Publisher : International Collective in Support of Fishworkers
Place of publication :
Publication year : 0
Thematic : Fisheries
Language : English
Note
In 1992, UNCED Agenda 21 highlighted the protection and preservation of highly diverse marine ecosystems
and the problems that degraded ecosystems posed to marine fishing activities. The 1995 UN Fish
Stocks Agreement referred to the need to maintain the integrity of ecosystems and to consider problems
posed by fishing and degrading ecosystems. Further, the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible
Fisheries gave greater significance to an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management.
Artisanal and small-scale fisheries are accorded special recognition by the Code of Conduct for
Responsible Fisheries. Such fisheries contributed more than a quarter of world catch, and accounted for half
of the fish used for direct human consumption.
Individually, small-scale fishing units are less threatening to the marine ecosystem than are largescale
ones, because they participate in a multi-species fishery with low quantities of gear that are often
passive and selective, and in accordance with the fisheries resources that are seasonably accessible to their
gear.
With the widespread adoption of motorization, small-scale fisheries have grown significantly over
the past two decades. The rapid expansion of artisanal fishing capacity under open access regimes has
begun to exert overfishing pressures on coastal fisheries resources, especially in Asia and Africa. There
are increasing conflicts between different gear groups as a result of increased mobility of fishing vessels,
capacity expansion and overfishing pressures.
In the present scenario, there is an urgent need for the State to take up fisheries management measures
for greater equity and sustainability through consultative mechanisms. In this context, greater recognition
should be given to small-scale rather than large-scale fisheries. The emphasis has to change: away from
increasing fish production, toward conservation and management goals.
To initiate fisheries management measures in developing countries, a ‘crossword’ approach could be
considered, i.e. filling up management niches that are relatively easy at first, and then moving to more
difficult ones with the aid of early breakthroughs or solutions.
There could also be global initiatives towards fisheries management in developing countries. Industrialized
countries, in the first place, should not transfer their excess fishing capacity to developing countries.
There is also a need to establish a well-designed, time-bound, international aid programme in exchange for a
commitment to manage fisheries in a consultative, transparent and sustainable manner.
For small-scale fisheries that are overcrowded in developing countries, industrialized nations could
contribute to alleviating such demographic pressure in fisheries by facilitating temporary migration of
surplus labour into their fisheries, particularly into fisheries that are earmarked by labour shortage.
Concurrent with proposing and implementing measures that basically address the impact of fishing
on fish stocks and the marine habitat, there is also need for measures to minimize the effect of pollutionrelated
habitat degradation on fish stocks, and to understand better the intricacies of weather and climate
factors. Programmes to conserve ‘charismatic’ species such as sea lions, dolphins and sea turtles also
sometimes become counterproductive when these resources multiply in large number and compete with
fishers for the quarry, without significantly contributing to the health of the marine ecosystem.
Unlike the single-species model in fisheries management, which is by far the most prominent model in
most parts of the world, an ecosystem-based approach to fishery management could be an effective tool
in developing countries since it could take into account the complexity of the marine and coastal ecosystems.
Auniversally acceptable definition of ecosystem-based fishery management, however, has to consider
fishers as part of the ecosystem, which is an important consideration for developing countries that have 95%
of the world’s fisher population and over 60% of the world’s marine fisheries resources.
An ecosystem approach has to be used in a dialectical sense. It should, on the one hand, take into
account the effects of fishing on fish stocks, especially the unequal impact of small- and large-scale fishing on
targeted fish stocks and the marine and coastal ecosystems, undertaken under different economic, social
and political milieu.Onthe other hand, it should also take into account the effects of marine ecosystems, and
alternative livelihoods for fishers. This would be within the framework of what could be considered as an
ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management indicated in Agenda 21 and the UN Fish Stocks
Agreement.
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Keywords : Shark
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
