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The fisheries for small pelagic species in Angola, Namibia and South Africa fulfil important social and economic roles but have undergone substantial changes in recent years, some of which are like...

The marine fisheries sector is one of the most important income sectors in South Africa and plays an important role in food security for small-scale and subsistence fishers. Climate-driven impacts have resulted in distribution shifts and declines in abundance of important fisheries targets, with negative consequences to the users dependent on these resources. The sustainability of the sector depends on its readiness to adapt to climate change. The inclusion of climate change impacts and adaptation in fisheries management documents in South Africa is essential to ensure adequate climate adaptation responses are implemented at the short- and long-term. This study aims to 1) determine if the relevant fisheries national management documents address climate change and adaptation, 2) determine if the relevant national climate change documents address climate change and adaptation in the fisheries sector and 3) evaluate the extent to which fisheries management documents address climate change and adaptation. A content analysis of fisheries management and climate change documents was carried out to determine if they incorporated information on climate change impacts and adaptation and marine fisheries respectively. Fisheries management documents were then screened against nine pre-determined criteria (or themes) based on climate change adaptation to determine the level of inclusion of best practice for climate change adaptation. Results indicate that climate change impacts and adaptation are rarely incorporated in the main fisheries management documents, except for the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan for the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors. However, this document is still waiting to be adopted. The only direct reference identified in all the fisheries documents that supports climate change adaptation was ‘conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity’. With regards to indirect references to climate change adaptation, ‘equity,’ ‘participatory management,’ and ‘capacity building’ were most frequently incorporated in fisheries management documents. There is a need to explicitly incorporate information on climate change impacts and adaptation in South African fisheries management documents and increase the human and financial capacity at national institutions to ensure that the fisheries sector can adequately adapt to climate change.

Ecological indicators used to monitor fishing effects in the context of climate change and variability need to be informative to enable effective ecosystem-based fisheries management. We evaluated the specificity of the response of ecosystem indicators to different fishing and environmental pressure levels using Ecosim and Atlantis ecosystem models for the southern Benguela ecosystem. Three fishing strategies were modelled to represent a variety of ways of targeting fishing within an ecosystem: one focused on low trophic levels (i.e. forage species), another on higher trophic levels (i.e. predatory fish) and a third tested fishing pressure across the full range of potentially exploitable species. Two types of environmental change were simulated for each fishing mortality scenario – random environmental variability and directional climate change. The specificity of selected ecological indicators (mean trophic level of the community, proportion of predatory fish, biomass/landings, mean intrinsic vulnerability and marine trophic index) was evaluated for different combinations of fishing strategy, fishing mortality and both types of environmental change. While there were mostly large differences in indicator values computed from the Atlantis and Ecosim models, the specificity of the ecological indicators considered under changing climate generally corresponded between the two models. Certain indicators (i.e. mean trophic level of the community) were less specific in detecting effects of fishing in the southern Benguela for some of the three fishing strategies modelled (i.e. high trophic level fishing strategy) under climate change. This helped refine the most appropriate indicator set for our system, reflecting the focus of a particular fishing strategy, and improved confidence in the suitability of these indicators for monitoring fishing effects in the Southern Benguela.

The ocean is affected by multiple anthropogenic stressors including climate change, the effects of which are already evident in many ocean ecosystems. The ABACuS v2 end‐to‐end model together with climate projections from the NEMO‐MEDUSA 2.0 model were used to evaluate the effects of fishing, warming and horizontal and vertical mixing on the southern Benguela upwelling system. Of the drivers examined in this study, warming had the greatest effect on species biomass, with mainly negative effects. The magnitude of the impacts of warming intensified from the RCP 2.6 to the 8.5 emission scenario. Fishing negatively affected demersal and large pelagic fish, which in turn resulted in a biomass increase of forage fish due to a decrease in predation pressure. Water mixing was found to have minor indirect effects on zooplankton biomass and fish. The responses of species and species groups to the combined effects of fishing and warming were approximately equally divided between additive, synergistic and antagonistic. Interpretation of our model results suggests that the southern Benguela system is likely to be affected by climate change, including substantial changes in the abundance of some species important to the region's fisheries. Future planning for fisheries needs to take this into account, including through management that strives to maintain the resilience of key species and the system as a whole. In line with previous studies on the southern Benguela, the results reinforce the importance of including consideration of the indirect and combined impacts of climate change and fishing in management and planning.

Global recognition of the need for an ecosystem approach to fisheries and its subsequent formalization in the 1990s and 2000s were, to me, natural and necessary developments that put a name and a clearer form to an approach that I have been pursuing throughout my career. During that progression, I have drifted from fisheries ecology into stock assessment and provision of advice for marine fisheries management and on to a stimulating mix of geographical areas and fishery themes while working for the Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome, with some detours along the way. My work has focused on supporting the application of scientific knowledge in fisheries and has broadly followed three themes: environmental influences on fish productivity, fisheries management and governance, and the role of politics and policy in fisheries. This paper reviews work on each of those themes and presents some conclusions that I have come to on the challenges and obstacles to sustainable and responsible fisheries. The more difficult of these challenges centre on conflicts between social and economic goals and the long-term need for sustainability. Unsurprisingly, I have not found any simple solutions for them, and hold the view that we can only achieve a sustainable and equitable future if we look at the big picture and address the fundamental causes of these problems.

Effective fisheries management is crucial for ensuring resource sustainability, economic stability and food security for those depending on the fisheries. This study assessed the current state of management in South Africa by examining two case studies: the fisheries for West Coast rock lobster (WCRL) and small pelagic species (SP). The WCRL fishery includes small-scale and larger scale commercial sectors and the resource is valuable and accessible from the shore. The SP fishery is offshore, more capital-intensive, requiring specialized vessels and gear and harvests a lower-value product. The methods consisted of a review of available information and structured assessment of stakeholder opinions. Opinions were obtained through specifically-designed questionnaires and sent to stakeholders from diverse perspectives, selected for their broad knowledge and experience with one or both fisheries. The management framework used for the questionnaire has potential for international application in other fisheries, with some adaptation to local circumstances. The results revealed significant differences in overall performance of management of the two fisheries, with that for SP being satisfactory to good but that for WCRL being below the necessary standards overall and across many criteria. Weakest performance in both fisheries was related to Capacity in the management authority and Enforcement and compliance. Stakeholder engagement, socio-economic research, and effective implementation of required management measures were other particular concerns in the WCRL fishery. In the SP fishery, most of the other functions assessed were being performed adequately to well. Management efficiency in both fisheries had decreased over the last five to 10 years.

Achieving sustainability in fisheries remains a challenge for most countries around the world. The growth in eco-labelling in the fisheries and seafood sector that had started in the 1990s continued after that, to the extent that by 2012, producers, processors, retailers and others in the seafood industry were complaining about the confusion they were experiencing with the number of eco-labelling schemes that had been established and the difficulties they were experiencing in being able to identify which of these schemes were credible. Many stakeholders in the seafood industry agreed to establish an organization, the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) to 'provide clarity on seafood certification and ensure consumer confidence in certified seafood'. This chapter discusses the role and impact of the GSSI. The FAO guidelines specify a set of 'minimum substantive requirements' that an eco-labelling scheme should require a fishery to meet in order to qualify for certification and labelling.

Climate change is altering many environmental parameters of coastal waters and open oceans, leading to substantial present-day and projected changes in the distribution, abundance and phenology of marine species. Attempts to assess how each species might respond to climate change can be data-, resource- and time-intensive. Moreover, in many regions of the world, including South Africa, species may be of vital socioeconomic or ecological importance though critical gaps may exist in our basic biological or ecological knowledge of the species. Here, we adapt and apply a trait-based sensitivity assessment for the key marine species in the southern Benguela system to estimate their potential relative sensitivity to the impacts of climate change. For our analysis, 40 priority species were selected based on their socioeconomic, ecological and/or recreational importance in the system. An extensive literature review and consultation with experts was undertaken concerning each species to gather information on their life history, habitat use and potential stressors. Fourteen attributes were used to estimate the selected species’ sensitivity and capacity to respond to climate change. A score ranging from low to high sensitivity was given for each attribute, based on the available information. Similarly, a score was assigned to the type and quality of information used to score each particular attribute, allowing an assessment of data-quality inputs for each species. The analysis identified the white steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus, soupfin shark Galeorhinus galeus, St Joseph Callorhinchus capensis and abalone Haliotis midae as potentially the most sensitive species to climate-change impacts in the southern Benguela system. There were data gaps for larval dispersal and settlement and metamorphosis cues for most of the evaluated species. Our results can be used by resource managers to determine the type of monitoring, intervention and planning that may be required to best respond to climate change, given the limited resources and significant knowledge gaps in many cases.Keywords: data-poor assessment, eastern boundary upweling system, ecological assessment, macroecology, marine fisheries, phenology, species traits, South Africa

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement aimed at ensuring that international trade in wild animals and plants does not endanger the survival of species. Application of the Convention has proven to be controversial in some instances, including in the regulation of certain commercially-exploited aquatic species. Some countries hold differing views on the desirable role of CITES for such species and under what circumstances they should be listed on a CITES Appendix. In the late 1990s increasing concerns by some CITES parties about the status of some important resources for fisheries led to a review by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the CITES listing criteria for application to these species and the process of decision-making on listing proposals. The key FAO recommendations were incorporated into revised listing criteria adopted by CITES in 2004. The regular assessment of listing proposals for aquatic species by FAO-convened Expert Panels was also initiated at that time. These developments have not resolved the underlying differences of opinion and, in contrast, became an additional target of controversy. CITES Parties on both sides of the issue have tended to use the FAO recommended criteria and Panel assessments selectively, following them when they have matched their own preferences on specific proposals and circumventing or challenging them when they have not. This paper examines the attitudes and objectives of countries in relation to the use of CITES and the role of scientific information in policy and decision-making. It notes that differences in the opinions of countries on fundamental issues remain unresolved. These include the appropriate relationship between CITES and national and regional fisheries management agencies and the potential contribution of regulation of trade to fisheries management. The paper concludes with several recommendations aimed at improving the effective and efficient use of the Convention, in particular that greater attention should be given to the likely effectiveness of listing commercially-exploited species on CITES when deciding on listing proposals.

The South African squid fishery is based on a single species, Loligo reynaudi, locally referred to as chokka and commonly found around the Agulhas Bank and West Coast shelf of South Africa. The existing long term rights for participation in the fishery expire at the end of 2013 and a new set of rights will have to be issued. Progress made to date in achieving the objectives of the South African Marine Living Resources Act of 1998 (MLRA), including progress towards greater equity, will be an important consideration in allocation decisions. The draft Small-Scale Fisheries Policy, scheduled to be adopted in 2013, could also influence the criteria to be used. This study updates the information on the current structure and functioning of the squid jig sector and considers the likely performance of two alternative access allocation scenarios against the current and evolving policy goals. The study reaffirms that the squid fishery is an important contributor to human well-being in South Africa and particularly in the Eastern Cape Province but there is scope for improvement in the extent of transformation and equity. The study concludes that, as a result of a common lack of experience and capital amongst potential new entrants, the risks associated with transformation in this fishery are likely to be high, especially if the option of allocating rights to community-based legal entities was to be used. The risks could be reduced by ensuring that a number of pre-conditions were met. These include, amongst others, not allowing total effort in the fishery to increase; ensuring effective management by the responsible government authorities; adequate capacity building of new entrants, whether individuals or cooperatives; and ensuring new entrants have viable business plans.

Marine social-ecological systems are influenced by the way humans interact with their environment, and external forces, which change and re-shape the environment. In many regions, exploitation of marine resources and climate change are two of the primary drivers shifting the abundance and distribution of marine living resources, with negative effects on marine-dependent communities. Governance systems determine ‘who’ makes decisions, ‘what’ are their powers and responsibilities, and ‘how’ they are exercised. Understanding the connections between the actors comprising governance systems and influences between governance and the environment is therefore critical to support successful transitions to novel forms of governance required to deal with environmental changes. The paper provides an analytical framework with a practical example from Vanuatu, for mapping and assessment of the governance system providing for management of coral reef fish resources. The framework enables a rapid analysis of governance systems to identify factors that can encourage, or hinder, the adaptation of communities to changes in abundance or availability of marine resources.

Hollowed, A. B., Barange, M., Beamish, R., Brander, K., Cochrane, K., Drinkwater, K., Foreman, M., Hare, J., Holt, J., Ito, S-I., Kim, S., King, J., Loeng, H., MacKenzie, B., Mueter, F., Okey, T., Peck, M. A., Radchenko, V., Rice, J., Schirripa, M., Yatsu, A., and Yamanaka, Y. 2013. Projected impacts of climate change on marine fish and fisheries. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70: 1023–1037. This paper reviews current literature on the projected effects of climate change on marine fish and shellfish, their fisheries, and fishery-dependent communities throughout the northern hemisphere. The review addresses the following issues: (i) expected impacts on ecosystem productivity and habitat quantity and quality; (ii) impacts of changes in production and habitat on marine fish and shellfish species including effects on the community species composition, spatial distributions, interactions, and vital rates of fish and shellfish; (iii) impacts on fisheries and their associated communities; (iv) implications for food security and associated changes; and (v) uncertainty and modelling skill assessment. Climate change will impact fish and shellfish, their fisheries, and fishery-dependent communities through a complex suite of linked processes. Integrated interdisciplinary research teams are forming in many regions to project these complex responses. National and international marine research organizations serve a key role in the coordination and integration of research to accelerate the production of projections of the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems and to move towards a future where relative impacts by region could be compared on a hemispheric or global level. Eight research foci were identified that will improve the projections of climate impacts on fish, fisheries, and fishery-dependent communities.

The Marine Living Resources Act (MLRA), which was enacted in 1998, is the primary legislation addressing South Africa’s marine fisheries. In June 2012, another important instrument, the Policy for the Small Scale Fisheries Sector (SSFP) in South Africa, was adopted to rectify the exclusion of many small-scale fishers from access to resources, that had resulted from weaknesses in the MLRA. This paper assesses the MLRA, aspects of the SSFP and selected other subsidiary policies and regulations in relation to current best-practices, especially the extent to which they support an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). The study concludes that there are some serious gaps and shortcomings in the MLRA that should be addressed. These include, among others, the need to: (i) revise the MLRA so as to incorporate requirements for open and transparent management and governance; (ii) entrench the principles of co-management, emphasised in the SSFP, for all fisheries; and (iii) include a legal requirement for detailed management plans for all fisheries. Despite these shortcomings, there has been considerable progress in implementation of EAF, at least in the country’s bigger fisheries. However, this should not be seen as a justification for avoiding or delaying a revision of the MLRA to bring it into line with modern best-practices as encompassed by EAF.Keywords: FAO Code of Conduct, legislation, management, policy, responsible, sustainable

Ocean warming ‘hotspots’ are regions characterized by above‐average temperature increases over recent years, for which there are significant consequences for both living marine resources and the societies that depend on them. As such, they represent early warning systems for understanding the impacts of marine climate change, and test‐beds for developing adaptation options for coping with those impacts. Here, we examine five hotspots off the coasts of eastern Australia, South Africa, Madagascar, India and Brazil. These particular hotspots have underpinned a large international partnership that is working towards improving community adaptation by characterizing, assessing and projecting the likely future of coastal‐marine food resources through the provision and sharing of knowledge. To inform this effort, we employ a high‐resolution global ocean model forced by Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 and simulated to year 2099. In addition to the sea surface temperature, we analyse projected stratification, nutrient supply, primary production, anthropogenic CO 2‐driven ocean acidification, deoxygenation and ocean circulation. Our simulation finds that the temperature‐defined hotspots studied here will continue to experience warming but, with the exception of eastern Australia, may not remain the fastest warming ocean areas over the next century as the strongest warming is projected to occur in the subpolar and polar areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Additionally, we find that recent rapid change in SST is not necessarily an indicator that these areas are also hotspots of the other climatic stressors examined. However, a consistent facet of the hotspots studied here is that they are all strongly influenced by ocean circulation, which has already shown changes in the recent past and is projected to undergo further strong change into the future. In addition to the fast warming, change in local ocean circulation represents a distinct feature of present and future climate change impacting marine ecosystems in these areas.

Many coastal communities rely on living marine resources for livelihoods and food security. These resources are commonly under stress from overfishing, pollution, coastal development and habitat degradation. Climate change is an additional stressor beginning to impact coastal systems and communities, but may also lead to opportunities for some species and the people they sustain. We describe the research approach for a multi-country project, focused on the southern hemisphere, designed to contribute to improving fishing community adaptation efforts by characterizing, assessing and predicting the future of coastal-marine food resources, and co-developing adaptation options through the provision and sharing of knowledge across fast-warming marine regions (i.e. marine ‘hotspots’). These hotspots represent natural laboratories for observing change and concomitant human adaptive responses, and for developing adaptation options and management strategies. Focusing on adaptation options and strategies for enhancing coastal resilience at the local level will contribute to capacity building and local empowerment in order to minimise negative outcomes and take advantage of opportunities arising from climate change. However, developing comparative approaches across regions that differ in political institutions, socio-economic community demographics, resource dependency and research capacity is challenging. Here, we describe physical, biological, social and governance tools to allow hotspot comparisons, and several methods to evaluate and enhance interactions within a multi-nation research team. Strong partnerships within and between the focal regions are critical to scientific and political support for development of effective approaches to reduce future vulnerability. Comparing these hotspot regions will enhance local adaptation responses and generate outcomes applicable to other regions.

Many of the world’s fish stocks are depleted as a result of overexploitation, pollution and habitat loss. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) sets a target for fisheries to maintain or restore stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by 2015. We assessed the global stock status and found that 68% were at or above the MSY level in 2008 and that the 2015 target is unlikely to be met. We compiled data for eight indicators to evaluate the sustainability of fisheries and the gap to meet the WSSD target. These indicators show that the overall condition of global fisheries is declining, long-term benefits are being compromised, and pressures on fisheries are increasing despite fisheries policy and management actions being taken by coastal States. We develop a bio-economic model to estimate the costs and benefits of restoring overfished stocks. Our results show that the global fishing capacity needs to be cut by 36–43% from the 2008 level, resulting in the loss of employment of 12–15 million fishers and costing US$96–358 billion for buybacks. On the other hand, meeting the WSSD goal will increase annual fishery production by 16.5 million tonnes, annual rent by US$32 billion and improve biodiversity and functioning of marine ecosystems. However, progress towards rebuilding has been hindered by an unwillingness or inability to accept the short-term socio-economic consequences associated with rebuilding fisheries. Thus, there is a pressing need for integration of rebuilding plans into national political and economic decision-making.

The tenets of ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) now occupy centre stage in our efforts to maintain the sustainability of fisheries and rebuild marine ecosystems. The paper discusses how an EAF can be adopted for data limited fisheries and uses the northern South China Sea fishery as an example to demonstrate the selection and use of indicators for determining the states of the fishery and its relevant ecosystem to provide advice on management. Implementing EAF management requires indicators and models that address the impact of fishing across entire ecological communities and determine management actions to be taken to achieve the preset objectives according to decision rules. Data limited fisheries necessarily have limited resources for data collection and scientific studies and therefore could not support complex models. To overcome the data limitation and absence of modelling support, simple indicators have to be used to assess the current state and monitor changes of the fishery and its ecosystem. Such indicators should: (1) be observable and understandable by all stakeholders, (2) be based on easily obtainable and reliable data, (3) adequately reflect the condition of the resource, and (4) have associated reference values and responsive management measures. The paper also reviews the recent development and use of indicators and harvest strategies in both conventional and EAF management to better understand the differences and to shed light on the challenges of EAF, in particular for data limited fisheries.

The social and economic importance of small-scale fisheries is frequently under-valued, and they are rarely effectively managed. There is now growing consensus on how these fisheries could be managed for sustainability and to minimize the risks of crossing undesirable thresholds. Using a concept developed in health care, these approaches have been referred to as primary fisheries management. By encouraging the use of best-available information in a precautionary way, the approaches will facilitate sustainable use and should therefore be encouraged, but they accept high scientific and implementation uncertainties as unavoidable because of limited management and enforcement resources and capacity. It is important to recognize that this limitation will result in social costs, because application of a precautionary approach in the face of high uncertainties will require forgoing potential sustainable benefits. Acceptance of primary fisheries management as a final and sufficient goal could therefore add a further constraint on the possibility of fishing communities escaping the poverty trap. Primary fisheries management should be seen as a first and minimum target for fisheries where there is currently no or inadequate management, but the longer-term goal should still be well informed and adaptive management that strives for optimal benefits, referred to here as tertiary management.

The FAO and other guidelines available for the implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries are briefly reviewed. The paper recalls the high-level policy foundations and the main issues, related to fisheries and non-fishing impacts as well as to natural variability. It reviews the central paradigm and the extension of the conventional management required to better account for ecosystem considerations. It focuses on the policy, strategy development, and implementation processes required to adapt the fuzzy principles and conceptual goals to the reality of specific situations, addressing briefly the central issues of capacity-building, management costs, realistic time frames, and the role of science, and concludes with comments on the respective roles of the various types of stakeholders.

Concern about the global state of fisheries and fish resources has highlighted the three primary considerations in fisheries management: sustainable utilisation, economic efficiency and equity in access to resources. We appear to be failing in pursuit of all three goals. Living marine resources are particularly threatened by overfishing, leading to many of the world’s fish stocks being heavily, fully or over exploited. Similarly, the economic diagnosis is that costs of fishing exceeded the value of the world’s catch by about US$ 40 billion at the beginning of the decade. Statistics on equity are less available, but the necessary spread of limited access to fisheries frequently has the greatest impact on the small scale, traditional fisher. This paper considers the reasons underlying the general failure of fisheries management and the solutions that are being proposed. Factors contributing to the problems include high biological uncertainty, conflict between the constraint of sustainability and social and economic priorities, poorly defined objectives, and institutional failures related to access rights and participation in management by the users. These issues point to the real complexity of fisheries management. It is argued that this complexity can be abused by all interest groups to avoid responsibility and to suit their own objectives. It is suggested that there are eight simple principles controlling fisheries management that are generally well-understood and, if properly considered in fisheries management systems, would lead to improved performances. Responsible management will, however, only be effective if there is a genuine desire to achieve the objectives. Fishing capacity, frequently reflecting dependency of users on fisheries resources, is commonly in excess of the sustainable production of the resources. Excess dependency can preclude the political will to consider alternative strategies and only once it has been overcome, probably requiring solutions borrowed from outside fisheries, is effective management likely to be considered seriously. Thereafter, responsible management requires setting unambiguous objectives and management measures in co-operation with users and other interest groups. The agreed strategy must be included in legislation to ensure transparency and accountability and to constrain decision-makers. The performance of the strategy must be monitored and revised as necessary.

After effort control, the closed season is the most important management tool used to regulate fishing mortality in the South African jig fishery for chokka squid Loligo vulgaris reynaudii. The dynamics of the stock biomass on the spawning grounds were modelled in order to assess the effects of current effort levels and the existing closed season on the resource. The model assumes that process error dominates over observation error. The model has three parameters: g, a parameter which combines natural mortality, emigration and somatic growth; q, the catchability; I, which represents immigration to the spawning grounds. Estimates of the parameters were obtained by fitting the model to catch per unit effort data, and were used to project the stock biomass forward in time to evaluate the impact of various effort levels both with and without a closed season. Results from the study indicate that the biological and economic gains provided by the current closed season are small and that there is little justification for urgent action to curtail current effort levels. However, in view of the apparently high risk associated with the current levels of effort and the great sensitivity of the results to basic model assumptions, both maintenance of the closed season and avoiding increases above the current level of effort are recommended. Further, the level of effort may need to be reduced, and the option of lengthening an existing closed season to effect this may well prove easier to implement than any attempt to reduce the present number of participants in the fishery.

The South African sardine Sardinops sagax resource is subjected to both directed fishing that targets adult fish, and bycatch of both juvenile and adult fish taken in the directed fisheries for anchovy Engraulis capensis and round herring Etrumeus whiteheadi. Two separate TACs (Total Allowable Catch) for sardine are calculated in the management procedures considered. The first is a directed TAC linked to sardine abundance, and the second is a bycatch TAC with an "anchovy" component coupled to the anchovy population dynamics as a proportion of the anchovy TAC, plus a "round herring" component reflecting a fixed tonnage independent of round herring abundance. Requirements from the pelagic industry, such as a minimum economically viable annual directed catch and a maximum percentage decrease in the directed TAC that could be tolerated from year to year are also incorporated. The selection of a single management procedure for implementation is based on the comparison of performance statistics such as risk of ...

The pelagic fishery in South Africa targets mainly anchovy, Engraulis capensis, and sardine, Sardinops sagax, both of which have varied substantially in abundance during the history of the fishery. Since 1988, there has been progress in this fishery towards the use of management procedures as the basis for determination of management regulations, where a management procedure is defined as a set of rules, derived by simulation and normally implemented for three to five years, specifying how the regulatory mechanism is set, the data collected for this purpose and how these data are to be analysed and used. Advantages of management procedures include formal consideration of uncertainty, the ability to choose decision rules based on their predicted medium-term consequences and a saving in workload compared with annual assessments. This paper discusses the lessons learned in application of management procedures and their precursors in this fishery. The high variability in abundance of the two stocks, the trend in their relative abundance, the substantial uncertainties in information, strong pressure to meet socio-economic goals and the conflicting objectives which arose between the directed anchovy and directed sardine fishery are identified as major problems in implementation of procedures and management of the resources. However, the use of management procedures is considered to have led to greatly improved communication with the industry and to substantial input by them into the management process. The procedures and the simulations upon which they were based also enabled consideration of the major sources of uncertainty in understanding of the resource dynamics and facilitated the development of procedures that were robust to them. It is argued that biological uncertainty greatly exacerbated the problems in application of the procedures but probably cannot be markedly reduced in the near future. Management procedures must be robust to likely variability and uncertainty. Of equal importance are identification and selection of achievable objectives, and allocation to the political decision makers and not to the scientists, of responsibility for determining acceptable trade-offs between conservation and socio-economic goals. Other issues, including the importance of long-term rights and allowance for flexibility in fishing practice, are also highlighted

Many of the world’s marine fisher resources are either overfished or fully exploited and global production from wild stocks is close to its long run biological maximum. Consumer awareness about the serious condition of many marine fishery resources has grown, especially in OECD countries. The objective of eco-labelling of fish and fishery products is to achieve the goal of sustainable fisheries, in line with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and other related international instruments.

1. Introduction - Fisheries Management (Kevern L. Cochrane and Serge M. Garcia). Part I: The Primary Dimensions of Fisheries. 2. Biology and Ecology Considerations for the Fishery Manager (Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson). 3. Social Aspects of Fisheries Management (Fikret Berkes). 4. Economic Principles: An Economic Perspective on Fishing (Arne Eide). Part II: Legal and Institutional Considerations. 5. Legal Aspects (Blaise Kuemlangan). 6. The Fishery Management Institutions (Francois Feral). Part III: Management Measures and Tools. 7. Regulation of Fishing Gears and Methods (Asmund Bjordal). 8. Area and Time Restrictions (Stephen Hall). 9. Input and Output Controls: The Practice of Fishing Effort and Catch Management in Responsible Fisheries (John Pope). 10. Rights-Based Fisheries Management: The Role of Use Rights in Managing Access and Harvesting (Anthony Charles). 11. Partnerships in Management (Evelyn Pinkerton). Part IV: Scientific Information and Advice. 12. Which Indicators for What Management? The Challenge of Connecting Offer and Demand of Indicators (Serge M. Garcia, Helene Rey-Valette, and Clotilde Bodiguel). 13. The Use of Scientific Information (Kevern L. Cochrane). Part V: Implementation. 14. Fishery Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (Per Erik Bergh and Sandy Davies). 15 Special Considerations for Small-Scale Fisheries Management in Developing Countries (John Kurien and Rolf Willmann). 16. Fisheries Management Plans (David J. Die). Part VI: Conclusions. 17. From Past Management to Future Governance: A Perspective View (Serge M. Garcia and Kevern L. Cochrane). Glossary.

Since agreement was reached in 1982 on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and particularly since the conclusion of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, the rate of development of global instruments impacting on fisheries has escalated considerably and is apparently continuing to do so. A flood of global and regional instruments relevant to fisheries has been generated, including, for example, the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which pre–dates the UN Convention, the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992 Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development, the 1993 FAO Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas, the 1995 UN Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its four international plans of action and strategy, and the 2001 FAO Reykjavík Declaration on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem reflecting the growing international interest in ecosystem approaches to fisheries. Most recent has been the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development's Plan of Implementation. These instruments have been motivated by real problems associated with environmental degradation and living resource depletion, in several cases specifically in connection with fisheries. They have attempted to address these problems, and each instrument is recognized as being a positive contribution towards the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems. However, taken collectively they form a large, often confusing and potentially overwhelming set of recommendations and requirements that is putting many fishery management agencies under severe pressure as they seek to implement them. This paper provides a brief overview of the range of recent instruments and their implications for sustainable fisheries management, considers the progress being made in implementing them, identifies general problems being encountered and how they might be ameliorated in the future. A key problem is a lack of political will, or political ability, to address effectively the problems facing fisheries and marine ecosystems. One consequence of this is that the agencies charged with fisheries management are not provided with adequate technical and financial capacity to implement the instruments in most, if not all, countries. The problem is especially acute in developing countries where they are strained by the full effects of ‘instrument implementation fatigue’.

Marine reserves are a promising tool for fisheries management and conservation of biodiversity, but they are not a panacea for fisheries management problems. For fisheries that target highly mobile single species with little or no by-catch or habitat impact, marine reserves provide few benefits compared to conventional fishery management tools. For fisheries that are multi-species or on more sedentary stocks, or for which broader ecological impacts of fishing are an issue, marine reserves have some potential advantages. Their successful use requires a case-by-case understanding of the spatial structure of impacted fisheries, ecosystems and human communities. Marine reserves, together with other fishery management tools, can help achieve broad fishery and biodiversity objectives, but their use will require careful planning and evaluation. Mistakes will be made, and without planning, monitoring and evaluation, we will not learn what worked, what did not, and why. If marine reserves are implemented without case by case evaluation and appropriate monitoring programs, there is a risk of unfulfilled expectations, the creation of disincentives, and a loss of credibility of what potentially is a valuable management tool. Fil: Hilborn, Ray. The George Washington University; Estados Unidos Fil: Stokes, Kevin. Seafood Industry Council; Nueva Zelanda Fil: Maguire, Jean Jacques. Halieutikos; Canadá Fil: Smith, Tony. Csiro National Collections And Marine Infrastructure; Australia Fil: Botsford, Louis W.. University of California; Estados Unidos Fil: Mangel, Marc. University of California; Estados Unidos Fil: Orensanz, Jose Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentina Fil: Parma, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentina Fil: Rice, Jake. Science Advisory Secretariat; Canadá Fil: Bell, Johann. World Fish Center; Malasia Fil: Cochrane, Kevern L.. United Nations. Foof and Agriculture Organization. Fisheries Department; Italia Fil: Garcia, Serge. United Nations. Foof and Agriculture Organization. Fisheries Department; Italia Fil: Hall, Stephen J.. Australian Institute of Marine Science; Australia Fil: Kirkwood, G. P.. Imperial College London; Reino Unido Fil: Sainsbury, Keith. Csiro National Collections And Marine Infrastructure; Australia Fil: Stefansson, Gunnar. Marine Research Institute; Islandia Fil: Walters, Carl. University of British Columbia; Canadá

At present, arising in part from the former policy of apartheid, many of the major fisheries in South Africa are in the hands of a limited number of quota holders, dominated by the white sector of the population. Several of the major stocks are either in a productive state or are recovering, under biologically conservative management, from earlier depletions. At the same time, with the democratization of South Africa, the current access rights system is being challenged by many who had previously been excluded from access. The policy makers are faced with the task of introducing a fair, equitable and widely accepted system of user rights to a mature fishery, while taking cognizance of the important social and economic role of the existing industry and without overexploiting the marine resources.