Marine fisheries are very important to the economy and well-being of coastal communities. Maintaining the long- term prosperity and sustainability of marine fisheries is not only of political and social significance but also of economic and ecological importance. Promoting sustainable use of the marine fisheries is criticallydependent upon the alignment of economic incentives with conservationobjectives, a prospect that appears possible only when rightmanagement is adopted. In the 21st century, population and income growth – and the unequal distribution of both – will place increasing stresses on all global resources, including fisheries resources. The bad news is that there are daunting institutional impediments to attaining and maintaining sustainable use of the world’s fisheries in the face of these inexorable driving forces. The good news is that, if these can be solved individually and cooperatively by resource users, marine resources will be able to contribute their full potential to global well-being.
What we observe in hindsight is that fisheries management regimes seem to evolve through four distinct stages as the resource continues to become more valuable in the face of demand growth. The initial stage is pure open access in which there is no regulation of access possible, much as we witnessed outside the territorial waters during the build-up of global fleet. Within this stage, the most likely outcome is severe overcapacity coupled with dramatic overexploitation. The end result is generally one in which the target population is driven to a low level, the extent of which is governed by costs and markets. With highly valued products caught with technologies that produce at low costs, these fisheries may be driven close to, or beyond, levels that ultimately lead to extinction. A second stage in the evolution of fisheries management is conversion to what might be called regulated open access.It is also the stage that a large number of the world’s fisheries find themselves in currently. In contrast to pure open access, which often drives biomass to low levels, under regulated open access, conventional effort control measures, such as closed seasons and mesh size and gear restrictions, are used to attempt to achieve sustainable biomass and yield levels.
By: Mr. Rodelio Q. Mariano | Teacher III | Bataan School of Fisheries | Orion, Bataan
