A comparative framework to support an ecosystem approach to fisheries in a global context

Abstract

Although an ecosystem approach to fisheries has been recognized as a means of progressing toward sustainable fishing, successful implementation of this approach has been limited. However, one way in which progress has been made is through the use of suites of indicators. Decision tree frameworks can be used to incorporate trends in ecological, fishing, and environmental indicators into ecosystem assessments. A relatively generic decision tree framework has been developed and successfully applied to multiple ecosystems. This framework incorporates trends in indicators, as well as the impacts of fishing pressure and environmental variability on ecological indicators in order to assess the state of each ecosystem. The inclusion of ecosystem expert knowledge from the outset ensures trends are correctly interpreted and allows analyses to contribute to global comparisons in a robust and meaningful manner. Although ecological and environmental indicators are well developed, those addressing the human dimensions of marine ecosystems are less so. This framework holds the potential to incorporate such indicators in order to fully assess marine ecosystems in a comparative context. Such assessments could help ensure food security from marine resources into the future as well as ensuring the well-being of coastal communities. Here critical review of the potential value of this framework has been conducted, with its usefulness emphasized in the similarities it holds, and in the contribution it could make, to current global methods of ecosystem assessments.

Ocean-human relations in the Anthropocene: mapping trends in sustainability-related marine social sciences articles

“…In line with findings in the above research streams, stakeholder engagement has been found to have positive effects both on improving ecosystem-based management and assessments (Adams et al, 2014;Dutra et al, 2015;Lockerbie et al, 2020) and on MSP processes (Frazão Santos et al, 2021). This ranges from engaging managers and policymakers (Dutra et al, 2015) to academic communities (Adams et al, 2014) and accounting for expert knowledge (Lockerbie et al, 2020).…”

Groundtruthing cumulative impact assessments with biodiversity data: Testing indicators and methods for marine ecosystem condition assessments in South Africa

“…Other methods to consider for assessing the overall condition of ecosystems include the use of decision‐trees (Lockerbie et al, 2020) or disaggregated assessments such as those conducted for the IndiSeas project (Lockerbie et al, 2016; Shin et al, 2010) or the Ocean Health Index (OHI) (Halpern, 2020; Halpern et al, 2012), where different elements of the ecosystem are retained so that multiple objectives are being considered. A similar approach is followed for assessments under OSPAR, which facilitates implementation of the EU MSFD, where condition reports are grouped according to indicator types or themes, in separate outputs (Greenstreet et al, 2011; Heslenfeld & Enserink, 2008).…”

“…Other methods to consider for assessing the overall condition of ecosystems include the use of decision-trees (Lockerbie et al, 2020) or disaggregated assessments such as those conducted for the IndiSeas project (Lockerbie et al, 2016;Shin et al, 2010) or the Ocean Health Index (OHI) (Halpern, 2020;Halpern et al, 2012),…”

Can a “doughnut” economic framework be useful to monitor the blue economy success? A fisheries example

“…The doughnut approach is a flexible non-sectorial specific framework that can be used in the different blue economy activities supporting multi-sectorial discussion processes. It provides a holistic view of the analyzed sector and the ecosystem where it interacts, and adds to other already existing specific sectorial holistic indicator approaches, such as, for example, in the fisheries case Anderson et al (2015) or Carpenter et al (2021), and those linked with ecosystem fisheries assessments , Kleisner et al 2013, Fu et al 2019, Lockerbie et al 2020, or the information provided regularly in specific reports by institutions such as the STECF.…”