Measuring Triple Bottomline Performance in a Fishery Attempting to Recover from Collapse: The Case of the Colombian Queen Conch Fishery

The rebuilding of collapsed fisheries is a major challenge for fisheries science and management, requiring multi-faceted evaluations to assess the current and potential performance of recovering fisheries. Single-dimensional analyses such as stock abundance assessments are only partially effective in determining the best course of action for fisheries in this condition. This study relied on the Fishery Performance Indicators (FPIs) – a rapid assessment tool for measuring economic, social and ecological outcomes from fishery management systems – to analyze performance and rebuilding challenges for the Colombian queen conch (Lobatus gigas) fishery. The ecological and economic indicators clearly revealed an underperforming fishery, even when compared to other fisheries in developing countries. Performance improved in the community (social) indicators, reflecting the socioeconomic and cultural importance of the fishery, even when operating at subsistence levels. Results also showed that rebuilding is constrained not only by ecological factors but also for managerial and economic reasons. In particular, bioeconomic modeling is strongly recommended for the fishery in order to add useful economic advice to the policy making process, which has been traditionally guided by biological considerations such as maximization of sustainable yield.