Abstract

This paper describes the key transboundary issues as well as the initial steps for applying an ecosystem approach to fisheries in the North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem and adjacent area, the Gulf of Paria, which supports one of the most important export-oriented shrimp and groundfish fisheries in the region. Most of the countries in this region are already party to several international environmental agreements which shows a wide acceptance of the need for the ecosystem approach, with some preliminary work on this having been initiated at the regional and national levels. This chapter argues that a decentralised regional approach to fisheries management that incorporates the proposed multi-scale Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem governance framework would be required to achieve the goals and objectives of the ecosystem approach, with the recognition that the national level serves as the pivot around which the local and regional levels revolve. Implementing the ecosystem approach to fisheries would require robust, participatory decision-making mechanisms at all levels that would lead to more effective adoption of management advice based on the best available scientific information. However, the ecosystem approach will not be an instant replacement for traditional fisheries management and should be seen as an evolution of the existing fisheries management systems. As such, progress towards this goal is likely to be made in an incremental way rather than overnight.

Introduction

The Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) encompasses four large marine ecosystems (LMEs): the North Brazil Shelf LME, the Caribbean Sea LME, the Gulf of Mexico LME and the Southeast United States Continental Shelf LME. The goal of the Caribbean LME (CLME) project, which focuses on the first two, is the sustainable management of the shared living marine resources through an ecosystem-based approach with mechanisms for facilitating informed decision-making based on sound natural and social science (Fanning et al. 2007; CERMES 2007).

The shrimp and groundfish resources are found in the area comprised of the North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (NBSLME) and the adjacent Gulf of Paria (Figure 15.1). For our purposes, the use of the acronym NBSLME includes the Gulf of Paria.