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Fish and fish-related products are among the most highly traded commodities globally and the proportion of globally harvested fish that is internationally traded has steadily risen over time. Views on the benefits of international seafood trade diverge, partly as a result from adopting either an aggregate national focus or a focus on local market actors. However, both views generally assume that the trade in question is characterized by export of fisheries resources to international markets. This is potentially misleading as empirical evidence suggests that import of seafood can also have impacts on local SSF dynamics. A systematic analysis of the different ways in which local production systems connect to international seafood markets can therefore help shed more light on why small-scale fisheries exhibit such differences in outcomes as they engage in an increasingly global seafood trade. This paper conducts a synthesis across 24 cases from around the world and develops a typology of small-scale fisheries and how they connect to and interact with international seafood trade. The analysis is based on key features drawn from trade theory regarding how trade interacts with local production. The implications of the findings for social and ecological sustainability of small-scale fisheries are discussed with the aim of identifying further research topics which deserve attention to better inform trade policy for more sustainable fisheries and more just wealth distribution from their trade.

Globalization has increased the speed and flow of people, information, and commodities across space, integrating markets and increasing interdependence of geographically dispersed places worldwide. Places historically driven by largely local forces and market demands are now increasingly affected by drivers at multiple scales. Trade is particularly important in driving these changes and more fish is now exported to international markets than ever before. When small-scale fisheries are integrated into global markets, local social–ecological systems change with potentially both positive and negative impacts on livelihoods, economics and ecology, but few studies systematically investigate how and why the outcomes of market integration vary from case to case. This paper systematically assesses multiple (social, ecological, economic and institutional) local effects of market integration in cases around the world by drawing on the global environmental change syndromes approach. Furthermore, we examine the factors contributing to the syndromes observed. Our analysis identifies three distinct social–ecological syndromes associated with international seafood trade. Results suggest that the presence of strong and well-enforced institutions is the principal factor behind the syndrome characterized by sustained fish stocks, while a combination of weak institutions, patron–client relationships, high demand from China and highly vulnerable target species explain the other two syndromes distinguished by declining stocks, conflict and debt among fishers. A key finding is that the factors emerging as important for explaining the different syndromes derive from different scales (e.g. local market structures vs distant market characteristics), indicating a need for multi-level governance approaches to deal with the effects of market integration. Furthermore, the meta-analysis shows that each syndrome encompasses fisheries from multiple continents. This suggests that the increasingly global nature of the seafood trade appears to be driving local dynamics by creating similar conditions for vulnerabilities in localities around the world, lending support to the notion of tele-connectivity across geographic space.

Pitcher, T. J., Buchary, E. A., and Hutton, T. 2002. Forecasting the benefits of no-take human-made reefs using spatial ecosystem simulation. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 59: S17–S26. To forecast resource and fishery responses to artificial reefs deployed within no-take marine protected areas, we discuss an application of E, a policy evaluation tool based on spatially explicit simulation of ecosystem dynamics. We analyse a recent initiative to establish human-made reefs inside Marine Special Areas in Hong Kong. Simulations commence with a static mass-balanced model of trophic flows among he functional groups of an ecosystem (E), which is then used to structure dynamic simulations of the biomass fluxes in response to fishing (E). Spatial modelling is achieved through definition of dispersion, foraging, and predator avoidance parameters for each group in relation to a range of defined habitats (E). The ecosystem model comprised 27 functional groups and 7 sectors of the Hong Kong fishery, which were assumed to increase their catching power by 3% year 1 . Seven fishery sectors and gear types are defined, and their operations are simulated spatially to maximize operating profit within the areas where they are allowed to fish. Parameters for E ,E , fishery, and habitats were obtained from recent surveys and assessments. Additional parameter values were obtained from meta-analyses and other literature on fishes of the South China Sea. More than 250 fish species were assigned to reef-associated and non-reef-associated functional groups with the help of an expert consultation. Results express average spatial responses to fishing and protected reefs. First, E was used to evaluate biomass responses and catch returns from a range of artificial reefs/marine protected area complexes in which size, perimeter, and corridor design were varied according to biogeographical theory. Benefits that might be deliberately forgone to obtain the cooperation of fishers by allowing them to fish designated reefs were also estimated. Secondly, five specific policy scenarios were evaluated using a spatial map of Hong Kong waters. Gains and losses to different fishery sectors were tracked, along with shifts in the species composition of the catches. While small protected areas with human-made reefs achieve little to avert collapse of the fisheries or a shift towards catches of low-value species, larger protected areas can do much to restore valuable fisheries for reefassociated fish. Precise results, but not the overall patterns, are sensitive to uncertainties in many model parameters.

Kepulauan Seribu was designated as a marine protected area to promote and protect a healthy marine ecosystem and its biodiversity. However, despite numerous efforts to protect the area, the park continues to be impacted by both external and internal factors. External factors include domestic sewage, vessel traffic, industrial effluent, and urban run-off from metropolitan Jakarta. Meanwhile, internal factors include the problems created by tourism development and the impacts of the economic activities of the park's residents. The ongoing political and economic crisis in Indonesia, which has plagued the country since 1997, has amplified the pressure on the resources and on the well being of the park. This study traces and analyzes the intrinsic causes of the internal problems using a socioeconomic perspective. We suggest that alleviation of poverty and marginality of the park's residents should be prioritized, and that park management should be based on consensus building and participation of all stakeholders.

'Back-to-the-Future’ (BTF) attempts to solve the ‘fisheries crisis’ by using past ecosystems as policy goals for the future. BTF provides an integrative approach to the strategic management of marine ecosystems with policies based on restoration ecology, and an understanding of marine ecosystem processes in the light of findings from terrestrial ecology. BTF employs recent developments in whole ecosystem simulation modelling that allow the analysis of uncertainty, tuning to past biomass estimates, and responses to climate changes. It includes new methods for describing past ecosystems, for designing fisheries that meet criteria for sustainability and responsibility, and for evaluating the costs and benefits of fisheries in restored ecosystems. Comparison of ecosystems before and after major perturbations, including investigation of uncertain ecological issues, may set constraints as to what may or may not be restored. Understanding how climate and ocean changes influence marine ecosystems may allow policies to be made robust against such factors. A new technique of intergenerational discounting is applied to economic analyses, allowing policies favouring conservation, as the same time as addressing economic standard discounting of future benefits. Automated searches maximise values of a range of alternative objective functions, and the methodology includes ways to account for uncertainty in model parameters. The evaluation of alternative policy choices, involving trade-offs between conservation and economic values, employs a range of economic, social and ecological measures. BTF policy also utilizes insight into the human dimension of fisheries management. Participatory workshops attempt to maximise compliance by fostering a sense of ownership among all stakeholders: ideally, collaboration by scientists, the maritime community, managers and policy-makers may build intellectual capital in the model, and social capital in terms of increased trust. BTF may help to reverse the shifting baseline syndrome by broadening the cognitive maps of resource users. Some challenges that have still be met include improving methods for quantitatively describing the past, reducing uncertainty in ecosystem simulation techniques and in making policy choices robust against climate change. Critical issues include whether past ecosystems make viable policy goals, and whether desirable goals may be reached from today's ecosystem. Examples are presented from case studies in British Columbia, Newfoundland and the Gulf of St Lawrence in Canada; the Gulf of California, Mexico; the Bali Strait and Komodo National Park in Indonesia; and the South China Sea.