Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Harvest of Lake Sturgeon: The role of whole chain traceability

The intern will assist the Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association in determining potential entry points and methods of IUU (Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported) sturgeon and sturgeon products into the legal supply chain. Based on this, the intern will assess the effectiveness and efficiency of counter]measures based on whole supply chain traceability solutions. To achieve these two goals the intern will follow established case study methods for social science research to: 1)Analyze archival records of the Lake Huron lake sturgeon fisheries: catch data, event documentation and changes in regulation. 2)Conduct in]depth expert interviews with: harvesters, processors, wholesalers and retailers, andmembers of regulatory and enforcement bodies. 3) Aggregate and synthesize collected data through preliminary causality analysis and crosschecking with existing theories of sustainable entrepreneurship. The proposed research will be instrumental in enhancing economic competitiveness and long term viability of the Lake Huron lake sturgeon commercial fishery. More specifically, it will lay the ground work for developing a traceability solution that will effectively combat the co mingling of legal, sustainable lake sturgeon and caviar with IUU products and thus demonstrate to business and conservation stakeholders that the industry is committed to finding a solution to the IUU problem.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Andreas Boecker

Student:

Cody Burdett

Partner:

Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association

Discipline:

Other

Sector:

Fisheries and wildlife

University:

University of Guelph