Integrating environment and fisheries management objectives in the ICES Area: reflections of a past ACME chair

Abstract

There is a common perception of a need to integrate fisheries and environmental considerations when giving management advice. I argue that the current two-committee advisory system adopted by ICES, in which fisheries and environment are considered independently, has not and will not lead to the desired integration in the delivery of advice. Integration can only be achieved when it is recognized that the goals of sustainable fisheries management are a subset of the goals of sustainable environmental management. I argue as well that the scientific community must take a more proactive role in identifying the important issues to be addressed when considering interactions between fisheries and the ecosystem. Currently, the research focus is directed primarily towards those direct interactions that appeal to the general public (e.g. by-catches of mammals and birds, habitat destruction, and discarding of undersized target and non-target organisms). Focusing on these visible interactions neglects the fact that there can be unexpected consequences of short-term mitigation efforts designed to offset these interactions. Furthermore, it is not given that the effects on the ecosystem that are most obvious to the human eye are also those that are potentially most threatening to the ecosystem.