Managing for Outcomes

People and organisations involved in fishing generally share our goal of sustainable fisheries. We want the best value from our fisheries resources, while keeping the aquatic ecosystem strong and healthy. For this, we need a credible and effective management system.

The Ministry of Fisheries uses statements of desired outcomes to guide its activities. These describe what we want to achieve and how it will be achieved, using incentives, management measures, and fisheries services.

Statements of outcomes start wide in scope, but become more specific when describing particular measures, services or activities. The results that must be produced by both fishers and managers to achieve the outcomes will be clearly defined.

Managing for fisheries outcomes consists of the following parts:

• Outcomes – desired results across fisheries.
• Standards – required levels of performance.
• Objectives – desired results for a specific fishery.
• Rules – Strategies – Interventions – management measures to meet standards and achieve objectives.
• Services – management activities to enable rules to be complied with.
• Monitoring and evaluation.

These provide a clear basis for interacting with tangata whenua and stakeholders on proposed management of fisheries. They also provide a basis for monitoring and evaluating what is delivered both in respect of outcomes and implementation. The last four parts listed above will be contained in fisheries plans.

The basic features of the outcomes model are set out in the following diagram.

Objectives-based management