A framework for the analysis of sustainability indicator systems in fisheries

The development of sustainability indicator systems (SIS) has been a response to practically apply and interpret ecosystem-based and precautionary approaches to fisheries management. Fisheries- based indicator systems have been characterised by recognition of their utility, but hampered by a lack of data, clear roles and responsibilities and an uneven distribution of implementation across governance jurisdictions. This paper explores a policy-based holistic model of an indicator system consisting of inputs, core structures and outputs and uses this as the basis of an assessment framework. The framework is applied to two recent reporting systems: the Australian government's Commonwealth Sustainable Fisheries Assessments and the Marine Stewardship Council initiative.     

The context of policy design for existing community-based fisheries management systems in the Pacific Islands

Community-based fisheries management is being widely promoted as an alternative to centralized systems based on the familiar bioeconomic models that have manifestly failed to prevent a near catastrophic overexploitation of fish stocks worldwide. The Pacific Island Region probably contains the world’s greatest concentration of still-functioning traditional community-based systems for managing coastal-marine fisheries and other resources.It has been frequently asserted that many such traditional systems provide both a firm foundation for future coastal fisheries management in the Pacific Islands Region, as well as a conceptual framework for managing fisheries elsewhere. Although now seemingly self-evident to fisheries development “experts”, such assertions remain largely unverified.Whereas it is a relatively straightforward task to distil basic “design principles” from a sample of systems, it is far more complex to analyze the multi-sectoral national environment in which they function, especially when their history is taken into account. In other words, it is far less widely appreciated that many contemporary community-based fisheries management systems are the end products of a long process of change and adaptation to external pressures and constraints.In this article I address some of the broader contextual issues that should be appreciated in policymaking with respect to a potential modern role for traditional management systems in general, and in the analysis of a future role for any given system. First, the principal external factors that have caused change in systems are described and exemplified. The recognition of the potential role of existing community-based fisheries systems, and attempts to act on it, is summarized for some Pacific Island nations, with a focus on the complex problem of reconciling customary and statutory legal systems. In the final section I examine three principal national policy alternatives regarding the potential role of existing local fisheries management systems, together with three main criteria for determining whether or not a system can be adapted to fulfill modern requirements.     

The international legal framework for the management of the global oceans social-ecological system

This paper evaluates the international agreements in place for the protection of the environment and the regulation of human activities taking place in world's oceans and seas. 500 multilateral agreements were reviewed against a framework of reference, grounded on the theoretical approaches of Adaptive Management and Transition Management. According to this framework, oceans complex systems management should: (1) consider the global oceans as a Social-Ecological System (SES); (2) aim to achieve or maintain their ecological resilience; and (3) implement iterative, learning-based management strategies, supported by science-based advice to policy and management. The results show that the present international legal framework for the global oceans does not require countries to adopt an adaptive, complex systems approach for global oceans ecological resilience. Instead, this study supports the perspective of a double fragmentation among international agreements. First, global agreements focus on issue-based objectives for determined human activities, ecological components or anthropogenic pressures. Second, regional agreements have a wider scope, but also a varying level of inclusion of ecological resilience considerations. There is the need to foster the inclusion of such an approach into existing and future international agreements and their implementation, including through soft-law, project-based initiatives at global and regional scales.     

The impact of community-based fisheries management (CBFM) on equity and sustainability of small-scale coastal fisheries in the Philippines

It was realized that with the increasing rate of deterioration of fisheries resource in the Philippines, there was no way the country could pursue a pathway of sustainable development. After enactment of the Local Government Code of 1991, the government actively promoted community-based fisheries management (CBFM) to conserve the coastal resources. The increased attention paid to community-based fisheries management has come about through experience of the poor performance of other approaches and through the study of traditional systems of community management of natural resources which have not only survived but also appear to perform better than the alternatives. This paper presents the results of a study to assess the impacts of CBFM projects in the Philippines, using meta-analysis, on the equity and sustainability of small-scale coastal fisheries. The outcomes indicate a positive impact of CBFM on the equity of both involvement in management and benefit sharing and sustainable management of fisheries resources through the investigation of effective magnitude (effect size) based on eight indicators. The positive summary effect sizes of participation, influence, control, access, and income conjunctly portrayed an improved equity in the fishing community by implementing CBFM. The positive summary effect sizes of compliance and conflict indicated an affirmative community and, therefore, sustainable fisheries management. While the negative summary effect size of resource revealed the difficulties in recovering fish abundance in a relatively short period of time. Also, ten years of implementation of CBFM was discovered as the minimum duration with perceived equity and sustainability improvement for most indicators.     

Spatial fisheries management: A framework for multi-objective qualitative assessment

In many circumstances, quantitative assessment of fisheries management options is either impossible due to data deficiencies or impractical given the size of the fishery. Quantitative analysis of spatial management options in particular is complicated, as information on spatial fleet and stock dynamics is often unavailable and spatial models are difficult to construct. In this paper, a qualitative framework is presented that aids in the analysis of alternative spatial management options in coastal fisheries. The framework combines expert opinion and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine which options perform best taking into account the multiple objectives inherent in fisheries management.     

Distributional issues in the operation of rights-based fisheries management systems

Rights-based management regimes are considered by economists as an important solution to the problems of excess capacity and biological over-harvesting of fisheries. In practice, adoption of such regimes, and particularly of those relying on individual quota allocations, has often met with resistance from within the fisheries concerned. A key reason for this resistance appears to be the distributional conflicts which arise in the process of implementing the regimes. An economic analysis of the nature of these conflicts in the different contexts in which they have been observed is proposed. The approach centres on the way in which distributional conflicts can influence the operation of management systems and their impacts on fisheries, from the country to the individual firm level. As an illustration, an analysis of the economic processes at firm level is developed based on the simulation of a fishery managed under individual transferable quotas.     

Value chain analysis and small-scale fisheries management

A value chain analysis is conducted to identify upgrading, that is, improvements in quality and product design that enable producers to gain enhanced value or through diversification in the product lines served. However, a range of data and information of use to managing small-scale fisheries can be also be produced. Eight value chain studies, carried out for specific fish species in different locations around the Philippines, are examined. Policy and management lessons learned and interventions resulting from the value chain analysis for small-scale fisheries management are discussed. Recommendations for using value chain analysis in small-scale fisheries management include stricter regulation on size limits of harvest, monitoring schemes, certification processes, post-harvest facilities, seasonal closures, social enterprises, credit facilities, and habitat protection.     

Suggestions for fixing top-down coastal fisheries management through participatory approaches

Marine protected areas created in a top-down way can be costly and ineffective due to low compliance of resource users. Conversely, employing users’ local knowledge and involving them in decision-making processes could decrease costs and conflicts, in addition to increasing the chances of management success. Here the potential to change conflicting MPAs into conservation areas that take into account fishers’ use and knowledge is assessed based on a case study on the Brazilian coast (Paraty town). Fishers (n=206) from 11 villages were interviewed regarding their main fishing targets and gear, and then only the experienced ones (n=41) were interviewed from three main fishing villages about the most important commercial species. Fish landings were sampled for one year in these three villages (n=823), where participatory mapping and group interviews with fishers were also conducted to determine their opinions regarding management and how they thought it should be undertaken. Management measures should not be equivalent across the whole region, as there were clear differences in the target species and gear used. Fishers identified 55 important fishing spots, eight of which were important for more than five villages, while the experts identified 10 important fishing areas for the target species, which was supported by the sampling of fish landings. The fishers were not opposed to management and no-take reserves but would make some changes in the current design of these measures if it were up to them. Based on these data, a few changes were indicated in the design of these areas that would likely reduce the conflict between fishers and enforcement agencies. This kind of approach could be used as a framework for adapting conflictive MPAs or to support the establishment of new ones where fisheries are relevant.     

Institutional analysis of UK coastal fisheries: Implications of overlapping regulations for fisheries management

This paper addresses the issue of overlapping fisheries regulations by multiple authorities for coastal fisheries in the United Kingdom. It examines one particular case study of the oyster fishers of the Isle of Wight, focusing on resource management regulations, fishermen's strategies to deal with ambiguous legislation, and the response of the various management authorities. The case study forms the basis on which to discuss institutional implications for effective operational management of the UK's coastal fisheries resource.     

Creating community-based indicators to monitor sustainability of local fisheries

This paper presents a systematic process to create frameworks of indicators for monitoring sustainable development in fisheries at the local community level. Indicators are evaluated and selected through a three-stage process: first, potential indicators for general use in fisheries are identified; second, this set is refined for suitability within a specific local context; third, indicators are evaluated according to data-specific criteria. The results suggest that indicators suitable at larger geographic scales are often unsuitable, and insufficient, for use at a local scale. Conversely, many social, economic and institutional fishery indicators appear suitable for use locally, but their implementation has received insufficient attention to date.     

An indicator-based adaptive management framework and its development for data-limited fisheries in Belize

Decisions regarding the selection and implementation of management strategies that constrain fishing pressure can be among the most difficult choices that fisheries managers and stakeholders must make. These types of decisions often need to be confronted in a data-limited context, where few if any management measures are currently in place or fisheries are managed independent of adequate scientific advice. This situation can sometimes create a high risk of overfishing and potential loss of economic and social benefits. To address this situation, simple model-free indicator-based frameworks have the potential to be effective decision-making platforms for fisheries where quantitative estimates of biomass and fishing mortality based reference points are lacking. In this paper, a multi-indicator framework is developed that enables decision-makers to proceed with management decisions in data-limited situations. Model-free indicators are calculated using trends in observed data, rather than stock assessment derived estimates of biomass and fishing mortality. The framework developed is adaptive so that adjustments to catch or effort are recursive and can respond to changing environments, socioeconomic conditions, and fishing practices. Using stakeholder-defined objectives as a foundation, indicators and reference points of fishery performance are chosen that can be evaluated easily by undertaking analyses of available data. Indicators from multiple data streams are used so that uncertainty in one indicator can be hedged through careful interpretation and corroboration of information from alternative indicators. During the adaptive management cycle, managers and stakeholders evaluate each indicator against the associated reference points to determine performance measures, interpret the results using scientific and local knowledge, and adjust fishery management tactics accordingly using pre-defined harvest control rules. The framework facilitates the interpretation of situations in which performance measures suggest divergent stock abundance or productivity levels. A case study is presented on this framework's development for conch and lobster fisheries of Belize.     

Management systems in the EU fisheries

In the different proposals about fishing resources management systems there is a trend to consider that some incompatibilities exist between forms of management (public intervention or co-management) and the use of instruments based in creating market of fishing rights. In this paper, we will try to leave behind this incompatibility by means of a new concept of management system, which distinguishes accurately the instrument from the institutional framework under which the former is applied. We can see the usefulness of our concept in the European Union fisheries management. Although there is a common policy for all Member States, the way some countries have implemented the Community Regulations has changed the institutional framework which determines the fishermen's activity. The results of our analysis become more outstanding since The Green Paper on the Future of the Common Fisheries Policy emphasises the need to share with the fishermen the drawing-up of the fisheries policy.     

Improving fisheries co-management through ecosystem-based spatial management: The Galapagos Marine Reserve

Ecosystem-based spatial management (EBSM) can provide a mechanism for a strategic and integrated plan-based approach to managing human activities in the marine environment. An EBSM approach was adopted in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) at the end of the 1990s with the adoption of marine zoning. The latter was created under a co-management regime to reduce conflicts among users arising over incompatible demands for ocean space, to mitigate the impact of human activities on sensitive ecological areas, and to contribute to the sustainability of Galapagos fisheries. Unfortunately, the promise of an EBSM approach in the GMR has not been matched by effectiveness in practice, in achieving the established management objectives. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the shortcomings and lessons learned related to planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and adaptation of the GMR's marine zoning scheme, and to provide recommendations to better realize the potential value of the EBSM approach to co-managing the shellfisheries of the GMR.