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

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

Understanding fish movement in the Arctic is paramount during the current era of rapidly warming seas, receding sea ice and associated shifting species distributions and fishing effort. We synthesized the literature and identified key knowledge gaps on the movement ecology of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) and Polar/Ice cod (Arctogadus glacialis, both Gadidae) in the context of climate change. Standardized

The Beverton–Holt and Ricker stock‐recruit functions were derived in terms of two pre‐recruit mortality parameters. Mace, & Doonan, (1988, A generalized bioeconomic simulation model for fish population dynamics) reparameterized the stock‐recruit function in terms of steepness, which combines pre‐recruit mortality with post‐recruit biological parameters defining unfished spawning biomass per recruit

Cell‐based seafood is an emerging novel food, with many start‐up companies aspiring for ocean conservation benefits through expanded market share that displaces wild‐caught seafood. However, the ability for cell‐based seafood to achieve this conservation outcome is often oversimplified and will rely on an extensive, and we find somewhat tenuous, chain of events. Here, we outline the technological,

This paper provides the results from the first meta‐analysis to examine the impact of cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae) predation on fish. It is based on a systematic search of literature, covering studies using significance‐based hypotheses tests on the relation between fish parameters and cormorant abundance. The results show that extensive research on cormorant diet exists, but few studies use statistical

The diversity of life histories across the animal kingdom is enormous, with direct consequences for the evolution of lifespans. Very short lifespans (maximum shorter than 1 year in their natural environment) have evolved in several vertebrate lineages. We review short‐lived fish species which complete either single (annual/univoltine) or multiple (multivoltine) generations within a year. We summarize

Tuna support some of the world's largest, most valuable and spatially extensive fisheries, but effective management has been challenging due to their transboundary movements and the need for multilateral decision‐making. To address public concerns of over‐exploitation, fishing companies have sought to differentiate themselves through involvement in “sustainable seafood” eco‐certification programmes

Microplastics (MPs) are small, plastic particles of various shapes, sizes and polymers. Although well studied in marine systems, their roles and importance in freshwater environments remain uncertain. Nevertheless, the restricted ranges and variable traits of freshwater fishes result in their communities being important receptors and strong bioindicators of MP pollution. Here, the current knowledge

The EU's fishing fleet engages in extensive fishing activities in the Exclusive Economic Zones of non‐EU countries as well as in areas beyond national jurisdiction. These activities are regulated by an external dimension in the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). We review the relationship between the CFP, including regulations for the Sustainable Management of External Fishing Fleets (SMEFF) and the

Illegal fishing is a widespread, global phenomenon that is affecting already heavily depleted wild fish stocks, threatening marine habitats and contributing to marine pollution through discarded fishing gear. Many different measures have been implemented by nation states to deter and prevent illegal fishing. These include coastal surveillance and policing, policies and regulation, and education. In

We collated smolt‐to‐adult return rate (SAR) data for Chinook salmon from all available regions of the Pacific coast of North America to examine the large‐scale patterns of salmon survival. For consistency, our analyses primarily used coded wire tag‐based (CWT) SAR estimates. Survival collapsed over the past half century by roughly a factor of three to ca. 1% for many regions. Within the Columbia River

The spectre of increasing impacts on exploited fish stocks in consequence of warmer climate conditions has become a major concern over the last decades. It is now imperative to improve the way we project the effects of future climate warming on fisheries. While estimating future climate‐induced changes in fish distribution is an important contribution to sustainable resource management, the impacts

The US seafood sector is susceptible to shocks, both because of the seasonal nature of many of its domestic fisheries and its global position as a top importer and exporter of seafood. However, many data sets that could inform science and policy during an emerging event do not exist or are only released months or years later. Here, we synthesize multiple data sources from across the seafood supply

Species that migrate long distances or between distinct habitats— for example, anadromous or catadromous fish—experience the consequences of climate change in each habitat and are therefore particularly at risk in a changing world. Studies of anadromous species often focus on freshwater despite the ocean's disproportionate influence on survival and growth. To understand a prominent anadromous species’

The COVID‐19 pandemic, caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2, has presented itself as a wicked problem where both the disease and its containment measures have caused significant human suffering. The pandemic has also affected every aspect of aquaculture and capture fisheries. Zoonotic origin of the SARS‐CoV‐2 and its containment measures, such as restrictions on the mobility of people, social distancing and ban

This research systematically reviews fisher behaviour in coastal and marine fisheries. Fisher behaviour refers to individual and group level action that reflects the psychological processing and social exchange of information in fisheries. Fisher behaviour is poorly conceptualized and explained in fisheries research, and the implications of fisher behaviour for governance outcomes remain uncertain

Ghost sharks (subclass Holocephali) remain a largely data‐poor group of cartilaginous fishes. The general paucity of attention may partially be related to identification and unresolved taxonomic issues, occurrence in the deep oceans, and their low value and interest in fisheries (which some notable exceptions). Here, we synthesize and assess the extinction risk of all known extant ghost sharks (52

Marine fisheries around the globe are increasingly exposed to external drivers of social and ecological change. Though diversification and flexibility have historically helped marine resource users negotiate risk and adversity, much of modern fisheries management treats fishermen as specialists using specific gear types to target specific species. Here, we describe the evolution of harvest portfolios

Anthropogenic impacts are altering ecosystems, especially aquatic habitats, resulting in the loss of critical biodiversity. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of human pressure, as surrogated by the human footprint index (HFI), on the functional diversity of fish assemblages from 109 Neotropical reservoirs while considering covariates such as temperature, flooded area and age since damming

This paper reviews the progress made over the last 20 years in achieving sustainable, economically efficient and socially just marine fisheries, referred to here as reconciled fisheries. It examines the substantial changes that have occurred in policies, practices and the challenges to fisheries. These include greater awareness of the impacts of climate change, implementation of ecosystem approaches

The adoption of parental care behaviours is the distinctive reproductive characteristic associated with the diversification and divergence of notothenioid fishes into an array of habitats in the subzero shelf and upper slope waters around Antarctica and sub‐Antarctic environments. These include a variety of pre‐ and post‐fertilization activities, including courtship behaviour and mate choice, linked

Genetic parameters of growth, reproductive efficiency and survival are important for designing successful genetic improvement programmes. In this study, a database was assembled and a meta‐analysis was conducted using 87 peer‐reviewed published studies on genetic parameters of 63 economically important traits reported across nine major farmed shrimp species. A total of 641 estimates of heritability

There is a widespread need for reliable biodiversity databases for science and conservation. Among the many public databases available, we lack guidance as to how their data quality varies. Here, we compare species distribution data for a well known regional reef fish fauna extracted from five global online databases that supply “as is” data (GBIF, OBIS, IDigBio, FishNet2 and FishBase) and our own

Sawsharks (Order: Pristiophoriformes, Family: Pristiophoridae) are a highly distinctive group of sharks, characterized by a tapering saw‐like rostrum with a pair of elongate barbels on the ventral surface. Their unusual characteristics should attract attention; however, very few studies have been dedicated to sawsharks. As a result, our understanding of their biology and ecology is limited. However

Covering more than 65% of the Earth surface, the deep sea (200–11,000 m depth) is the largest biotope on Earth, yet it remains largely unexplored. The biology of its communities is still poorly understood, and many species are still to be discovered. Despite this, deep‐sea fish are already threatened by our exploitation and their conservation is hampered by a severe scarcity of data. Studies focusing

In addition to accidental aquaculture escapees, an increasing number of freshwater fish expressing different domestication levels are voluntarily released into the wild primarily as stocking supplement for fisheries and for conservation programmes. Because domestication modifies individual traits and because subtle changes in intraspecific variability can impact ecological dynamics, we argue that these

The limitations imposed by traditional sampling methods have restricted the acquisition of data on key fisheries parameters. This is particularly the case for juveniles because most traditional gear explicitly avoids the capture of juveniles, and the juveniles of many species use habitats in which traditional gear is ineffective. The increasing availability and sophistication of Remote Underwater Video

Hyperoxia occurs when water oxygen (O2) levels exceed normal atmospheric pressure (i.e., >100% air saturation). Fish can experience hyperoxia in shallow environments due to photosynthesis or in aquaculture through O2 supplementation. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the effects of hyperoxia on fish, spanning influences on cardiorespiratory function, acid‐base balance, oxidative stress

Increasingly, fisheries researchers and managers seek or are compelled to “bridge” Indigenous knowledge systems with Western scientific approaches to understanding and governing fisheries. Here, we move beyond the all‐too‐common narrative about integrating or incorporating (too often used as euphemisms for assimilating) other knowledge systems into Western science, instead of building an ethic of knowledge

Forage fish populations often undergo large and rapid fluctuations in abundance. However, most of their predators are buffered against such fluctuations owing to their slower pace of life, which allows them to maintain more stable populations, at least during short periods of food scarcity. In this study, we investigated top‐down processes exerted by seabirds on forage fish stocks in five contrasted

The landings of Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps, Clupeidae) along the south‐eastern Arabian Sea are about 43.8% of total Indian oil sardine production. The annual landings of this species exhibit large‐scale variability with prolonged years of surplus or deficit landings without identified reason. Evaluating Indian oil sardine landings along the Kerala coast during 1961–2017 in relation to

In 2018, the international community began formal intergovernmental negotiations over a new legally binding instrument for the protection of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Protecting marine biodiversity is imperative for a sustainable future, and all the different organizations and agreements will have to work together to achieve this common goal. One of the first key principles

As result of ocean warming, marine boreal species have shifted their distribution poleward, with increases in abundance at higher latitudes, and declines in abundance at lower latitudes. A key to predict future changes in fish communities is to understand how fish stocks respond to climate variability. Scattered field observations in the first half of the 20th century suggested that boreal fish may

The sustainable mitigation of human–wildlife conflicts has become a major societal and environmental challenge globally. Among these conflicts, large marine predators feeding on fisheries catches, a behaviour termed “depredation,” has emerged concomitantly with the expansion of the world’s fisheries. Depredation poses threats to both the socio‐economic viability of fisheries and species conservation

Understanding spatial population structure and biocomplexity is critical for determining a species’ resilience to environmental and anthropogenic perturbations. However, integrated population models (IPMs) used to develop management advice for harvested populations have been slow to incorporate spatial dynamics. Therefore, limited research has been devoted to understanding the reliability of movement

Rays (superorder Batoidea) are the most diverse group of elasmobranchs, and many are threatened with extinction. However, there remain areas where research on the ecology of this group is lacking, from trophic interactions to their importance to ecosystem structure and function. Such ecological insights are critical for predicting the potential consequences of changes in their population sizes. Our

Marine scholars have come to realize the importance of including historical perspectives as part of comprehensive assessments made of the social–ecological systems involved in sustainable fisheries management. In particular, there is increasing recognition of the value in examining information contained within historical anecdotes as a prelude to implementing current conservation actions as well as

Biomass limit reference points are widely used in fisheries management and define the biomass threshold (BT) below which stock productivity (i.e. recruitment) is likely to be impaired. Scientifically sound and transparent methods for estimating BTs are therefore needed together with ways of quantifying uncertainties. The main focus of the study was placed on two methods currently applied to several

Reservoirs are mostly managed at local scales as spatially independent units. A basin‐scale perspective may increase awareness at a broader scope and generate insight not evident at local scales. We examined the array of reservoir attributes and fisheries in the Mississippi Basin to identify management opportunities. The basin is the third largest in the world and includes over 1,700 reservoirs >100 ha

The Neotropics harbour the greatest diversity of freshwater fish on Earth. Despite recent advances in characterizing the fish fauna, the total number of species, distributional range, evolution and ecological traits remain uncertain. Thus, we quantify shortfalls in the knowledge of taxonomy (Linnean shortfall), geographic distribution (Wallacean shortfall), evolutionary relationships (Darwinian shortfall)

Bottom trawl fishing is a controversial activity. It yields about a quarter of the world's wild seafood, but also has impacts on the marine environment. Recent advances have quantified and improved understanding of large‐scale impacts of trawling on the seabed. However, such information needs to be coupled with distributions of benthic invertebrates (benthos) to assess whether these populations are

Climate‐induced nonlinearity in biological variability and non‐stationary relationships with physical drivers are crucial to understand responses of marine organisms to climate variability. These phenomena have raised concerns in the northeastern North Pacific, but are out of the spotlight in the northwestern North Pacific in spite of potential implications for this productive system under increased

Small pelagic fish lack clear stock–recruitment relationships. This is a problem because such relationships are taken to be the primary descriptors of density dependence, responsible for regulating population density. In this paper, we show that small pelagic fish species, anchovy (Engraulis spp., Engraulidae), living in a stochastic environment, can be strongly regulated without a stock–recruitment

Total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation generated by dams is known to cause gas bubble trauma (GBT) and mortality in fish, but despite many studies on the topic, there have been no recent attempts to systematically review the data. We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis to determine how different levels of TDG supersaturation in laboratory experiments impact mortality and GBT outcomes

Bycatch remains one of the most important issues in the world's fisheries so its estimation and reporting have been highlighted in many international, regional and jurisdictional guidelines and policies. This paper describes a simple methodology to estimate jurisdictional discards, using Australia's first national bycatch report as a case study. The methodology involves: (a) identifying annual landings

Size‐based harvest limits or gear regulations are often used to manage fishing mortality and ensure the spawning biomass of females is sufficiently protected. Yet, management interactions with species’ mating systems that affect fishery sustainability and yield are rarely considered. For species with obligate male care, it is possible that size‐specific harvest of males will decrease larval production

Some dramatic consequences of climate change are caused by shifting species interactions and associated changes to trophic structure and energy flow. In coastal ecosystems, the relative abundance of feeding guilds indicates dominant energy sources sustaining food webs. Here, we use a space‐for‐time substitution to investigate potential climate change impacts on trophic structure and energy flow in

Recreational fisheries are culturally and economically important around the world. Recent research emphasizes that understanding and managing these systems requires a social–ecological perspective. We systematically reviewed quantitative social–ecological models of marine and freshwater recreational fisheries to summarize their conceptualization of social, ecological, and social–ecological dynamics

Fish are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic stressors from human developments and activities such as agriculture, urbanization, pollution and fishing. Lethal impacts of these stressors have been studied but the potential sublethal impacts, such as behavioural changes or reduced growth and reproduction, have often been overlooked. Unlike mortality, sublethal impacts are broad and difficult to quantify

Non‐compliance in fisheries is a persistent challenge for the conservation and sustainable management of the oceans and has particularly acute impacts in small‐scale fisheries contexts. Small‐scale fisheries often suffer from chronic overexploitation, poor management, lack of enforcement and non‐compliance, but small‐scale fishers are highly dependent on the ocean as a source of employment and food

The reproductive success of fish populations depends on their reproductive potential and offspring survival to maturity. The reproductive potential affects recruitment and hence populations’ resilience and productivity. Extensive research carried out throughout the current century has improved our understanding of the reproductive biology of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT), Thunnus thynnus. Yet, crucial

Marine teleost fish species in colder environments generally produce larger eggs than those in warmer environments. This pattern is thought to reflect changes in the optimal strategy of allocation to offspring size and number across temperatures, yet quantitative assessments of this hypothesis are lacking. Here, we model optimal offspring size across temperatures in marine teleost fishes based on the

The five Regional Fishery Management Organizations dedicated to tunas (tRFMOs) are all either developing or implementing Management Strategy Evaluations (MSEs) to provide advice for the stocks under their competencies. Providing a comparative overview will help tRFMOs to learn from one another and to collaborate on common solutions and may also help to more clearly define the challenges of building

This study analyses drug trafficking associated with fisheries around the globe. Records of vessel interdiction carried out between 2010 and 2017 suggest that the global trade of illicit drugs relies increasingly on fishing vessels. Fishery‐based trafficking is growing. A key obstacle to understanding the scope of this problem is the limited data on activities that are intentionally obscured, such

The introduction of 200 n.m. exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the late 1970s required increased collaboration among neighbouring coastal states to manage transboundary and straddling fish stocks. The established agreements ranged from bilateral to multilateral, including high‐seas components, as appropriate. However, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does not specify how quotas

Bottom trawl fisheries have significant effects on benthic habitats and communities, and these effects have been studied intensively in the last decades. Most of these studies have related the changes in benthic community composition to direct effect of trawl gears on benthos, through imposed mortality. This line of argumentation ignores the fact that benthic organisms themselves form a complex food