Change of paradigms in management of fishery: from conception to realization?

Abstract

A new system of views on effective management in fisheries has been developed by fishery science in the beginning of the 21 st century under the aegis of FAO (UN). It claims the principle of ecosystem approach in fishery studies. However, this approach is still not realized. Uncertainty of ecosystems behavior is the main problem that impedes coordination of fish- eries with functioning of the ecosystems. The problem could be solved with comprehensive investigation of all elements and structure of ecosystems and their modeling that, in turn, is impracticable without continuous monitoring of their state in complex marine surveys. In the Russian fishery science, too, the single-species approach still prevails in the resource assess- ment, estimation of total allowable catch (TAC) and acceptable biological catch (ABC), and prospective fishery forecasting instead of multi-species approach and ecosystem allowable catches (EAC). Management of fishery is still based on optimization of commercial stock by means of various measures of fisheries regulation. Insolvency of the Concept of development of fishery science in the Russian Federation till 2020 is discussed. Efforts of the TINRO-center on introduction of ecosystem approach in practice of fishery studies are noted.