Human dimensions of the ecosystem approach to fisheries -

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Ecosystem Approaches to Management

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Ecosystem approaches to fishery management

Habitat damage: the swath of a boat propeller is clearly visible in this Florida Keys seagrass bed

Management actions aimed at conserving the structure and function of marine ecosystems, in addition to conserving the fisheries resource.

An ecosystem approach to fishery management aims to protect and rebuild ecosystems, including species and their habitats. It adds to, rather than replaces, the approach of managing fish stocks one by one, or “single species” management.

Fisheries management will:

be adaptive,
be geographically specified,
take account of ecosystem knowledge and uncertainties,
consider multiple external influences, and
strive to balance diverse societal objectives.

The transition to an ecosystem approach to management needs to be incremental and collaborative. Although scientists have been studying ecosystem processes for decades, long term scientific research is still needed.

The precautionary approach and risk-averse policies have been advocated globally as essential to fisheries management. One approach is to demonstrate that fishing practices will not damage the stock, habitat or other ecosystem properties before allowing fishing to increase. This will assist the ecosystem approach to sustain and restore both fisheries and their ecosystems.

Based on Making “Ecosystems” part of NOAA’s shared vocabulary. November 2003.

Photo title: Habitat damage: the swath of a boat propeller is clearly visible in this Florida Keys seagrass bed

Photo credit: Harold Hudson, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Impacts of fisheries on ecosystems

Impacts of fisheries on ecosystems are sometimes difficult to separate from environmental effects on ecosystems. Some of these possible fisheries effects include:

direct impacts of overfishing
modifying community species composition and genetic diversity through selective targeting on species and particular size classes
impacts on non-target species through low selectivity of certain gears
incidental mortality from lost or abandoned gear
direct impact on the sea bed through trawls and dredges
destructive illegal “fishing gear” such as dynamite and poisoning.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) can make an important contribution to integrated coastal zone management and ensure improved management of ecosystems. There is a new website promoting the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) in developing countries.

Shrimp trawling results in bycatch and waste, up to 12 times bycatch for every 1 lb or kilo of shrimp.

Photo title: Shrimp trawl catch

Photo credit: Norbert Wu, Pew Collection

Other human impacts on ecosystems

Of course, there are human impacts on the marine ecosystem, other than fishing, described within the UN Atlas:

Photo title: Marine debris at Sardinia, Italy

Photo credit: Norbert Wu, Pew Collection

All (52)

Institutional Contact (2)

Title

Human dimensions of the ecosystem approach to fisheries ( DOCUMENT )

Author(s) / Editor(s)

de Young, Cassandra;

Charles, Anthony;

Hjort, Antonia

Description

This document aims to provide a better understanding of the role of the economic, institutional and sociocultural components within the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) process and to examine some potential methods and approaches that may facilitate the adoption of EAF management. It explores both the human context for the ecosystem approach to fisheries and the human dimensions involved in implementing the EAF. For the former, the report provides background material that is essential to understand prior to embarking on EAF initiatives, including an understanding of key concepts and issues, of the valuation of aquatic ecosystems socially, culturally and economically, and of the many policy, legal, institutional, social and economic considerations relevant to the EAF. With respect to facilitating EAF implementation, the report deals with a series of specific aspects: (1) determining the boundaries, scale and scope of the EAF; (2) assessing the various benefits and costs involved, seen from social, economic, ecological and management perspectives; (3) utilizing appropriate decision-making tools in EAF; (4) creating and/or adopting internal incentives and institutional arrangements to promote, facilitate and fund the adoption of EAF management; and (5) finding suitable external (non-fisheries) approaches for financing EAF implementation.

Keywords

ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO FISHERIES;

SOCIO-ECONOMICS;

FAO

Content Language(s)

English

Web Address

http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/i0163e/i0163e00.htm

Type of Document

Paper: Technical paper

Document Status

Finished