Acronym SUFIBA
Category
Fisheries
Title Towards sustainable fisheries by ecosystem-based management Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Noel Holmgren Coordinator email noel.holmgren@his.se
Coordinator institution
NA
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2013 End year 2016 Funding (€) € 787,904 Website NA Summary The project aims to develop the methodology for calculating targets and reference points within the International council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) in accordance with the new demands of achieving maximum sustainable yields (MSY) and ecosystem-based management (ESBM). The project will be integrated with ICES working group on the Assessment of Baltic Fisheries, WGBFAS, which gives scientific advice for the commercial stocks of the Baltic Sea to the European Commission. We have developed a routine to calculate MSY employing a stochastic operative model (SOM-MSY) which has met some of the demands with the new management. The project aims at: (1) Finding principles for multispecies MSY under ESBM considering surplus production in stocks and the share taken by predators; (2) Develop SOM-MSY for multiple species to comply with ESBM and apply it to the herring, sprat and cod of the Baltic Sea; (3) Analyse the effects of the spatial movement of these species.
During the period of 2010 to 2015 the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), on request from the European Commission (EC), is gradually changing its advice from a precautionary approach to an advice based on maximized sustainable yields (MSY). There is also a demand from the commission to adopt an ecosystem-approach in the advice. This requires a timely change in the work process of ICES assessment groups in order to fulfil the aim of the EC having the stocks in the state of delivering MSYs by 2015. Appropriate management targets have to be developed and many stocks will need time to increase in size before the yield can be maximized. The objective of this project is to aid the process of reaching maximum sustainable yields for the fisheries of the Baltic Sea, and provide scientific principles for MSY without impairing the ecosystem functions. In order to achieve this objective, ecosystem drivers on stock productivity have to be identified, and alternative methodologies for setting appropriate MSY targets have to be evaluated. For commercial species that are competitors for food or engaged in a predator-prey relationship, single-stock MSYs are likely to be conflicting (Gislason 1999). For example, herring fished at MSY will reduce the yield of cod which is herring predator. Methods to quantify the trade-off in yields for varying fishing pressure needs to be developed in this multispecies context. The project has the following aims: (1) Propose general principles for ecosystem based management under MSY framework; (2) Identify conditions if and when there is a joint MSY for a predator and prey species and for a pair of food competitors; (3) Develop ecosystem based MSY reference points for herring, sprat and cod in the Baltic Sea proper taking into account spatial structure.
Keywords
Fish;
Cod;
Fish stocks;
Stock assessment;
Ecosystem approach;
Indicators;
Herring;
Population dynamic;
Fisheries management;
Sprat;
Marine Region
18
West of Gotland (27.IIId.27)
23
Baltic West of Bornholm (27.IIId.24)
22
Southern Central Baltic-West (27.IIId.25)
14
Skagerrak, Kattegat (27.IIIa)
24
Sound, Belt Sea or Transition Area (27.IIIb,c)
5
Marine Region Map
