Market-driven approaches to fisheries management incentivize producers to voluntarily engage in practices that align with management objectives and regulations set by government agencies. Eco-labelling and eco-certification programs are examples of market-driven approaches that align with our best understandings of how to ensure our fisheries and supporting ecosystems remain sustainable. While in some cases only government-mandated measures are implemented for managing our fisheries and in other cases only voluntary measures are implemented, often they are used in parallel with one another. The relative effectiveness of government and voluntary measures may depend on the outcome variable evaluated.
My co-authors and I recently
published a paper comparing how voluntary and government-mandated approaches affect the sustainability status of well-studied fish stocks around the world. In fisheries science, ‘sustainability status’ is usually represented as the amount of fish in the water (or, ‘stock biomass’) relative to a target level, and the fraction of fish that are caught (or, ‘fishing pressure’) relative to a target level. Generally, when fishing pressure is below the target, fish stock biomass grows, and when fishing pressure is higher than the target, biomass tends to decline.
What we found
The government-mandated measures we considered were common tools used for regulating fisheries catch and adhering to international fishing agreements
[1]. The voluntary measures we considered were certification against the
Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Fisheries Standard and involvement in a
Fishery Improvement Project (FIP). Overall, we found that the government-mandated measures had a much stronger influence than the voluntary measures on changes in the sustainability status of target fish stocks. This was expected because fishing pressure is generally under the direct control of governmental fisheries management agencies. Rebuilding plans—essentially emergency measures—had an especially strong effect in lowering fishing pressure and allowing overfished stocks to recover.
While controlling for the use of government measures, we also detected an association between biomass change and attributes of MSC certification. Stock biomass increased following a suspension of certification or when conditions of certification were in place. However, this association is difficult to interpret, as we did not see an influence of suspensions or conditions on changes in fishing pressure at the same time (if the biomass increase had been the result of reduced fishing pressure, we would have expected to observe this same influence on reduced fishing pressure simultaneously). In the paper, we noted that we only considered one specific outcome variable—the sustainability status of target species. For other outcome variables such as impacts on non-target species, livelihoods of fishermen, or social cohesion among stakeholders, voluntary measures may have a stronger relative influence.
What does this mean for voluntary measures?
In our dataset, MSC certification co-occurred with strong government-mandated measures. In other words, a strong pre-existing management system was usually a necessary precursor to fisheries achieving MSC certification. In turn, the certification process can encourage stronger management measures to be applied and enforced by government agencies, stimulating a process of continually raising the bar.
For FIPs, or for fisheries in the
MSC Improvement Program, the situation may be different. These improvement projects can be implemented for fisheries in which existing government mandated measures are not already as strong. These projects can be used to fill gaps of limited management capacity, or used to help develop parts of the management system that might later become permanent. They may also offer a stepping stone towards fishery certification and/or a more formalised co-management governance structure.
Voluntary measures and government-mandated measures may show a synergy when used together. If individual government-mandated measures can be seen as
bricks in the wall of an overall management system, then voluntary measures operating in parallel might be seen as buttresses supporting the wall. When the bricks of the wall and the bricks of the buttresses interlock with one another—when government and voluntary measures align—they are, together, stronger overall.
What can the private sector do?
To promote sustainable fish stocks, fisheries and seafood producers can support government systems and advocate to strengthen them. Ensuring a stable, productive resource base is in the long-term interest of all stakeholders. Fisheries can encourage governments to take a science-based precautionary approach when setting fishing regulations to ensure this long-term stability and supply of seafood.
Individual fishing boats or fishing fleets can contribute to maintaining sustainable fish stocks by using responsible fishing practices, but they may face a competitive disadvantage if other participants do not employ the same practices proactively. Self-organization of fisheries into an eco-certification group or a co-operative may provide a means for self-regulation across participating members while at the same time creating a stronger voice for interacting with government agencies. Encouraging governments to adopt and enforce regulations that apply across all fishing fleets (including those outside of self-organized groups) may help to ensure consistent, universal adherence to the regulations that promote sustainable outcomes.
What can policymakers and fisheries managers do?
As resource managers, government agencies can recognize the opportunities that eco-certification programs and FIPs may provide in strengthening overall management systems. Agencies can facilitate more fisheries becoming certified in their regions; certified fisheries may tend to adhere to regulations more consistently through stronger incentives, and indeed they have occasionally lobbied for stronger regulations.
To facilitate certification, fisheries management agencies can look for opportunities to make stock assessment outputs and fisheries management plans more directly translatable into certification requirements, which may reduce barriers for some fisheries facing the complexities of a certification assessment. Increasing the prevalence of certified fisheries should also be in the interest of government agencies, as the external stamp of approval implied by eco-certification provides more credibility for the agency in its claims of maintaining sustainable fish stocks and fisheries.
Government agencies in countries or regions where fisheries management systems are developing can recognize that voluntary programs like FIPs and the MSC Improvement Program can be used as stepping stones to help build management systems. Such improvement programs are voluntary so should not be taken for granted as being more than temporary, but monitoring programs initiated under these voluntary programs could be incorporated within government management systems to ensure their longevity. Government agencies can facilitate the establishment of such voluntary programs (which are often funded by industry or with the assistance of non-governmental organizations) and be jointly involved throughout their duration with a view of strengthening long-term measures collaboratively, building the wall and its interlocking buttresses together.
[2]
[1] Specifically, we considered six measures that may be applied for individual fish stocks (rebuilding plans; scientific surveys; quantitative stock assessments; harvest control rules; fleet-wide catch limits; and individual quotas) as well as three measures that operate at national or international levels (country’s declaration of its Exclusive Economic Zone; country’s first ratification of either the UN FAO Compliance Agreement or the UN Fish Stocks Agreement; and a major national or regional legislative fisheries policy).
[2] Many thanks to Laura Monikowska and Naomi Black of Evidensia for the invitation to share the findings from our paper, and for helpful feedback on this blog post.