Sustainable Fishery Systems

“Sustainable Fishery Systems (2nd edition)” written by Dr. Anthony Charles is an interdisciplinary guide to managing fisheries for sustainability, through an understanding of fisheries using a systems approach – one that includes both natural and human elements, and their many interactions. The book is based on a recognition that all fisheries are filled with complexity and uncertainty, so making the right management decisions for sustainability, resilience and long-term well-being requires assembling a diverse range of fishery knowledge.

Sustainable Fishery Systems explores the structure of fishery systems, and discusses issues of conflict, collapse and conservation, as well as fishery connections with climate change, protected areas, aquatic ecosystems and multi-sectoral management. The book places an emphasis on the role of fishing communities and Indigenous communities, and how they use diverse knowledge sources to pursue conservation, both on land and in marine environments.

Sustainable Fishery Systems is aimed at audiences ranging from government agencies, fisher organizations and fisheries managers to universities, colleges and research institutions.

“[This second edition], which builds on an extensive body of earlier research and writings, is thus a ‘must have’ for every self-respecting fisheries library or office, a textbook to be regularly consulted. In its breadth of approach and target audience, it spreads the net wider than is frequently done.”

– Maarten Bavinck, Maritime Studies (2024)

Inside the Book:

Key Links (in new tabs):

TABLE OF CONTENTS & GUIDE TO THE BOOK
Part I: Fishery Systems Introducing Fishery Systems The Natural System: The Fish The Natural System: Fishery Ecosystems The Human System: Fishers and Fishworkers The Human System: Post-Harvest Aspects and Fishing Communities	The 1st part of the book (Chapters 1-5) focuses on Fishery Systems, their structure and dynamics. This begins in Chapter 1 with an overview of fishery systems, emphasising how these systems are depicted, and how they are characterised. Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of the natural system: the fish, the ecosystems, and the biophysical environment. Chapters 4 and 5 explore the human system, including the fishers and fishworkers, the post-harvest sector, households and communities, and the broader socioeconomic environment. Each of chapters 2-5 discusses both the structure of the corresponding component of the fishery system, and its dynamics – how it changes over time.
Part II: The Fishery Governance and Management System Fishery Governance Fishery Management Fishery Development Fishery Knowledge	The 2nd part (Chapters 6-9) focuses on the Fishery Governance and Management System, providing a basis on the values, objectives, tools and approaches that go into this – with Chapters 6 and 7 covering those two topics of governance and management, followed by Chapter 8 on ideas of fishery development, and Chapter 9 on the knowledge-building (and research) in fisheries.
Part III: Three Major Challenges in Fishery Systems Uncertainty in Fishery Systems Conflict in Fishery Systems Attitudes (The Story of a Fishery Collapse)	The 3rd part (Chapters 10-12) examines Three Major Challenges in Fishery Systems, namely (Chapter 10) the ubiquitous presence of uncertainty in fisheries, the various forms this uncertainty takes, and the connection between uncertainty and risk, (Chapter 11) the major role conflict plays in fishery systems, along with a typology of fishery conflicts, and (Chapter 12) the problems that can arise when those in the fishery have poor attitudes, and specifically the story of how such attitudes led to the massive collapse of Canada’s Atlantic cod fishery.
Part IV: Modern Strategies for Fishery Systems Sustainability and Resilience Adaptive, Robust, and Precautionary Management The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Rights-Based Approaches to Fisheries Management Co-management and Community-Based Management	The 4th part (Chapters 13-17) moves from challenges to solutions, namely ‘Modern Strategies for Fishery Systems’. The discussion begins in Chapter 13 with an examination of the nature of sustainability and resilience, and how to do sustainability assessment. Chapter 14 focuses on approaches to living with uncertainty through the use of adaptive management, robust management and a Precautionary Approach to fishery decision making. Chapter 15 discusses the benefits of an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, inherently based on a systems approach. Chapter 16 presents human rights and fishing rights (use rights and management rights, guiding the access to and use of fishery resources) as key ingredients for sustainability and resilience. Then Chapter 17 examines the widespread move to fishery co-management and the longstanding and expanding role of community-based management.
Part V: Fisheries and the Bigger Picture Fisheries and Marine Protected Areas Fisheries and Biodiversity Conservation Fisheries and Multi-Sectoral Management Fisheries and Climate Change	The 5th part (Chapters 18-21) looks at ‘Fisheries and the Bigger Picture’ – the interactions of fisheries (and fishery governance/management) with four of the biggest drivers of change in today’s fisheries, ones from beyond the fishery system per se. These four are (Chapter 18) marine protected areas and ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs), with a focus on their fishery interactions; (Chapter 19) biodiversity conservation, how its governance interacts with that of fisheries, and specific challenges of dealing with endangered species; (Chapter 20) multi-sectoral management of oceans and other aquatic areas, including integrated management and marine spatial planning; and (Chapter 21) the omnipresent threat of climate change, and how responses in the form of mitigation and adaptation interact with fishery systems.
Part VI: Conclusions Sustaining Fisheries into the Future	The 6th part of the book (Chapter 22) provides conclusions and a review of the key messages of the book.

Decades have passed since the original edition of this book appeared, early in the 2000s. I am pleased to say that the content of that book has stood the test of time – the various themes that were covered in it remain valid today. That said, a great deal has happened over the decades.

There has been widespread analytical focus on social-ecological systems, and a global policy focus on ocean and biodiversity conservation. Those developments reinforce the crucial nature of the two areas emphasised in the original book – using systems approaches and moving toward sustainable fisheries. Along those lines, the emergence of conservation tools such as marine protected areas, and management tools such as marine spatial planning, has been so extensive that their interaction with fisheries needs to be examined. And without doubt, the dire worldwide threats of climate change have major impacts on fishery systems in many ways.

Further, there has been an unprecedented spotlight in recent decades on small-scale fisheries around the world, with what is likely the most important fishery document in that time period being the international Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries developed by FAO. This ties in with an increasing recognition of the impressive role fishers, fishworkers and fishing communities play in managing their fishery resources and conserving their local aquatic environments.

Related to this has been a major shift in how we consider the knowledge needed for fishery decision-making – while in the past, the focus might have been on ‘fishery research’ we now see it is at least equally from the traditional, fisher and community knowledge held by those engaged in the fishery. Shifts in fishery governance to more engagement and participation support these shifts over time.

All the above newly-prominent considerations call out for attention in a book such as this, and the second edition of Sustainable Fishery Systems covers them all… a culmination of interests I have had, throughout my career, in the holistic and systematic analysis of fisheries, and in seeking out approaches to improving the sustainability and resilience of fisheries.

I have sought, in writing this, to produce something accessible to everyone interested in looking at fisheries from an integrated perspective and in exploring the various routes to more sustainable fisheries. I hope that this would include undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines, as well as professionals in the fishery field, whether academics, those in science and management, or those within fisher organizations and the fishery sector itself.

With that in mind, the aim here is to present a fairly comprehensive coverage of the many aspects of fishery systems, what fisheries are all about, and where they are heading (or should be heading). So, the content and organisation reflect the diverse nature of fisheries, covering a wide range of topics – from the structure the various components of fisheries, and how these aspects change over time, through the various pieces of the fishery governance and management system, to a set of core challenges in fishery systems, and presentation of the major modern approaches to dealing with those challenges, as well as exploration of how fisheries are interacting with some of the most prominent elements beyond the fishery. The various chapters of the book can be viewed as pieces of the puzzle, all adding up to give a full sense of the fishery system and how it can be sustained today.

Coastal Communities Face the Future is a new short film looking at how Canada’s coastal communities face the future, create solutions and take action, inspiring a way forward for all of us.

Coastal Communities Face the Future highlights the resiliency of coastal communities in tackling a range of challenges, notably climate change, as they prepare for the future. The film, drawing on inspiration from experiences of Canada’s coastal communities, highlights the need for governments, policymakers and others to recognize community values and support community initiatives.

This 11-minute film will be of interest to all those living on the coast, as well as all others who care about the coast, including communities and community associations, citizen organizations, governments and policymakers. The film, which is also suitable for school and university classrooms, provides an inspiring view of how people, in communities, come together to overcome challenges and prepare for the future.

Produced by Nexus Media. Executive Producer: Anthony Charles. Funded by the Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR), Saint Mary’s University and The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). For further information, please contact CCRN@SMU.CA.

Watch the webinar to hear from Basile van Havre, co-chair to the open-ended working group, discuss the development of the GBF.

Mr. Basile van Havre was Co-Chair for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Open-Ended Working Group tasked with the development of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. He has over 30 years of experience working in Canada’s Environment Department.

In addition to being Canada’s CBD focal point, his roles over the years included both Director General of the Biodiversity Policy and Partnerships and Director of Population Conservation and Management at the Canadian Wildlife Service, Chair of the CITES Elephant working group and CBD Discussions on Indigenous Knowledge and Repatriation, Co-Chair of the International Joint Commission on Great Lakes Water Quality Board, and Director at the Meteorological Service of Canada.

Select the PDF to view the PowerPoint Presentation presented in the webinar.

This webinar was hosted by the School of the Environment and the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University (Halifax, Canada) and the Community Conservation Research Network (www.communityconservation.net). For further information, please contact CCRN@SMU.CA.

For those without suitable internet for streaming this film, but with capability to download it (including those wishing to show the film in a rural location, or a classroom, community meeting or other gathering with limited internet), please contact CCRN@smu.ca with your name, affiliation, and information on the need to download the film.