The concepts of Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries (EAF), Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management (EBFM), ecosystem-oriented fisheries management approaches have a variety of meanings to different people. This symposium, while acknowledging this range, will focus on the common characteristics and elements of each of these, rather than on debating the meanings, definitions or benefits of any one approach nor classifications of those phrases. Common characteristics will inform our discussions, from ecosystem impacts of fisheries, the socio-political, cultural and economic context they operate in, treating fisheries as a system, fisheries in a multisectoral context, ecosystem variability impacting fisheries, and the consideration of ecosystem services and trade-offs.

This Fisheries Management in an Ecosystem Context (FIMEC) symposium has additional merit as countries around the world grapple with the implementation of instruments and agreements such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) which have implications for fisheries management across the globe. Concepts such as Natural Capital and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) need to now be addressed in the context of Fisheries Management. These are not novel concepts, however they have not been widely used in traditional fisheries management, even when taking an integrated ecosystem approach. Likewise, agreements such as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) are impacting fisheries management. This symposium will help outline how the fisheries sector has a key role to play in the implementation of these agreements.

The symposium is also timely and significant given the major disruptions occurring to marine ecosystems. This means not only consideration of the impacts of other ocean-use sectors, and resulting pressures and perturbations that a crowded ocean presents, but also thinking about global environmental change, how climate-related events are expressed in changing ocean dynamics and their implications for fisheries management. Including these factors has been a hallmark of FIMEC and needs continued examination.