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Policy transparency key to saving world’s fisheries: The sustainability of fisheries depends on the transparency with which coastal states incorporate scientific advice into policies, reports a study published in the journal PlosBiology

Posted by: Maven on June 24, 2009 at 7:46 am

From Scripps Institute of Oceanography:

A new study provides the first global evaluation of how management practices influence fisheries’ sustainability. The study assessed the effectiveness of the world’s fisheries management regimes using evaluations by nearly 1,200 fisheries experts and analyzing these in combination with data on the sustainability of fisheries catches. The results indicated that most fisheries management regimes are lagging far behind standards set by international organizations, and that the conversion of scientific advice into policy, through a participatory and transparent process, plays the most critical role in determining the sustainability of fisheries.

“The world’s fisheries are one of the most important natural assets to humankind,” says lead author Camilo Mora, a Colombian researcher at Dalhousie University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. “Unfortunately, our use of the world’s fisheries has been excessive and has led to the decline or collapse of many stocks.”

A study led by Camilo Mora of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Dalhousie University provides the first global evaluation of how management practices influence fisheries’ sustainability. Image courtesy of Sascha Regmann, Project Blue Sea, Marine Photobook.
According to the most recent report on the status of the world’s fisheries by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, fisheries supply at least 15 percent of the animal protein consumed by humans, provide direct and indirect employment for nearly 200 million people worldwide and generate $85 billion annually. This same report indicates that 28 percent of the world’s fisheries stocks are currently being overexploited or have collapsed and 52 percent are fully exploited.

“The consequences of overexploiting the world’s fisheries are a concern not only for food security and socio¬economic development but for ocean ecosystems,” says Boris Worm, a professor at Dalhousie University and co-author of the paper. “We now recognize that overfishing can also lead to the erosion of biodiversity and ecosystem productivity.”

Read more from Scripps by clicking here.

June 24, 2009 · Filed Under Uncategorized

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