Our assessment of the current status on application of GIS in spatial analyses
of fish populations is summarized in Fig. 2. As noted, there are few
applications in numerical analyses and predictions, which will be the challenging
area for the future.
GIS development in any discipline evolves over time, with different
emphasis being placed on the results that are produced. Crain and McDonald
(1983) noted this development cycle, stating that most GIS started as inventory
tools, then progressed to handle a range of analyses before being
used extensively to integrate data for management. Fisheries GIS are no
exception. Meaden (2000) outlines various fisheries specific challenges to
GIS development (Table 2). These hurdles need to be addressed to ensure
rapid fisheries GIS development in the future.
There is an urgent need to develop spatially oriented management
methodologies due to the limitations of the traditional concept of the pooled
single-stock maximum sustainable yield or total allowable catch. Management
measures need to be applied in space and time along with considering
ecosystem implications, bycatch, multispecies interactions, and the
socioeconomic importance of fisheries. In this manner, responsible fishing
practices can be pursued while securing protein sources that may be able
to mitigate food crises expected in the beginning of the twenty-first century.
It is certain that such ecosystem management schemes for responsible
fisheries will be complex, prompting the use of GIS as suitable
management and assessment tools.
Integrated ecosystem fisheries management is the most important and
challenging area in fisheries resources research. The facets are numerous
and need careful consideration if GIS technology is to be used. Some prospects
are achievable in the immediate future while the rest will occur in the
long term. Clearly, some of the challenges are intrinsically interrelated and
therefore difficult to separate and it is of little relevance to attempt to
compartmentalize challenges between inland, coastal, and marine fisheries.
Obviously there is a hierarchy of challenges such that some of them
will only affect a minority of activists in this field, and some are likely to be
more or less easily overcome. It is the authors’ hope that this paper can
contribute to promoting fisheries scientists, biologists, managers, fishers,
and educators to apply fisheries GIS for optimal utilization and management
of our fisheries resources within their wider ecosystems