9 MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES AND CULTURE PRACTICES

Introduction

The exponential growth of the global population and the associated need to produce enough food impose considerable pressure on the supply of natural food sources, including marine resources. Since the creation of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in 1902, countries have become aware of the need to cooperate in order to effectively research and manage shared natural resources.

Since those days, a vast array of regional fishery management organizations or arrangements have been established. These usually serve as a gateway between the global and national fishery governance levels for implementing the international fisheries legal system, either through “soft law” instruments such as declarations, assertions of principles, codes of conduct, or international plans of action, or through “hard laws” that are legally binding and enforceable. “Hard laws” include international agreements and conventions that stipulate explicit rules governing State conduct over fisheries (Aqorau 2001).
Global experience has shown that unregulated fishing inevitably results in overfishing. Over exploited fish stocks must be given time to rebuild to sustainable levels and the regional management of the resources should guarantee an integrated approach to maintain populations. Policies should therefore address the causes of overfishing and the related short-term social and economic adjustment costs, without hurting trade or limiting the rightful and sustainable use of the resource.

Social pressure, from fishing communities and consumers alike, has put the management of human activity in context. The effects upon the marine environment and the sustainability of the resource has created a far greater understanding of the links between fishing, aquaculture and ecosystems. The research needed to provide this understanding is extensive and expensive. In the meantime, policy decision-makers must increasingly take into account the environmental dimension of fisheries management and aquaculture policy development. This strategy is a fundamental part of sustainable development in the fisheries sector. As capture-based aquaculture is an overlap between fisheries and aquaculture, the management of the resources and the species involved must take into account the requirements of both practices.
Aquaculture production methods have changed significantly in recent decades. Traditional low intensive methods with low input levels and relatively small habitat modifications have moved towards modern intensive tank and cage-based techniques. These systems require highly concentrated input levels, significant targeting of species and stocks, and potentially have high impact levels at environmental and social levels.
A common problem in regulating the capture-based aquaculture industry, which is operating in many locations, has been the inadequacy of existing legislation to properly control its expansion. There are potential conflicts of interest with other resource users and activities in coastal areas. Rapid expansion of the sector, coupled with poor regulatory measures, has become a constraint within the industry itself. There is a need for better capture-based aquaculture management; the processes of translating actual or potential impacts into direct environmental costs and into environmental and resources management policies requires development.