Harvest control rules in modern fisheries management

Sturla F Kvamsdal,Arne Eide,Katherine E Mills,Katja Enberg,Leif K Sandal,Jan Erik Stiansen,Asta Gudmundsdottir,Franz J Mueter,Lars Ravn-Jonsen,Alf Håkon Hoel,Niels Vestergaard,Nils-Arne Ekerhovd

doi:10.12952/journal.elementa.000114

Abstract

Abstract Harvest control rules have become an important tool in modern fisheries management, and are increasingly adopted to provide continuity in management practices, to deal with uncertainty and ecosystem considerations, and to relieve management decisions from short-term political pressure. We provide the conceptual and institutional background for harvest control rules, a discussion of the structure of fisheries management, and brief introductions to harvest control rules in a selection of present day cases. The cases demonstrate that harvest control rules take different forms in different settings, yet cover only a subset of the full policy space. We conclude with views on harvest control rules in future fisheries management, both in terms of ideal and realistic developments. One major challenge for future fisheries management is closing the gap between ideas and practice.

Highlights

Harvest control rules (HCRs) allude to a long-standing desire for, and often perceived necessity of, controlling harvests of marine fishes
The fisheries are Northeast Arctic cod, North Sea cod, Norwegian spring spawning herring, Icelandic capelin, Pacific sardine, and Alaska groundfish. These fisheries were chosen to illustrate different implementations of HCRs that ranges from straightforward relationships between the estimated spawning stock biomass (SSB) and allowable catch (Northeast Arctic cod; Norwegian spring spawning herring) to complex rules that take into account environmental factors and ecosystem considerations (Pacific sardine, Alaska groundfish)
The regulatory history of the North Sea cod fishery suggests that reducing total allowable catch (TAC), necessary, is difficult.The regulatory system’s inability to properly manage the resource before the introduction of an HCR in form of the recovery plan is likely caused by how decisions were made.The EU Council that sets the TACs is composed of cabinet ministers for fisheries from EU member states

Summary

Introduction

Harvest control rules (HCRs) allude to a long-standing desire for, and often perceived necessity of, controlling harvests of marine fishes. The renewed or invigorated international attention to conservation issues, manifested in the precautionary principle and a general acceptance of sustainable development as a guiding doctrine, in concert with mounting criticism against model-based management, led to the adoption of harvest control rules – rule-based management – in fisheries.

Results

Conclusion