Predation is a major ecological constraint shaping behaviour and communication in animals. Several fish species are known to modify their foraging, agonistic and reproductive behaviour in the presence of predators. However, close to nothing is known about how predators affect sound production in fishes. This paper reviews how vocal fish increase their chance of survival by modifying intraspecific acoustic

Information on the annual variability in abundance and growth of juvenile groundfish can be useful for predicting fisheries stocks, but is often poorly known owing to difficulties in sampling fish in their first year of life. In the Western Gulf of Alaska (WGoA) and Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) ecosystems, three species of puffin (tufted and horned puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, Fratercula corniculata, and

The large-scale degradation of riparian ecotones and of the connectivity between rivers and their floodplains has resulted in a drastic decline of rheophilic fish populations in European temperate lowland rivers. Recent river restoration projects have had variable success in effectively restoring these fish populations. Knowledge on nursery habitat requirements is considered essential for effective

In this essay, we explore the idea that slow social change may cause degradation of the open access equilibrium in recreational fisheries. An existing bioeconomic model illustrates how three social quantities in the recreational fisheries social–ecological system—the marginal cost of fishing effort, catchability, and the relative importance of catch and effort to angler utility—influence equilibrium

The most widespread and numerous inland fish in the world is likely the mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis and G. holbrooki, Poeciliidae). Much has been written about the basic biology, the current distribution and the negative impacts of non-native populations of mosquitofish. Here, we instead review the relationship of humanity with mosquitofish. First, we review the early literature on the species and

The precautionary approach to fisheries management advocates for risk-averse management strategies that include biological reference points and account for scientific uncertainty (i.e. process, model and observation uncertainty). In this regard, two approaches have been recommended: (a) biomass reference points to safeguard against low stock biomass, and (b) uncertainty buffers that reduce the catch

Gear-based management for coral reef fisheries is often overlooked in the scientific literature. Empirical studies have demonstrated the conservation benefits of gear-restricted areas (i.e. prohibiting fishing gears), which can support greater biomass than unrestricted areas and protect species that play key functional roles. However, population dynamics of functional feeding groups of reef fishes

Aquatic foods are rich in micronutrients essential to human health, and fisheries and aquaculture are increasingly recognized for their capacity to contribute to reducing global micronutrient deficiencies and diet-based health risks. Whether fisheries and aquaculture sector and public health nutrition policies align to meet this goal, however, is unclear. Do fisheries and aquaculture policies have

Fish from marine and inland capture fisheries is an important food that contributes significantly to diets and health, but their contribution is somewhat overlooked in food security and poverty-related policies. Given the current numbers of malnourished people globally, there is a pressing need to consider how to better realize the potential of fish in food systems that can address malnourishment.

The temporal dynamics of biotic communities have been widely examined by ecologists. However, systematic reviews on how habitat features, sampling and data evaluation influence temporal patterns are rather sporadic. Here, we reviewed 307 peer-reviewed scientific articles to characterize the methods and the approaches, as well as to identify the knowledge gaps in the assessment of the temporal dynamics

Co-operation in the management of shared fish stocks is often necessary to achieve sustainability and reduce uncertainty. The United States of America (USA) and Mexico share a number of fish stocks and marine ecosystems, while there is some binational co-operation in scientific research, unilateral management decisions are generally the rule. We present a case study using the giant sea bass (Stereolepis

We propose the concept of Accelerated Marine Extraction to signify two periods when rapidly increasing cod (Gadus morhua, Gadidae) and herring (Clupea harengus, Clupeidae) fisheries, c.1540–1600 and c. 1730–1790, exceeded human demographic growth. Total landings vastly exceeded previous assessments and more than doubled between 1520 and 1620 from about 220,000 metric tonnes (t) to 460,000 t. Supplies

Fisheries scientists and managers must track rapid shifts in fish spatial distribution to mitigate stakeholder conflict and optimize survey designs, and these spatial shifts result in part from animal movement. Information regarding animal movement can be obtained from selection experiments, tagging studies, flux through movement gates (e.g. acoustic arrays), fishery catch-per-unit effort (CPUE), resource

Derelict fishing gear is a highly visible source of marine plastic pollution, causing mortality and ecosystem degradation with uncertain long-term consequences. The quantity of derelict gear entering the oceans remains unknown because of heterogeneity in fishing gear and effort, as well as inadequate monitoring. Prior studies have been limited in scope to specific fisheries and regions, and large-scale

Food system is a powerful concept for understanding and responding to nutrition and sustainability challenges. Food systems integrate social, economic, environmental and health aspects of food production through to consumption. Aquatic foods are an essential part of food systems providing an accessible source of nutrition for millions of people. Yet, it is unclear to what degree research across diverse

We conducted a global systematic literature review of climate change adaptation in fisheries. We addressed three specific questions: (i) What are fisheries adapting to? (ii) How are fisheries adapting? and (iii) What research gaps need to be addressed? We identified, characterized and examined case studies published between 1990 and 2019 that lie at the intersection of the domains of climate change

Data from the Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals in the Gulf of Mexico (iTAG) network, and sister networks, were used to evaluate fish movements in the Florida Keys—an extensive reef fish ecosystem just north of Cuba connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. We analysed ~2 million detections for 23 species, ranging from reef fish such as Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus, Serranidae)

Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals requires assessments of the global state of fish populations. While we have reliable estimates of stock status for fish populations accounting for approximately half of recent global catch, our knowledge of the state of the majority of the world's “unassessed” fish stocks remains highly uncertain. Numerous publications have produced

For many environmental indicators, the sustainable status can change because of changes in either the monitored state or the policy goal. Fisheries provide an intensively monitored setting to investigate the relative impacts of such change. Key fisheries sustainability indicators comprise the ratio between fishing pressure or biomass and their respective reference levels. We developed a retrospective

Climate change is altering ecosystems and fisheries throughout the world's oceans, demanding climate-adaptive governance for conserving and managing living marine resources. While in some regions fisheries management systems address wider ecosystem dynamics within management frameworks and decision-making, which may facilitate resilience to climate change, there remains a shortfall in terms of directly

Alternative reproductive tactics, where members of a population exhibit divergent mating approaches, are widespread in fishes. The maintenance of such polymorphisms is often explained using game-theoretic concepts such as frequency-dependent selection, which typically assume populations are at equilibrium. However, fish populations exhibit stochastic variability that is inconsistent with the assumption

The survival of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), an increasingly rare anadromous species, has declined dramatically during its marine phase, with disproportionate impacts on the poorly understood early post-smolt period. Logistical constraints on collecting oceanic data to inform this issue pose a formidable obstacle. To advance understanding of post-smolt distributional ecology in the North-east Atlantic

Crimes at sea—blue crimes—can have devastating impacts on small-scale fishing communities. Increasing calls to address “blue crimes” demand more research to address the drivers, patterns, actors and impacts of criminal activities in society and the oceans. This research and policy agenda, however, is not without risks as it might impact individual small-scale fishers and their communities, exacerbate

This study evaluates the relationship between both commercial and scientific spatial fisheries data and a new satellite-based estimate of potential fish production (Ocean Productivity available to Fish, OPFish) in the European Seas. To construct OPFish, we used productivity frontal features derived from chlorophyll-a horizontal gradients, which characterize 10%–20% of the global phytoplankton production

Commercial fisheries are increasingly interested in greater social acceptance of their operations and practices. For harvesters, achieving acceptance is complex because expectations arise from many societal groups who can differ greatly in their perceptions. Historically, third-party certification programmes assisted industry in gaining market acceptance (from consumer and investor groups) by improving

Latitude and body size are generally considered key drivers of swimming performance for larval marine fishes, but evidence suggests that evolutionary relationships and habitat may also be important. We used a comparative phylogenetic framework, data synthesis and case study approach to investigate how swimming performance differs among larvae of fish species across latitude. First, we investigated

Anguillid eels are found globally in fresh, transitional and saline waters and have played an important role in human life for centuries. The population status of several species is now of significant concern. The threats to populations include direct exploitation at different life stages, blockages to migratory routes by dams and other structures, changes in river basin management that impact habitat

Marine capture fishery resources are declining, and demand for them is rising. These trends are suspected to incite conflict, but their effects have not been quantitatively examined. We applied a multi-model ensemble approach to a global database of international fishery conflicts between 1974 and 2016 to test the supply-induced scarcity hypothesis (diminishing supplies of fishery resources increase

Marine fisheries in African waters contribute substantially to food security and local economies in African coastal nations. Recently, there are growing concerns about the sustainability of living marine resources in these countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) due to increased risks from climate change, pollution and potential over-exploitation of fisheries resources by non-African (foreign)

By-catch is the primary global conservation threat to populations of dolphins and porpoises. Despite protection for these protected species under its Habitats Directive, the European Union (EU) has failed to adequately assess and, where necessary, mitigate the by-catch of small cetaceans. Management authority is diffuse, and the EU has no over-arching, quantitative conservation objectives. To address

Fisheries by-catch poses the single greatest threat to cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) populations. Despite this, by-catch of cetaceans does not receive proportionate levels of research or management effort. The contribution of small-scale fisheries to cetacean by-catch is generally overlooked because of the extreme data paucity in these fisheries. Here, we assess the likely geographic distribution

Management strategy evaluation (MSE) is the state-of-the-art approach for testing and comparing management strategies in a way that accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty (e.g. monitoring, estimation, and implementation). Management strategy evaluation can help identify management strategies that are robust to uncertainty about the life history of the target species and its relationship to other

We develop a potentially widely applicable framework for analysing the vulnerability, resilience risk and exposure of chondrichthyan species to all types of anthropogenic stressors in the marine environment. The approach combines the three components of widely applied vulnerability analysis (exposure, sensitivity and adaptability) (ESA) with three components (exposure, susceptibility and productivity)

Uncertainties in fish tracking studies limit their integration into conservation and fisheries management plans. This is especially true for archival tagging studies that rely on geolocation models to infer fish tracks from recorded environmental variables. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are increasingly popular to geolocate marine fish equipped with archival tags; however, true errors and sensitivity

The effectiveness and outcomes of management are expected to improve when people are informed, engaged and influential in governance and management procedures. The social-ecological and demographic contexts should, however, influence an individual's perceptions and willingness to engage and access appreciable benefits from management. To evaluate how engagement, procedures and perceived outcomes varied

Commercial fishers face a range of stressors that impact physical and mental health. However, there is limited research on the level of mental ill-health among fishers and on the nature of stressors that contribute to their psychological distress. This paper focuses on the experiences of commercial wild-catch fishers and analyses the results of an Australian national survey conducted in 2017 (n = 872)

Marine ecosystem forecasting is an important innovation in fisheries science with considerable value for industry and management, providing new data-driven means of predicting the distribution and availability of commercially exploited fish stocks over a range of timescales, including near-real-time and seasonal. Marine ecosystem forecasting is rapidly advancing as a field, yet tools produced for fisheries

The productivity susceptibility analysis (PSA) is a widely used method to rapidly assess species risk to fishing activities in data-poor fisheries. A step in ecological risk assessments and used in data-poor assessment for sustainable fisheries certification programmes (e.g. MSC) and recommendation lists (e.g. Seafood Watch), the PSA is semi-quantitative, yet little attention has been given to the

Habitat models are widely used to explore past and predict future shifts in fish distribution. Our literature review reveals a widespread practice of using in situ data or data with the highest possible resolution to train fish habitat models. Using examples of six fish species at two life stages in the North Sea, we demonstrate that the choice of the data resolution is crucial for a model's performance

Fish biodiversity sustains the resilience and productivity of fisheries, yet this biodiversity can be threatened by overharvest and depletion in mixed-stock fisheries. Thus, the biodiversity that provides benefits may also make sustainable resource extraction more difficult, a key challenge in fisheries management. We simulated a mixed-stock fishery to explore relationships between different dimensions

Delineation of population structure (i.e. stocks) is crucial to successfully manage exploited species and to address conservation concerns for threatened species. Fish migration and associated movements are key mechanisms through which discrete populations mix and are thus important determinants of population structure. Detailed information on fish migration and movements is becoming more accessible

We review the status of groundfish stocks using published scientific assessments for 349 individual stocks constituting 90% of global groundfish catch. Overall, average stock abundance is increasing and is currently above the level that would produce maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Fishing pressure for cod-like fishes (Gadiformes) and flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes) was, for several decades, on average

The capacity for aquaculture to provide an alternative source of fish and seafood to capture fisheries was once promoted as a tool to reduce demand for wild fish and thus tackle overfishing. To date, there is little evidence to suggest that aquaculture growth has successfully reduced fishing effort on wild populations. Recent theory on “blue transitions” suggests that displacement may only occur as

Many of the world's most important fisheries are experiencing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, thereby undermining efforts to sustainably conserve and manage fish stocks. A major challenge to ending IUU fishing is improving our ability to identify whether a vessel is fishing illegally and where illegal fishing is likely to occur in the ocean. However, monitoring the oceans is costly

Proportionality between spawning stock biomass (SSB) and annual total egg production (TEP) has been an inherent assumption in spawner–recruitment models for fisheries management and studies on recruitment mechanisms in fish. However, recent evidence of density dependence in egg production has led to a need to reconsider the validity of recruitment per spawning stock biomass (RPS), which is a SSB-based

Recruitment in age-structured stock assessment models can be forecasted using a variety of algorithms to provide advice on the anticipated consequences of different possible management actions. Selecting one method over another usually involves some subjectivity, yet can be consequential to the provision of advice. Extensive case-specific testing is not always feasible. We evaluated the forecast skill

The estimation of age on a fish by using the otolith weight is a quick and low‐cost technique, yet controversial despite separate researchers worldwide have proved successfully its application. A systematic review was conducted including 47 publications containing 289 data points where the relationship between the age and otolith weight was assessed. Here, a meta‐analysis of the age and otolith weight

The ecosystem‐based fisheries management (EBFM) framework has a solid theoretical justification and has been embraced in principle by many regions; yet, systematic implementation remains a challenge. In regions with strong governance, single‐species stock assessment and management has been successful in ending overfishing and maintaining stocks near levels that produce maximum catches. However, considering

A novel fish estuary-association scoring (FEAS) system that numerically expresses the relative position or level of estuarine-association for each species has been developed. A dataset numerically describing the degree or level of estuarine-association for some 6,000 fish species has been established based on an extensive review of the scientific literature on coastal and freshwater fishes. The FEAS

Marine ecosystems are changing rapidly due to ocean warming, overfishing and a raft of other anthropogenic impacts. Such changes are expected to disrupt productivity dynamics and alter marine food webs, with likely negative consequences for ecosystem services. It is, therefore, essential to devise and implement methods that can rapidly and inexpensively monitor changes in the marine food web structure

Effective fisheries management is necessary for the long-term sustainability of fisheries and the economic benefits that they provide, but focusing only on ecological sustainability risks disregarding ultimate goals related to well-being that must be achieved through broader social policy. An analysis of global landings data shows that average fishing wages in 36%–67% of countries, home to 69%–95%

Developing fisheries policies based on the best available science (BAS) has been generally required in international agreements and national legal documents in many countries. However, it is difficult to comply with BAS when lacking a uniformly agreed-upon operational framework. In this study, we conducted an exhaustive literature review and developed a framework that includes a comprehensive set of

Environmental change and anthropogenic activity, alone or in combination, may cause vital rates of fish populations to exhibit low-frequency, large-magnitude variation leading to non-stationary population processes in inherently dynamic ecosystems. It remains unclear why, when and, so, whether, non-stationary population processes should be taken into account in fisheries stock assessment models. Here

In marine management, fish stocks are often managed on a stock-by-stock basis using single-species models. Many of these models are based upon statistical techniques and are good at assessing the current state and making short-term predictions; however, as they do not model interactions between stocks, they lack predictive power on longer timescales. Additionally, there are size-based multi-species

Satisfaction is the reward that recreational anglers receive from their experiences, and it constitutes a relevant management target. Angler satisfaction also shapes preferences for regulations, compliance with rules and general angler behaviours. Because of its central role in recreational fisheries management, it is important to understand what drives angler satisfaction. Our objective was to study

Fish often aggregate to spawn, feed, rest, or avoid predation. Direct observations of very high counts of large-bodied grouper on deep shipwrecks, however, do not fit into typical descriptions of spawning-, resource-, or predation-driven aggregations. To investigate whether these observations are rare or part of an underlying pattern, we synthesized four decades (1979–2019) of direct observations of

To update the consensus on the effectiveness of fish passage mitigation structures or “fishways,” I conducted a meta-analysis on the fish passage literature and synthesized attraction and passage efficiency estimates from 60 peer-reviewed articles. One hundred unique species were studied at 75 unique fishways of various designs and sizes yielding 210 and 252 estimates of attraction and passage efficiency

The structure of seafloor terrain affects the distribution and diversity of animals in all seascapes. Effects of terrain on fish assemblages have been reported from most ecosystems, but it is unclear whether bathymetric effects vary among seascapes or change in response to seafloor modification by humans. We reviewed the global literature linking seafloor terrain to fish species and assemblages (96

Long time series of reliable individual growth estimates are crucial for understanding the status of a fish stock and deciding upon appropriate management. Tagging data provide valuable information about fish growth, and are especially useful when age‐based growth estimates and stock assessments are compromised by age‐determination uncertainties. However, in the literature there is a lack of studies

The rate of change in marine ecosystems and the speed with which pressure on those systems is escalating are much faster than rates of institutional change or management responses. The continued promulgation of a century‐old management approach (i.e., single species maximum sustainable yield), despite decades of scientific warnings regarding its flaws, highlights how fisheries management and science