TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying management actions that promote sustainable fisheries
AU - Melnychuk, Michael C.
AU - Kurota, Hiroyuki
AU - Mace, Pamela M.
AU - Pons, Maite
AU - Minto, Cóilín
AU - Osio, Giacomo Chato
AU - Jensen, Olaf P.
AU - de Moor, Carryn L.
AU - Parma, Ana M.
AU - Richard Little, L.
AU - Hively, Daniel
AU - Ashbrook, Charmane E.
AU - Baker, Nicole
AU - Amoroso, Ricardo O.
AU - Branch, Trevor A.
AU - Anderson, Christopher M.
AU - Szuwalski, Cody S.
AU - Baum, Julia K.
AU - McClanahan, Tim R.
AU - Ye, Yimin
AU - Ligas, Alessandro
AU - Bensbai, Jilali
AU - Thompson, Grant G.
AU - DeVore, John
AU - Magnusson, Arni
AU - Bogstad, Bjarte
AU - Wort, Edward
AU - Rice, Jake
AU - Hilborn, Ray
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Which management actions work best to prevent or halt overfishing and to rebuild depleted populations? A comprehensive evaluation of multiple, co-occurring management actions on the sustainability status of marine populations has been lacking. Here we compiled detailed management histories for 288 assessed fisheries from around the world (accounting for 45% of those with formal stock assessments) and used hierarchical time-series analyses to estimate effects of different management interventions on trends in stock status. Rebuilding plans, applied less commonly than other management measures (implemented at some point historically for 43% of stocks), rapidly lowered fishing pressure towards target levels and emerged as the most important factor enabling overfished populations to recover. Additionally, the ratification of international fishing agreements, and harvest control rules specifying how catch limits should vary with population biomass, helped to reduce overfishing and rebuild biomass. Notably, we found that benefits of management actions are cumulative—as more are implemented, stock status improves and predicted long-term catches increase. Thus, a broad suite of management measures at local, national and international levels appears to be key to sustaining fish populations and food production.
AB - Which management actions work best to prevent or halt overfishing and to rebuild depleted populations? A comprehensive evaluation of multiple, co-occurring management actions on the sustainability status of marine populations has been lacking. Here we compiled detailed management histories for 288 assessed fisheries from around the world (accounting for 45% of those with formal stock assessments) and used hierarchical time-series analyses to estimate effects of different management interventions on trends in stock status. Rebuilding plans, applied less commonly than other management measures (implemented at some point historically for 43% of stocks), rapidly lowered fishing pressure towards target levels and emerged as the most important factor enabling overfished populations to recover. Additionally, the ratification of international fishing agreements, and harvest control rules specifying how catch limits should vary with population biomass, helped to reduce overfishing and rebuild biomass. Notably, we found that benefits of management actions are cumulative—as more are implemented, stock status improves and predicted long-term catches increase. Thus, a broad suite of management measures at local, national and international levels appears to be key to sustaining fish populations and food production.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100040399&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41893-020-00668-1
DO - 10.1038/s41893-020-00668-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100040399
SN - 2398-9629
VL - 4
SP - 440
EP - 449
JO - Nature Sustainability
JF - Nature Sustainability
IS - 5
ER -