Measuring the Biological Sustainability of Marine Fisheries: Property Rights, Politics, and Science

Abstract

From p. 1:

"While nearly everyone favors sustainability, few agree on what the term actually means. In the case of marine fisheries, what first appears simple--exploiting species at a level that does not diminish their productivity in the future--is confounded by the possible inclusion of social, cultural, and economic notions of sustainability, as well as the effects of fishing practices on the wider ecology (that is, on both non-target species and habitats) of the seas. These approaches are all important, but this paper will focus on measuring the biological sustainability of targeted species, which must precede (but certainly not preclude) all other measures of sustainability. While determining what is sustainable is tricky, it is not difficult to find examples of biologically unsustainable fisheries."