Effective fisheries management instrumental in improving fish stock status

Abstract

Marine fish stocks are an important part of the world food system and are particularly important for many of the poorest people of the world. Most existing analyses suggest overfishing is increasing, and there is widespread concern that fish stocks are decreasing throughout most of the world. We assembled trends in abundance and harvest rate of stocks that are scientifically assessed, constituting half of the reported global marine fish catch. For these stocks, on average, abundance is increasing and is at proposed target levels. Compared with regions that are intensively managed, regions with less-developed fisheries management have, on average, 3-fold greater harvest rates and half the abundance as assessed stocks. Available evidence suggests that the regions without assessments of abundance have little fisheries management, and stocks are in poor shape. Increased application of area-appropriate fisheries science recommendations and management tools are still needed for sustaining fisheries in places where they are lacking.

Changing the narrative on fisheries subsidies reform: Enabling transitions to achieve SDG 14.6 and beyond

“…For example, downstream fish workers have historically not received subsidies directly but must be included in sectoral reforms. Governance of high seas fisheries is also a controversial issue including large differences in monitoring and management effectiveness across species and regions [25,26], which have led to calls to close the high seas to fishing [27]. Subsidies that result in overcapacity can undermine the conservation mandate of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) within their convention areas.…”

Marine seafood production via intense exploitation and cultivation in China: Costs, benefits, and risks

“…The pressures China faces while developing sustainable strategies for seafood production are emblematic of countries with minimal management of fisheries (which produce nearly half of the world's wild-capture catch; Hilborn et al, [76]) and large aquaculture operations. China's experiments in seafood production have provided a large-scale learning opportunity on the outcomes of intense exploitation and cultivation aimed at increasing volume of seafood produced.…”

Impacts of Marine and Lagoon Aquaculture on Macrophytes in Mediterranean Benthic Ecosystems

“…Global marine captures by fisheries are declining, although this trend is greatly underestimated as small-scale fishery, recreational fishery, discards and of course Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishery are poorly or not at all taken into account (Zeller et al, 2006;Kaiser and Hiddink, 2007;Pauly et al, 2014;Piroddi et al, 2015;Pauly and Zeller, 2016; but see Hilborn et al, 2020 for an alternative view). This trend is of course dependent upon the nature and extent of fisheries management systems (Hilborn et al, 2020). In the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the production from fisheries declined from about 1.4-1.2 t a −1 , from 1993 to 2013, because most fisheries stocks are overfished (Massa et al, 2017).…”