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World fisheries are in crisis? We must respond!

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Reinventing Fisheries Management

Part of the book series: Fish & Fisheries Series ((FIFI,volume 23))

Abstract

World fisheries are reported to be in a crisis. This chapter briefly reviews the evidence for this crisis, underlying problems, and possible responses. Global fishery catches are probably between 130 and 190 million tonnes annually, and are of a similar magnitude to the predicted sustainable catch. A large proportion of fisheries are fully or overexploited. The uncertainty in global limits should not be used to deny the risk that we face. Thus it is imperative that we respond by controlling fishing effort, but in this we are hindered by severe, global overcapacity. This major, structural problem must be addressed.

Many difficulties arise from the uncertainty that pervades the fishery management process, and how it has been dealt with. Uncertainty should be explicitly considered — by imposing safety margins in target fishing levels, by dealing with uncertainty and risk in harvest decisions, and by creating institutional arrangements in which such decisions are transparent and subject to checks and balances. Because there will always be some uncertainty about resource status, and the behaviour of fishers and decision makers, actions must be reversible, management strategies must be safe. We must identify and develop understanding of systems that can sustainably manage resources.

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Authors
  1. Rik C. Buckworth
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2204 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4

    Tony J. Pitcher  & Daniel Pauly  & 

  2. Department of Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    Paul J. B. Hart

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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Buckworth, R.C. (1998). World fisheries are in crisis? We must respond!. In: Pitcher, T.J., Pauly, D., Hart, P.J.B. (eds) Reinventing Fisheries Management. Fish & Fisheries Series, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4433-9_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4433-9_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-5777-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4433-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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