Editorial: Managing for the Future: Challenges and Approaches for Disentangling the Relative Roles of Environmental Change and Fishing in Marine Ecosystems

Abstract

In the Anthropocene era, characterized by significant human impact on Earth's systems, the old saying "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" does not apply to the natural world. The oceans, long held to be relatively stable physically, biogeochemically and ecologically, are warming, acidifying, and de-oxygenating (Gruber, 2011;IPCC, 2019;Kwiatkowski et al., 2020). In short, marine ecosystems are changing (Doney et al., 2012;Hollowed et al., 2013;Gao et al., 2019), and in some areas of the globe, the change is very rapid (Henson et al., 2017;Johnson and Lyman, 2020). At the same time, human-induced stressors such as fisheries and pollution continue, with sometimes dramatic observed and predicted declines in commercial stocks (e.g., Vasilakopoulos et al., 2014;Lotze et al., 2019). Therefore, in the 21st century, fisheries and ocean managers require science advice that accounts for the cumulative effects of multiple stressors, fisheries removals, human-induced climate change, anthropogenic stressors, environmental variability, and trophic dynamics. Ongoing climate change and increasing pressure to intensify Blue Growth and the Blue Economy highlight the immediacy of the situation. There is strong need to better understand the impacts of these stressors and ecosystem variability so that we may proactively contribute to the management process.In parts of the world, such as the data rich northern hemisphere, over a century of monitoring marine fisheries and ecosystems has produced a substantial database from which to study ecosystem response to climate change. This has contributed to the development of policies for sustainable management of fisheries and ecosystems, and in some jurisdictions, development of ecosystem-based action plans, such as the Baltic Sea Plan (HELCOM, 2007) and the Norwegian Sea

Dynamic Modelling Analysis on The Effectiveness of Coastal Land Resources for Aquaculture Activities Utilization

“…The number of human and natural resource inputs provided to coastal areas fluctuated owing to dynamic management systems (Figure 4). Integrated management of coastal areas must be achieved by understanding the characteristics of the ecosystems [22]. Several applications of coastal area management based on ecosystem management have been developed as anticipatory measures against the phenomenon of climate change.…”

Exploring multiple stressor effects with Ecopath, Ecosim, and Ecospace: Research designs, modeling techniques, and future directions

“…For example, about 30% of studies investigating future climate change considered only anticipated changes in primary production. In reality, there are many pathways by which stressors can affect different species (Bundy et al, 2021). For example, climate change affects salmon reproduction, survival, and migration through changes in stream and ocean temperatures, streamflow, and primary production (Crozier et al, 2021).…”

“…Using models that ignore the complex interactions that characterize cumulative human impacts for decision making can underestimate impacts resulting from stressor interactions and lead to inefficient environmental management (Arrigo et al, 2020;Brown et al, 2014). Understanding, predicting, and managing cumulative human impacts at the ecosystem scale thus remains a grand challenge (Borja et al, 2020;Bundy et al, 2021).…”

Fisheries Oceanography: The first 30 years and new challenges in the 21st century

“…This will in turn impact the size, distribution, and abundance of marine biota; the phenology of trophic interactions; the community structure of regional ecosystems; and the availability of fisheries to coastal communities. It is particularly important to investigate the interactions between climate‐driven change in fishery populations and fishing activity (Bundy et al, 2021; Pörtner & Peck, 2010). It is urgent that we better understand, and accelerate the potential to predict, climate impacts on marine ecosystems and to develop climate‐resilient pathways to support marine ecosystem services.…”