Integrated assessment of fisheries systems

This research prompts questions about appropriate management responses (Heino et al., in revision – a). As addressing single concerns one at a time is unlikely to succeed, holistic approaches are needed. EEP has therefore begun to pursue studies facilitating the integrated assessment of fishery systems.

Research in EEP highlights how the performance of harvesting strategies can be evaluated jointly based on socioeconomic and biological criteria: as it turns out, outcomes that are favorable under both sets of criteria are often possible (Eikeset et al., 2013; Johnston et al., 2013; Meng et al., in press; Eikeset et al., in revision). Management practices also need to account for natural differences in the productivity and natural variability of aquatic systems (Boukal et al., 2012). Anticipating future changes, as compared to passively adapting to changes that have already occurred, tends to promote sustainability (Liu and Heino, in press). Impacts of climate change on fish stocks need to be taken into account (Ficker et al., in revision; Fuji et al., in preparation). Aiming at managing not just single species, but whole ecosystems, raises many new and challenging questions regarding the preservation of ecosystem structure (Garcia et al., 2012). For example, Ayers et al. (in preparation) examined ecosystem robustness to overfishing by evaluating how fishing impacts are affected by a species’ ecological role in terms of its prey species and predator species. Evolutionary impact assessments (EvoIAs; Laugen et al., 2013; Figure) offer a comprehensive framework for assessing consequences of management policies through the integration of eco-evolutionary and socioeconomic perspectives. With particular practical relevance, EvoIAs help to evaluate the influence of fisheries-induced evolution on reference points for fisheries management (Heino et al., 2013).

Evolutionary impact assessment (EvoIA) facilitates accounting for two major dimensions of complexity confronting modern fisheries management: evolutionary complexity and ecological complexity.

Ultimately, managing aquatic systems requires reconciliation of the interests of all stakeholders benefiting from the resources and ecosystem services these systems can provide. To facilitate identification of management options that are broadly agreeable to a diverse set of stakeholders, EEP is developing a versatile framework for evaluating joint stakeholder satisfaction based on multi-criteria utility functions (Dankel et al., in preparation).

Last edited: 31 October 2013