The implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the Benguela Region: experiences, advances and problems.

Abstract

AbstractAn ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) has been adopted by the nations of the world as being necessary for sustainable use of marine fisheries, and efforts are being made in most countries to make progress in its implementation. Angola, Namibia and South Africa, making up the coastal states of the Benguela Current large marine ecosystem (BCLME), are committed to implementation of EAF and are making use of the opportunities presented by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) BCLME programme to strengthen progress towards this end. This chapter describes a BCLME project which is at the core of these efforts and is examining the feasibility of implementing EAF in the Benguela region. The project, a cooperative effort by BCLME, the management agencies of the three countries and FAO, started in January 2004 and ended in December 2006. Focusing on several of the major fisheries in each country, it has pursued a structured and participatory approach to identify and prioritize the gaps in the existing, largely conventional, approaches to fisheries and potential management actions necessary to address those gaps. Again using a participatory approach that has attempted to engage the range of stakeholders in each case, preliminary estimates of the costs and benefits of those actions have been made. Costs and benefits are being measured in terms of the broad objectives applicable in each fishery. In addition to a large number of issues directly related to the target species and conventional management, gaps have been found, as examples, in relation to by-catch of retained and non-retained species, including impacts of fisheries on species of conservation concern, interactions between fisheries, potential impacts of some gear on habitat and the impacts of non-fishery sectors on fish habitats and species. The detailed results, including potential management actions and their costs and benefits, are still preliminary, but the issues and the broad management needs and possible actions that have been identified are highly informative. The process that has been developed provides a valuable framework for future refinement and implementation of the EAF in the Benguela Region.