SEAwise Report on the key interactions in European socio-ecological fisheries systems
This report describes the consultation and systematic review performed in the SEAwise project to identify key elements and models of the social-ecological fisheries systems.
An ecosystem approach to fisheries management requires evaluation of management measures and indicators that account for complex ecological and social interactions. The evaluation of management strategies requires models that are able to incorporate the above interactions and be applied in a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) framework. To provide a knowledge base for ecosystem based management considerations, SEAwise consulted stakeholders throughout Europe and conducted a systematic literature review to identify key elements in each ecoregion and existing models capable of evaluating different management strategies. Engagement with stakeholder groups identified a widespread focus on spatial aspects of management as well as on output management.
The systematic review extracted data from 687 papers. The number of papers referring to the subject has risen since 2000s with 30-50 papers produced annually since 2010. The most frequently applied model was EwE (Ecopath with Ecosim) followed by other Ecosystem models. The majority of models focus on Ecological/Biological and Economic objectives, while ~30% use some type of environmental forcing on some biological process or variable.
The review revealed the high diversity of different models used in Europe as opposed to other areas, although this could be also a result of bias in the search terms, as models' names more frequently used in the EU have been used as search terms. The review allowed the inclusion of grey literature on a voluntary basis, by involved partners. In total, 5 grey literature documents consisting of STECF reports and one EU project report were provided and extracted. These provide a good example of Management measures and Indicators currently used in the European Mediterranean, which can inform the Mediterranean case study.
The vast majority of the ecosystem models reviewed did not apply MSE, but instead present results that are potentially relevant to management. A very limited number of studies (37) explicitly reported the provided advice as being implemented in management. In Europe, the vast majority of studies deal with Input and Output control measures, while spatial management is more frequent in North American and Australian model applications. Additionally, ecosystem based Indicators are more frequently used in Europe and North America than in any other region.