By:Hebert R. Pingkian, BSFIIIAGemaica Moloboco, BSFIIIA

Toffi Teraytay, BSFIIIALaiza Madrona, BSFIIIA

• The FAO Code of Conduct for ResponsibleFisheries was produced in response to globalconcern over the clear signs of over-exploitation of fish stocks throughout theworld and to recommend new approachesto fisheries management which includedconservation, environmental, social andeconomic considerations.

• It was developed by and through FAO andwas accepted as a voluntary instrument bythe 28th Session of the FAO Conference inOctober 1995.

In addition to five introductory Articles and one onGeneral Principles, the Code contains six thematicarticles on Fisheries Management, Fishing Operations,Aquaculture Development, Integration of Fisheriesinto Coastal Area Management, Post-Harvest Practicesand Trade, and Fisheries Research.

Overall it incorporates the key considerations inresponsible fisheries and provides guidance on howthese should be addressed in order to ensuresustainable and responsible fisheries.

Subsequently, FAO has produced a number ofTechnical Guidelines on different aspects of the Code,including the FAO Technical Guidelines forResponsible Fisheries No. 4: Fisheries Management,which specifically addresses Article 7: FisheriesManagement of the Code. The following TechnicalGuidelines had been produced at the time of printingthis Guidebook (late 2001):

No. 1 Fishing OperationsNo. 1, Suppl.1 Fishing Operations. Vessel Monitoring SystemNo. 2 Precautionary Approach to Capture Fisheries and Species IntroductionsNo. 3 Integration of Fisheries into Coastal Area ManagementNo. 4 Fisheries ManagementNo. 4, Suppl.1 Fisheries Management. Conservation and Management of SharksNo. 5 Aquaculture DevelopmentNo. 5, Suppl.1 Aquaculture Development. Good Aquaculture Feed Manufacturing PracticeNo. 6 Inland FisheriesNo. 7 Responsible Fish UtilizationNo. 8 Indicators for Sustainable Development of Marine Capture Fisheries

Goals and Objectives: who needs them in a fishery?

“The over-riding goal of fisheries management is thelong-term sustainable use of the fisheries resources(Code of Conduct, Paragraph 7.2.1)”

The first step in proactive fisheries management is todecide what is meant by optimizing the benefits foreach fishery - what can the State or the collection oflegitimate interested parties agree on as being optimalbenefits?

In general terms, the goals in fisheries managementcan be divided into four subsets: biological; ecological;economic and social, where social includes politicaland cultural goals.

The biological and ecological goals may be morecorrectly thought of as constraints in achieving desiredeconomic and social benefits but for simplicity andconsistency with the terminology most commonlyused in fisheries management, we will include them asgoals in this Guidebook.

to maintain the target species at or above the levelsnecessary to ensure their continued productivity(biological);

to minimize the impacts of fishing on the physicalenvironment and on non-target (by catch), associatedand dependent species (ecological);

to maximize the net incomes of the participatingfishers (economic); and

to maximize employment opportunities for thosedependent on the fishery for their livelihoods (social).

The development of operational objectives is discussedin Chapter 5 but, to illustrate the difference betweengoals and operational objectives, two examples ofobjectives taken from Chapter 5 are:

to maintain the stock at all times above 50% of itsmean unexploited level (biological);

to maintain all non-target, associated and dependentspecies above 50% of their mean biomass levels in theabsence of fishing activities (ecological).

According to the FAO, fisheriesmanagement should be based explicitly onpolitical objectives, ideally with transparentpriorities. Typical political objectives whenexploiting a fish resource are to:

• Maximize Sustainable Biomass YieldIn population ecologyand economics, maximum sustainableyield or MSY is theoretically, the largestyield (or catch) that can be taken from aspecies' stock over an indefinite period.Fundamental to the notion.3of sustainable harvest.

The concept of MSY aims to maintainthe population size at the point of maximumgrowth rate by harvesting the individuals thatwould normally be added to the population,allowing the population to continue to beproductive indefinitely. Under theassumption of logistic growth.

MSY is extensively used for fisheriesmanagement. MSY has been refined in mostmodern fisheries models and occurs ataround 30% of the unexploited populationsize.

• Maximize Sustainable Economic Yield

A common goal is to maximize thephysical yield of a fishery on continuing basisthat is without jeopardizing the ability of thestock to reproduce.

• Increase Export Income

• Secure Protein Production and Food Supplies

International Objectives: Fisheries objectives need to be expressed in concrete management

rules. In most countries fisheries management rules should be basedon the internationally agreed, though non-binding, Code of Conductfor Responsible Fisheries, agreed at a meeting of the U.N.'s Food andAgriculture Organization FAO session in 1995. The precautionaryapproach it prescribes is typically implemented in concretemanagement rules as minimum spawning biomass, maximum fishingmortality rates, etc. In 2005 the UBC Fisheries Centre at the Universityof British Columbiacomprehensivelyreviewed theperformance of theworld's majorfishing nationsagainst the Code.

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.

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.

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.

Thank You!!