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Only 2.1% of the ocean is in actively managed marine protected areas (MPAs). Achieving the United Nations' target of 10% of the ocean protected by 2020 will require an aggressively implemented mix of large MPAs in remote areas, and small MPAs in inhabited coastal areas. Replication of small no-take MPAs (marine reserves) in coastal areas at the global scale is more likely to occur if reserves are designed as investment opportunities – ‘fish banks’ that produce new profits based on ecosystem services such as tourism and fish production. Here a pro forma business plan for a marine reserve using private investment and local management is presented. Total annual profit before the reserve was €254,000 (from fishing only); in year 8 after creation of the reserve, profit (fishing+tourism) was €3.3 million. Given the right conditions, the net present value of the reserve can be between 4 and 12 times greater than the no-reserve counterfactual. In our model, (1) the tourism sector covers the costs of creation and operation of the reserve as an investment in a profitable business; and (2) fishers become shareholders and receive income from tourist access fees; their profits increase as soon as one year after the creation of the reserve. A series of financing mechanisms to create and manage fish banks is also proposed. If designed properly, fish banks can help restore marine biodiversity and ecosystem services, and can create jobs, help fishers, and bring in significantly greater economic profits than the absence of protection.

de Graaf, G. J., Grainger, R. J. R., Westlund, L., Willmann, R., Mills, D., Kelleher, K., and Koranteng, K. 2011. The status of routine fishery data collection in Southeast Asia, central America, the South Pacific, and West Africa, with special reference to small-scale fisheries. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1743–1750. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) strategy for improving information on the status and trends of capture fisheries (FAO Strategy STF) was endorsed by Member States and the UN General Assembly in 2003. Its overall objective is to provide a framework, strategy, and plan to improve knowledge and understanding of the status and trends of fisheries as a basis for policy-making and management, towards conservation and sustainable use of resources within ecosystems. The FAO supports the implementation of FAO Strategy STF in developing countries through a project known as FAO FishCode–STF, and an initiative funded by the World Bank entitled the “BigNumbers project”. The BigNumbers project underscored the importance of small-scale fisheries and revealed that catches by and employment in this sector tend to be underreported. An inventory of data collection systems made under the FAO FishCode–STF project showed that small-scale fisheries are not well covered. Their dispersed nature, the weak institutional capacity in many developing countries, and the traditional methods used make routine data collection cumbersome. Innovative sampling strategies are required. The main priority is a sample frame for small-scale fisheries. Sustainable strategies are most likely to be found outside the sector through population and agricultural household censuses and inside the sector through the direct involvement of fishers.

Marine capture fisheries face major and complex challenges: habitat degradation, poor economic returns, social hardships from depleted stocks, illegal fishing, and climate change, among others. The key factors that prevent the transition to sustainable fisheries are information failures, transition costs, use and non-use conflicts and capacity constraints. Using the experiences of fisheries successes and failures it is argued only through better governance and institutional change that encompasses the public good of the oceans (biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, sustainability) and societal values (existence, aesthetic and amenity) will fisheries be made sustainable. Fil: Grafton, R. Quentin. Australian National University; Australia Fil: Hilborn, Ray. University of Washington; Estados Unidos Fil: Ridgeway, Lori. Fisheries And Oceans Canada; Canadá Fil: Squires, Dale. NOAA Fisheries. Southwest Fisheries Science Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Williams, Meryl. Aspley; Australia Fil: Garcia, Serge. Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations; Italia Fil: Groves, Theodore. University of California at San Diego; Estados Unidos Fil: Joseph, James. No especifíca; Fil: Kelleher, Kieran. The World Bank; Estados Unidos Fil: Kompas, Tom. Australian National University; Australia Fil: Libecap, Gary. University of California; Estados Unidos Fil: Lundin, Carl Gustaf. International Union for Conservation of Nature; Suiza Fil: Makino, Mitsutaku. Fisheries Research Agency; Japón Fil: Matthiasson, Thorolfur. University of Iceland. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration; Islandia Fil: McLoughlin, Richard. Jerrabomberra; Australia Fil: Parma, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentina Fil: San Martin, Gustavo Adolfo. Benthic Fisheries; Chile Fil: Satia, Ben. Committee for Fisheries; Estados Unidos Fil: Schmidt, Carl Christian. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; Francia Fil: Tait, Maree. Australian National University; Australia Fil: Zhang, Lin Xiu. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China

Marine reserves are an effective tool for protecting biodiversity locally, with potential economic benefits including enhancement of local fisheries, increased tourism, and maintenance of ecosystem services. However, fishing communities often fear short-term income losses associated with closures, and thus may oppose marine reserves. Here we review empirical data and develop bioeconomic models to show that the value of marine reserves (enhanced adjacent fishing + tourism) may often exceed the pre-reserve value, and that economic benefits can offset the costs in as little as five years. These results suggest the need for a new business model for creating and managing reserves, which could pay for themselves and turn a profit for stakeholder groups. Our model could be expanded to include ecosystem services and other benefits, and it provides a general framework to estimate costs and benefits of reserves and to develop such business models.

This chapter discusses the collection of data on small-scale fisheries in developing countries, the limitations of national data systems and progress in synthesizing collected data.