The increase in demand puts increased pressure on resources and requires strengthening conservation measures, such as the protection of “sensitive” habitats and the regulation of access to fisheries resources, such as the widespread implementation of individual usage rights. This occurs in a context of limited capture capacities, rising production costs due to the increase in energy prices, and global climate change.
The realization that overexploitation of marine fisheries resources was a consequence of the chronic overcapacity of the fishing fleet and the inadequacy of conservation measures (capture quotas and/or fishing effort, technical measures), as well as the control of their implementation, is now widely shared.
To address these challenges, MISSION-NUMERIQUE proposes an ecosystem approach that encompasses the protection of biodiversity in the spatial management of various uses of the marine environment.
It provides coherence for all fisheries management measures and integrates the conservation of living resources and their habitats with the goal of creating wealth. In summary, the approach is to “reconcile conservation and exploitation.”
The challenge is, therefore, the sustainability of fisheries. This challenge forms a long-term strategic orientation that allows for the sustainable reconciliation of resource and ecosystem conservation with economic and social efficiency.