Strong fisheries management and governance positively impact ecosystem status |
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Authors: | Alida Bundy Ratana Chuenpagdee Jennifer L Boldt Maria de Fatima Borges Mohamed Lamine Camara Marta Coll Ibrahima Diallo Clive Fox Elizabeth A Fulton Ayse Gazihan Astrid Jarre Didier Jouffre Kristin M Kleisner Ben Knight Jason Link Patroba P Matiku Hicham Masski Dimitrios K Moutopoulos Chiara Piroddi Tiit Raid Ignacio Sobrino Jorge Tam Djiga Thiao Maria Angeles Torres Konstantinos Tsagarakis Gro I van der Meeren Yunne‐Jai Shin |
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Affiliation: | 1. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada;2. Memorial University, St. John's, NL, Canada;3. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, BC, Canada;4. Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Lisboa, Portugal;5. CNSHB, 814, Conakry, Republic of Guinea;6. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR MARBEC 248, CRH, Sète, France;7. Institut de Ciències del Mar (CMIMA‐CSIC), Barcelona, Spain;8. Marine Research Institute and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa;9. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, UK;10. CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, TAS, Australia;11. Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia;12. Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Erdemli, Turkey;13. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR MARBEC, Dakar, Senegal;14. Laboratoire de Biologie et d'Ecologie de Poissons en Afrique de l'Ouest (LABEP‐AO), Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Campus universitaire UCAD, Dakar, Senegal;15. Sea Around Us Project, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada;16. Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand;17. NOAA Fisheries, Woods Hole, MA, USA;18. Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;19. Institut National de Recherche Halieutique, Casablanca, Morocco;20. Department of Fisheries‐Aquaculture Technology, Educational Institute of Western Greece, Mesolonghi, Greece;21. Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Tallinn, Estonia;22. Centro Oceanográfico de Cádiz, Instituto Espa?ol de Oceanografía (IEO), Cádiz, Spain;23. Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE), Callao, Lima, Peru;24. Centre de Recherches Océanographiques de Dakar‐Thiaroye, Dakar, Senegal;25. Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Coastal Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, ?regrund, Sweden;26. Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Anavyssos, Attiki, Greece;27. Institute of Marine Science, IMBER and the Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Nordnes, Bergen, Norway |
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Abstract: | Fisheries have had major negative impacts on marine ecosystems, and effective fisheries management and governance are needed to achieve sustainable fisheries, biodiversity conservation goals and thus good ecosystem status. To date, the IndiSeas programme (Indicators for the Seas) has focussed on assessing the ecological impacts of fishing at the ecosystem scale using ecological indicators. Here, we explore fisheries ‘Management Effectiveness’ and ‘Governance Quality’ and relate this to ecosystem health and status. We developed a dedicated expert survey, focused at the ecosystem level, with a series of questions addressing aspects of management and governance, from an ecosystem‐based perspective, using objective and evidence‐based criteria. The survey was completed by ecosystem experts (managers and scientists) and results analysed using ranking and multivariate methods. Results were further examined for selected ecosystems, using expert knowledge, to explore the overall findings in greater depth. Higher scores for ‘Management Effectiveness’ and ‘Governance Quality’ were significantly and positively related to ecosystems with better ecological status. Key factors that point to success in delivering fisheries and conservation objectives were as follows: the use of reference points for management, frequent review of stock assessments, whether Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) catches were being accounted for and addressed, and the inclusion of stakeholders. Additionally, we found that the implementation of a long‐term management plan, including economic and social dimensions of fisheries in exploited ecosystems, was a key factor in successful, sustainable fisheries management. Our results support the thesis that good ecosystem‐based management and governance, sustainable fisheries and healthy ecosystems go together. |
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Keywords: | Ecological indicator ecosystem‐based fisheries management (EBFM) expert evaluation fisheries governance quality fisheries management effectiveness socioeconomic indicators |
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