Essential EAFM course content

Overview

The five-day Essential EAFM course provides participants with an understanding of the need for an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). It will help them acquire skills and knowledge to develop, implement and monitor an EAFM plan to better manage capture fisheries.

EAFM Key Principles

Over the five days participants will:

Day 1: Understand what EAFM is and why it should be used
Day 2: Understand what moving towards EAFM entails
Day 3: Work through the EAFM planning process
Day 4: Work through implementing EAFM plans
Day 5: Present and receive feedback on group EAFM plans

Day-by-day course content breakdown

Day 1 – WHY and WHAT

Participant introductions and course overview:
At the end of the session you will have:

Introduced yourselves and communicated your personal hopes and concerns for the course;
Stated the aims and objectives of the course;
Identified issues and threats faced by your fisheries and associated ecosystems.

Why use EAFM?
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Realize that addressing the many threats and issues facing capture fisheries and coastal ecosystems requires a new approach;
Recognize the multiple benefits that ecosystems provide to human societies;
Explain the reasons for using an ecosystem approach (EA) to address existing and future fisheries management.

What is EAFM? - Overview
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Define the three components of EAFM;
Understand the principles of EAFM and its link to major elements of CCRF
Explain how EAFM complements other approaches.

Considerations for moving towards an EAFM
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Describe in greater detail the key principles of EAFM.

What is EAFM and how much are you already doing?
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Revisit your threats and issues and cluster them according to the three EAFM components;
Understand that you are already doing some aspects of EAFM;
Analyze your current fisheries practices and identify what EAFM you are already doing;
Identify gaps in your EAFM practices and possible ways to move forward.

Day 2 – HOW

Moving towards EAFM
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Learn how an example national government has moved towards EAFM over time;
Appreciate that the process of moving toward EAFM can consist of a progression of simple actions over many years;
Understand there is no set form or shape for EAFM as it is country, context, culture specific;
Determine where your respective country stands in terms of moving towards EAFM and identify challenges your country faces in moving towards EAFM.

EAFM plans: the link between policy and actions
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Recognize the need for effective planning and plans so as to turn policies into actions.

EAFM process overview
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Describe the key steps of the EAFM process and how to implement EAFM;
Identify the planning steps in the EAFM process;
Familiarize yourselves with an EAFM plan.

Startup
A. Preparing the ground
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Define startup tasks needed to initiate the EAFM process and co-management, including
- defining the broad FMU area;
- setting up teams and consultative groups;
- identifying and understanding stakeholders;
- working in the co-management processes.

Startup
B. Stakeholder engagement
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Define participatory approaches to stakeholder engagement;
Understand how to organize and hold stakeholder meetings;
Understand the basic concepts of co-management.

Day 3 – PLAN

Step 1 Define and scope the Fisheries Management Unit (FMU)
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Understand and practice FMU defining and scoping.

Step 2: Identify and prioritize issues and goals
Steps 2.1 to 2.3
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Identify your FMU-specific issues;
Discuss how to prioritize issues through risk assessment;
Develop goals for the EAFM plan

Reality check I
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Identify the constraints and opportunities in meeting your FMU goals;
Use facilitation skills with co-management partners in focus group discussions (FGDs);
Understand the need for conflict management in EAFM management and practice a range of conflict management techniques.

Step 3: Develop objectives, indicators and benchmarks
Steps 3.1 & 3.2
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Develop operational objectives;
Develop indicators and benchmarks related to the agreed objectives;
Discuss pre-selected EAFM indicators as examples.

Step 3: Management actions, compliance, finance & finalize EAFM plan
Steps 3.3 to 3.5
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Agree management actions and how stakeholders will comply with these;
Include financing mechanisms in the plan;
Bring it all together – finalize the EAFM plan.

Day 4 – DO

Step 4: Implement the plan
Step 4.1 Formalize, communicate and engage
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Summarize what is meant by formal adoption of the EAFM plan;
Develop an implementation work plan;
Develop a communication strategy.

Reality check II
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Check on the status of the EAFM plan implementation;
Consider whether implementation is in line with the principles of EAFM;
Check on the practicalities – is the supporting environment in place?

CHECK and IMPROVE

Step 5: Monitor, evaluate and adapt
Steps 5.1 & 5.2
At the end of the session you will be able to:

Monitor performance of management actions to meet objectives and goals;
Understand what has to be monitored, when, how and by whom;
Evaluate the monitoring information and report on performance;
Adapt the plan.

Day 5 – PRESENT and SHOW LEARNING

Participant group work preparing presentations
At the end of the session you will have:

Prepared your FMU group EAFM plans presentations.

Participant presentations
At the end of the session you will have:

Presented your FMU group EAFM plans or tools related to the plan to the wider group;
Received feedback on your presentations.

Individual action planning
At the end of the session you will have:

Developed an individual action plan and potential next steps for your agency, to be acted on upon your return to work.

Course evaluation and guided participant feedback
At the end of the session you will have:

Completed final course evaluation forms and provided extensive guided feedback on this course.

Course closure and certification
At the end of the session you will have:

Received your course certificates.