Advancing marine biodiversity protection through regional fisheries management: A review of bottom fisheries closures in areas beyond national jurisdiction

Glen Wright, Jeff Ardron, Kristina Gjerde, Duncan Currie and Julien Rochette

Marine Policy, 2015, vol. 61, issue C, 134-148

Abstract: Fishing is a significant threat to marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). Bottom fishing in particular can impact deep-sea ecosystems, and the UN General Assembly has called on regional fisheries management organisations and arrangements (RFMO/As) to take actions to regulate bottom fisheries, including to close areas to bottom fishing activities where there is likely to be significant adverse impacts to vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). This paper provides an update on the current status of closures, suggesting that RFMO/A biodiversity conservation efforts continue to advance slowly. RFMO/As have been slow to implement additional closures and to act in a precautionary manner based on available scientific evidence. Existing powers are not being fully utilised and best practice is not always followed. Closures have often been temporary or representative, or have not in fact restricted ongoing fishing activity. Some positive outcomes provide examples of good practice, though RFMO/As will need to fully utilise their powers and follow best practice before authorising bottom fishing to proceed in ABNJ.

Keywords: Fisheries management; Bottom fishing; ABNJ; Vulnerable marine ecosystems; Fisheries closures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X15001955
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:marpol:v:61:y:2015:i:c:p:134-148

DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2015.06.030

Access Statistics for this article

Marine Policy is currently edited by Eddie Brown

More articles in Marine Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().