An indicator framework to support comprehensive approaches to sustainable fisheries management

Abstract

Indicator-based frameworks for assessing the sustainability of commercial fisheries have become well-established in the consumer sector. Within fisheries management, there are only a few jurisdictions, notably Australia, where sustainability frameworks are regularly used across the full spectrum of management functions, including planning, decision making, and evaluation. In Canada, a "sustainable fisheries framework" has been proposed but implementation has been limited to date. The Canadian Fisheries Research Network (CFRN), a six-year collaboration between Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the commercial fishing industry, and academic institutions, included as one of its major outputs the development of a comprehensive framework-based approach to evaluate the sustainability of commercial fisheries in Canada. Although most fisheries sustainability frameworks focus on the ecological domain, the CFRN explicitly recognized the social, economic, and institutional domains as having equal importance in a holistic treatment of sustainability. Following an iterative research and development process, a subgroup within the CFRN produced a novel sustainability indicator framework that combines a hierarchical subject matter structure consisting of domains, dimensions, and elements with a formula approach to developing indicators that utilizes a system of variables, or attributes. These two aspects of the sustainability indicator framework are linked in a way that helps to enforce comprehensive and routine methods for identifying objectives and relating those to specific indicators. The careful balancing of scope and depth makes for a powerful tool that can be used across a range of fisheries management contexts within Canada and in other jurisdictions that have a similar governance structure and high degree of institutional capacity. We present a detailed account of how the sustainability indicator framework was developed, the logic of its construction, and its potential application in fisheries management.

Population parameters and sustainable status of lompa fish Thryssa baelama (Forsskal, 1775) manage through sasi approach at Haruku Village

“…6), the management strategies taken are to increase the awareness of the community regarding a threat faced by lompa fish during the lompa fish harvesting event, regulating the number of people participate in the harvesting event, prohibiting the use of mosquito net and karoro net, diversification of source of income of the local community, design and use of friendly fishing gear, increase monitoring, surveillance, controlling, and improve catch management data. Regulating the number of people and the gear used is essential for sustainable management fishery (Angel et al, 2019;Nilsson et al, 2018). The introduction of new selective fishing gear, monitoring, controlling, and surveillance which provide essential data (Bahri et al, 2021;McDonald et al, 2017), will be used to evaluate the lompa fishery condition and develop an adaptive management strategy.…”

Common but differentiated rights and responsibilities in tuna fisheries management

“…Furthermore, there could be other dimensions that could be included in the selection of the indicators, which could include social, cultural, institutional and ethical dimensions (Angel et al, 2019).…”

Incorporating the Ecological, Socio-economic and Institutional Conceptual Model Framework for Sustainable Management of Small-scale Mud Crab (Scylla serrata) Fishery in Western Seram Regency, Indonesia

“…Government quality assesses the overall quality or capacity enabling conditions for legal, regulated, reported, and protected fisheries as indicated by the government. Monitoring is connected to reporting which assesses accurate, transparent reporting of fisheries activity and extraction of fish to government board either at local, regional, or national levels (Pitcher et al, 2009;Pitcher et al, 2013;Angel et al, 2019). The fish resources management system is comprehensive and inclusive, based on reliable data and knowledge and uses for the adaptive management approach (Pitcher et al, 2009).…”

“…In theory, sustainability should include social, cultural, institutional, and ethical dimensions of fisheries, but frequently the scope of sustainability in fisheries is limited to a small set of biological and economic considerations (Stephenson et al 2018;Foley et al, 2018;Angel et al, 2019). The institutional field in sustainability analysis encompasses both governance (quality and legality) and management (regulation, reporting, monitoring, and protection) of fisheries.…”

“…In sustainable fishery, management uses the best scientific evidence as a basis for management regulation. The regulation includes EAFM, multispecies attempts, precautionary approach, an ecosystem approach to management, monitoring and assessment, and adapting to change (Pitcher et al, 2013;Angel et al, 2019;Fortnam, 2019). In relation to EBFM/EAFM, the government of Indonesia already agrees to implement EAFM and there are also two specific regulations issued concerning the management of mud crab Scylla spp., but in the field, this is not the case.…”