Since the development of the Fishery Performance Indicators (FPIs) evaluation tool, it has been used to compare fishery systems across regions and across management systems to generate interesting results on fishery performance. This paper will present the result of the FPIs applied to Liberias artisanal fisheries in various years (2011, 2015, and 2017). The paper will illustrate the usefulness of the FPI evaluation tool to track changes in the fisheries management system (positive or negative) across time. The results of FPIs are sensitive to the policy change in the previous year. There is a need to apply FPIs on a more regular basis (one to two years) to monitor policy impact and inform decision-makers.

While it is recognized that the sustainability of fish stocks, fishery-derived income and social wellbeing of fishing communities broadly complement one other, nuances may exist in the detailed elements of the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic and social sustainability). In this paper, we analyze detailed components of environmental, economic and social data collected on 125 fisheries worldwide using the Fishery Performance Indicators. We find that the best performing fisheries, some of which are managed with catch shares, outperform other fisheries, including the averages for catch share fisheries, in almost all social, economic and environmental components. This indicates that on average fundamental tradeoffs among the components do not exist and, more so, that catch share management may be a useful tool in some settings, while other fisheries can perform better under alternative management systems.

Millions of people around the world are dependent on fisheries for their livelihood and this dependence can be acute for poor and marginalized groups of people. Dependence on fishing for income is often so significant in less developed regions that governance of fishery resources is criticized for its focus on biological and economic approaches to managing fisheries and its subsequent potential to exacerbate poverty and social inequities. In this study, we examine the effects of management system on the wellbeing of fishery participants by analyzing unique data collected by the Fishery Performance Indicators. Using this dataset of 125 case study fisheries around the world, we find that the well-being of fishers varies by management system. Trends and implications for fisheries management will be discussed.

The Environment for Development (EfD) initiative is a global network of environmental economics research centers supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It contributes to effective management of the environment in the global south through applied research, institutional development, academic training and policy interaction. The Program Sustainable Management of Marine Resources is a research collaboration within EfD between 11 EfD centers in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, China, India, Vietnam and Sweden. A major research objective for the program is to contribute with new knowledge about balanced policy reforms for fisheries, improving conditions but acknowledging weighing benefits against costs.

Fisheries Performance Indicators (FPIs) is an essential element when measuring, evaluating and comparing data scarce fisheries within and between countries. The ambition of the program is to generate in depth insights about crucial factors explaining successful development of fisheries management. Potentially, our studies can also bring insights regarding trade-offs in social, ecological and economic dimensions in line with the structure of the FPI methodology. Researchers within the program are collecting FPI data for at least two fisheries within their own country meaning that the program will generate data for about two dozen of fisheries to the global FPI database. For this session, we will focus on one or two case study fisheries that we have identified as particularly interesting during the initial data collection phase, provide some preliminary results and discuss general links to the FPI methodology.

We characterize the ecological, economic, and community performance of 21 major tuna fisheries, accounting for at least 77% of global tuna production, using the Fishery Performance Indicators.Our analysis reveals that the biggest variations in performance among tuna fisheries are driven by the final markets that they target: international sashimi market tuna fisheries considerably outperform a comparison set of 62 non-tuna fisheries in the Fishery Performance Indicator database, international canned tuna market fisheries perform similarly to the comparison set, and tuna fisheries supplying local markets in coastal states considerably underperform the comparison set. Differences among regional fishery management organizations primarily reflect regional species composition and market access, despite stark variation in governance, management, and other enabling conditions. With a legacy of open access, tunas harvest sector performance is similar across all fisheries, reflecting only a normal return on the capital and skill invested: industrial vessels slightly outperform semi-industrial and artisanal vessels. Differences emerge in the post-harvest sector however, as value chains able to preserve quality and transport fish to high value markets outperform others.

Currently, there are no consistently collected data documenting performance of aquaculture sectors in the US, and elsewhere, in terms of economic, social and environmental success. We draw on theory and knowledge from the literature to develop an extension to the Fishery Performance Indicators called the Aquaculture Performance Indicators (APIs). The APIs will be designed to evaluate aquaculture performance across economic, environmental and social dimensions and to test hypotheses on inputs that lead to success or failure of a given aquaculture sector. We will provide an introduction to the main components of the APIs and provide case studies in its application.