Resilience Of Fisheries Research Articles

Analysis of recommendations for developing sustainable fishing areas based on geographic information systems: the integrated Center of Marine and Fisheries (SKPT) Mimika case study

Abstract The Integrated Center of Marine and Fisheries (SKPT) is one of the Indonesian government’s steps in developing better management of the fisheries sector. SKPT Mimika has “The golden fishing ground” waters with a capture fisheries potential of 2.64 million tons per year; Arafura waters are one of the most fertile waters in Indonesia. With this potential and the concept of water development, namely the blue economy, where the economy with the axis of the sea must be sustainable, has a high urgency to ensure that there is no excessive exploitation of marine resources. The development of a sustainable blue economy involves many parties, but we consider that the closest community is the answer to the success of this development. Creating the potential fishing zone (PFZ) from Aqua MODIS image data and SWOT Analysis to formulate sustainable recommendations can help the community and stakeholders. Some of the outcomes of our recommendations are 1) Empower and implement an adaptive management approach that considers the needs and situations of each member of society, community, and region; 2) Increase the resilience of fisheries and aquaculture systems through implementing sustainable practices, diversifying fisheries commodities, and increasing access to markets. 3) Increase the ability of fisheries and aquaculture stakeholders to adapt to the impacts of climate change through training, education and awareness-raising activities; 4) Integrate the fisheries and aquaculture sectors into national policies and strategies for climate change; and 5) Management of intentional fishing and dumping.

Diverse pathways for climate resilience in marine fishery systems

AbstractBoth the ecological and social dimensions of fisheries are being affected by climate change. As a result, policymakers, managers, scientists and fishing communities are seeking guidance on how to holistically build resilience to climate change. Numerous studies have highlighted key attributes of resilience in fisheries, yet concrete examples that explicitly link these attributes to social‐ecological outcomes are lacking. To better understand climate resilience, we assembled 18 case studies spanning ecological, socio‐economic, governance and geographic contexts. Using a novel framework for evaluating 38 resilience attributes, the case studies were systematically assessed to understand how attributes enable or inhibit resilience to a given climate stressor. We found population abundance, learning capacity, and responsive governance were the most important attributes for conferring resilience, with ecosystem connectivity, place attachment, and accountable governance scoring the strongest across the climate‐resilient fisheries. We used these responses to develop an attribute typology that describes robust sources of resilience, actionable priority attributes and attributes that are case specific or require research. We identified five fishery archetypes to guide stakeholders as they set long‐term goals and prioritize actions to improve resilience. Lastly, we found evidence for two pathways to resilience: (1) building ecological assets and strengthening communities, which we observed in rural and small‐scale fisheries, and (2) building economic assets and improving effective governance, which was demonstrated in urban and wealthy fisheries. Our synthesis presents a novel framework that can be directly applied to identify approaches, pathways and actionable levers for improving climate resilience in fishery systems.

Effects of adaptive harvesting on fishing down processes and resilience changes in predator-prey and tritrophic systems

Many world fisheries display a declining mean trophic level of catches. This “fishing down the food web” is often attributed to reduced densities of high-trophic-level species. We show here that the fishing down pattern can actually emerge from the adaptive harvesting of two- and three-species food webs, where changes in fishing patterns are driven by the relative profitabilities of the harvested species. Shifting fishing patterns from a focus on higher trophic levels to a focus on lower trophic levels can yield abrupt changes in the system, strongly impacting species densities. In predator-prey systems, such regime shifts occur when the predator species is highly valuable relative to the prey, and when the top-down control on the prey is strong. Moreover, we find that when the two species are jointly harvested, high adaptation speeds can reduce the resilience of fisheries. Our results therefore suggest that flexibility in harvesting strategies will not necessarily benefit fisheries but may actually harm their sustainability.

Pathway to sustainability: the Marine Stewardship Council certification standard as an improvement framework for African fisheries

Fishery certification is increasingly employed as a multi-stakeholder, market-based mechanism to promote sustainability of fisheries. Preparing for, and achieving certification continues to deliver tangible improvements and benefits to fisheries, but the number of certified fisheries from Africa remains low. Some of the factors that constrain certification of fisheries in the region include limited data to assess and manage fisheries, the open access nature of many fisheries, overfishing, poor management, inadequate enforcement, and low demand for certified seafood. To overcome these constraints, several fisheries employ a “pathway to sustainability” approach that involves using the MSC fisheries standard as a framework for gap analysis, action planning, progress tracking and improvement. Certification may not always be the goal. This allows fisheries to make ongoing improvements over prior performance, regardless of whether they immediately achieve certification or not. Progress towards the desired goal, sustainable management, can be tracked over time. Some of the reported benefits include clarity of objectives, consolidation and focus of stakeholder efforts, participatory engagement, ability to attract resources for improvements, benchmarking of performance and, ultimately, improved environmental performance through better fisheries management. This paper discusses the uptake of this approach in Africa, by presenting case study fisheries from the continent. It outlines mechanisms through which these fisheries embarked on a pathway to sustainability using the MSC fisheries standard, and the outcomes from these initiatives. It highlights the successes and challenges associated with implementation. The paper concludes that the MSC standard and the improvements that it incentivizes can make a positive contribution to regional efforts to improve environmental sustainability, fisheries governance and consequently the socio-economic viability and resilience of fisheries in Africa.

Review of adaptations of U.S. Commercial Fisheries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic using the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework.

The COVID‐19 pandemic transformed social and economic systems globally, including fisheries systems. Decreases in seafood demand, supply chain disruptions, and public safety regulations required numerous adaptations to maintain the livelihoods and social resilience of fishing communities. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups were undertaken to assess impacts from and adaptive responses to the pandemic in commercial fisheries in five U.S. regions: the Northeast, California, Alaska, the U.S. Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. Fishery adaptation strategies were categorized using the Resist–Accept–Direct (RAD) framework, a novel application to understand social transformation in a social‐ecological system in response to a disturbance. A number of innovations emerged, or were facilitated, that could improve the fisheries' resilience to future disruptions. Fishers with diversified options and strategic flexibility generally fared better, i.e., had fewer disruptions to their livelihoods. Using the RAD framework to identify adaptation strategies from fishery system actors highlights opportunities for improving resilience of fisheries social‐ecological systems to future stressors.

Impact of Ocean Warming, Overfishing and Mercury on European Fisheries: A Risk Assessment and Policy Solution Framework

Previous studies have shown that multiple-environmental stressors are expected to have significant and geographically differential impacts on the health and abundance of marine species. In this paper, we analyze the combined impacts of ocean warming, overfishing and mercury pollution in European waters by projecting the impacts of climatic and non-climate drivers on marine species in European waters. Our findings suggest that the impacts vary widely depending on different species and their mean temperature tolerance (MTT). We find for instance, that more than 5 temperate benthopelagic species including, bobtail squids (Sepiida) frogfishes (Lophius) great Atlantic scallop (Pecten maximus) red mullet (Mullus barbatus barbatus) and common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) are affected (i.e., weakens their resilience to climate change) by the increase in sea surface temperature (SST) under RCP 8.5 in 2050 and 2100. Mercury contamination was estimated to increase in some species (e.g., ∼50% in swordfish), exceeding mercury consumption guideline thresholds (>1 mg/kg). This negative impact may limit the capacity of fisheries and marine ecosystem to respond to the current climate induced pollution sensitivity. An implication of our study is that the international community should strengthen a global ban on mercury emissions under the mandate of the Minamata Convention, comparable to the United Nations framework for persistent organic pollutant emission sources. Ongoing global efforts aimed at minimizing carbon footprint and mercury emissions need to be enhanced in concert with a reduction in fishing intensity to maintain effective conservation measures that promote increased resilience of fisheries to climate change and other stressors.

Recognizing Women’s Wellbeing and Contribution to Social Resilience in Fisheries

Building social resilience is important for fishing communities, which globally face unprecedented social and environmental change. While women’s direct and indirect contribution to fishing economies is increasingly recognized, their contribution to the social resilience of fisheries remains under-examined. Using interview and focus group data, we investigate women’s role in supporting the social resilience of UK fishing communities and examine implications for women’s wellbeing. Our findings reveal that beyond supporting the economic viability of fishing businesses, women help maintain the social fabric of fisheries and nurture the physical and mental wellbeing of fishing families, often at a cost to their own material, social and emotional wellbeing. Tensions between social resilience at the household or community level and women’s individual wellbeing have important implications for fisheries policy, which rarely considers the wider social context of fisheries. We identify ways in which women’s roles and wellbeing can be included in decision-making and policy.

Attributes of climate resilience in fisheries: From theory to practice

AbstractIn a changing climate, there is an imperative to build coupled social‐ecological systems—including fisheries—that can withstand or adapt to climate stressors. Although resilience theory identifies system attributes that supposedly confer resilience, these attributes have rarely been clearly defined, mechanistically explained, nor tested and applied to inform fisheries governance. Here, we develop and apply a comprehensive resilience framework to examine fishery systems across (a) ecological, (b) socio‐economic and (c) governance dimensions using five resilience domains: assets, flexibility, organization, learning and agency. We distil and define 38 attributes that confer climate resilience from a coupled literature‐ and expert‐driven approach, describe how they apply to fisheries and provide illustrative examples of resilience attributes in action. Our synthesis highlights that the directionality and mechanism of these attributes depend on the specific context, capacities, and scale of the focal fishery system and associated stressors, and we find evidence of interdependencies among attributes. Overall, however, we find few studies that test resilience attributes in fisheries across all parts of the system, with most examples focussing on the ecological dimension. As such, meaningful quantification of the attributes’ contributions to resilience remains a challenge. Our synthesis and holistic framework represent a starting point for critical application of resilience concepts to fisheries social‐ecological systems.

The fishery of sea-cucumber Holothuridae in Kilbat Village, Central Maluku Regency, Indonesia

Sea cumber is one of the valuable high economic resources. Worldwide, most sea cucumber fisheries are ineffectively managed, leading to declining stocks and potentially eroding the resilience of fisheries. The local fishermen of Kilbat Village have been exploiting sea cucumber for a long time with un-proper management pan. This study was aimed to investigate the utilization of sea cumber and assess its sustainability, and propose a sustainable management strategy. Field observation was used to analyze sea cucumber utilization, the Rapid appraisal to Fisheries (Rapfish) approach was used to assess its sustainability, whilst DPSIR was applied to perform a sustainable management strategy. The result shows that the local sea cucumber fishermen utilize sea cucumber as a source of income and self-consumption. The average sustainability was 61.17% of 100% sustainable scale and considered as fair sustain with institutional dimension being unsustain. There are 8 strategies proposed for sea cumber sustainable management with responses at D, P, S, and I level, A traditional indigenous knowledge (sasi) has been proposed for sea cucumber community-based fishery management.

Spatial and temporal variations in female size at maturity of a Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) population: A likely response to climate change.

The size at which sexual maturity is reached is a key population parameter used to guide the setting of minimum legal size limits in fisheries. Understanding spatial and temporal variations in size at maturity is fundamental to management because the relationship between size at maturity and minimum legal size limits affects the fraction of the mature population biomass that is harvested, and resulting egg production, larval settlement and recruitment. This study measured the size at maturity of female Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) across South Australia between 1991 and 2015 in relation to known oceanographic characteristics, surface and subsurface temperature data, and relative changes in lobster abundance. There was pronounced north to south spatial variation in estimates of size at maturity. Larger average size at maturity was recorded in warmer north-western areas of the fishery relative to the cooler waters of the south-east. Estimates of size at maturity also differed over 25 years across the fishery. However, the nature of temporal responses varied spatially, and were more consistent with variations in surface and subsurface water temperature at local-scales than changes in lobster density. In the well-mixed waters of the north-western, western and south-eastern parts of the fishery, relatively high rates of increase in sea-surface temperature and size at maturity were recorded since 1991, indicating that size at maturity may be responding to ocean warming associated with global climate change. In more central parts of the fishery, contrasting temporal signals in sea-surface temperature (positive) and bottom temperature (negative) indicated increases in upwelling strength over the study period, and formation of a bottom cold pool below a warm surface layer, with corresponding decreases in size at maturity recorded. The spatio-temporal changes in size at maturity measured in this study highlight the need for oceanographic information to be integrated into future stock assessment models to enhance harvest strategy development, allow timely adaptive management decisions and increase the resilience of fisheries to the impacts of climate change.

Setting objectives for evaluating management adaptation actions to address climate change impacts in south‐eastern Australian fisheries

AbstractUnder likely climate change scenarios, changes to fisheries assessment, monitoring, management and governance, intended to reduce negative impacts and seize opportunities to improve performance, will form an important part of climate change adaptation responses for fisheries. Comprehensively and consistently assessing possible management adaptation options requires a clear definition of a multi‐criteria evaluation framework incorporating information about the relative importance of often competing criteria or objectives. Such a framework is often missing from climate change adaptation evaluation, with adaptation priorities and plans often developed without direct reference to the key objectives of management. We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop a weighted hierarchy of objectives in four south‐eastern Australian fisheries. The developed hierarchy included fisheries management objectives routinely articulated in policy and management documents, those that may underpin effective adaptation and adaptation planning, and objectives likely to contribute to ongoing adaptive capacity and resilience of fisheries and associated communities. Results of an interactive survey of managers, researchers and commercial and recreational fishers yielded average weightings of objectives that were quite consistent across the four fisheries, with a very strong preference for ensuring that adaptations support environmental and ecological values, particularly through sustaining the harvested population. However, differences between stakeholder groups were more marked, with economic objectives considered more important by commercial fishers, and social objectives by recreational fishers, than by other groups. This suggests the possibility of conflicts between groups when determining appropriate adaptation strategies, as alternative strategies will have different economic and social outcomes even if achieving comparable environmental outcomes.

An evaluation of implementing long-term MSY in ecosystem-based fisheries management: Incorporating trophic interaction, bycatch and uncertainty

Maximum sustainable yield (MSY), often defined in relation to a single species considered in isolation, has long been considered a cornerstone in fisheries management. It is difficult to expand the concept of MSY for the purpose of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM). Here we consider MSY for a fishery in a multispecies fish community by addressing issues of trophic interaction and bycatch, along with parameter uncertainty. A size-spectrum model, which fully considers trophic interactions within the fish community, was used for simulating various fisheries scenarios including a single species fishery, a multispecies stow-net fishery, and a multispecies trawl fishery. Population biomasses, yields, and ecological indicators were used to assess the dynamics of the fishery and fish community status. The single species fishery with no bycatch resulted in a low impact on non-target stocks, but led to the collapse of the target stock at low fishing mortality rates. The stow-net and trawl fisheries had broader ecosystem impacts, but allowed target stocks to be fished at much higher fishing mortality rates with higher yields. Ecological indicators were related non-linearly to fishing mortality, possibly diminishing their effectiveness as management tools. Background resource carrying capacity was found to be a greater source of uncertainty than reproductive efficiency. This study demonstrates that bycatch mortality can play an important role in trophic interactions likely via predation release and depensation, and thus influence the resilience of fisheries to fishing pressure. The study indicates that the combination of mixed fisheries and multispecies effects lead to complex fish community dynamics that may present additional challenges for fisheries management.

Expanding the ‘geography’ of resilience in fisheries by bringing focus to seafood distribution systems

Seafood distribution systems are often viewed as exogenous from fisheries and marine resource management. However, these systems are closely coupled. The transportation and transformation of fish out of water (i.e., distribution and processing) is affected by and affects the resource and those that exploit and manage it. Despite this linkage, the feedback between harvesting and post-harvesting activities has been largely unstudied, reinforcing an artificial disconnect. This paper brings focus to this gap by examining the interplay between seafood distribution and social-ecological resilience - arguably an important objective of fisheries management. Drawing on the notion of “portfolio” fishing, this paper seeks to extend the concept beyond the material boundaries of the resource itself and the individual strategies of those who harvest marine resources, using the Atlantic herring and Spiny dogfish in New England as case studies. The broader interpretation of portfolio fishing allows us to understand seafood distribution as a new axis of diversification that has direct implications for the social-ecological resilience of fisheries. Expanding the geography of resilience in fisheries inland, beyond the existing regulatory 'wrack line,' brings to focus the interrelatedness of fisheries and distribution, and raises challenging questions about how to deal with social-ecological systems that extend beyond the borders of regulatory control.

B. Understanding Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments: Application to Coastal Mangrove Forests

Increased global temperature and its consequences pose threats to coastal habitat health and productivity, which, in turn, impact biodiversity, fisheries and coastal integrity. Assessment of vulnerability of the coastal area therefore involves not only investigating climate and ocean exposure and their potential impact but should likewise include evaluating socio-economic development and the ability of affected communities to cope with such changes. To this end, three tools were developed to assist local government units in conducting assessments of their respective areas. The first is the Integrated Coastal Sensitivity, Exposure, Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change VA Tool (I-C-SEA-Change by Licuanan et al.), which is a scoping and rapid reconnaissance tool intended to offer comparison of general vulnerabilities across barangays. For adaptation planning, I-C-SEA-Change must be complemented with the two other tools, TURF (Tool for Understanding Resilience of Fisheries by Mamauag et al.) and CIVAT (Coastal Integrity VA Tool by Siringan et al.). TURF and CIVAT are !ner resolution analyses intended to provide direct guidance in developing CC adaptation strategies. Specifically for mangrove ecosystem, vulnerability assessment includes land-use planning (including the marine environment), measures of habitat protection, measures of coastal integrity and presence/ absence of marine infrastructure. In general therefore, adaptability of the mangrove ecosystem to climate change can be enhanced with synergistic management of the watershed and the coast.

A framework for vulnerability assessment of coastal fisheries ecosystems to climate change—Tool for understanding resilience of fisheries (VA–TURF)

Vulnerability assessment (VA) is increasingly developed and utilized in various sectors and fields of society. VA provides a better understanding of the interactions among system, pressures, and threats, which serves as a basis for targeted adaptation strategies. The framework or tool named tool for understanding resilience of fisheries (VA–TURF) was developed to assess the vulnerability of the coastal fisheries ecosystems in the tropics to climate change. VA–TURF has three major components, namely, fisheries, reef ecosystem, and socio-economics. Although each component has intrinsic properties, the three components are strongly interrelated. Indicators associated to sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity were developed for each component of TURF. The exposure variable used was wave. VA–TURF uses information obtained through rapid assessments except for the reef ecosystem component. The analytical approach for integrating scores is straightforward and devoid of highly sophisticated mathematical methods. The utility of VA–TURF primarily considers the fishers of a coastal community (barangay) as the major stakeholder, thereby facilitating familiarization and community ownership of the tool. VA–TURF was demonstrated in all the coastal barangays of two island municipalities (Lubang and Looc, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines) located along the Verde Island Passage, which has the world's highest marine shore fish biodiversity. Local stakeholders such as fishers, barangay leaders, residents, and local executive staff of the two municipalities participated in the process of scoring and determining the vulnerability of the sites during a series of workshops. The local-level fisheries vulnerability assessment framework developed encourages community-level actions and provides opportunities for strategic actions and scaling-up of efforts at various governance levels.

Can We Be Both Resilient and Well, and What Choices Do People Have? Incorporating Agency into the Resilience Debate from a Fisheries Perspective.

In the midst of a global fisheries crisis, there has been great interest in the fostering of adaptation and resilience in fisheries, as a means to reduce vulnerability and improve the capacity of fishing society to adapt to change. However, enhanced resilience does not automatically result in improved well-being of people, and adaptation strategies are riddled with difficult choices, or trade-offs, that people must negotiate. This paper uses the context of fisheries to explore some apparent tensions between adapting to change on the one hand, and the pursuit of well-being on the other, and illustrates that trade-offs can operate at different levels of scale. It argues that policies that seek to support fisheries resilience need to be built on a better understanding of the wide range of consequences that adaptation has on fisher well-being, the agency people exert in negotiating their adaptation strategies, and how this feeds back into the resilience of fisheries as a social-ecological system. The paper draws from theories on agency and adaptive preferences to illustrate how agency might be better incorporated into the resilience debate.

Sea cucumber fisheries: global analysis of stocks, management measures and drivers of overfishing

AbstractWorldwide, most sea cucumber fisheries are ineffectively managed, leading to declining stocks and potentially eroding the resilience of fisheries. We analyse trends in catches, fishery status, fishing participation and regulatory measures among 77 sea cucumber fisheries through data from recent fishery reports and fishery managers. Critical gaps in fisheries biology knowledge of even commonly targeted species undermine the expected success of management strategies. Most tropical fisheries are small‐scale, older and typified by numerous (>8) species, whereas temperate fisheries are often emerging, mono‐specific and industrialized. Fisher participation data indicated about 3 million sea cucumber fishers worldwide. Fisher participation rates were significantly related to the average annual yield. permanova analysis showed that over‐exploited and depleted fisheries employed different sets of measures than fisheries with healthier stocks, and a non‐metric multidimensional scaling ordination illustrated that a broad set of regulatory measures typified sustainable fisheries. SIMPER and regression tree analyses identified that the dissimilarity was most related to enforcement capacity, number of species harvested, fleet (vessel) controls, limited entry controls and rotational closures. The national Human Development Index was significantly lower in countries with over‐exploited and depleted fisheries. Where possible, managers should limit the number of fishers and vessel size and establish short lists of permissible commercial species in multispecies fisheries. Our findings emphasize an imperative to support the enforcement capacity in low‐income countries, in which risk of biodiversity loss is exceptionally high. Solutions for greater resilience of sea cucumber stocks must be embedded within those for poverty reduction and alternative livelihood options.

Challenges to sustainable management of the lakes of Malawi

This paper reviews the management challenges facing Malawi lakes and analyzes the management responses that have been developed to deal with these challenges. Malawi lakes are under considerable stress due to high population growth and increasing levels of poverty which have led to overexploitation of fishery resources. High rates of soil erosion in the lake catchments are increasing siltation of shallow lakes, deltas and embayments, affecting water quality and fish breeding habitats, thereby degrading fish production potential. This review further shows that past and current management approaches have focused on maximizing sustainable yield and have failed to adequately incorporate socio-ecological factors and broader lake catchment processes into fisheries management plans. This, in turn, led to the top-down development of fisheries laws and technical regulations which were difficult to enforce, increased conflict between resource users and fisheries managers, and failed to control fisheries over-exploitation and the collapse of the chambo (tilapia) and cyprinid fisheries. The paper recommends that the fisheries policy should be reviewed to focus on resilience of fisheries, environment and livelihoods. Policy makers should adopt integrated management planning to address the diverse interest of stakeholders in lake basins, as well as the ecological, socio-economic and external factors threatening sustainability of lake ecosystems and livelihoods of dependent communities.