Harvest strategies address uncertainty using a process known as Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE). This process tests the effectiveness of different management approaches across a range of possible future scenarios. It involves evaluating how the harvest strategy would perform under various conditions, such as changes in stock productivity, environmental factors, or illegal fishing levels. By testing these different scenarios, scientists and managers can find the harvest strategy that will perform best, that is, best meet the management objectives, regardless of which scenario comes to fruition.
Great news! You’ve come to the right place. At Harvest Strategies.org, we offer a range of resources to help stakeholders understand and actively participate in the development and implementation of harvest strategies. Here are some quick links to get you started:
For all these resources and more, explore HarvestStrategies.org. Keep an eye out for updates on our new e-learning course!
International agreements play a critical role in the adoption of harvest strategies by establishing the legal and regulatory frameworks that encourage or require their use. Key global instruments, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA), call for the application of precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management, both of which are supported by the development and implementation of harvest strategies.
The UNFSA and FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries emphasize using reference points to trigger management responses—the essence of harvest strategies. Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) are uniquely positioned to operationalize these international commitments by developing harvest strategies. Many RFMOs have already made progress in advancing these tools to sustainably manage fish stocks.
To explore how far RFMOs have come, check out these examples of adopted harvest strategies: https://harveststrategies.org/case-studies-of-harvest-strategies-in-global-fisheries/rfmo-hs-management-measures/
Many Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) have created official working groups dedicated to discussions about harvest strategies, simultaneously providing an opportunity for education and capacity building and soliciting input and feedback. In this way, the working groups help to steer the development process. These groups typically meet intersessionally, including scientists, managers, industry stakeholders, and NGO representatives. These science-management dialogue (SMD) groups are an essential part of harvest strategy development, helping to facilitate a conversation focused on laying out objectives, timelines, management strategy evaluation (MSE) workplans, and educational materials that move the process toward adoption.
For more information, check out this journal article on stakeholder participation in MSE and our factsheet and infographic outlining how to put a management procedure together and the role of different stakeholder groups.
Harvest strategies are being used successfully worldwide for all types of fisheries – predators and prey, surface species and bottom fish, international and domestic. Check out our interactive map showcasing the global breadth of harvest strategies in place or development. And if you notice that we are missing your fishery, please let us know!
Harvest strategies can incorporate broader ecosystem considerations into fishery management decisions. Essential elements of successful harvest strategies include management objectives that outline a vision for the future of a fishery, which often includes reference points to define sustainability and harvest control rules (HCR) that set fishing opportunities. Critically, these elements can be structured to account for ecosystem considerations. For example, a management objective might call for leaving a certain amount of fish in the water for the species’ predators.
Like EBFM, harvest strategies are a form of “adaptive management”—that is, they promptly respond to ecosystem conditions to promote fishery stability, resilience, and long-term sustainability. To learn more about how ecosystem considerations can be integrated into a harvest strategy, check out this factsheet.
Managing fish stocks in a rapidly changing climate is an ongoing challenge for fishery managers worldwide. Classic fisheries models recognize that production processes are dynamic but do not account for the long-term trends induced by climate change. Harvest strategies can help adaptively manage climate-vulnerable fish stocks by a) testing climate change scenarios (e.g., changes to stock productivity or natural mortality) in MSE to identify “climate-smart” harvest strategies and b) using the inherent adaptiveness and responsiveness of harvest strategies to quickly modify fishing levels in response to fluctuations in abundance as a result of climate change. For more insights on how harvest strategies can address the impacts of climate change, check out our webinar and blog, where experts delve into the intersection of fisheries management and climate resilience.
Yes, most harvest strategies include review provisions to confirm adequate performance, and all elements of the harvest strategy can be updated if necessary. Adopted harvest strategies are typically re-evaluated every six to ten years. They can be modified if they perform differently than expected or if new knowledge requires a revision of the MSE. Similarly, although MSE and harvest strategies decrease the reliance on traditional stock assessments for informing management actions, benchmark assessments may still be conducted periodically to ensure that the harvest strategy is performing as expected.
In addition to the infrequent reviews, most harvest strategies include “exceptional circumstances protocols” that provide a more regular check for rare and unforeseen conditions the harvest strategy was not designed to handle (e.g., a necessary abundance index is discontinued, and new information about stock productivity). Depending on the significance of an identified exceptional circumstance, it might cause a deviation from the harvest strategy.
One of the key strengths of harvest strategies is their use of a continuous feedback loop that integrates scientific research and data into decision-making. This starts with collecting specific monitoring data to assess the status of the fishery in relation to established reference points and management objectives. This data is then fed into an assessment method that evaluates the current state of the fishery, providing essential insights into stock health, fishing pressure, and other factors.
The results of these assessments are used to inform the harvest control rule (HCR), which is the part of the strategy that dictates how management measures should be adjusted based on the current stock status. The HCR determines whether fishing limits need to be increased, reduced, or maintained to meet the strategy’s long-term objectives. After management measures are adjusted, the process begins again, with new data collected to monitor the outcomes and ensure the strategy remains on track. This continuous cycle of monitoring, assessment, and adjustment helps ensure that harvest strategies remain adaptive and effective over time.