Translating sustainable seafood frameworks to assess the implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management

Implementing fisheries management goals that simultaneously consider ecosystem effects of fishing and socioeconomic sustainability is challenging. In recent years, multiple market-based frameworks and guidelines that assess fishery sustainability have been developed, including sustainable seafood recommendation lists and certification schemes. These frameworks use suites of indicators to assess sustainability across fishery types to provide awareness to seafood suppliers, retailers, and consumers. We suggest that these indicators could also be useful to managers to track their own performance. Here we evaluate and compare four of the best-known frameworks available to assess fishery sustainability and consider their potential applicability to fisheries management in California: the Marine Stewardship Council’s 2013 certification requirements for fisheries, Friend of the Sea’s 2011 certification criteria for wild-caught fisheries, the Seafood Watch program’s current criteria for fisheries, and an FAO sustainability checklist combined with the FAO’s International Guidelines on Bycatch Management and Reduction of Discards. We assessed the alignment between the indicators used in these frameworks and the goals and requirements of the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA), the primary statute governing fisheries management in California’s coastal waters. In general, we found considerable overlap between the biophysical sustainability criteria assessed by these indicators and the requirements of the MLMA, revealing that these indicators align well with practical management needs. While the MLMA is a useful case study, these sustainability indicators could be applied more broadly by other states and federal fisheries managers to concretely evaluate progress towards ecosystem-based management goals. Ultimately, a refined suite of indicators could be operationalized, e.g., via decision trees or questionnaires for fishery managers to assess how well they are meeting ecosystem-based management objectives.