Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation

Economic activities in the ocean (i.e. the ‘blue economy’) provide value to society, yet also jeopardise marine ecosystems. For example, fisheries are an essential source of income and food security for billions of people, yet bycatch poses a major threat to marine biodiversity, creating trade-offs...

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Main Authors: Booth, H, Arlidge, W, Squires, D, Milner-Gulland, E
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2021
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author Booth, H
Arlidge, W
Squires, D
Milner-Gulland, E
author_facet Booth, H
Arlidge, W
Squires, D
Milner-Gulland, E
author_sort Booth, H
collection OXFORD
description Economic activities in the ocean (i.e. the ‘blue economy’) provide value to society, yet also jeopardise marine ecosystems. For example, fisheries are an essential source of income and food security for billions of people, yet bycatch poses a major threat to marine biodiversity, creating trade-offs between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. This paper explores bycatch levies as a market-based instrument for reconciling these trade-offs. We outline the theory and practice of bycatch levies, to demonstrate how they could incentivise bycatch prevention and raise revenue for compensatory conservation, provided they are well-designed, as part of a policy mix for sustainable and equitable ocean governance. We then explore ways forward for mainstreaming bycatch levies in to the blue economy. While compensatory bycatch mitigation has been controversial, increasing adoption of net outcome approaches to biodiversity conservation suggests they could become mainstreamed within the next decade. Bycatch levies could raise millions of dollars towards closing global biodiversity financing gaps; delivering net outcomes for biodiversity under the UN Biodiversity post-2020 framework whilst enabling blue growth, and moving towards win-wins for economic welfare and biodiversity conservation.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e44ab4d2-96c0-4c9e-b670-280ed2f687ba2022-03-27T10:15:36ZBycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e44ab4d2-96c0-4c9e-b670-280ed2f687baEnglishSymplectic ElementsSpringer Nature2021Booth, HArlidge, WSquires, DMilner-Gulland, EEconomic activities in the ocean (i.e. the ‘blue economy’) provide value to society, yet also jeopardise marine ecosystems. For example, fisheries are an essential source of income and food security for billions of people, yet bycatch poses a major threat to marine biodiversity, creating trade-offs between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. This paper explores bycatch levies as a market-based instrument for reconciling these trade-offs. We outline the theory and practice of bycatch levies, to demonstrate how they could incentivise bycatch prevention and raise revenue for compensatory conservation, provided they are well-designed, as part of a policy mix for sustainable and equitable ocean governance. We then explore ways forward for mainstreaming bycatch levies in to the blue economy. While compensatory bycatch mitigation has been controversial, increasing adoption of net outcome approaches to biodiversity conservation suggests they could become mainstreamed within the next decade. Bycatch levies could raise millions of dollars towards closing global biodiversity financing gaps; delivering net outcomes for biodiversity under the UN Biodiversity post-2020 framework whilst enabling blue growth, and moving towards win-wins for economic welfare and biodiversity conservation.
spellingShingle Booth, H
Arlidge, W
Squires, D
Milner-Gulland, E
Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
title Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
title_full Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
title_fullStr Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
title_full_unstemmed Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
title_short Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
title_sort bycatch levies could reconcile trade offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation
work_keys_str_mv AT boothh bycatchleviescouldreconciletradeoffsbetweenbluegrowthandbiodiversityconservation
AT arlidgew bycatchleviescouldreconciletradeoffsbetweenbluegrowthandbiodiversityconservation
AT squiresd bycatchleviescouldreconciletradeoffsbetweenbluegrowthandbiodiversityconservation
AT milnergullande bycatchleviescouldreconciletradeoffsbetweenbluegrowthandbiodiversityconservation