Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

Step overview

Implementing a new management system can be helped by generating an operational plan that outlines, in detail, what would need to be done by whom, by when, and where. This includes identifying all the activities that need to change, any additional activities needed plus those activities no longer needed. The complete set of the required activities and their timelines with the resources available should show whether the proposed set of management arrangements is feasible or if they need to be revised.

When the feasibility of the system is confirmed, all proposed fishery management actions and arrangements need to be incorporated into a formal Fisheries Management ‘Plan’ which has an appropriate legal basis. This can require drafting legislation or regulations but for community based fisheries other less formal documentation may be applicable.

Monitoring, evaluation and review of performance is a critical step in the adaptive management planning process. It is essential both to ensure adequate performance is being generated against current objectives but also that the fishery is maintaining relevance with community expectations. The review process includes three inter-related cycles.

1. Frequent reviews of the operations to determine if each of the activities outlined in the operational plan is being undertaken or not.
2. Periodic reviews of the outcomes to determine whether the activities undertaken are generating an acceptable level of performance in relation to each issue.
3. Infrequent review of the entire EAF plan. After a pre-determined period, or if a major crisis occurs, review the entire management system to check if it is still relevant to the communities current circumstances.

The real ‘final’ activity in the management process is to regularly report the outcomes of the management system to all stakeholders so they can consider whether the performance against each of the objectives has been acceptable or not.

Key activities

	4.1 Develop an Operational Plan and monitor its progress
	4.2 Formalization of the management ‘plan’
	4.3 Review performance of the Management system
	4.4 Reporting, communication and auditing of performance

Main outputs

(i) creation of a detailed operational (implementation) plan

(ii) formal adoption of the EAF based management ‘plan’

(iii) regular reports on level of activities completed to execute the operational plan

(iv) periodic reports on the performance of the entire management system in generating acceptable performance for each of the operational objectives and overall community outcomes.