Despite the prevalence and socioeconomic importance of small, low total-revenue stocks, predominantly in tropical, developing countries, most of the world's fishery science effort has been devoted to large stocks. Methods for assessing and managing large stocks, though applicable to small ones, are seldom feasible for them. Minimal attention has been paid to approaches that are specifically for small stocks. The tendency for managers of fisheries on small stocks in developing countries to believe that stock assessment is essential for successful fishery management, often leads to disproportionate allocation of resources to stock assessment rather than other critical components of management. This has been reinforced by several agencies that have made stock assessment methods and software available for use in developing countries, while paying little attention to other dimensions of fishery assessment and management. Hence, management efforts for small stocks are often stock assessment driven (SAD), rather than management objective driven (MOD), as they should be. The sequence of actions typical of these two approaches is contrasted. Managers of small stocks in developing countries need international programs that will develop and promote formal methodological approaches with broad emphasis on management objectives and process.

Community-based fisheries management (CBFM) may be viewed as a process by which fishers are given the opportunity and responsibility to manage their own resources; define their needs, goals, and aspirations, and make decisions affecting their well-being. Fisheries management is receiving greater attention as it has been realized that, although renewable, fisheries resources are overexploited and demand is increasing by a growing population. There are various objectives of fisheries management (Panayotou, 1982). For the Indonesian context, the objectives of fisheries resource management are to increase fish production and consumption, have a positive trade balance, and increase the income of fishers. This study is about participation of fishers or coastal residents in marine fisheries resource management. The area coverage is the eastern part of Indonesia since this region is dominated by islands and waters and therefore there are many coastal communities who rely on fishing activities. A sense of unity and brotherhood of the fishers in eastern Indonesia is still alive. The shapes of the unity and brotherhood is symbolized by their collective participation in the management of coastal fisheries resources.

This short article provides an overview of the Conference from the perspective of an observer from the New Zealand fishing industry. Fishers were well represented at this Conference. Of special interest to them were the vast contrasts in lobster fisheries management throughout the world, the apparent resilience of lobster populations and the similarities in management issues throughout the world. The Conference emphasized the need for scientists and fishers to work together, and for industry to have an informed and interactive role in managing and choosing research directions for lobster resources.

A management programme implemented in Florida in 1993 was designed to reduce the number of traps in the spiny lobster fishery in order to reduce gear conflicts, environmental damage and effort without reducing harvest. Traps in the commercial fishery were reduced from 939 000 in 1991 to 568 000 in 1995. Landings by fishing season, zone (upper Florida Keys and lower Florida Keys), sex, and time period (summer v. winter) were pro-rated into numbers by length that were assigned ages by using growth simulations. From tag-recapture data, moult interval was estimated by using a logistic regression with terms for zone, sex, time period, carapace length, and time at large. For lobsters that moulted, the moult increment was modelled with a multiple regression including the same terms. Standardized catch-per-trip and total landings increased as traps were reduced. Age-structured analysis of the catches-at-age indicated that fishing mortality decreased by 16%, even as landings increased. It is not known whether the increase in landings was due to natural population fluctuations or to positive results of trap reduction. Fishing mortality rates still exceed common benchmarks used in fishery management, and excessive traps remain in the fishery.

The global marine fish catch is approaching its upper limit. The number of overfished populations, as well as the indirect effects of fisheries on marine ecosystems, indicate that management has failed to achieve a principal goal, sustainability. This failure is primarily due to continually increasing harvest rates in response to incessant sociopolitical pressure for greater harvests and the intrinsic uncertainty in predicting the harvest that will cause population collapse. A more holistic approach incorporating interspecific interactions and physical environmental influences would contribute to greater sustainability by reducing the uncertainty in predictions. However, transforming the management process to reduce the influence of pressure for greater harvest holds more immediate promise.

After individual quotas were imposed in 1990, the fishery for Jasus edwardsii in the Gisborne area showed continuing declines in catch and catch rate to 1993, and the total quota could not be caught in this area. There were few legal-sized but many sublegal-sized lobsters. Pots caused mortality of sublegal lobsters through handling, pot-related Octopus predation, and thefts from commercial pots. The industry, in conjunction with recreational fishers and Maori, developed a scheme to address these problems. The aim was to increase landed value to compensate for quota reductions, and to do this by landing more lobsters in winter (when prices were higher) and landing smaller lobsters (which had a higher unit price). A shortened season was designed to reduce pot-related mortality. Part of the scheme--a proposal to reduce the minimum legal size of male lobsters--caused controversy. However, the package was evaluated with a simple model and then accepted by the Minister of Fisheries. Results were substantially increased catch rates since 1993, a successful shift to a winter fishery, and a shift in length frequencies toward larger sizes. A simple size-structured model fitted to the fishery data and used to evaluate future management options is also described.