Effective fisheries management instrumental in improving fish stock status

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 a 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 at proposed target levels. Compared to 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.

HILBORN Ray;  AMOROSO Ricardo Oscar;  ANDERSON Christopher M.;  BAUM Julia K.;  BRANCH T.;  COSTELLO Christopher;  DE MOOR C.L.;  FARAJ Abdelmalek;  HIVELY Daniel;  JENSEN Olaf;  KUROTA Hiroyuki;  LITTLE Richard;  MACE Pamela;  MCCLANAHAN Tim;  MELNYCHUK Michael C.;  MINTO C.;  OSIO Giacomo Chato;  PARMA A.M.;  PONS Maite;  SEGURADO Susana;  SZUWALSKI Cody;  WILSON Jono R.;  YE Y.; 

2020-09-23

NATL ACAD SCIENCES

JRC118764

0027-8424 (online),   

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/4/2218,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC118764,   

10.1073/pnas.1909726116 (online),