This is a strategy document of the EAF-Nansen Programme, formulated to guide the Programme’s communication activities. All the communications goals were designed to highlight the Programme’s successes and potential. The overarching objective of the Programme is to support sustainable fisheries as a way to improving food and nutrition security in partner countries.

The EAF-Nansen Project has designed a university-level training course on the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) and has already run the course in partnership with a number of universities in Africa. The EAF course targets professionals in fisheries research and management institutions, universities, environmental agencies and the private sector. It is intended that the course be mainstreamed in the fisheries training offered by the partner universities. This handbook has been developed to complement the PowerPoint resources and to combine into one document the examples provided in the course, as well as key reference materials, suggested readings, exercises and case studies, for the purpose of supporting both trainers and trainees.

The How-to Guide analyses current and emerging trends relevant to the implementation of EAF. The guide includes examples from several parts of the world to demonstrate different approaches to drafting legislation that incorporate each of these components. It also contains components that are routinely addressed during the review or development of a country’s legislative framework for fisheries, such as objectives and principles, input and output controls, fishery management plans, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement. This demonstrates that, while this guide is specifically concerned with the development of EAF-friendly legislation, EAF should be considered part of the overall objective of improving the legal framework for fisheries management.