| Popis: |
The problem of data-poor situations – where information is insuffi cient to estimate appropriate reference points and relative stock status – spans a wide range of fi sheries all over the world, including some of the fi sheries upon which Beverton and Holt published their work 50 years ago. Here, we look at a range of case studies to illustrate some of the approaches that have been, or have the potential to be, applied to meet the requirements of fi sheries management where information is either lacking or highly uncertain. These approaches are diverse, ranging from more classic single-species approaches based upon catch, effort and biological information (tropical and deep-water examples), through the novel use of this information (calculation of catch trophic level in the Cyclades Islands of Greece) and information from markets (small-scale Spanish Mediterranean fi sheries, UK inshore fi sheries), to the incorporation of information from similar species or fi sheries (blue shark in the Atlantic). Assessment should be driven by the aims of management, be they resource conservation, sustainable utilization, employment, economic viability, or a combination of these and other aims. Although many of the datapoor assessment methods applied concentrate on the assessment of biological resource status, methods to understand the economic drivers of fi shers are also detailed. However, such approaches will only be successful where the will of management is strong enough to apply the precautionary approach in the face of uncertainty. In such cases, all available data should be considered and used to inform simple management guidelines and controls that are robust to the uncertainties within data-poor fi sheries. |
