Supporting Government Investment in Harvest Strategies

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Session lead: Tom Pickerell, Global Tuna Alliance

Panelists: Shana Miller, The Ocean Foundation; Aoife Martin, Seafish; Herman Wisse, Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative

Harvest strategies are pre-agreed frameworks for making fisheries management decisions, such as setting quotas. They are akin to agreeing to the rules before playing a game and shift the perspective from short-term reactive decision-making to longer-term objectives. Robust and precautionary harvest strategies benefit both the fish and fishermen. Paired with an effective compliance regime, harvest strategies can account for scientific uncertainty and variability, including that associated with climate change. Credible sustainable seafood certification programs, including the Marine Stewardship Council, require that fisheries have harvest strategies in place – making them necessary for market access in many regions. However, many commercially important fisheries currently lack harvest strategies. This session explores what harvest strategies are, why the ‘clock is ticking’ for many certified fisheries currently lacking harvest strategies, and what the supply chain is doing to accelerate action on the development and implementation of harvest strategies. 

This presentation was a part of the Seafood2030 Virtual Sustainability Forum | Aligning Industry and Government Sustainability Efforts, which took place from 9-10 September 2020.  For more information on Seafood2030 and/or to access additional program content, visit SeafoodSource.com/Seafood2030.