Improved fishery management is required if we are to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Some developed nations have sustainable fisheries, but internationally there is still overfishing due to the competition between resource users exploiting open access fish resources in the oceans.
Fisheries Economics and Management
ANCORS research assists fisheries managers to use regulatory approaches to address overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, particularly when impacting developing countries. Management can provide incentives for resource users to restrict their fishing effort through limited entry and the development of more secure resource access and use of fishing rights. Fishery economic research and development is an important part of disempowering overfishing and creating sustainable fishery management systems. Recent research has examined the value of commercial fishing to both the NSW and Victorian economies. There is also a growing realisation of the need for improved legal and management regimes, if fisheries and aquaculture are to contribute to investment to increase food supply in the Blue economy.
Valuing the marine economy requires the measurement of the economic contribution of marine and coastal industries and is part of the “blue economy”, but can also contribute to valuing the impacts of marine debris pollution on marine industries. ANCORS have international involvement in promoting consistent measurement of the marine economy in the Asia Pacific rim (APEC). The research challenge in both fisheries and the marine economy, is to implement systems with economic incentives to maintain renewable marine assets at sustainable levels.