The Institutional Dimensions of Fisheries Stock Assessments

Coastal states were granted ample authority to conserve and manage resources within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) as a result of the codification of 200-mile exclusive economic zones at the Third Law of the Sea Convention. With this authority came the responsibility to acquire a scientific understanding of these resources sufficient to inform sustainable policies. Two decades later, it would appear that the transmission of scientifically sound advice into long-term sustainable policies has proved more difficult than anticipated. This paper examines the linkage between fisheries stock assessments and fisheries policy and argues that institutional structure affects perceptions of salience, credibility and legitimacy and, as a result, the influence of fisheries stock assessments on fisheries policy. More specifically, I argue here that fisheries stock assessment processes that are embedded within policymaking organizations are more influential within those organizations than outside of them. Conversely, autonomous assessments are more influential than embedded assessments with a broad range of stakeholders affected by fisheries policies but less influential within the policymaking organizations themselves. The empirical illustrations of these points include an examination of fisheries stock assessments in Canada, the United States and Australia.