Listening and Learning: Experiences of Participatory Development of Advice for Pelagic Fisheries

In Europe, we were slow to discover that one of the reasons that our fisheries management was failing, was the lack of “buy-in” by the fishing industry into the management process. The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in 2002 provided two opportunities to change our approach; first the establishment of regional advisory councils, second the emphasis on long term management plans. These two developments impacted the management of pelagic fish greatly and now the majority of pelagic fish stocks in the ICES area are exploited at or below FMSY reference points. Industry was heavily engaged in the establishment of management plans for horse mackerel, herring and mackerel. Dialogue between industry and scientists showed that different management objectives were important for different fisheries. Now Europe is building a system that embeds fisheries policy into the ecosystem approach. We are still striving to ensure the acknowledgement and value of industry buy-in into this new process. In the pelagic realm, we are engaged in projects that are now discussing broader ecosystem approach management objectives for healthy oceans and pelagic fish with the fishing industry and NGOs. The outcomes of these discussions are very illuminating.