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At the same time, aquatic ecosystems are being degraded
through pollution from coastal development, intensive
fishing methods and aquaculture, while ocean temperatures
are increasing due to anthropogenic climate change, which
is destroying the vulnerable coral reefs. These problems
have led to increased recognition that better fisheries
management is necessary to restore aquatic ecosystems
and fish stocks. To do this fisheries management needs to
become more holistic as well as better integrated with other
sectors that have competing interests for ocean, coastal and
freshwater resources.
Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) is one such
management practice that has gained momentum in recent
years and which can be applied to marine and coastal areas,
freshwater fisheries and aquaculture. While traditional
fisheries management tends to view fish species in
isolation from each other, EBM is a cross-sectoral approach
that addresses the impacts fisheries have on the marine
ecosystems as well as the impact that other sectors, such as
agriculture or shipping, have on fisheries. On a policy level
this means that fisheries, maritime, energy, agriculture,
coastal development, environmental and other relevant
sectors’ policies must be coordinated. EBM does not compete
with other holistic management approaches, such as
Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), Integrated
Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) or Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs). Rather these become tools to successfully implement
EBM or where they are already in place EBM builds on them
(Garcia
et al.
2003; UNEP 2011b). Through EBM and related
management approaches, food loss andwaste due to degraded
ecosystems and poor management practices could be averted.
For example, EBFM considers the status of commercial fish
stocks and ecosystem components that interact with and thus
threaten those stocks, such as predators, prey and habitats
(WWF 2007; UNEP 2011b; Nguyen 2012).
In Brazil, the government and local authorities have engaged
with communities and the fishery sector to develop a
management scheme, which ensures that fishers have
sustainable livelihoods while also protecting fish stocks and
habitats. The management scheme includes fish refugia, areas
zoned for multiple use, restrictions on gear to reduce by-catch
and discards and support for small-scale fisheries and family-