Seeking to quantify contributions that fisheries operations can make to a global Nature Positive goal

Stefanía Ásta Karlsdóttir, Hollie Booth, Tim Davies, Joseph W Bull, E.J. Milner-Gulland

Amidst global efforts to address biodiversity loss, the concept of ‘Nature Positive’ has gained traction as a societal goal aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). While the goal is increasingly being embraced by businesses and governments, there has been little investigation into how fisheries, a key sector in the global economy and a major driver of marine biodiversity loss, could go beyond ‘sustainable fishing’ to contribute towards Nature Positive and the GBF. Here, we begin to fill this gap. We first draw on literature on the mitigation hierarchy and transformative actions for businesses to offer a conceptual framework outlining how fisheries’ direct operations could contribute towards Nature Positive. We then use publicly available information from the Marine Stewardship Council's certification process and develop an example metric based on the UK’s Biodiversity Net Gain metric, to work through the framework for three case study fisheries. Finally, we gain expert insights into stakeholder’s perception of a Nature Positive approach to fisheries management to inform future avenues. Our findings offer a practical first step to support fisheries to contribute to nature recovery on a global scale as part of best practice fisheries management. We also highlight that pathways towards Nature Positive contributions will differ considerably between fisheries, with critical knowledge gaps hampering the potential for ‘like-for-like’ net positive outcomes in all fisheries. This study represents a first step towards Nature Positive pathways for fisheries, with implications for policy, business and research.