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Melnychuk MC, Lees S, Veiga P, Rasal J, Baker N, Koerner L, Hively D, Kurota H, de Moor CL, Pons M, Mace PM, Parma AM, Mannini A, Little LR, Bensbai J, Muñoz Albero A, Polidoro B, Jardim E, Hilborn R, Longo C. Comparing voluntary and government-mandated management measures for meeting sustainable fishing targets. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2025; 374:124090. [PMID: 39827606 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2024] [Revised: 12/23/2024] [Accepted: 01/07/2025] [Indexed: 01/22/2025]
Abstract
Management of natural resources and environmental systems has often involved top-down approaches in which government agencies set and enforce regulations on extractive activities. More recently, market-driven approaches were introduced to incentivise producers to voluntarily engage in practices that align with management objectives and support regulations. For the first time, we compare government and voluntary approaches within fisheries management systems and quantify their relative influences on the sustainability status of fish populations. Voluntary measures include eco-certification against the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) Fisheries Standard and Fishery Improvement Projects (FIP). Government-mandated measures are implemented for individual populations, or else at national and international levels. Using a hierarchical time series analysis, we treated each of these measures as independent interventions potentially affecting trends in fishing pressure and biomass of nearly 300 populations. Supporting earlier findings, we confirmed a strong effect of government rebuilding plans in sharply reducing fishing pressure and allowing population biomass to recover. Other government-mandated measures further contributed to reducing fishing pressure. While simultaneously accounting for government measures, we found that biomass increases were associated with stronger incentives generated by voluntary measures. This influence was attributed to the opening of conditions of certification or suspension of certification for MSC fisheries, while no clear influence was attributed to FIPs. MSC certification was rarely observed in the absence of strong government-mandated measures, however, suggesting that sustainability-related incentives associated with voluntary measures can promote more desirable environmental outcomes for target stocks if used in parallel with more conventional approaches to management of natural resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C Melnychuk
- Marine Stewardship Council, London, UK; School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | | | - Pedro Veiga
- Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | | | - Nicole Baker
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | - Daniel Hively
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Hiroyuki Kurota
- Fisheries Resources Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Carryn L de Moor
- Marine Resource Assessment and Management (MARAM) Group, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Maite Pons
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | - Ana M Parma
- Center for the Study of Marine Systems, CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
| | - Alessandro Mannini
- CNR IRBIM - Istituto per le Risorse Biologiche e le Biotecnologie Marine del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Ancona, Italy
| | | | - Jilali Bensbai
- Institut National de Recherche Halieutique, Casablanca, Morocco
| | - Arturo Muñoz Albero
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy
| | - Beth Polidoro
- Marine Stewardship Council, London, UK; School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | | | - Ray Hilborn
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
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Ainsworth GB, Pita P, Pita C, Roumbedakis K, Pierce GJ, Longo C, Verutes G, Fonseca T, Castelo D, Montero-Castaño C, Valeiras J, Rocha F, García-de-la-Fuente L, Acuña JL, del Pino Fernández Rueda M, Fabregat AG, Martín-Aristín A, Villasante S. Identifying sustainability priorities among value chain actors in artisanal common octopus fisheries. REVIEWS IN FISH BIOLOGY AND FISHERIES 2023; 33:1-30. [PMID: 37360581 PMCID: PMC9985096 DOI: 10.1007/s11160-023-09768-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science highlights a need to improve the way in which scientific results effectively inform action and policies regarding the ocean. Our research contributes to achieving this goal by identifying practical actions, barriers, stakeholder contributions and resources required to increase the sustainability of activities carried out in the context of artisanal fisheries to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) Global Action Plan (GAP) Pillar targets. We conducted a novel 'social value chain analysis' via a participatory workshop to elicit perspectives of value chain actors and fisheries stakeholders associated with two Spanish artisanal common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) fisheries (western Asturias-Marine Stewardship Council [MSC] certified, and Galicia-non-MSC certified) about their priorities regarding sustainable octopus production and commercialization. Our adapted Rapfish sustainability framework emphasised the importance of economic, environmental, ethical, institutional, social, and technological indicators to different actors across the value chain. We mapped participants' shared sustainability priorities (e.g. integrated fisheries management, knowledge-based management, product traceability) to six Rapfish indicators, seven IYAFA Pillars and twelve SDGs to reveal how our results can inform ocean policy and actions. This identified how certification incentives and other cooperative approaches can facilitate environmental, economic and social sustainability (e.g. value-added products, price premiums for producers, gender inclusive organisations); support IYAFA priority outcomes (raised awareness, strengthened science-policy interface, empowered stakeholders, partnerships); and help to achieve UN SDG targets (e.g. SDG 14.b, SDG 17.17). The results can inform actors, stakeholders and policymakers about how different actors contribute to efforts to achieve the SDGs and how to manage priorities for sustainable actions within artisanal fisheries and their value chains. We recommend inclusive and equitable participatory knowledge transfer and governance platforms as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science and beyond where participants can create theories of change towards sustainability involving the development of multi-sectoral ocean policies framed at the level of the value chain and supported by appropriate governance structures. Graphical Abstract Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11160-023-09768-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian B. Ainsworth
- Faculty of Business Administration and Management, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Department of Applied Economics, CRETUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Pablo Pita
- Faculty of Business Administration and Management, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Department of Applied Economics, CRETUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Cristina Pita
- International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, UK
- CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Katina Roumbedakis
- Faculty of Business Administration and Management, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Department of Applied Economics, CRETUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | | | | | - Gregory Verutes
- Faculty of Business Administration and Management, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Department of Applied Economics, CRETUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Tereza Fonseca
- CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Daniela Castelo
- CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | | | | | - Francisco Rocha
- Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Universidade de Vigo. BA2, Campus de Vigo As Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
| | | | | | - M. del Pino Fernández Rueda
- Centro de Experimentación Pesquera, Consejería de Medio Rural y Cohesión Territorial del Principado de Asturias, Gijón, Spain
| | | | | | - Sebastián Villasante
- Faculty of Business Administration and Management, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Department of Applied Economics, CRETUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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