Poto: ICES/CIEM

Strengthening ecosystem-based fisheries management in the Northeast Atlantic

ICES advises NEAFC on ecosystem approaches to fisheries management

​​​The North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) is the regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) responsible for managing fisheries resources in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. NEAFC's goal, as defined in its Convention, is the long-term conservation and optimum utilisation of the fishery resources, to provide sustainable economic, environmental and social benefits.  

"NEAFC has been committed to an ecosystem approach to fisheries management for many years", states Darius Campbell, Secretary of NEAFC, "The Convention itself was amended in 2004 to emphasise the need to take into account the impacts of fisheries on ecosystems and to conserve biodiversity".

NEAFC already employs a range of management measures to conserve vulnerable marine ecosystems, and species of shark, rays and chimaera, while enabling sustainable fishing. As it starts to take the next steps towards addressing fishing effects on ecosystems and biodiversity, NEAFC has requested ICES advice on further developing an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM). 

As the primary scientific adviser to NEAFC, ICES routinely provides impartial advice on the status of fish stocks and the marine ecosystem in the NEAFC regulatory area. Our ecosystem science, analyses of the impacts of human activities, fisheries, and conservation and management science provide the basis for fisheries and ecosystem overviews and a broad range of advice on meeting conservation, management, and sustainability goals.​

Ecosystem approaches to fisheries management​

The advice, published today, highlights and compares five EAFM approaches that would help to address biodiversity and ecosystem objectives in the NEAFC Convention. Some social and economic aspects of EAFM are also covered, as related to stakeholder engagement and stakeholders’ role in developing operational objectives and in identifying and addressing uncertainties and risks. 

In developing this advice, ICES drew on international experts, from both within and beyond ICES member countries. Their insights from across the globe are now helping to address the evolution of EAFM in the North Atlantic. The experts focused on the relevance of the five EAFM approaches to NEAFC, rather than whether they would strictly be classified as EAFM, ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM), or ecosystem-based management (EBM). 

The five approaches vary in complexity and the resources needed to implement them. They range from qualitative risk assessment, suitable for application in data-limited circumstances, to approaches reliant on the collection and processing of a wide range of data on ecosystem structure and function. Importantly, the advice emphasises that effective implementation of an EAFM can be incremental. For example, through restricting the initial scope of EAFM issues considered and expanding to more issues and/or initially screening many issues with less resource-demanding approaches, priorities for additional assessment can be identified. 

Evidence providers

ICES is playing an ever-growing role in the provision of evidence and advice on ecosystem approaches to the management of fisheries and other sectors in ICES area. “Over the last 20 years, ICES has become the central hub for EBFM in the North Atlantic", says Mark Dickey-Collas, one of the contributing experts and former chair of ICES Advisory Committee. “Through its growing integration of knowledge and its development of conceptual pragmatic theory, ICES is the go-to partner for managers, fishers, and NGOs that want to resolve EBFM-type challenges".    

ICES advice on NEAFC request on Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management, along with the Expert report on scoping ecosystem approaches to fisheries management to assist NEAFC request to ICES are both available to view and download in our library.​

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