This document discusses the goals and objectives of fisheries management according to the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. It outlines that the overarching goal is the long-term sustainable use of fisheries resources. Specifically, the goals are to maintain target species and ecosystem health while maximizing economic and social benefits like employment and food supply. Objectives aim to operationalize these goals, for example maintaining fish populations above 50% of unexploited levels. International agreements through bodies like the UN are needed to regulate fisheries that cross borders or are in international waters.

1. By:
Hebert R. Pingkian, BSFIIIA
Gemaica Moloboco, BSFIIIA
Toffi Teraytay, BSFIIIA
Laiza Madrona, BSFIIIA

4. • The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible
Fisheries was produced in response to global
concern over the clear signs of over-
exploitation of fish stocks throughout the
world and to recommend new approaches
to fisheries management which included
conservation, environmental, social and
economic considerations.
• It was developed by and through FAO and
was accepted as a voluntary instrument by
the 28th Session of the FAO Conference in
October 1995.

5.  In addition to five introductory Articles and one on
General Principles, the Code contains six thematic
articles on Fisheries Management, Fishing Operations,
Aquaculture Development, Integration of Fisheries
into Coastal Area Management, Post-Harvest Practices
and Trade, and Fisheries Research.
 Overall it incorporates the key considerations in
responsible fisheries and provides guidance on how
these should be addressed in order to ensure
sustainable and responsible fisheries.

6.  Subsequently, FAO has produced a number of
Technical Guidelines on different aspects of the Code,
including the FAO Technical Guidelines for
Responsible Fisheries No. 4: Fisheries Management,
which specifically addresses Article 7: Fisheries
Management of the Code. The following Technical
Guidelines had been produced at the time of printing
this Guidebook (late 2001):

7. No. 1 Fishing Operations
No. 1, Suppl.1 Fishing Operations. Vessel Monitoring System
No. 2 Precautionary Approach to Capture Fisheries and
Species Introductions
No. 3 Integration of Fisheries into Coastal Area Management
No. 4 Fisheries Management
No. 4, Suppl.1 Fisheries Management. Conservation and
Management of Sharks
No. 5 Aquaculture Development
No. 5, Suppl.1 Aquaculture Development. Good Aquaculture
Feed Manufacturing Practice
No. 6 Inland Fisheries
No. 7 Responsible Fish Utilization
No. 8 Indicators for Sustainable Development of Marine
Capture Fisheries

8. Goals and Objectives: who needs
them in a fishery?
“The over-riding goal of fisheries management is the
long-term sustainable use of the fisheries resources
(Code of Conduct, Paragraph 7.2.1)”

9.  The first step in proactive fisheries management is to
decide what is meant by optimizing the benefits for
each fishery - what can the State or the collection of
legitimate interested parties agree on as being optimal
benefits?
 In general terms, the goals in fisheries management
can be divided into four subsets: biological; ecological;
economic and social, where social includes political
and cultural goals.
 The biological and ecological goals may be more
correctly thought of as constraints in achieving desired
economic and social benefits but for simplicity and
consistency with the terminology most commonly
used in fisheries management, we will include them as
goals in this Guidebook.

10.  to maintain the target species at or above the levels
necessary to ensure their continued productivity
(biological);
 to minimize the impacts of fishing on the physical
environment and on non-target (by catch), associated
and dependent species (ecological);
 to maximize the net incomes of the participating
fishers (economic); and
 to maximize employment opportunities for those
dependent on the fishery for their livelihoods (social).

11. The development of operational objectives is discussed
in Chapter 5 but, to illustrate the difference between
goals and operational objectives, two examples of
objectives taken from Chapter 5 are:
 to maintain the stock at all times above 50% of its
mean unexploited level (biological);
 to maintain all non-target, associated and dependent
species above 50% of their mean biomass levels in the
absence of fishing activities (ecological).

13. According to the FAO, fisheries
management should be based explicitly on
political objectives, ideally with transparent
priorities. Typical political objectives when
exploiting a fish resource are to:

14. • Maximize Sustainable Biomass
Yield
In population ecology
and economics, maximum sustainable
yield or MSY is theoretically, the largest
yield (or catch) that can be taken from a
species' stock over an indefinite period.
Fundamental to the notion.3
of sustainable harvest.

15. The concept of MSY aims to maintain
the population size at the point of maximum
growth rate by harvesting the individuals that
would normally be added to the population,
allowing the population to continue to be
productive indefinitely. Under the
assumption of logistic growth.

16. MSY is extensively used for fisheries
management. MSY has been refined in most
modern fisheries models and occurs at
around 30% of the unexploited population
size.

17. • Maximize Sustainable Economic
Yield
A common goal is to maximize the
physical yield of a fishery on continuing basis
that is without jeopardizing the ability of the
stock to reproduce.

18. • Increase Export Income
• Secure Protein Production and Food
Supplies

19. International Objectives:
 Fisheries objectives need to be expressed in concrete management
rules. In most countries fisheries management rules should be based
on the internationally agreed, though non-binding, Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries, agreed at a meeting of the U.N.'s Food and
Agriculture Organization FAO session in 1995. The precautionary
approach it prescribes is typically implemented in concrete
management rules as minimum spawning biomass, maximum fishing
mortality rates, etc. In 2005 the UBC Fisheries Centre at the University
of British Columbia
comprehensively
reviewed the
performance of the
world's major
fishing nations
against the Code.

20. International agreements are required in order to regulate fisheries in
international waters. The desire for agreement on this and other
maritime issues led to three conferences on the Law of the Sea, and
ultimately to the treaty known as the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Concepts such as exclusive economic
zones (EEZ, extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) from a nation's
coasts) allocate certain sovereign rights and responsibilities for resource
management to individual countries.

21. Other situations need additional intergovernmental coordination. For
example, in the Mediterranean Sea and other relatively narrow bodies
of water, EEZ of 200 nautical miles (370 km) are irrelevant.
International waters beyond 12-nautical-mile (22 km) from shore
require explicit agreements.
Straddling fish stocks, which migrate through more than one EEZ also
present challenges. Here sovereign responsibility must be agreed with
neighbouring coastal states and fishing entities. Usually this is done
through the medium of a regional organisation set up for the purpose
of coordinating the management of that stock.

23. UNCLOS does not prescribe precisely how fisheries confined only to
international waters should be managed. Several new fisheries (such
as high seas bottom trawling fisheries) are not (yet) subject to
international agreement across their entire range. In November 2004
the UN General Assembly issued a resolution on Fisheries that
prepared for further development of international fisheries
management law.

24. Thank You!!