Ecosystem-based fisheries management: Perception on definitions, implementations, and aspirations

Abstract

Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) was developed to move beyond single species management by incorporating ecosystem considerations for the sustainable utilization of marine resources. Due to the wide range of fishery characteristics, including different goals of fisheries management across regions and species, theoretical best practices for EBFM vary greatly. Here we highlight the lack of consensus in the interpretation of EBFM amongst professionals in marine science and its implementation. Fisheries policy-makers and managers, stock assessment scientists, conservationists, and ecologists had very different opinions on the degree to which certain management strategies would be considered EBFM. We then assess the variability of the implementation of EBFM, where we created a checklist of characteristics typifying EBFM and scored fisheries across different regions, species, ecosystems, and fishery size and capacity. Our assessments show fisheries are unlikely to meet all the criteria on the EBFM checklist. Consequentially, it is unnecessary for management to practice all the traits of EBFM, as some may be disparate from the ecosystem attributes or fishery goals. Instead, incorporating some ecosystem-based considerations to fisheries management that are context-specific is a more realistic and useful way for EBFM to occur in practice.

Ecosystems say good management pays off

“…Results were sometimes complex across the indicators, where there was no simple pattern, but rather results could be nonlinear and conditional on the identity of the treatment species and how fishers responded to the management strategy in place. This complexity further reinforces (a) that a suite of indicators is required to track overall structure and function of the socioecological system (Fulton et al., ; Rice & Rochet, ) and (b) that the nature of EBFM will differ among locations and will likely also need to evolve through time as conditions (and even expectations) change (Shannon et al., ; Trochta et al., ).…”

“…Guidelines (Essington et al., ; NOAA ) have been created to assist in the implementation of ecosystem‐based fisheries management (EBFM). Nevertheless, the perceived complexity of the task and its system‐specific nature—successful implementation of EBFM requires tailoring broad concepts to local conditions (Trochta et al., )—can lead to scepticism and a sense of being overwhelmed. The feasibility of EBFM has been questioned as some have assumed it means expanding the types of management implemented for species targeted by fisheries to a wider range of species, or at the very least adding the tracking of many additional ecosystem indicators.…”

“…Guidelines (Essington et al, 2016;NOAA 2016) have been created to assist in the implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM). Nevertheless, the perceived complexity of the task and its system-specific nature-successful implementation of EBFM requires tailoring broad concepts to local conditions (Trochta et al, 2018)-can lead to scepticism and a sense of being overwhelmed.…”

Characterizing and comparing marine fisheries ecosystems in the United States: determinants of success in moving toward ecosystem-based fisheries management

“…Every region has some facets of good LMR management and is on its way to implementing EBFM (NMFS 2016a;Link 2017;Trochta et al 2018). What seems to be facilitating successful LMR management in all regions are instances that: • Have landings to biomass exploitation rates at typically less than 0.1, • Have areal landings at typically less than 1 t km 2 year -1 , • Have ratios of landings relative to primary production at typically less than 0.001, • Have a high proportion of jobs in the fisheries sector relative to the regional ocean economy, and • Explicitly consider socio-economic factors directly in management.…”

Who determines sustainability?

“…These authors argue that, “while there are scientific standards to judge the sustainability of food production, once we examine ecological, social, and economic aspects of sustainability, there is no unique scientific standard.” Even within the fairly well‐defined area of ecosystem‐based fisheries management, where there are international guidelines ( e.g ., FAO code of conduct) as to intent, specific targets and scientific methods of assessing status and performance are largely lacking for anything other than effects on the target stock and assessed by‐catch species. In the absence of these analytical methods, a common understanding of the practical implications of general intent statements or even the components of ecosystem‐based fishery management is lacking (Trochta et al , ), much less how to measure and assess performance against them.…”