Fisheries Biology, Ecology, and Sustainable Management

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability stands as a cornerstone concept not just within fisheries but also in the broader realm of environmental issues. In fisheries science, the principle of sustainability, along with the concept of maximum sustainable yield (MSY), has long been widely recognized and applied. While sustainability serves as an essential prerequisite for the long-term profitability of fisheries, overfishing continues to be a persistent challenge [1]. Contributing factors include economic discounting and the tragedy of the commons [2], issues commonly shared with broader environmental problems such as climate change [3,4].

Addressing Environmental Change:

Environmental change and uncertainty are inherent challenges in the effective management of real fishery resources [5]. Tailoring management strategies to the unique biological characteristics of each species assumes paramount importance. Particularly, the volatility of recruitment rates and post-maturity life expectancy significantly affect management strategies [6,7]. These characteristics are intertwined with the adaptive strategies inherent to each species. Hence, an adaptive life history of target species becomes closely connected to the adaptive fishing strategies. For instance, if multiple spawning (iteroparity) serves as a risk-hedging strategy in response to environmental fluctuations [8], fisheries may benefit from diversifying the age of the harvested fish. Nevertheless, fisheries' optimal strategies often lean towards maximizing expected value, and appears to be insufficiently concerned with risk hedging and the pursuit of balanced fishries [9].

Expanding the Vision:

Within fisheries, the conventional belief in the long-term maximization of fisheries yields (MSY) remains steadfast. However, it is imperative to recognize that fisheries yields are a small subset of ecosystem services. The comprehensive goals should involve the long-term maximization of overall ecosystem services, encompassing not only fisheries but other elements as well, in pursuit of “maximum sustainable ecosystem services” [10]. In this light, it becomes crucial to consider the broader benefits of fishery resources to the biosphere and society. At the same time, the complex interrelationships between benefits derived from other human activities and those emanating from fisheries must be explored. Notably, the intersection with offshore wind power and blue carbon initiatives emerges as a pressing concern.

Unifying Themes in Environmental Science:

These challenges resonate with broader environmental issues akin to the MSY concept. In this special issue, we aim to delve into specific cases that shed light on the commonalities shared with other environmental issues, thereby elucidating the role of fisheries resource science within the broader context of environmental science.

[1] Hannesson, R. (1996). Fisheries mismanagement: the case of the North Atlantic cod. Fishing News Books Ltd.

[2] Clark, C. W. (1973). The Economics of Overexploitation: Severe depletion of renewable resources may result from high discount rates used by private exploiters. Science, 181(4100), 630-634.

[3] Gattig, A., & Hendrickx, L. (2007). Judgmental discounting and environmental risk perception: Dimensional similarities, domain differences, and implications for sustainability. Journal of Social Issues, 63(1), 21-39.

[4] Libecap, G. D. (2009). The tragedy of the commons: property rights and markets as solutions to resource and environmental problems. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 53(1), 129-144.

[5] Hilborn, R., & Mangel, M. (2013). The ecological detective: confronting models with data (MPB-28). Princeton University Press.

[6] Conover, D. O., & Munch, S. B. (2002). Sustaining fisheries yields over evolutionary time scales. Science, 297(5578), 94-96.

[7] Heino, M. (1998). Management of evolving fish stocks. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 55(8), 1971-1982.

[8] Katsukawa, Y., Katsukawa, T., & Matsuda, H. (2002). Indeterminate growth is selected by a trade‐off between high fecundity and risk avoidance in stochastic environments. Population Ecology, 44(3), 265-272.

[9] Garcia, S. M., Kolding, J., Rice, J., Rochet, M. J., Zhou, S., Arimoto, T., ... & Smith, A. D. M. (2012). Reconsidering the consequences of selective fisheries. Science, 335(6072), 1045-1047.

[10] Matsuda, H., Makino, M., Tomiyama, M., Gelcich, S., & Castilla, J. C. (2010). Fishery management in Japan. Ecological research, 25, 899-907.

Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Matsuda
Guest Editor

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• adaptive management
• fish-fishery coevolution
• maximum sustainable ecosystem services
• blue Economy
• the tragedy of the commons