Being dynamic socio-ecological systems, we need to understand both the biological and human context of fisheries. Unfortunately, we have been historically very bad at managing fisheries. The global demand for seafood (and freshwater products) is insatiable, but many fishers remain marginalised, poor, and have little power in their industry. My work focuses on small-scale fisheries and seeks to identify viable management strategies that address both fishers’ needs and those of the ecosystems upon which their fisheries depend.

Sustainable fisheries

At a superficial level, making fisheries sustainable seems easy – do not catch more from a population that it can replace and do not catch in a manner that damages the ecological system. All you need to do is create (and enforce) rules that ensure fishing stays within acceptable limits and rules that outlaw certain practices. However, fisheries management must also strive for social and economic sustainability. So, even if we have a strong handle on the fisheries science (which is less likely in a small-scale, artisanal, or data-limited context), management is likely to fail without balancing the economic and social considerations.

For example, if there is a community of 100 fishers using cheap, efficient, but destructive fishing gears, a management strategy may be doomed if the level of total allowable catch is too low for all fishers to make viable livings, if it is too expensive for fishers to switch to non-destructive gears, or if the strategy only allows access to 75 fishers.

Fishers: part of the solution

Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to global ocean biodiversity, and many stocks remain overfished. So, it is easy to portray fishers themselves as being the cause of this problem. Their behaviours are widely vilified, and fishers are seen as greedy, selfish, and without concern for the species they catch or the biological systems they work in. For the most part, this is a grossly inaccurate portrayal of people often struggling for their own survival. This vilification does nothing to promote sustainable fisheries. Fishers are central to fisheries solutions, and must be embraced as such for the health and future of ocean systems. Fisheries management requires a good, close working relationship with the fishing industry, ideally employing solutions that were devised collaboratively by stakeholders.