Publication Abstract

Environmental managers regulate human activities to improve ecological, social or economic sustainability. Such regulation is not always effective, and most fisheries are seen as excellent examples of failed natural resource management. While regulation and societal pressure have often led to reductions in the environmental impacts of shipping, aggregate dredging, waste disposal and the oil and gas industries, fishing is widely seen as the remaining pariah, currently attracting the attention of the global media and numerous conservation and lobby groups. Today, most fisheries are managed on a stock-by stock basis. Reference points are established for stock biomass and fishing mortality and then catch controls, effort controls or technical measures, such as changes in mesh size or area closures, are recommended to managers to modify mortality rates. In reality, managers have always struggled to reduce fishing mortality, and the biomass of many stocks is below intended reference points (FAO 2002a). The failures of management are catalogued in numerous publications and the principal ecological, social and economic reasons for failure are well understood. This understanding has thus far done little to improve the overall effectiveness of management in ecological, social or economic terms.