Policy recommendations for adoption of Results-Based Managment for EU long- distant fisheries
Creators: name: Arias-Hansen, Juliana
name: Laksá, Unn
name: Rodriguez, Alexandre
name: Doblado, Sonia
name: Fonseca, Benvindo
name: Galvao, Juliana Antunes
name: Diallo, Mamadou
name: Brahim, Khallahi
name: Roucou, Yannick
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Result-based management
Fisheries co-management
Responsive fisheries
Participatory fisheries management.

description: The results-based management (RBM) is a concept introduced in the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union in 2009, to reduce micromanagement and increase the degree of co-management by transferring part of the responsibility for fisheries management to resource users. A practical framework to RBM was developed in the FP7 project EcoFishMan, where the RBM was conceptualized as a contract situation (Nielsen et al., 2015, 2017) where the relevant authorities set specific and measurable objectives to be achieved, leaving resource users to propose ways to achieve them and to document their achievement (Santiago et al., 2015). This approach to RBM was operationalized within six different case studies (CS) within the FarFish project, involving two EU fisheries in the high-seas, in the Southwest and Southeast Atlantic respectively, and four under Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPA) in Cape Verde, Senegal, Mauritania, and Seychelles. Relevant institutions and operators’ representatives were involved in the implementation of the RBM approach. This exercise rendered interesting results for each of the cases but also revealed shortcomings for a broader implementation of a more participatory, inclusive, and responsive approach to fisheries governance. As a pivotal factor for the success of the approach, participation was highlighted as the vertebral axis of the process. Ensuring meaningful and effective participation enabled the process to render most advancements towards improved fisheries management. Effective and meaningful engagement and collaboration were only possible when participation is managed as a priority. Absence of relevant bodies, sectors and fleet segments proved detriment throughout all cases. Also, the structured dialogue process as well as planned evaluations and iterations of the RBM contract enabled responsiveness, adaptation, and continuous improvement of the management process. Additional lessons were drawn on the importance of scoping, goal setting and timing of the actions, as well as managing realistic expectations of the goals set within the RBM. Data availability and accountability was also a major highlight, considering that in cases were cooperation succeeded, data was made available, and knowledge therefore was expanded and enriched. The purpose of this document is to summarize the lessons learnt from the implementation of the RBM in the last four and a half years within the six case studies of the FarFish project, with the aim to propose a set of policy recommendation for the improvement of the fisheries management through the adoption of RBM for EU vessels fishing in international- and SFPA waters.
description: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 727891.