Fisheries Compliance and Management Strategies
Summary
Effective fisheries management requires a blend of regulatory frameworks, enforcement mechanisms, stakeholder engagement and adaptive governance to ensure sustainable resource use. Compliance emerges as a critical linchpin: without adherence to quotas, spatial restrictions and gear regulations, ecological objectives cannot be realised. Contemporary strategies encompass top-down approaches—such as patrols, sanctions and catch-monitoring technologies—as well as bottom-up methods that harness social norms, community stewardship and market incentives. Behavioural insights have been mobilised to bridge the “compliance gap” in marine protected areas, emphasising the role of legitimacy, communication and equity in shaping fishers’ decisions. Technological innovations, including vessel monitoring systems and electronic catch reporting, offer real-time oversight and data for management, while co-management arrangements foster shared responsibility between regulators and resource users. Across scales—from small-scale artisanal fisheries to large industrial fleets—successful compliance strategies integrate socio-economic context, transparent governance and adaptive learning to respond to shifting ecological and social conditions.
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Fisheries Compliance and Management Strategies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in fisheries compliance and management strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Compliance gap: The difference between intended ecological or regulatory outcomes and those achieved due to non-adherence to rules.
Marine Protected Area (MPA): A designated ocean region where extractive activities are regulated or prohibited to conserve biodiversity and manage fisheries.
Co-management: A governance arrangement in which responsibility for resource management is shared between government agencies and local stakeholders or communities.
Incentive-based management: Regulatory approaches that use economic or social rewards (such as tradable quotas or certification schemes) to promote compliance and sustainable practices.
Behavioural intervention: Strategies grounded in social science that seek to influence resource-user decisions through norms, communications or perceived legitimacy rather than through enforcement alone.
References
- Closing the compliance gap in marine protected areas with human behavioural sciences. Fish and Fisheries (2023).
- Tools for assessing recreational fisheries compliance—an underappreciated yet essential component of management. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2024).
- Illegal fishing: A challenge to fisheries management in Norway. Marine Policy (2023).
- A synthesis of (non‐)compliance theories with applications to small‐scale fisheries research and practice. Fish and Fisheries (2020).
- Weak Compliance Undermines the Success of No-Take Zones in a Large Government-Controlled Marine Protected Area. PLOS ONE (2012).
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