A concept and framework of the extended ecosystem-based fisheries assessment approach incorporating other driving forces

Abstract

The ecosystem-based fisheries assessment (EBFA) approach to evaluate four management objectives: sustainability, biodiversity, habitat quality, and socio-economic benefits, has been developed in previous studies. The existing EBFA approach is a risk-based assessment framework and was designed to assess the impacts of fisheries on offshore ecosystems. This approach only considers one driving force of wild capture fisheries. However, in coastal ecosystems, there are a number of anthropogenic activities. In this study, we propose an extended EBFA approach that incorporates the effects of capture fisheries and other driving forces, including various human activities and natural processes. This paper focuses on (i) revising the process and equations related to the nested risk indices defined in the existing EBFA approach, and (ii) demonstrating the applicability of the proposed approach by applying it to Uljin coastal waters and comparing the results with the previous case study of the existing EBFA. However, indicators and their relevant reference points have not yet been fully developed—particularly for the tier 1 approach. Hence, further research, especially regarding the reference points, would be required for practical use of the proposed approach.