Management

Management Strategy Evaluation and Management Procedures: Tools for Rebuilding and Sustaining Fisheries

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Fisheries management is complicated in nearly all cases by a high degree of
uncertainty about the current state and expected growth of fish stocks and about the
economic and social factors that affect the desirable harvest levels. Even for fisheries
with excellent data collection programs, scientific surveys and sophisticated assessments,
the estimates of catch levels that will maintain healthy fisheries or rebuild depleted ones
are often far from accurate. Consequently recommended catch levels often fluctuate more
than necessary in response to error in assessments rather than true stock variability and
frequently react too slowly due to lags in data collection, assessment and implementation.
Overly optimistic estimates of stock size and future growth have often led to allowing
catch levels that undermine rebuilding. Fishery management strategies also rarely include
specific objectives developed with stakeholder involvement which can undermine
stakeholders‘ support for conservation even when it may be in their best interest.
In this paper I discuss an approach for evaluating and implementing fishery
management strategies known as management strategy evaluation (MSE), also sometimes
referred to as the management procedure (MP) approach that is designed to identify and
operationalise strategies for managing fisheries that are robust to several types of
uncertainty and capable of balancing multiple economic, social and biological objectives.
When implemented correctly an MSE should result in clear and measurable objectives
and a robust process for achieving them that fishery managers and stakeholders have
jointly developed and agreed to. I review several examples of MSEs that have been used
to evaluate, and in some cases implement, rebuilding strategies for overfished fisheries.
These case studies demonstrate how the MSE approach has been applied and some of its
advantages and limitations

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Detail Information

Series Title

Management Strategy Evaluation and Management Procedures: Tools for Rebuilding and Sustaining Fisheries

Call Number

-

Publisher

: OECD Publishing.., 2010

Collation

1-67

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Classification

NONE

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

-

Subject(s)

strategic Management

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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