Estonian fisheries management system under the lens of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard

Abstract

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) created a scientifically robust standard for assessing whether wild-capture fisheries are ecologically sustainable and well-managed. This paper aims to review the available information regarding Estonian's fisheries management system in relation to, and to assess it against, the first component of principle 3 of the MSC standard, using its Fisheries Certification Requirements V2.0. Previous certification reports of Estonian fisheries were reviewed to compare the scoring by different experts. The fisheries management system has well-developed legal system which has all the necessary tiers for effective management. It is also subject by law to a transparent mechanism for the resolution of legal disputes. The rights and obligations of commercial as well as recreational fishermen are outlined in the main legal framework. Functions, roles and responsibilities of the main management bodies are explicitly defined and it seems to be understood to all stakeholders. The management system gives the opportunity and encourage all stakeholders to participate in the management process. The long-term objective of fisheries management system in Estonia puts emphasis on the long-term and sustainable use of the biological resource, however, effort should be done to include the precautionary approach into the fishing act especially for ecosystem management. Comparing the Estonian system with other management systems in the Baltic Sea would shed useful insight to discuss how to deal with these issues.