Fishing for the Future: Managing Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems using a Business Paradigm

Moderators: William Taylor, Stacy Lischka, and Lois Wolfson*
Emails: taylorw@msu.edu; lischkas@msu.edu and wolfson1@msu.edu

Date: Monday, September 12, 2005
Time: 1:20 pm to 5:40 pm
Location: Egan 7-8

Human impacts and resulting changes to ecosystem composition and function have caused local and global effects that we are only beginning to comprehend. Daily et al. (1997) indicated that laws based solely on economic, social and political trends, are made without a systemic evaluation of environmental tradeoffs. By ignoring the environmental and economic impacts of policies, decision-makers are not protecting the environment. Many have attempted to assign monetary values to the services provided by ecosystems (Constanza et al. 1997). While the valuation of ecosystem services is valuable in validating preservation efforts, it does not provide a basis for decision-making or management actions. We propose the application of a business management paradigm as a next step in broadening the toolset for ecosystem and fisheries management. Due to the influence and economic resources of business strategists, much research has been carried out to identify the factors that affect consumer systems. The application of this research will provide a basis and justification for aquatic ecosystem management that will be more easily accessible to a broader range of stakeholders. The objective of this symposium is to initiate conversations with stakeholders by inviting commercial users, ecologists, fisheries managers and policy makers to present case studies in the use of business theories as guideposts in the development of management alternatives. Participants will find this valuable since the use of business strategies may offer resource managers new tools for fisheries management as well as precipitate the development of a common vocabulary among resources managers, business people and lawmakers. Through cooperation and joint analysis of the tools and results, policy development can be more inclusive of ecological impacts and the services provided by ecosystems. The symposium will also provide a set of recommendations for the application of these theories to broader fisheries management in the future.

Link to list of presentations in this symposium

Sponsors:

Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Michigan Sea Grant

Michigan State University Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources

Great Lakes Fishery Commission

USFWS Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council

Michigan State University Environmental Science & Policy Program