2 results
10 - Reef Resources, the ‘Fog of Fisheries’ and EBM
- Edited by Lucia Fanning, Robin Mahon, Patrick McConney, L. Verhart
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- Book:
- Towards Marine Ecosystem-Based Management in the Wider Caribbean
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 22 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 July 2012, pp 147-156
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- Chapter
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Summary
Abstract
Caribbean reef fisheries are predominantly dependent on nearshore coral reef ecosystems, which are characterised by strong habitat dependence, susceptibility to coastal impacts, diffuse landing sites, and strong multispecies and multi-gear interactions. The complexity of this socio-ecological system precludes knowing the system state in space and time sufficiently for management under a single-species approach. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) offers a distinctly different approach, one which is based on maintaining ecosystem health and productivity and focusing on system resilience. In the absence of complete data, management must be based on first principles regarding productivity and ecosystem health. These include maintaining ecosystem integrity and function, protecting habitats and water quality, applying the precautionary approach, monitoring reference points, and recognising that production has limits. These principles dictate management strategies for data collection, expanded authority, and management tactics and regulations such as marine reserve networks, closed spawning aggregations, gear restrictions to maintain trophic balance and habitats, targeted data collection and assessments, ecosystembased or community-based metrics, and adopting co-management practices. The potential socio-ecological impacts of management failure suggest that fisheries adopt the approach of highly reliable organisations. Current activities within the Caribbean region indicate the basis for change is present, but adoption of full EBM will require refocusing and integration across multiple agencies.
Introduction
Napoleon wrote of the fog of war: ‘A general never knows anything with certainty, never sees his enemy clearly, and never knows positively where he is.’ One can equally speak of a ‘fog of fisheries’: A manager never knows anything with certainty, never sees the fishery clearly, and never knows positively where the stock is. Here the word ‘where’ can refer to the location of the stock in physical space, but more importantly it also can refer to its position relative to some optimal target value or critical threshold. Levels of fishing effort, fishing methods, the behaviour of fishers, market forces, community composition, trophic structure and competing sources of anthropogenic stress (from habitat degradation to global warming) evolve at rates that make it difficult for managers to know the current status of a stock with any certainty. In the Caribbean, as elsewhere, there is a long history of fisheries managers having to deal with an ever increasing array of factors affecting ecosystem health and fish productivity (Appeldoorn 2008a).
12 - Applying EBM to Queen Conch Fisheries in the Caribbean
- Edited by Lucia Fanning, Robin Mahon, Patrick McConney, L. Verhart
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- Book:
- Towards Marine Ecosystem-Based Management in the Wider Caribbean
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 22 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 July 2012, pp 177-186
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Abstract
Queen conch fisheries are important throughout the Caribbean, yet most stocks have been seriously overfished, such that conch has been listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Ecosystem-based management (EBM) offers the possibility of sustaining conch fisheries by addressing aspects of conch biology that directly support production and are otherwise overlooked in quota-based management. Adherence to first principles concerning the maintenance of ecosystem health and a precautionary approach should guide management considerations. For queen conch, critical EBM goals are the maintenance of adult density (especially with respect to reproduction), nursery areas and water/habitat quality. Consideration must also be given to the limits of connectivity through larval dispersal, predator-prey interactions (and the management of other species) and the factors that enhance vulnerability to exploitation. Resulting management strategies would seek to protect adults and juvenile nursery areas through the banning of fishing during the peak of the reproductive season, banning the harvest of small juveniles, integrating fisheries management with coastal zone management to protect nearshore areas and the establishment of a network of marine reserves. Monitoring of the stock and fishery (including comparisons with protected populations and the development of a spatial GIS database) should be used to track and set the level of catch.
The Problem
In the Caribbean, as elsewhere, fisheries management has become more complex, as both the scale of ecosystem exploitation and the nature and extent of anthropogenic impacts have increased (Appeldoorn 2008). Given that much of the region consists of island states with narrow shelves subjected to coastal and land-based activities and resource impacts, the merging of fisheries management and coastal zone management is a trend that is perhaps long overdue. Additionally, fisheries management is hindered by difficulties in data acquisition and analysis due to the high diversity but relative low abundance of species caught, the variety of gears and landing sites, and limited capacity of national and regional agencies. At the same time, many key Caribbean resources, especially those associated with reef environments, are closely tied in space and time to the benthic habitats that provide food and shelter.