Past and future fisheries modeling approaches in the Philippines

摘要

Philippines coastal fisheries research started during the colonization period in the 1800s with the basic taxonomic identification of the countries aquatic resources and a description of their distribution in national waters. Research further evolved with the change from localized fisheries governance to a centralized one, presently, with a combination of both. The dramatic postwar expansion of Philippine fisheries in the mid 1940s led to the need for sustainable resources management. In the mid-1970s, single-species fisheries approaches (i.e. specifically surplus production models) indicated the overfished state of the Philippine coastal fisheries resources. These early models together with additional ecological and socioeconomic studies, served as inputs to coastal resources management initiatives, in the context of an ecosystem approach. The implementation of further management schemes such as marine reserves and fish sanctuaries also resulted from these initiatives. The decentralization of governance of coastal resources in the 1990s led to participatory or co-management approaches for the local governance of coastal resources. The development and great improvement of ecosystem-based models in fisheries science (such as Ecopath with Ecosim [EwE]) during this period allowed for investigations into the interactions of the multispecies and multigear fisheries dynamics. Complementary models derived from single-species such as Yield per Recruit and Surplus production in conjunction with ecosystem-based (EwE-type) approaches are both needed in Philippine fisheries research. An emerging framework for sustainable Philippine fisheries management system requires mainstreaming of coastal governance with science based adaptive management for Philippine aquatic resources governance.