Chapter 1 On the Future of Fisheries Science

Fishers' Knowledge in Fisheries Science and …, 2007

Great complaints are made against the use of the net called 'wondyrchoun' [beam trawl] which drags from the bottom of the sea all the bait that used to be the food of great fish… …[it] runs so heavily and hardly over the ground when fishing that it destroys the flowers of the land below the water and also the spat of oysters, mussels, and other fish upon which the great fish are nourished. .. …Through means of this instrument fishermen catch `such great plenty of small fish that they do not know what to do with them, but fatten their pigs with them'. UK Rolls of Parliament (1376/77) Today, 99% of the world's 51 million fishers are small-scale, producing over half of the global foodfish catch of 98 million tones. One billion people rely on aquatic resources as their main source of dietary protein (Berkes et al. 2001 and references therein). Globally, many fish stocks are depleted. Overall, our capacity to harvest fish continues to outpace our capacity to monitor the effects of fishing, let alone design, implement and enforce effective conservation measures. Fish populations once deemed inexhaustible (Huxley 1883), have been reduced to a fraction of their past abundance (Hilborn et al. 2003). High-level predators in the North Atlantic hover round 10% of their 1900 levels (Christensen et al. 2003; Myers and Worm 2003). Some sharks have suffered declines of over 50% since the mid 1980s (Schindler et al. 2003; Baum et al. 2002). Other species as diverse as marine turtles (Hays et al. 2003) and many species of whales hover at very low levels (Roman and Palumbi 2003). In too many cases, stocks are so depleted that conserving what is left would amount to sharing the present misery (Pitcher 2001). In these cases, the only meaningful option is recovery but we generally know even less about recovery than we do about conservation. 'Fisheries science' and 'management', as currently practiced, are relatively new phenomena. However, knowledge about marine and freshwater ecosystems and social institutions mediating human relationships with those ecosystems is ancient, being a necessity of survival as well as the product of natural human interest in the surrounding world. Together, these have led, throughout the world, to acute observation, experimentation, the formulation and testing of hypotheses, and the development of theories and practices as well as social institutions to regulate resource use and transmit knowledge from generation to generation (Berkes 1999). This book has brought together many case studies from different parts of the world where the knowledge of fishers, their institutions and often the fishers themselves is being actively integrated into fisheries science and management. The chapters represent different points on a number of continua; between contexts where mutual respect, cooperation and reciprocity (Stanley and Rice this vol.) are just evolving and those where formal co-management arrangements operate (Baird and other this vol.); between Indigenous management, state management, and state

Springer eBooks, 2009

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Science, 2003

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 1999

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries

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Fisheries Centre …, 2005

2018

Climate change is expected to change all aspects of life in the ocean, from basic biological processes such as survival and growth to the distribution and abundance of species, and the structure and function of marine food webs. These changes will affect fisheries and other ecosystem services. Many fishers will need to adapt to where and what they fish and how large, abundant and valuable their target species and overall catch are. Many species will move their distribution poleward or toward deeper waters. Some polar and tropical species may become extinct. This will lead to a restructuring of marine communities, with largely unpredictable consequences. Based on available climate projections, global fish production and catches are expected to decline, although with considerable regional variation, including increases in high and decreases in low latitudes. A large degree of future change, however, will depend on the development of fisheries and other human impacts. A reduction in fishing pressure, sustainable fisheries management and ocean governance will be necessary to maintain the future of fish and fisheries. The protection of marine biodiversity can thereby act as insurance in the face of climate and other global change.

Global sustainability, 2019

We present a view on global marine fisheries that emphasizes mitigating the conflict between sustainability and the scale of industrial exploitation driven by the demand of continuous economic growth. We then summarize the current state of global fisheries. Finally, we advocate strongly for scaling back industrial fisheries, most of which are non-sustainable. This can be achieved through eliminating the harmful, capacity-enhancing subsidies that prop up industrial fisheries to continue operating despite declining fish stocks. Instead, we propose to support well-managed, locally owned and operated small-scale fisheries, which generally contribute more to local employment and food security. We stress that contrary to deepseated opinion in the fishing industry and among politicians, reducing overfishing by eliminating overcapacity in fishing fleets will actually lead to greater, not reduced catches. This would address part of the increased global seafood demand over the coming decades, which is driven by population and wealth growth. This seems counterintuitive, but is supported by fisheries science, data and experiences. Thankfully, we are beginning to see that some of these changes are being pursued by a growing number of countries and international institutions.

Fisheries Research, 2019

Recreational fisheries (RF) are complex social-ecological systems that play an important role in aquatic environments while generating significant social and economic benefits around the world. The nature of RF is diverse and rapidly evolving, including the participants, their priorities and behaviors, and the related ecological impacts and social and economic benefits. RF can lead to negative ecological impacts, particularly through overexploitation of fish populations and spread of non-native species and genotypes through stocking. Hence, careful management and monitoring of RF is essential to sustain these ecologically and socioeconomically important resources. This special issue on recreational fisheries contains diverse research, syntheses, and perspectives that highlight the advances being made in RF research, monitoring, management, and practice, which we summarize here. Co-management actions are rising, often involving diverse interest groups including government and non-government organizations; applying collaborative management practices can help balance social and economic benefits with conservation targets. Technological and methodological advances are improving the ability to monitor biological, social, and economic dynamics of RF, which underpin the ability to maximize RF benefits through management actions. To ensure RF sustainability, much research focuses on the ecological aspects of RF, as well as the development of management and angling practices that reduce negative impacts on fish populations. For example, angler behavior can be influenced to conform to conservation-minded angling practices through regulations, but is often best accomplished through growing bottom-up social change movements. Anglers can also play an important role in fisheries monitoring and conservation, including providing data on fish abundance and assemblages (i.e., citizen science). The increasing impacts that growing human populations are having on the global environment are threatening many of the natural resources and ecosystem services they provide, including valuable RF. However, with careful development of research initiatives, monitoring and management, sustainable RF can generate positive outcomes for both society and natural ecosystems and help solve allocation conflicts with commercial fisheries and conservation.

Fisheries Centre …, 2005