Introduction: Interaction between environment and fisheries—The role of stakeholder participation

Adventures in cross-disciplinary studies: Grand strategy and fisheries management

“…How does sustainability rank with reference to "security"? There is no single, static version of "biodiversity" or "ecosystem" [93] and there are divergent understandings of what an EAM actually means [91], especially taking into account that the ecosystem is supposed to include humans and their activities [25]. In addition, the existence of competing opinions as to what these mean implies that there are in fact competing "visions" society (or fisheries managers) are to achieve.…”

“…Comprehensive management approaches multiply the number of management levels, management institutions, stakeholders and therefore goals that managers are to serve (see for example [15,48]). At the same time, not all integrated approaches have been driven by the same logic and goals can therefore generate different priority schedules: ICZM tends to be a regional based development approach whereas ecosystem approaches have ecosystems as their starting point (although, unhelpfully, this is debated) [91]. MSP requires the integration of goals and needs of all users of marine space.…”

“…In its earliest form, fisheries scientists incorporated species interaction and fishing pressure as they struggled to calculate the mortality of fish in order to better calculate stock size (see for example [20]). The formal shift to move from single species management toward an ecosystem approach seems to have begun in the late 1980s [31,91].…”

The Regional Advisory Councils: What is Their Potential to Incorporate Stakeholder Knowledge into Fisheries Governance?

“…There is substantial reason for stakeholder inclusion at the 'appraisal' stage. Recent publications have highlighted that the intended move towards an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EBAFM) multiplies knowledge needs and requires that a diversity of knowledge is connected and brought into compatible formats (Gray 2005;Varjopuro et al 2008). Fishers in particular, have been identified as important knowledge holders because their experience-based, context-specific knowledge includes ecological knowledge, e.g.…”

The conservation of seals in Irish waters: How research informs policy

“…Participatory strategies in fisheries management require a longer time frame for experimentation and continuous experience-based improvement [64]. Solutions for processes of participation and sustainability are not achieved entirely through research, but through collaborative processes of learning and knowledge sharing in which more stakeholders take part and non-scientific local stakeholders become empowered [65][66][67]. Direct involvement of the industry in trying to resolve the complex seal/fishery interaction issue is essential, utilising already existing structures such as the Sea Fisheries Liason Group, the main forum through which industry can engage in fisheries management process, and at a more regional level in developing government-stakeholder partnerships such as the Moray Firth Partnership [63] as stakeholder forums.…”