Advancing Electronic Fishery Information Systems: The Third Revolution in Fishery Management

Two major institutional revolutions are impacting fisheries around the globe -- sustainability and property rights.  The sustainability revolution ensures that fisheries and supporting ecosystems are conserved so that future generations can access healthy fishery resources.  The second revolution creates institutions in the form of economic incentives and privileges that are necessary for achieving sustainability.  But a third less heralded fishery revolution is gaining importance and recognition for its role in supporting the first two revolutions – (near) real time information systems.  Modern information technologies including hardware, software, and communication infrastructure are being designed and employed to collect, share and transform real time data into near real time knowledge vital for sustaining fisheries and improving economic benefits. These electronic information systems include logbooks, fish tickets, observer and vessel monitoring systems, catch and quota reporting, research and monitoring, and market traceability.  They are being employed by managers, industries, fleets, and fishermen to manage harvests and reduce bycatch and discards, track environmental conditions, improve stock assessments, coordinate fleet behavior, and increase market benefits. However, there are complex institutional, technological, and management challenges in developing and designing efficient systems.  This paper summarizes some of these challenges, provides three alternative approaches for designing integrated information systems, and highlights their relative advantages.  The paper concludes by discussing the changes needed in fishery policy and management to create incentives that foster a real time information revolution that maximizes benefits and supports sustainability.