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An interdisciplinary team of academics and representatives of fishing fleets and government collaborated to study the emerging requirements for sustainability in Canada's fisheries. Fisheries assessment and management has focused on biological productivity with insufficient consideration of social (including cultural), economic, and institutional (governance) aspects. Further, there has been little discussion or formal evaluation of the effectiveness of fisheries management. The team of over 50 people (i) identified a comprehensive set of management objectives for a sustainable fishery system based on Canadian policy statements, (ii) combined objectives into an operational framework with relevant performance indicators for use in management planning, and (iii) undertook case studies that investigated some social, economic, and governance aspects in greater detail. The resulting framework extends the suite of widely accepted ecological aspects (productivity and trophic structure, biodiversity, and habitat-ecosystem integrity) to include comparable economic (viability and prosperity, sustainable livelihoods, distribution of access and benefits, regional-community benefits), social (health and well-being, sustainable communities, ethical fisheries), and institutional (legal obligations, good governance structure, effective decision-making) aspects of sustainability. This work provides a practical framework for implementation of a comprehensive approach to sustainability in Canadian fisheries. The project also demonstrates the value of co-construction of collaborative research and co-production of knowledge that combines and builds on the strengths of academics, industry, and government. Une equipe interdisciplinaire d'universitaires et de representants gouvernementaux et de flottes de peche a collabore a l'etude des nouvelles exigences en matiere de perennite des ressources halieutiques canadiennes. L'evaluation et la gestion de ces ressources ont mis l'accent sur la productivite biologique en ne tenant pas suffisamment compte d'aspects sociaux (y compris des aspects culturels), economiques et institutionnels (de gouvernance). L'efficacite de la gestion des peches a en outre fait l'objet de tres peu de discussions ou d'evaluations formelles. L'equipe composee de plus de 50 membres a (i) cerne un ensemble exhaustif d'objectifs de gestion pour un systeme de peches perenne reposant sur des enonces de principes canadiens, (ii) regroupe ces objectifs en un cadre operationnel comptant des indicateurs de rendement pertinents a utiliser dans la planification de la gestion et (iii) realise des etudes de cas pour examiner plus en detail certains aspects sociaux, economiques et de gouvernance. Le cadre en decoulant elargit l'ensemble des aspects ecologiques (productivite et structure trophique, biodiversite et integrite des habitats et ecosystemes) largement acceptes pour y inclure des aspects economiques (viabilite et prosperite, moyens de subsistance durables, repartition de l'acces et des benefices, avantages pour les regions-collectivites), sociaux (sante et bien-etre, collectivites durables, peches ethiques) et institutionnels (obligations legales, structure de bonne gouvernance, processus decisionnel efficace) comparables de la perennite. Ces travaux fournissent un cadre pratique pour la mise en oeuvre d'une approche integree visant la perennite des ressources halieutiques canadiennes. Le projet demontre egalement la valeur de la construction collective de recherches collaboratives et de la production collective de connaissances qui mettent en commun les forces des universitaires, de l'industrie et des gouvernements. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Canada's legislation and international commitments require attention to ecological, social (including cultural), economic, and institutional (governance) aspects of fisheries. The Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (ECCC 2016), which, along with [...]

There has been growing international attention in recent years to the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, Ecologically Sustainable Development, and similar initiatives that demand a comprehensive evaluation of the social, economic, and ecological performance of fisheries. However, the practical integration and application of these aspects continue to present a significant challenge for management. Progress to date has been limited by gaps in governance, objectives, disciplinary breadth, and methods. In this study, we develop an inventory of the methods that have been proposed to be able to incorporate ecological, economic, and social objectives and to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of fisheries and management. Our inventory includes both a description of the range of methods, and an evaluation against a set of criteria related to their utility in an applied, decision support context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While international agreements and legislation call for incorporation of four pillars of sustainability, the social (including cultural), economic and institutional aspects (the 'human dimension') have been relatively neglected to date. Three key impediments have been identified: a relative lack of explicit social, economic and institutional objectives; a general lack of process (frameworks, governance) for routine integration of all four pillars of sustainability; and a bias towards biological considerations. Practical integration requires a 'systems' approach with explicit consideration of strategic and operational aspects of management; multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary evaluations; practical objectives for the four pillars of sustainability; appropriate participation; and a governance system that is able to integrate these diverse considerations in management. We challenge all involved in fisheries to immediately take five practical steps toward integrating ecological, economic, social and institutional aspects: (1) Adopt the perspective of the fishery as a 'system' with interacting natural, human and management elements; (2) Be aware of both strategic and operational aspects of fisheries assessment and management; (3) Articulate overarching objectives that incorporate all four pillars of sustainability; (4) Encourage appropriate (and diverse) disciplinary participation in all aspects of research, evaluation and management; and (5) Encourage development of (or emulate) participatory governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]