At the interface between fisheries management and marine biodiversity conservation, spatial-based measures – namely zoning and area-time-gear type closures – are among the oldest forms of fisheries management. With the shift of fishery management towards the ecosystem approach to fisheries –a broader conception of ecosystem well-being – the use of spatial management tools is becoming more prevalent.

Under its ecosystem approach to fisheries, the GFCM has adopted spatial measures through fisheries restricted areas (FRAs). A FRA is a geographically defined area in which all or certain fishing activities are temporarily or permanently banned or restricted in order to improve the exploitation and conservation of harvested living aquatic resources or the protection of marine ecosystems (FAO, 2008).

In the GFCM context, a FRA is the area-based management tool used to protect marine ecosystems or sensitive habitats, such as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), from potentially significant adverse impacts (VME FRAs) and/or enhance the productivity of marine living resources (EFH FRAs), including in the deep sea. Essential fish habitats are defined as being essential to the ecological and biological requirements for critical life history stages of exploited fish species, and these areas may require special protection to improve the status of the stocks and long-term sustainability.

A FRA can potentially be established to protect any kind of marine resource and habitat (e.g. aggregations of vulnerable sponges, seamount areas, coralligenous formations, seagrass meadows, spawning grounds and reproduction sites for fish resources, etc.) from fishing activities.

The GFCM also adopts spatio-temporal measures to reduce fishing pressure in specific areas during particular periods/seasons (e.g. at spawning times or during migrations of vulnerable species). These measures are sometimes incorporated into GFCM multiannual management plans or taken into account in FRAs, and in a few cases they are used on a stand-alone basis.