Failure analysis of current fishery management and harvest control rules for European fisheries management are examined. Further, a common modeling framework was designed, taking into consideration the age structure of fish stocks and multi-species interactions to develop new fishery management strategies (see Fig.). Results from new, ecologically and economically sustainable fishery management strategies have been published in both biological and economic journals. The results were presented to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which is a leading and active participant within the fishery management field. The interdisciplinary endeavor to develop strategies for sustainable fishery management has had a wide impact on fishery policy and has helped bring the issue to the attention of the general public. The success was documented in numerous TV, radio, and press interviews as well as in publications (e.g., World Ocean Review). Recently, a request was received from Nature for an Op-Ed article. The game table ecoOcean received an international award and has been displayed at several national and international exhibitions and was also used in a training workshop and a masters course. The Cluster’s proposals for new sustainable fishery management were discussed with representatives from fishery policymakers in an expert hearing at the European Parliament and the European Maritime Day.
References:
Froese, R. (2011) Fishery reform slips through the net. Nature 475 (7), published online: doi:10.1038/475007a.
Froese, R., Proelss, A (2010) Rebuilding fish stocks no later than 2015: Will Europe meet the deadline? Fish Fish. 11, 194 – 202.
Khalilian, S., Froese, R., Proelss, A., Requate, T. (2010) Designed for failure: A critique of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union. Mar. Policy 34 (6), 1178 – 1182.
Voss, R., Hinrichsen, H.H., Quaas, M.F., Schmidt, J.O., Tahvonen, O. (2011) Temperature change and Baltic sprat: from observation to ecological-economic modeling. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 68 (6), 1244 – 1256.
Caption: Historical spawning stock biomass and future development of spawning stock biomass and yield using an age-structured ecological-economic model comprising the most important fish species in the Baltic Sea. The results indicate that rebuilding the cod stock in an economically optimal way would reduce the (economically less valuable) stock of sprat, which is one of the cod’s main prey species, while the effect on herring is less pronounced.
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