Unit 1: Introductory Case Study Flashcards
Ocean fisheries management
Perpetual resources
Resources that are replenished constantly and are not impacted by human activity.
Renewable resources
Resources that replenish themselves on a timescale that is meaningful to humans.
Non-renewable resources
Resources with renewal rates that are too slow to be meaningful to humans.
Sources
Resources taken for consumption or production.
Sinks
Resources used to store or process waste products.
Renewable resource degradation
When the ecological functioning of a resource is degraded, and its capacity to act as a source or sink is reduced.
Sustainable yield
The highest rate a renewable resource can be used indefinitely as a source without degrading it.
Critical load
The highest rate a renewable resource can be used indefinitely as a sink without degrading it.
Open Access Common Property Resources
Resources that are owned by no one in an ungoverned location.
Exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
Up to 200 nautical miles beyond a country’s territorial sea/coastline.
Freedom of the high seas
The freedom of navigation, fishing, the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, and overflight of aircraft in the ocean.
Factory trawlers
Large fishing boats with nets up to 5km long that process and offload cargo at sea and work for months at a time.
Transboundary situation
Situation that crosses the border between two or more countries or areas and affects both or all areas.
Perverse subsidies
Subsidies that exert adverse effects on environmental and economic systems over the long run.
Precautionary principle
If a product/action/policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, protective action should be supported before there is complete scientific proof of a risk.
Adaptive management
The use of a rigorous process of decision making that involves regular monitoring of outcomes that can affect the application of regulations to achieve a desired goal. It emphasizes accountability and explicitness in decision making.
Sustainable development
Economic development that is conducted without the depletion of natural resources.
Independent fishing quotas
Tradable permits that allowed fishing companies to fish during an 8 month period. Ownership was limited to area residents, smaller boats, and 0.5% of total quota.
Overfishing
Depleting the stock of fish in a body of water via too much fishing.
Integrated management
Setting an allowable (sustainable) harvest level for a resource, determining the allocations between various user groups, and managing each sector within their allocation.
Newfoundland cod fisheries
Perverse government subsidies pushed the exploitation of fish beyond what markets would have.
Scientists pushing the precautionary principle were ignored, and adaptive management was not used. No system was put in place to monitor and address changes in the condition of the fish stocks.
Canadian EEZ
Before 1977, Canada didn’t restrict fishing beyond 12 nautical miles. In 1997, Canada declared an EEZ with a limit of 200 nautical miles to prevent overfishing. However, the Canadian government did not control the entire resource, since some of it was open access common property. This created a transboundary situation.
Pacific Halibut Fisheries
Regulatory approach and an international agreement was used to establish a shortened season and ‘recovery period,” by 1994 the season was down to two days.
In 1991 Independent Fishing Quotas (tradable permits) were introduced. This is a form of integrated management where adaptive management is applied. Sustainable development is exemplified.
