Defining success in fisheries and conflicts in objectives

The traditional fisheries management objectives of maximizing yield and employment lead to heavily exploited stocks. Many current high-profile disputes arise from conflicting objectives, and the proposed solutions to “the fisheries problem” are primarily particular stakeholders’ efforts to have managers implement their own objectives. I suggest many “failures” are in fact successes for other objectives. Fisheries objectives, as reflected in management actions, are changing. Two current trends are the acceptance of objectives that value less disturbed ecosystems and acceptance of fisheries allocation through dedicated access to improve the fisheries’ economic efficiency. I suggest that increased use of dedicated access will result in more congruent objectives and less conflict.