Serge Michel Garcia

• International Union for Conservation of Nature

In 2010, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, calling for conserving 10% of the ocean through marine protected areas (MPAs) and “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs), explicitly recognizing that other types of spatial conservation measures beyond areas designated...

The pelagic fisheries beyond the continental shelves are currently managed with a range of tools largely based on regulating effort or target catch. These tools comprise both static and dynamic area‐based approaches to include gear limitations, closed areas and bycatch limits. There are increasing calls for additional area‐based interventions, part...

Balanced harvest has been proposed to reduce fishing impact on ecosystems while simultaneously maintaining or even increasing fishery yield. The concept has attracted broad interest, but also received criticisms. In this paper, we examine the theory, modelling studies, empirical evidence, the legal and policy frameworks, and management implications...

Least-cost implementation of the mitigation hierarchy of impacts on biodiversity minimizes the cost of a given level of biodiversity conservation, at project or ecosystem levels, and requires minimizing costs across and within hierarchy steps. Incentive-based policy instruments that price biodiversity to alter producer and consumer behavior and dec...

This paper considers fisheries bycatch reduction within the least-cost biodiversity impact mitigation hierarchy. It introduces conservatory offsets that are implemented earlier in the biodiversity impact mitigation hierarchy than conventional compensatory offsets used as instruments of last resort. The paper illustrates implementation in an on-goin...

This paper considers fisheries bycatch reduction within the least-cost biodiversity impact mitigation hierarchy. It introduces conservatory offsets that are implemented earlier in the biodiversity impact mitigation hierarchy than conventional compensatory offsets used as instruments of last resort. The paper illustrates implementation in an on-goin...

In terrestrial and coastal systems, the mitigation hierarchy is widely and increasingly used to guide actions to ensure that no net loss of biodiversity ensues from development. We develop a conceptual model which applies this approach to the mitigation of marine megafauna by-catch in fisheries, going from defining an overarching goal with an assoc...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have become a widely used tool for marine conservation and fisheries management. In coastal areas, it has become clear that the success of MPAs, and the achievement of sustainable fishery production, requires a combination of effective management and conservation frameworks, maintenance of decent fisheries livelihoods,...

Since “balanced harvest” was proposed in 2010 as a possible tool in the operationalization of the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF), the concept gained extensive international attention. Because maintaining ecosystem structure and achieving maximum sustainable yields have become two of the key international legal obligations in fisheries manage...

Balanced harvesting has been proposed as a way for fisheries management to achieve the requirements of both the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC)—to maintain stocks at the level at which they could produce MSY—and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)—to maintain ecosystem structure and functioning. This paper examines these requirements and...

This paper explores economic aspects of a recent proposal to shift fisheries to a “Balanced Harvesting” (BH) strategy, as a means to achieve the goal, set by the Convention on Biological Diversity and related to the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, of “conservation of ecosystem structure and functioning” within fishery ecosystems. Studies indicate...

Balanced harvest (BH) proposes to distribute a moderate mortality from fishing across the widest possible range of species, stocks, and sizes in an ecosystem, in proportion to their natural productivity so that the relative size and species composition are maintained, in line with the CBD requirement for sustainable use. This proposal has many and...

The concept of the Ecosystem Approach has entered the fishery harvesting discussions both from fishery perspectives (Reykjavik Declaration; FAO 2003 Annex to the Code of Conduct and from the principles of the Ecosystem Approach adopted by the CBD in 1995. Both perspectives establish the need to maintain ecosystem structure and functioning, whether...

Two recent papers point to differing trends in the status of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and Atlantic fisheries of Europe. We discuss the possible reasons for these contrasting trends in relation to the history, ecosystems, fisheries and management in the two regions.

The governance of fisheries and of biodiversity conservation are themselves complex socio-ecological systems that have evolved with minimal explicit intention to come closer to each other. An analysis of the two governance streams, their parallel evolution and that of their component strands shows incontrovertible signs of increasing overlap and si...

Marine biodiversity and fisheries operate in 3D dynamic space while UNCLOS jurisdictions are mainly based on 2D boundaries, challenging space-based governance. Spatial dimensions of fisheries governance become explicit in space–time operational restrictions in a system aiming at conserving fishery resources by maintaining stocks maximum sustainable...

Attention to the governance of fisheries and of biodiversity conservation has a long history, arising from common roots. The corresponding governance streams have evolved over the years - in terms of objectives, approaches, nature and intensity of interactions - and their similarities has increased. This chapter examines the manner by which the str...

This chapter focuses on the argument that better integration of the two administrative processes and possibly structures in charge of fisheries and biodiversity conservation is essential to both fields of governance. It examines the sustainable development backdrop to integration, the aim, process and desired degree of integration, the factors of c...

The governance of marine fisheries and biodiversity conservation has evolved significantly since its origin. The chapter describes its evolution, at a global scale, using the international events compiled from the literature as data. The history of the two streams of governance is rich and reflects a constant quest to improve performance with mixed...

Governance of Marine Fisheries and Biodiversity Conservation explores governance of the world's oceans with a focus on the impacts of two inter-connected but historically separate streams of governance: one for fisheries, the other for biodiversity conservation. Chapters, most co-authored by leading experts from both streams, investigate the intera...

Concern about the impact of fishing on ecosystems and fisheries production is increasing (1, 2). Strategies to reduce these impacts while addressing the growing need for food security (3) include increasing selectivity (1, 2): capturing species, sexes, and sizes in proportions that differ from their occurrence in the ecosystem. Increasing evidence...

Garcia, S. M. 2011. Potential contribution of the Internet to a global community of practice for fishery management. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1800–1804. Managing complex socio-ecological fishery systems, following an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, calls for a broad range of information covering many components of the system, intensif...

Rice, J. C., and Garcia, S. M. 2011. Fisheries, food security, climate change, and biodiversity: characteristics of the sector and perspectives on emerging issues. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1343–1353. This paper reviews global projections to 2050 for human population growth and food production, both assuming constant climate and taking...

The conventional selectivity paradigm is briefly reviewed and its performance examined from an ecosystem perspective. It is stressed that the overall (cumulative) selectivity of the harvest process in an ecosystem is the result of nested selection by fishers and fisheries of: (i) habitats; (ii) species assemblages; (iii) populations and (iv) indivi...

The Census of Marine Life aids practical work of the Convention on Biological Diversity, discovers and tracks ocean biodiversity, and supports marine environmental planning.

World population is expected to grow from the present 6.8 billion people to about 9 billion by 2050. The growing need for nutritious and healthy food will increase the demand for fisheries products from marine sources, whose productivity is already highly stressed by excessive fishing pressure, growing organic pollution, toxic contamination, coasta...

The complex systemic nature of fisheries was recognized by scientists many decades ago but the attempts to take this evidence into consideration in day-to-day management processes have been slow, patchy and of limited effectiveness. Clearly, there remains an implementation challenge in this regard; the present paper examines the essential nature of...

Marine capture fisheries face major and complex challenges: habitat degradation, poor economic returns, social hardships from depleted stocks, illegal fishing, and climate change, among others. The key factors that prevent the transition to sustainable fisheries are information failures, transition costs, use and non-use conflicts and capacity cons...

Garcia, S. M., and Charles, A. T. 2007. Fishery systems and linkages: from clockworks to soft watches. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 580–587. The complex systemic nature of fisheries has been recognized for many decades, but attempts to include this reality in day-to-day management have been slow, patchy, and of limited effectiveness. The t...

This document describes highly migratory fish stocks, straddling fish stocks, and stocks of other high seas fishery resources and the fisheries for them, including information on their state of exploitation. About 200 species have been identified as being fished on the high seas either as highly migratory, straddling or other high seas fishery reso...

The FAO and other guidelines available for the implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries are briefly reviewed. The paper recalls the high-level policy foundations and the main issues, related to fisheries and non-fishing impacts as well as to natural variability. It reviews the central paradigm and the extension of the conventional mana...

Maintenance of overall ecosystem complexity is perceived as critical to the sustainability of ecosystem use. The development of an operational basis for an ecosystem approach to fisheries, however, faces many difficulties. On the research side, the challenge is in defining proper long-term, ecosystem-related objectives; determining meaningful refer...

During the last 50 yrs (at least), fishery science and fisheries management have undergone a long process of co-evolution with periods of crisis in their relationship with society. The current one, following the last resources collapse and public recognition of the high failure rate of conventional management, is therefore not new but, once again,...

The United Nations Atlas of the Oceans (http://www.oceansatlas.org) has been developed by various groups (UN and national agencies and NGOs) and individuals having an interest in the sustainability of oceans and coastal areas. Its objective is to contribute to sustainable development of the oceans and coastal areas and to the advancement of ocean s...

Predicting global fisheries is a high-order challenge but predictions have been made and updates are needed. Past forecasts, present trends and perspectives of key parameters of the fisheries--including potential harvest, state of stocks, supply and demand, trade, fishing technology and governance--are reviewed in detail, as the basis for new forec...

Fisheries have evolved and expanded rapidly over the past 50 years with fishers discovering and colonizing the last of the worlds oceans and seas. Confronted now with an almost universal situation of fleet overcapacity, overfishing, high levels of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, low and declining catch rates, environmental impact...

Marine reserves are a promising tool for fisheries management and conservation of biodiversity, but they are not a panacea for fisheries management problems. For fisheries that target highly mobile single species with little or no by-catch or habitat impact, marine reserves provide few benefits compared to conventional fishery management tools. For...

c1 serge.garcia@fao.org

In 1988, FAO adopted its definition of sustainable development. In 1995 it adopted a Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which offers an integrated comprehensive framework for the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture. The paper analyses briefly the correspondence between the principles contained in the definition and the prov...

1. — Ce texte est une version abrégée d'une revue préparée pour la Consultation technique F.A.O. sur les approches écosystémiques de l'aménagement des pêches tenue à Reykjavik en octobre 2002 (GARCIA et al., 2003). This paper is an abbreviated version of a review document prepared for the FAO Technical Consultation on the Ecosystem-Based Fisheries...