Risk management within an RFMO - The case of Greenland halibut and NAFO ...

• Main Authors: Miller, David C.M., Shelton, Peter A.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2008 - Theme session O 2024
• Subjects: Pressures, impacts, conservation, and management; Canada; Greenland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25244140.v1; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Risk_management_within_an_RFMO_-_The_case_of_Greenland_halibut_and_NAFO/25244140/1

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.In 2003 NAFO Fisheries Commission established a fifteen year rebuilding plan for Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides), a valuable straddling stock off the east coast of Canada, following a period of declining biomass and increasing fishing mortality. The rebuilding plan was, however, ad hoc, developed without consultation with NAFO Scientific Council and has been strongly criticized for being risk-prone and inconsistent with the Precautionary Approach. This criticism has been borne out by subsequent assessments of the stock that have shown that fishing mortality increased under the rebuilding plan to over 2.5 times Fmax and four times F0.1. The development of the rebuilding plan reflects how NAFO has traditionally worked - mainly behind closed doors, making selective use of scientific advice and arriving at decisions on TACs and other regulations though a process that is not always transparent. At the NAFO meeting in 2005 a ...