1. The relationship between governance and fisheries outcomes
Ray Hilborn1, Mike Melnychuk1 and Chris Costello2 1School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences University of Washington
2Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara,

2. Thanks to collaborators and NCEAS

3. Full disclosure of funding

4. Structure of the talk What do we know about the status of fish stocks?
What do we know about the relationship between fisheries management approaches and stock status

5. Three data bases RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database
Ricard, D., D. Minto, O. P. Jensen, and J. K. Baum Examining the knowledge base and status of commercially exploited marine species with the RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database. Fish and fisheries 13:
Upside Analysis stock abundance, exploitation rate, catch and profit
Costello, C., D. Ovando, T. Clavelle, C. K. Strauss, R. Hilborn, M. C. Melnychuk, T. A. Branch, S. D. Gaines, C. S. Szuwalski, and R. B. Cabral Global fishery prospects under contrasting management regimes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Fisheries management data base
Melnychuk, Peterson, Elliott and Hilborn. In Review. Fisheries Management and Marine Conservation Outcomes. In Review.

6. A new consensus on stock status
There has been a divergence of perspectives on the status of fisheries, but in 2007 Boris Worm and I put together a group of scientists to assemble data and see if we could come to agreement. We were able to come to agreement and this talk summarizes what we have learned and the general consensus that was reached [NOTE: we cannot claim that we represent the global scientific community, partly due to regional bias]

8. Most assessed stocks in North America, South America, Europe and Oceania
Source: Global Assessment Database (ramlegacy.org)

9. Three kinds of histories
Regions never subject to widespread overfishing
Regions where overfishing was common but now rebuilding
Regions where overfishing is presently common

21. What Causes the Rebuilding

25. This is not rocket science
Can we explain why fishing mortality rate was reduced in some places but not others?
Challenger Space Shuttle 1986

26. Where we know things are bad
Source: Global Assessment Database (ramlegacy.org)

27. Where we don’t have assessments
Source: Global Assessment Database (ramlegacy.org)

28. Intensity of fisheries management
Research
Management
objectives and fishery management plan
regulations to limit fishing pressure
capacity to adjust regulations and fishing pressure
landings data
body size or age data
surveys to monitor trends in abundance
stock assessments
Enforcement
Socioeconomics
dockside monitoring and at-sea observers
penalties and compliance
protection of sensitive habitats
discarding and by-catch measures
controls on access and entry
transparency
community involvement
capacity-enhancing subsidies

29. Average response by governance dimension
n = 191 survey responses

30. Looking at 75% of the stocks

31. Abundance of harvested species

33. Large stocks > 3000 mt MSY

44. Predicted changes from fishery reform
% change, 2050 RBFM relative to status quo projections for 2050
Intensity of Fisheries Management

45. Conclusions and challenges
Where fisheries management is being applied overfishing has largely stopped and stocks are rebuilding
The challenge is to bring effective fisheries management to the places that lack such systems
The models developed in developed countries will not be the approaches best suited to most other countries