Comparing economic and biological management objectives in the commercial Baltic salmon fisheries

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The role of economics in ecosystem based management:The case of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive; first lessons learnt and way forward

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) sets out a plan of action relating to marine environmental policy and in particular to achieving ‘good environmental status’ (GES) in European marine waters by 2020. Article 8.1 (c) of the Directive calls for ‘an economic and social analysis of the use of those waters and of the cost of degradation of the marine environment’. The MSFD is ‘informed’ by the Ecosystem Approach to management, with GES interpreted in terms of ecosystem functioning and services provision. Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach is expected to be by adaptive management policy and practice. The initial socio-economic assessment was made by maritime EU Member States between 2011 and 2012, with future updates to be made on a regular basis. For the majority of Member States, this assessment has led to an exercise combining an analysis of maritime activities both at national and coastal zone scales, and an analysis of the non-market value of marine waters. In this paper we examine the approaches taken in more detail, outline the main challenges facing the Member States in assessing the economic value of achieving GES as outlined in the Directive and make recommendations for the theoretically sound and practically useful completion of the required follow-up economic assessments specified in the MSFD

Ten years of economic analyses for the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Overview of experiences and lessons learned

The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which came into force in 2008, requires from Member States inter alia to perform various (types of) economic analyses. In order to help Member States to implement this directive, the European working group on Economic and Social Analysis was initiated in 2009. This working group has developed various guidance documents which have been very useful in helping each other to understand the Directive and its requirements, to develop one language, to understand the pros and cons of various approaches, and to share experiences. However, up until now, outside of this working group this information is hardly known. Therefore, the authors of this article, considered the tenth anniversary of this working group a good opportunity to make the accumulated grey literature more accessible and to share information on experiences and lessons learnt from applying environmental economic theory and analyses in a policy context to a broader community, to increase the awareness of marine and social scientists on the progress made and remaining knowledge gaps, to enhance interdisciplinary science-policy dialogue, and to increase the value added of forthcoming research for policy making processes

Toward Integrative Management Advice of Water Quality, Oil Spills, and Fishery in the Gulf of Finland: A Bayesian Approach

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Fisheries and Optimal Eutrophication Management: A Bayesian Approach

The paper puts forward a Bayesian Network model to study the optimal eutrophication control in coastal waters by reducing nutrient loads and removing fish biomass (bottom-up and top-down ecosystem mechanisms). The model combines an aquatic ecosystem model with an economic model and examines the economic and ecological consequences of nutrient reduction and fisheries policies. The existing literature mostly focuses on bottom-up (nutrients) control of eutrophication, while the combined effect of top-down (fisheries) and bottom-up control remains unknown. The fisheries management options include subsidizing fisheries with low or no commercial value to improve water quality. Removal of fish feeding on zooplankton or on benthic fauna may affect the nutrient dynamics and eutrophication via several mechanisms, but the relative strengths of these processes are uncertain. The Bayesian Network model allows studying uncertain causal linkages within the aquatic ecosystem and between the ecosystem and its management. The social utility function accounts for both the market and non-market values of the ecosystem goods and services- fish and water quality- provided by the studied aquatic ecosystem. The results suggest the most efficient set of management options to achieve good environmental status of the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea requested by the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework DirectiveKeywords: Modeling and Economic Theory, Fisheries Economics, Models: Alternative Approache

Assessing costs and benefits of measures to achieve good environmental status in European regional seas: challenges, opportunities, and lessons learnt

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to assess the costs and benefits of Programmes of Measures (PoMs) put in place to ensure that European marine waters achieve Good Environmental Status by 2020. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to carry out such an assessment whereby economic analysis is used to evaluate the outputs from ecological analysis that determines the expected effects of such management measures. This paper applies and tests an existing six-step approach to assess costs and benefits of management measures with potential to support the overall goal of the MSFD and discusses a range of ecological and economic analytical tools applicable to this task. Environmental cost-benefit analyses are considered for selected PoMs in three European case studies: Baltic Sea (Finland), East Coast Marine Plan area (UK), and the Bay of Biscay (Spain). These contrasting case studies are used to investigate the application of environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA) including the challenges, opportunities and lessons learnt from using this approach. This paper demonstrates that there are opportunities in applying the six-step environmental CBA framework presented to assess the impact of PoMs. However, given demonstrated limitations of knowledge and data availability, application of other economic techniques should also be considered (although not applied here) to complement the more formal environmental CBA approach

Bridging the gap between ecosystem service indicators and ecosystem accounting in Finland

In this paper, we examine how progress on ecosystem service indicators could contribute to ecosystem accounting within the scope of environmental-economic accounting in Finland. We propose an integration framework and examine the integration of ecosystem service indicators into environmental-economic accounting with two case studies relevant for Finland: (1) water-related ecosystem services and (2) the ecosystem services of fish provisioning in marine ecosystems. In light of these case studies, we evaluate the relevance of existing Finnish ecosystem service indicators, the data availability for ecosystem accounting in Finland, and the applicability of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting o Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA) framework to integrate Finnish ecosystem service indicators and other relevant data into environmental-economic accounts. The results indicate that the present ecosystem service indicators can assist in creating a basis for ecosystem accounting, but the indicators require further elaboration to be more compatible with the existing environmental-economic accounting system.Peer reviewe

International Fisheries Management and Recreational Benefits: The Case of Baltic Salmon

This article studies how accounting for the benefits of recreational fisheries affects the formation and stability of an international fisheries agreement (IFA) on the management of Baltic salmon stocks. The interaction between four countries is modelled through a partition function game, under two scenarios. In the first scenario, countries take their participation decision for the IFA based only on the net present value of profits from commercial fisheries. In the second scenario, the net present value of the recreational benefits from angling is also considered. The results show that accounting for recreational benefits leads to the formation of the grand coalition, whereas only partial cooperation occurs when payoffs are confined to profits from commercial fisheries

Evidence on the impact of Baltic Sea ecosystems on human health and well-being: a systematic map

Background: While the unique marine and coastal environment of the Baltic Sea provides numerous ecosystem services, its ecosystems are under pressure due to the intensification and diversification of anthropogenic uses. This present work constitutes a systematic map of the evidence of the impacts of ecosystem services and disservices on human health and well-being. The aim is to create a better understanding of the threats of unsustainable management or the benefits of sustainable management of the Baltic Sea and the impacts these may have on the health and well-being of human populations and present these findings to policy advisors. The mapping process is described, and the characteristics of the evidence base are presented. Methods: The applied method has been previously published in a systematic map protocol. Literature searches were carried out in English considering published peer-reviewed literature from traditional scientific journals and scientific reports from the grey literature, using synthesis software. A total of 17 databases were searched. Articles were screened in stages at title and abstract stage, then full-text stage. Geographic limitations were placed on the searches in accordance with research funders call, however, watersheds that had an impact on the Baltic Sea marine and coastal regions were considered. We used the more open PEO format, where population (P) included the human populations within the marine and coastal environment of the Baltic Sea region, exposure (E) related to the Baltic Sea ecosystems services and disservices, and the outcome (O) included all aspects of human health and well-being. After full-text screening articles selected for inclusion were searched for metadata connected to bibliographic information, ecosystem services, health and well-being outcomes and policy relevance. Review findings: Out of 6456 hits only 460 studies discussed either health or well-being indicators to some extent. Of these, only 67 explicitly mentioned ecosystem services and health and well-being indicators. However, few in this subset engaged with the topic of ecosystem services or disservices and health and well-being in depth. Studies are increasingly relating the two concepts but currently it is mainly studies focussed on cultural ecosystem services that deal with the concept of health and well-being to a greater degree. Studies in the medical literature relating to impacts on health from exposure to the Baltic Sea did not relate their findings to ecosystem services. The database of 67 studies is attached as Additional file 5. Conclusions: Ecosystem services play an important role in human health and well-being; however, we found few studies that explicitly examine these impacts in detail. Further research is needed to link the health and well-being outcomes from the Baltic Sea to the ecosystem services supplied and therefore to demonstrate the benefits and disservices provided by the Baltic Sea ecosystems to human populations