the Sandpiper project off the coast of Walvis Bay was that the company must conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), to assess the likely impact of dredging activities on marine life, including commercial fishing activities. The company is also legally obliged to spell out how it will mitigate any adverse impact on marine life.
 
NMP commissioned a world-renowned independent fisheries expert to conduct the research on the commercial fishing aspect of the EIA. The appointment of the expert was done with the knowledge and recommendations of the fishing industry in Namibia.
 
The expert’s conclusion is that “the impact on Namibian fisheries will vary depending on the fishing sector. The operation of all fisheries will in some way, and at different levels of intensity, be impacted. Overall, the significance of impact on the fisheries sector is considered to be negative and of medium to low significance because the area to be dredged over a 20 year period will be 3 km² per annum is a small fraction of the overall Namibian fishing grounds. This fraction may however increase significantly if mining of this nature is to be expanded or alternative mine sites introduced.”
 
The EIA spells out that the impact will be negative and medium to low, primarily because the area to be mined represents small fraction of the overall Namibian fishing grounds.  “The anticipated negative effect will be negligible, if not non-existent.”
 
Even though hake is found throughout the Mining Licence Area (MLA), it is unlikely that hake will be seriously affected by NMP dredging activities.  As stated in the fisheries specialist report, “Within the MLA the historical catch (of hake) is 0.86% or about 1% of total hake trawl effort.  There are minimal records of fishing in (target mine areas) SP-1 and SP-3 but fishing has been reported in SP-2”.  In effect this means that the historical data show that in the actual area to be mined initially (SP-1) very little trawling has ever taken place. The target mine area is also close to the 200 m contour, an area which the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries has closed to fishing. The EIA report further states that if the area immediately outside of the areas proposed for mining are considered, the following is likely.
 
“Trawling for hake, although it occurs significantly beyond the MLA, is highly unlikely to be affected”. What this means is that small amounts of hake fishing have been reported in the MLA but very little inside the actual areas proposed to be mined.
 
“Hake (M.capensis) are found throughout the mining lease area. We assume the abundance of hake in the MLA and surrounding areas is fairly uniform, with higher levels of hake abundance in deeper water. Dredging at the specific sites is therefore expected to impact on hake, but due to their mobility hake will most likely avoid the dredged area. This will result in displacement of hake biomass into adjacent areas, mortality is unlikely. From an ecosystem perspective this will have implications only in a localised context (we assume hake will avoid the mined area).”
 
The expert reached a similar conclusion with respect to the impact on younger species or hake expected to recruit to the hake fishery in deeper waters than where phosphate mining is proposed. “The distribution of juvenile hake (< 21 cm) occurs throughout and mostly shallower than the 200 m bathycontour. This is a typical distribution pattern for juvenile hake that recruit in shallow water and then migrate deeper as they age.  Specifically juvenile hake are found in the MLA in the northern part near SP-1. Juvenile hake are expected to be displaced from the dredging area, but their mobility should limit the likelihood of mortality.”
 
It is expected that based on recent historical catch and effort data in the MLA, 5.03% of hake trawl catch, will be indirectly affected.
 
“However this does not imply that this proportion of catch will be lost, but that the fisheries in this area will in some way have to adjust normal fishing operations,” explains the specialist. Patrick Morant of CSIR Consulting and Analytical Services says: “Based on my experience as an environmental assessment practitioner, the EIA report including the appendices has been produced professionally and fulfils all the requirements of a comprehensive EIA report. Based on these studies there is no reason to suggest that NMP activities and the fishing industry cannot co-exist.”
 
The view of NMP is therefore that the company’s activities can co-exist with the commercial fishing industry.
“There will still be a fishing industry long after NMP has finished dredging,” explains NMP project general manager David Wellbeloved. “Besides, it would not make sense for us to destroy the industry. Our studies indicate that the negative impact in percentage terms will be between 0 and 0, 5%, without any mitigation measures in place. Once there are processes in place, that figure will come down substantially. We are looking at a figure of 0, 1% over a 20-year period.”