Advancing an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management in the Northeast Atlantic: ICES’s Scientific Framework, Advice Products, and Implementation Pathways

Abstract

Achieving marine management objectives and long-term sustainability requires moving beyond conventional, single-species management, towards an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM), that accounts for complex ecological interactions, cumulative human pressures, and environmental variability. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advances EAFM in the Northeast Atlantic by providing scientific frameworks and advice products that address fundamental aspects of EAFM: understanding the ecosystem’s influence on fisheries, quantifying fisheries’ impact on the wider ecosystem, contextualizing fisheries among other pressures, and analyzing trade-offs between competing management objectives. Examples are provided for ICES integration of ecosystem information into advice, including the ecosystem-based fishing mortality reference point (FECO), the regional benthic impact assessments and trade-off analysis and the ICES Framework for Ecosystem-Informed Science and Advice (FEISA). These examples illustrate how ICES is moving from the single species model and contextual ecosystem assessment towards more operational ecosystem-informed advice. Despite progress, key challenges remain, including a fragmented governance structure and a lack of clear, formalized process translating ecosystem advice into management actions. Furthermore, there are significant data gaps concerning social and economic dimensions that need to be addressed to truly achieve a comprehensive EAFM.