‘Cheap and dirty’ fisheries science and management in the North Atlantic

The current system of managing fish stocks in the North Atlantic is failing: many key stocks are at historically low levels and fishing effort is being restricted while capacity remains high. The traditional scientific approach used by International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to provide advice on fish stocks is based on complex analytical models of the fishery that require detailed, accurate and high contrast data to predict the future state of fish stocks. However, when data are unreliable or unavailable, these complex models are of limited use, as illustrated by the failure of recent assessments for important ICES stocks. Borrowing ideas from the field of process management, we suggest an alternative approach where fish stocks are managed using harvest rules based on simple empirical indicators. Such an approach is essential f a c t ©