Using a regional level, risk-based framework to cost effectively implement ecosystem-based fisheries management
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2012
Conference Title
Global Progress in Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management: 26th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium,
Place of Publication
Fairbanks, Alaska
ISBN
978-1-56612-166-8
Disciplines
Agribusiness | Aquaculture and Fisheries | Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Marine Biology
Abstract
Risk-based frameworks to implement the “ecosystem approach” have been developed for a number of different industries in Australia. The framework for individual fisheries has been used for nearly a decade and while valuable it (i) does not address the cumulative effects of fishing, (ii) does not align with regional level planning undertaken by other government agencies, (iii) has not halted the increasingly negative community perceptions about fishing. To address these issues, use of a regional level approach, termed ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM), was proposed with the draft EBFM framework trialed for one bioregion in Western Australia (WA). Given the success of the trial, this paper outlines subsequent refinements to the methodology, the progress made in applying the framework in all bioregions of WA, and the broader adoption of these principles by the Department of Fisheries and other agencies.
Being a hierarchical, risk-based process, the EBFM framework avoids merely generating an impossibly complex set of regional level issues, uncertainties, and stakeholder expectations. In the initial case study over 600 ecological assets, social and economic outcomes, governance systems, and external drivers were identified by stakeholder workshops. The complexity was reduced by consolidating them into 60 regional level risks and a multi-criteria analysis was used to integrate related ecological, social, and economic values and risks into 24 “agency level” priorities. This framework has been applied to all six aquatic bioregions in WA with the resultant 88 agency priorities now used as the basis for all annual budget-setting decisions made by the Department of Fisheries. To fully implement EBFM, WA is currently revising the fisheries legislation and governance arrangements to facilitate creation of regional level strategies to coordinate the management of all individual fisheries/activities and simplify the department’s engagement in future multi-sector (EBM), regional planning processes.
Initiating implementation of EBFM did not require detailed data on ecosystems; it required only the holistic consideration of risk to each ecological asset and the associated stakeholder benefits to determine which assets have the greatest requirement for direct management. The cost effective steps for a regional level, ecosystem-based approach using only currently available data combined with expert opinion make implementation of this management planning framework viable in any location.
Recommended Citation
Fletcher, W.J., D.J. Gaughan, S.J. Metcalf, and J. Shaw. 2012. Using a Regional Level, Risk- 129 Based Framework to Cost Effectively Implement Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management In: G.H. Kruse, H.I. Browman, K.L. Cochrane, D. Evans, G.S. Jamieson, P.A. Livingston, D. Woodby, and C.I. Zhang (eds.), Global Progress in Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management. Alaska Sea Grant, University of Alaska Fairbanks. doi:10.4027/gpebfm.2012.07
