Moving towards integration of top predators into fisheries management

The need to develop ‘Ecosystem-based Management’ of fisheries is well recognised. But it is extremely difficult to see how to add on considerations for top predators such as seabirds and marine mammals in the context of the well developed quantitative science of fish stock assessment and management models. Some obvious difficulties include decisions about how many seabirds or marine mammals there should be in a particular system. Can we set realistic and sensible targets? Do we understand enough about the ecology of top predators to define their needs in a way that can be integrated into fishery management? In this talk I will explore these issues with particular focus on the possibilities to develop management systems that include top predators. Some clear examples are available from studies of seabirds and fisheries in Europe; for example there are lessons to be taken from the Baltic cod and sprat fisheries, the North Sea sandeel and gadoid fisheries and their impacts on seabirds. I will also outline recent studies using data loggers and satellite transmitters that have provided new ideas about the connectivity of seabird foraging ecology between summer and winter quarters, and the use of stable isotopes and fatty acids to investigate questions about seasonal and individual variations in foraging behaviour of seabirds in relation to fisheries.