Effective fisheries management instrumental in improving fish stock status

Ray Hilborn; Ricardo Oscar Amoroso; Christopher M. Anderson; Julia K. Baum; Trevor A. Branch; Christopher Costello; Carryn L. de Moor; Abdelmalek Faraj; Daniel Hively; Olaf P. Jensen; Hiroyuki Kurota; L. Richard Little; Pamela Mace; Tim McClanahan; Michael C. Melnychuk; Cóilín Minto; Giacomo Chato Osio; Ana M. Parma; Maite Pons; Susana Segurado; Cody S. Szuwalski; Jono R. Wilson; Yimin Ye

doi:10.1073/pnas.1909726116

Edited by Nils Chr. Stenseth, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, and approved November 15, 2019 (received for review June 12, 2019)

Significance

This article compiles estimates of the status of fish stocks from all available scientific assessments, comprising roughly half of the world’s fish catch, and shows that, on average, fish stocks are increasing where they are assessed. We pair this with surveys of the nature and extent of fisheries management systems, and demonstrate that where fisheries are intensively managed, the stocks are above target levels or rebuilding. Where fisheries management is less intense, stock status and trends are worse. We review evidence on the half of world fisheries that are not assessed or intensively managed and suggest their status is much worse than where fisheries are intensively managed.

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.

Footnotes

↵¹To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: hilbornr{at}gmail.com.

Author contributions: R.H., R.O.A., C.M.A., J.K.B., T.A.B., C.C., C.L.d.M., A.F., D.H., O.P.J., H.K., L.R.L., P.M., T.M., M.C.M., C.M., G.C.O., A.M.P., M.P., S.S., C.S.S., J.R.W., and Y.Y. designed research; R.H., R.O.A., C.C., D.H., M.C.M., and C.M. analyzed data; R.H., R.O.A., C.M.A., J.K.B., T.A.B., C.C., C.L.d.M., A.F., D.H., O.P.J., H.K., L.R.L., P.M., T.M., M.C.M., C.M., G.C.O., A.M.P., M.P., S.S., C.S.S., J.R.W., and Y.Y. wrote the paper; and R.H., R.O.A., J.K.B., C.L.d.M., A.F., D.H., H.K., L.R.L., P.M., M.C.M., C.M., G.C.O., A.M.P., M.P., and S.S. helped assemble or provide data.
Competing interest statement: All authors are involved in fisheries management or provide fisheries advice in ways that can be viewed as competing interests. Many are employed by national fisheries agencies or nongovernmental organizations that advocate for specific fisheries policies. The academic scientists have received funding from sources that include government fisheries agencies, fishing companies, and environmental nongovernmental organizations.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Data deposition: Code used for analysis is held in the following GitHub repository, https://github.com/mintoc/pnas_efm_paper.
This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1909726116/-/DCSupplemental.

This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).

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