partnership . excellence . growth

An agro-ecosystem approach toAn agro ecosystem approach to aquaculture & inland fisheries:

Fish out of the water?Fish out of the water?

Martin van Brakel1 Sophie Nguyen-Khoa1,2 & Lindsay Ross3

Aquatic ecosystems and FisheriesCh ll P W t d F dChallenge Program on Water and Food

1WorldFish Center 2IWMI 3University of Stirling

OutlineOutline

• Introduction & overview– Ecosystem approach to fisheries– Ecosystem approach to aquaculture

• Why spatial analysis?• Methods• Fish from Space

– Observational– Time Series Analysis

• From Concept to Practice

Fisheries in an ecosystem approachFisheries in an ecosystem approach

Conventional fisheries management

S t l• Sectoral• Vertically integrated

F i il fi hi ti it d t t fi h• Focuses primarily on fishing activity and target fish resources

Modern fisheries management

• Strongly based on ecosystem theory

Why an ecosystem approach?Why an ecosystem approach?

Ecosystem management

• Loosely cross-sectoral• Focus on habitats and ecosystem integrityy g y• Involves direct manipulation of the habitat and population

as well as of human activity with the view to optimizing sustainable returns to humans (Garcia et. al. 2003).

• (Agro-)ecosystem approach can operationalize ecosystem-based management of inland fisheries and aquaculture

The ProblemThe Problem

• Problems in managing natural resources - mismatch between scale of management and scale of ecological processes being managed (Cumming et al 2006)processes being managed (Cumming et. al. 2006)

• Ecosystem based management in fisheries has proven difficult to operationalize (Andrew et al 2007)difficult to operationalize (Andrew et. al. 2007)

• Yet, inland fisheries and aquaculture management cannot be effective without taking its ecosystem linkages ca o be e ec e ou a g s ecosys e agesinto account

Why spatial analysis?Why spatial analysis?

N d t i th ti l d fi iti f b d i• Need to re-examine the spatial definition of boundaries for natural resource governance in general, and for inland fisheries in particularp

• Social-ecological landscapes - integrative spatial context for applied research, policy analysis, future planning, and t t i d ti b l l t k h ldstrategies and actions by local stakeholders

• Area based• Multi dimensional• Multi-dimensional• Spatial contingency

Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries*Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries*

Requirements (Garcia et. al. 2003)

D fi iti d i tifi d i ti f th t i• Definition and scientific description of the ecosystem in terms of scale, extent, structure and functioning

• Assessment of its state in terms of health or integrity as• Assessment of its state in terms of health or integrity as defined by what is acceptable to society

• Assessment of threats• Assessment of threats• Maintenance, protection, mitigation, or rehabilitation• Adaptive management strategies• Adaptive management strategies

*FAO, 2002

Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture*Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture

• Expressed in a holistic “ecosystem approach” to development

“An Ecosystem Approach for Aquaculture (EEA) is a strategy for the integration of the activity within the widerstrategy for the integration of the activity within the wider ecosystem in such a way that it promotes sustainable development, equity, and resilience of interlinked social de e op e , equ y, a d es e ce o e ed soc aand ecological systems” (Soto et. al. 2007).

*FAO, 2007

Ecosystem Approach to AquacultureEcosystem Approach to Aquaculture

Key principles (Soto et. al. 2007)

• Aquaculture in the context of ecosystem functions and services, including biodiversity, with no degradation of these beyond their resilience capacity

• Improve human wellbeing and equity for all stakeholders • In the context of, and integrated into, policies and goals

of other sectors

Guiding principlesGuiding principles

Biophysical characteristics of resource governance

Wh (i h t l i l l d ) d fi h i &• Where (in what ecological landscape) do fisheries & aquaculture occur

• Areas of greatest interest and importance to local• Areas of greatest interest and importance to local stakeholders - local social and institutional context

• Environmental externalities and economies of scale• Environmental externalities and economies of scale• Boundaries must be clearly defined in order to

operationalize the approachoperationalize the approach• Bioregion – most local scale of similar ecological

landscape (Brunckhorst 2005)p ( )

MethodsMethods

Observational Time series

• Indirect & direct• Higher resolution

• Mostly indirect• Lower resolution• Higher resolution

• Low temporal coverage

• Lower resolution• High temporal

coveragecoverage• ‘before’ vs. ‘after’ etc.

coverage• Trends (multi-date

change detection)

Fish from SpaceFish from Space

Observational

• Example: Zhujiang Delta (China), Mulberry dike-pond systemspond systems

• “Direct”• 30 m resolution• ~ 30 m resolution• Temporal coverage:

10/01/2003 01/11/200010/01/2003, 01/11/2000, 14/09/2000, 13/10/1990

Data source: Global Land Cover Facility http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml

Fish from SpaceFish from Space

C ti i di t K R S Ri C b di d (l ft) d tComparative, indirect: Kampong Ro, Svay Rieng, Cambodia dry (left) and wet (right) season, with GPS positions (wpt **) of field observations

Fish in GISFish in GIS

Modelode

Time series analysisSpatially explicitSpatially explicit ecosystems

3) Reclass

4) Overlay

Environmental time series

Principal components

Cluster image output

Output

1) PCA 2) Cluster

OutputEcosystem time series

Resilience/ no change

Change analysis

Degradation / functional change

Time series analysisTime series analysis

Seasonal greenness (left) and ecosystem ‘clusters’ (right) derived from seasonality analysis, Northeast Thailand, Cambodian plains, Mekong Delta

Agro ecosystem analysisAgro-ecosystem analysis

Observational Unsupervised

SeasonalitySeasonality

Fish on EarthFish on Earth

Agro-industrial landscape, Song Hau State Farm

Agro ecosystem analysisAgro-ecosystem analysis

Observational Unsupervised

SeasonalitySeasonality

Fish on EarthFish on Earth

Agro-ecological landscape Kampong Ro, dry season

From Concept to PracticeFrom Concept to Practice

Cross scale analysisCross-scale analysis

• Conventional hierarchy of administrative and politicalConventional hierarchy of administrative and political units, from the national level down to the village level

• Many environmental and resource problems in agriculture do not neatly conform to administrative or political boundaries

• Instead contained by socio economic and ecological• Instead contained by socio-economic and ecological boundaries (Conway & Barbier 1990).

• ‘Social ecological system’ - encapsulates linkages andSocial ecological system encapsulates linkages and interdependencies between ecological and social systems (Berkes & Folke 1998; Andrew et. al. 2007).

From Concept to PracticeFrom Concept to Practice

Use of the approach in fisheries and aquaculture

• Principles and social-ecological basis similar • Management purposes (potentially) different• Aquaculture: scope and boundaries for development and

expansion within a given agro-ecosystem, externalitiesFi h i li f i• Fisheries: seasonality of aquatic ecosystems, water uses and large scale processes outside the direct fisheries domain (e g climate variability and change)domain (e.g. climate variability and change)

• Resilience of social-ecological systems

partnership . excellence . growth

Obrigado

Martin van Brakel1, Sophie Nguyen-Khoa1,2 & Lindsay Ross3

Aquatic ecosystems and FisheriesChallenge Program on Water and FoodChallenge Program on Water and Food

1WorldFish Center 2IWMI 3University of Stirling