The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: on the Way to Implementation

Abstract

The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) was adopted in FAO in 2003, following the 2001 Reykjavik Conference. Within the overall policy framework of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF), the EAF technical guidelines, published in 2003, together with other CCRF guiding documents on fisheries management, sustainability indicators, precautionary approach, ecolabelling, etc., provide a very substantial amount of support to EAF implementation. This implementation has slowly progressed during the last 5 years at global, regional, and national levels and a brief summary of the action, particularly at FAO and in regional fishery management organisations (RFMOs) is given. In the process, more information is collected about detailed operational issues, challenges, and conditions for a successful implementation and sustainability of the EAF concept, and these are listed in this chapter. Keywords: CCRF; Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF); fishery management organisations (RFMOs); Reykjavik conference