This week, graduate student Erin Murphy, Dr. Miranda Bernard, and Dr. Leah Gerber published an article on market-based instruments for fisheries in Ecosystem Services. This work emerged from a partnership between the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and Dr. Kevin J. Dooley of The Sustainability Consortium.
The movement from single-species to ecosystem-based fisheries management indicates the importance of ecosystem-level thinking for achieving sustainable fisheries; however, it is not clear that fishery-specific market-based instruments effectively align with the principles of the ecosystem-based approach. This study reviewed the written indicators of seven market-based instruments to evaluate the level of protection they provide to marine ecosystem services that may be impacted by fisheries. They found that many of the ecosystem services, which may impact during their operations, are not completely protected by the instruments written indicators. Through this analysis, they hope to promote a dialogue between scientists and decision-makers to encourage the use of ecosystem service indicators in market-based instruments used to promote sustainable fisheries.