The main theme of the conference was "Rebuilding Fisheries in an Uncertain Environment". Particular focus was placed on the economic success or otherwise of stock recovery programmes, the impact of natural disasters on fisheries and the potential impacts of climate change. With many fisheries around the world either overexploited or collapsing, the development of recovery plans that allow both the stocks and industry to recover to a sustainable level is becoming a high priority in fisheries management. Recovery from natural disaster has also, unfortunately, been a significant feature of fisheries following the Asian Tsunami and hurricanes in the US and Central America.

The potential for alternative management paradigms, such as ocean management and ecosystem management, to facilitate fishery recovery was also highlighted as a major theme. These systems-based approaches to management include interactions with multiple users of the resource, be they either anthrotropic or natural.

The conference also held a "Policy Day" aimed at linking researchers, policy makers and stakeholders. This one-day special session was devoted to the important role that state of the art research plays in informing and shaping policy decisions and directions and the way in which this research is perceived by industry and other stakeholders. The programme included a series of short speeches from invited government representatives, who presented an overview of contemporary policy directions and drivers at the global, EU and UK levels. Invited international representatives from the fishing industry and other stakeholder organisations also provided feedback to the IIFET research community on both their perceptions of the usefulness of our work in general, and their research needs for the future.

As with previous IIFET conferences, a wide range of other topics was also covered, including marketing, trade, modelling, aquaculture and fisheries development.

Suggested bibliographic reference:

Proceedings of the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade, July 11-14, 2006, Portsmouth, UK: Rebuilding Fisheries in an Uncertain Environment. Compiled by Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, 2006. CD ROM. ISBN 0-9763432-3-1