Term of Reference b): Review and consider methods for integrating genomic methods with marine fisheries management

While management of commercially exploited marine living resources aims at maxim-izing yield, profit and employment opportunities, these goals have to be reconciled with long-term sustainability as well as the maintenance of coastal and marine ecosys-tem health. Such thinking underpins many fisheries management and policy frame-works worldwide. The recently reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP; REGULATION (EU) No 1380/2013) stipulates that until 2015 the exploitation of marine living resources should be adapted such that populations of harvested stocks are main-tained above levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The legis-lation also puts much emphasis on the need to introduce the ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM) and introduces a discard ban, the so called “landing obligation”. Identical and similar provisions are embedded in fisheries legislation of other countries. As discussed previously (Martinsohn et al., 2011; ICES, 2013a; Ovenden et al., 2013a) fisheries genetics has clearly come of age. State-of-the-art genetic and genomic approaches are suited to address a plethora of fishery management relevant questions from basic species identification (e.g. for Ichthyoplankton analysis carried out for stock assessment) and stock (population) structure analysis, to more complex themes such as mixed-stock analysis (e.g. Bekkevold et al., 2011) and ecosystem monitoring (ICES, 2013a). The current ToR provides a general synthesis of data that can be delivered by genetics and genomics in the context of current fisheries management schemes. Ev-idence is presented from salient examples incorporating such approaches that genetic data can be integrated readily with other relevant data in diverse fisheries management scenarios. Consequently, genetics and evolutionary thinking can add valuable infor-mation to the successful implementation of strategies to promote profitable and sus-tainable fisheries within an ecosystem context.

HEMMER-HANSEN Jakob;  CARVALHO Gary R.;  BONANOMI Sara;  CASTILHO Rita;  DAHLE Geir;  EERO Margit;  FRANCISCO Sara;  HELYAR Sarah;  HORNE John K.;  JOHANSEN Torild;  JUNGE Claudia;  ROBALO Joana;  RODRÍGUEZ-EZPELETA Naiara;  SILVA Gonçalo;  TRAUTNER Jochen;  VOLCKAERT Filip;  CLAUSEN Lotte Worsøe;  ZELENINA Daria;  MARTINSOHN Jann; 

2015-01-07

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea - ICES

JRC91016

http://www.ices.dk/community/groups/Pages/WGAGFM.aspx,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC91016,