The role of different stakeholders in the fisheries sector

by

Jean-Jacques Maguire

Abstract

The presentation will identify the parties interested in fishery management, outline their short and long term objectives, their roles (as seen by themselves and by others) and their interactions (including potential for conflicts and/or synergies) in the conservation of fishery resources and the management of fisheries. International instruments such as UNCLOS, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the UN Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, among others, will be used as source of information on the expected roles of the various interested parties.

In a sustainable use context, all traditional interested parties share a common goal of sustainable, healthy and profitable fisheries to generate food and income in support of vibrant fishing communities. In this context, conservation of the fishery resources is traditionally seen as a first and necessary condition. As a result, many existing fishery management cycles start with scientific (biological) advice, followed by consultation of interested parties, decision by fishery administrators, and implementation by fishery managers. The tendency of fishery management systems has been to evolve progressively towards giving a higher priority to the scientific advice, because conservation of the resource is seen to be at the core of successful fishery management.

The modern view of sustainability recognises the need to ensure both human and ecosystem well-being. In a sustainable development context, sustainability should therefore be viewed broadly, in an integrated manner that includes ecological, economic, social and institutional aspects of the entire fishery management system. Most existing fishery management system developed under a predominantly biological view and they give primary, often exclusive, importance to the achievement of the bio-ecological component of sustainability. The failure to explicitly address the other components of sustainability may in fact be a reason why the bio-ecological component of sustainability is seldom achieved despite most fishery management systems being explicitly focussed on achieving it.