Multi-Indicator Management Procedures

As global challenges in fisheries management intensify, particularly in data-limited contexts, the need for innovative and pragmatic solutions is rising.¹ A scientific article published in Frontiers in marine Science, “Multi-Indicator Harvest Strategies for Data-Limited Fisheries: A Practitioner Guide to Learning and Design” offers a framework for fisheries practitioners facing these challenges.2 Funded by The Nature Conservancy, this guide emphasizes the development and application of multi-indicator frameworks as a tool for managing fisheries where conventional stock assessments are not feasible.

What Are Multi-Indicator Management Procedures?

A management procedure (MP) is a pre-agreed framework to support fishery decision-making, such as setting annual catch advice. Indicators tend to be proxies for variables of interest, such as observations of fishery catch per unit effort (CPUE), proxies of abundance, or the observation of increasing distance traveled offshore by fishers as a proxy for localized depletion. While indicators can be obtained from a conventional stock assessment, indicator-based frameworks can provide suitable guidance for data-limited fisheries where it is infeasible to conduct a conventional, fully integrated stock assessment (e.g., stock assessments involving age or length-structured models or biomass dynamic models). Multi-indicator management procedures utilize a combination of empirical or model-based indicators, or both, to guide management decisions. This approach integrates various information sources. Multiple indicators are used to address limitations, where a primary indicator may not provide complete information about resource state and where interpretation of a single indicator is ambiguous.
Review of Management Procedures text

Challenges in Data-Limited Fishery Management

Multi-indicator frameworks tackle several key challenges in fisheries management:

  • Data Limitations: These frameworks make use of diverse indicators to provide a broader perspective than single-indicator frameworks.
  • Tackling Uncertainty: Multi-indicator frameworks can be used to construct MPs that are robust to uncertainties related to environmental changes and data imprecision.
  • Stakeholder Engagement: The design process promotes transparency in decision-making, aligning management strategies with stakeholder priorities and fostering collaboration. Multi-indicator frameworks can be designed to complement local and customary practices and incorporate indicators based on local expert knowledge.
  • Adaptive Management: These frameworks support adaptive management by enabling adjustments based on new data and prevailing conditions.

When to Consider a Multi-Indicator Approach for Your Fishery?

Multi-indicator frameworks could be considered when multiple data sets cannot be statistically integrated within a stock assessment but can measure different facets of stock status. Multi-indicator frameworks have the potential to enrich single indicator approaches with additional information. For example, integration of data sources used in multi-indicator MPs is similar in concept to the use of multiple data sources in conventional stock assessment, as each approach emphasizes interconnected aspects of the fishery system. By involving local stakeholders in the design process, these frameworks can enhance buy-in and compliance, further contributing to the success of management efforts.

As a caution, the design of multi-indicator MPs can be challenging. For example, indicator-based MPs tend to rely on proxies for variables of interest, which should be met with adequate scrutiny about their representativeness and responsiveness in detecting changes in resource state. Multi-indicator MPs are also not intended to supplant conventional stock assessments.

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References

  1. Goethel, D. R., Omori, K. L., Punt, A. E., Lynch, P. D., Berger, A. M., De Moor, C. L., Plagányi, É. E., Cope, J. M., Dowling, N. A., McGarvey, R., Preece, A. L., Thorson, J. T., Chaloupka, M., Gaichas, S., Gilman, E., Hesp, S. A., Longo, C., Yao, N., & Methot, R. D. (2022). Oceans of plenty? Challenges, advancements, and future directions for the provision of evidence-based fisheries management advice. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 33(2), 375–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-022-09726-7
  2. Harford, W.J., Amoroso, R., Bell, R.J., Caillaux, M., Cope, J.M., Dougherty, D., Dowling, N.A., Hurd, F., Lomonico, S., Nowlis, J., Ovando, D., Parma, A.M., Prince, J.D., and Wilson, J.R. 2021. Multi-Indicator Harvest Strategies for Data-Limited Fisheries: A Practitioner Guide to Learning and Design. Frontiers in Marine Science 8. Available from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.757877 [accessed 1 August 2022].