Fishery Conservation and Management Strategies
Summary
Global fisheries face mounting pressures from overexploitation, habitat degradation and climate change. Conservation and management strategies have evolved from single‐species catch limits to holistic approaches that balance ecological integrity with social and economic needs. Central elements include stock assessment to set scientifically informed quotas, gear regulations and bycatch reduction measures to mitigate unintended impacts, and the designation of marine protected areas to safeguard critical habitats and life stages. Ecosystem‐based management integrates interactions among species, habitats and human activities, while rights‐based and community‐based approaches allocate stewardship and incentives at local scales. Adaptive management frameworks, underpinned by real‐time monitoring and modelling, allow policies to respond dynamically to environmental change. Recent advances in spatial planning, acoustic telemetry and larval dispersal modelling have improved the precision of management tools, enabling the design of networks of protected areas that enhance population connectivity. Concurrently, participatory processes and climate vulnerability assessments are informing strategies to build resilience among fishing communities. Together, these strategies offer a multifaceted toolkit for sustaining fishery resources and the livelihoods that depend upon them.
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Fishery Conservation and Management Strategies publication trend
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Technical terms
Stock assessment: Quantitative evaluation of fish population size and trends to inform catch limits.
Ecosystem‐based management: Integrated stewardship that considers ecological, social and economic interactions within marine systems.
Marine protected area (MPA): Spatially defined zone where human activities are regulated to conserve marine biodiversity and resources.
Larval dispersal modelling: Computational simulation of early life‐stage movement to predict connectivity among populations.
Climate vulnerability assessment: Methodology combining exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity analyses to evaluate species or community risk to climate change.
References
- Spatial distribution and movement of Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. PLOS ONE (2024).
- A participatory climate vulnerability assessment for recreational tidal flats fisheries in Belize and The Bahamas. Frontiers in Marine Science (2023).
- Biophysical larval dispersal models of observed bonefish (Albula vulpes) spawning events in Abaco, The Bahamas: An assessment of population connectivity and ocean dynamics. PLOS ONE (2022).
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