Fisheries management evaluation: a case study of the British Columbia groundfish fisheries

The role of evaluation in fisheries management has been expanding in response to growing concerns over the state of the world’s fisheries and ocean ecosystems. The British Columbia groundfish fisheries have been promoted as an example of fisheries management best practices but have not included comprehensive program evaluation within the management system. This study identifies best practices for comprehensive fisheries management evaluation and assesses the current state of evaluation in the BC groundfish fishery, showing that recent efforts to integrate evaluation within the BC groundfish management framework do not meet international best practice standards. Poor stakeholder engagement, the absence of explicit social and institutional objectives, and undocumented indicator selection processes are areas of weakness that must be addressed to ensure that BC groundfish fisheries meet best practices for fisheries management evaluation.