The valuation of ecosystem services and its role

The valuation of ecosystem services and its role in fisheries management Catarina Grilo February 4 th 2016

Fisheries management 1. Understand yield and the effect of fishing on the commercial species 2. Understand the effects of fishing on the rest of the marine environment (e. g. , habitats, non-commercial species, etc. ) 3. Contribute to assess the combined impacts of all human activities on the marine environment

Valuation of marine ecosystem services • Elicit the value of the benefits our societies obtain from the sea • Monetary and non-monetary value • Value for an individual versus value for a community • Wide range of methodologies to elicit value • As any other tool, it has limitations • Not all MES can be (easily) valued • Double counting

Ecosystem services valuation in fisheries management • Yield and the effect of fishing on commercial species Sardine historical landings (black line) and biomass (blue columns) in 1, 000 tons (ICES 2014)

Ecosystem services valuation in fisheries management • Yield and the effect of fishing on commercial species • Effects of fishing on the rest of the marine environment • Contribute to assess the combined impacts of all human activities on the marine environment Marine ecosystems Fishing Cultural services Food provisioning