Tools for Sustainable Fisheries and Coastal Management

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Photo: NOAA

Our oceans are collapsing in every sense of the word.  In the last hundred years, we have overfished and polluted most every treasured and productive marine and coastal ecosystem in reach.  Climate change is now causing its own grave set of marine problems.  Yet there is hope – success stories that suggest we can turn things around if we act now. 

AIDA is committed to making sustainable fisheries a reality and to helping restore and protect coastal waters throughout the Americas.  To achieve this, we must help governments strengthen and enforce laws and regulations protecting marine and coastal biodiversity.  AIDA’s new publication, “Tools for Sustainable Fisheries and Coastal Management” provides a road-map to tackle this challenging work.

This Spanish-language guide explains the many problems plaguing our seas and provides specific legal, scientific and economic tools to more sustainably manage our marine and coastal resources.  Government officials and legislators can use this information to develop, improve, and more effectively enforce national marine biodiversity laws and regulations.   We will post each chapter of the guide online as it becomes available.

Chapter 1: The Oceans and Our Fisheries: the Need for Sustainable Marine Management  

Chapter 1 analyzes the current condition of the oceans, discussing those factors responsible for the decline in fisheries.  Among those most responsible for the decline are overfishing, lack of regulation, and an abuse of technology.

The chapter continues with a review of international legal instruments in force that establish obligations for governments to protect and conserve the seas and their biodiversity.  The review concludes that current controls and preventative measures have not been sufficient to reduce harmful impacts on marine resources.  Some fish populations are deteriorating so rapidly that new collapses in commercial fisheries may occur in several regions of the world.  For this reason, it is up to decision-makers, consumers and the fishing industry to implement more effective control measures (presented in the following chapters) to prevent the same grave situations, provided as examples here.

Chapter 2: Planning for Sustainable Fisheries

Chapter 3: Limiting the Overall Fishing Effort

Chapter 3 describes and analyzes the current regulatory instruments used to limit the overall fishing effort, including programs to reduce fishing boat licenses, decommission boats, retrain fishermen, and reduce the time nets are cast.  The chapter also suggests measures that should be considered in order for these programs to truly accomplish their objectives.  Additionally, the chapter provides examples of specific programs to limit the overall fishing effort that were designed and implemented in various countries and can serve as models for parties interested in designing similar programs.

Chapter 4: Controlling Catch Levels 

Chapter 5: Controlling Bycatch

Chapter 6: Sustainable Marine and Coastal Zoning 

Chapter 7: Forms of Marine Protection

Chapter 8: Regulation and Oversight

Chapter 9: Economic Incentives for Responsible Fishing

Chapter 10:  Acuicultura y Maricultura 

In Chapter 10, AIDA explains the impacts and health risks associated with aquaculture in the Americas and discusses less harmful, alternative approaches.  The chapter includes examples of both successful and unsuccessful projects.  We provide detailed information about the damaging impacts of aquaculture on the marine environment, wild species, local economies, and public health.  We also discuss the basic requirements needed to reduce harmful impacts from aquaculture activities such as: adequate zoning of projects; regulation of cultivated species; appropriate feeding and waste-elimination techniques; and effective government monitoring and enforcement, among others.  Additionally, we explain novel techniques such as polyculture, land cultivation, and ecological certification, which are being researched as possible alternatives with less human and environmental impacts.

Chapter 11: Fishing Subsidies

Chapter 12: Community Impacts and Benefits of Sustainable Fishing 

Chapter 13: Conclusions and Recommendations

We thank everyone who in one form or another contibuted their knowledge and expertise to this publication.  We especially thank: Rolando Castro, member of the AIDA Board of Directors; Sofía Cortina, Isabel Calle, Samantha Namnum, Gladys Martínez, Sandra Moguel, María Giménez, Mónica Ribadeneira, John Kaltenstein and Phil Eager, lawyers with expertise on the subject of marine conservation; and the many interns who have worked with us on this publication over the years.