Guiding Principles for Sustainable Fisheries Management
Participants at the Towards Sustainable Fisheries Conference and subsequent meetings, identified a number of conditions that must be met if we are to realize our common vision of sustainable fisheries management. We have translated these conditions into a series of guiding principles that can be used to focus environmental management and salmon restoration programs in the future. The Guiding Principles include:
- People have the right to use Pacific fisheries resources for social, cultural, and economic purposes. With this right goes the responsibility to maintain and restore the abundance and diversity of salmon and steelhead populations throughout their range;
- Ecosystem integrity and the economic well-being of communities throughout the Northwest are interdependent; therefore, achieving and protecting ecosystem integrity is essential for promoting economic activity in the region;
- Societal needs for a healthy ecosystem and economy should be addressed by promoting the sustainable use of renewable natural resources;
- The watershed is the fundamental management unit for Pacific salmonids; therefore, watershed-based interests must be empowered to participate effectively in decision-making activities;
- Watersheds must be managed to support a range of compatible land and water uses;
- Humans must be effectively integrated into the ecosystem through cultural and community awareness, education, ethical responsibility, and adequate legislation and enforcement;
- Local communities should be empowered in the decision-making process through the implementation of community-based approaches to fisheries management;
- Agencies should support and foster community-based stewardship with information, education, and roles of involvement;
- Integrated strategies for balancing the production of salmonids with habitat protection, restoration initiatives, and harvesting methodologies must be developed and implemented;
- The diversity and genetic variability of salmon and steelhead populations must be maintained by conducting fisheries in a manner that minimizes impacts on vulnerable populations (i.e., weak stocks);
- Emphasis on mixed-stock fisheries must be reduced. Development and implementation of effective terminal and stock-specific fisheries which utilize selective harvest methods should be a major focus of future harvest management;
- Resource management decisions must be ecologically-based, conservation-driven, and risk-averse;
- The long-term value of habitat must be recognized and fully appreciated by everyone involved in resource management and use;
- A process should be developed for identifying and prioritizing habitat protection and restoration opportunities, and for implementing the associated activities;
- Institutional structures, legislation, and regulations must be reformed to better support sustainable fisheries;
- An integrated hierarchy of institutions should be established, in which institutions concerned with natural resource management are organized and/or operate at watershed, local, state/provincial, national and international levels depending on the issues and resources at stake;
- Institutions must have the authority to make decisions and the resources necessary to ensure their implementation;
- Government agencies and community-based management authorities must be adequately funded and staffed;
- A comprehensive set of economic incentives for industry and private landowners should be offered to increase compliance with regulations and to encourage responsible environmental stewardship;
- Enforcement of applicable statutes must be improved;
- Specific management objectives and quantifiable measures (indicators) of progress towards sustainable fisheries should be developed; and,
- Communication among all of the groups involved in salmon management must be enhanced.
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