Fisheries are subject to a deep-rooted problem of economic inefficiency, often referred to as the fisheries problem. The fisheries problem derives fundamentally from inappropriate social institutions controlling the fishing activity, the foremost of which is the common property arrangement. Fisheries management consists of replacing these institutions with more appropriate ones. Which instituti...

Management science, the scientific study of problem-solving, has developed a body of literature and methodologies over the past four decades on decision theory methods, evaluation of management and systems performance, and analysis of systems under uncertainty. These methods have been influential and applied successfully to many industrial decision-making and strategic-planning settings. Fisher...

Conventional management approaches have not been successful in protecting fisheries resources from decline either globally or in the Caribbean. Over the past 20 years co-management has emerged as a dominant paradigm when thinking about responsible fisheries in the Caribbean. At the same time there has been growing recognisition of the need for closer collaboration and cooperation among the coun...

Policy efforts to reduce fisheries impact have often created micro-management. Detailed regulations are restricting the fishing industry, and are also acknowledged to limit the progress towards sustainable management. Industry representatives, political bodies and scientists have therefore argued for more simplicity and transparency. Here, fisheries management is quantified in terms of trends i...

Failures in fisheries management have been linked to our inability to embrace the inherent uncertainty of fisheries systems. Fisheries decisions should be made on the basis of integrated evaluations of strategy alternatives, where comparisons of comprehensive scenarios incorporate strategic biological and socio-economic objectives and constraints, and explicitly take account of system uncertain...

Ongoing declines in production of the world's fisheries may have serious ecological and socioeconomic consequences. As a result, a number of international efforts have sought to improve management and prevent overexploitation, while helping to maintain biodiversity and a sustainable food supply. Although these initiatives have received broad acceptance, the extent to which corrective measures h...

The paper reviews the main findings of rocky shore and subtidal nearshore experimental marine ecology (EME) in cold and temperate marine ecosystems during the past four decades. It analyzes the role of EME in coastal management and conservation. The historical development of strategies for managing single or multispecies fisheries are reviewed. The published results show over-exploitation and d...

Introduction 285 MPAs, stock assessments and spatial modelling in marine ecosystems 286 The role of fisheries science in management 287 Fishery-dependent information 288 Life-history information 290 Catch demographic data 291 Fishery-independent surveys 291 Spatial variability and movement patterns 293 Structure of assessment models 293 Fisheries management objectives and obligations 296 Abstra...