INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS
The EAF, as interpreted by FAO (2003) does not represent a revolution (in the sense of a rupture
with the current fisheries management paradigm). It is rather an important new phase in a process of
continuous evolution of fisheries-related institutions. While the specific terms “ecosystem approach
to fisheries (EAF)” or “ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM)” may not yet be common in
international instruments, regional conventions or arrangements and national legislation, the
underlying principles and conceptual objectives examined above appear in many of them (Kimball,
2001; Aqorau, 2003).
The institutional foundations of EAF are to be found in the numerous instruments and events which,
during at least the last three decades, reflected a growing societal concern for our degrading
environment. Selecting the most significant ones among them is partly subjective. Annex 2 contains
the list of international events and instruments that we have selected as most relevant in paving the
way to the ecosystem approach to management of the environment as well as of fisheries. These
events and instruments materialize the progressive building up of institutional strength in parallel
with progress in the understanding of the ecosystem functioning and of human institutions created
to conserve or use them in a sustainable manner.