Small-scale fisheries perspectives on an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management.

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. 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. 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 pollution related 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. A universally 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. 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. 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.