TY - JOUR
T1 - Reversal of fish stock decline in the northeast atlantic
AU - Fernandes, Paul G.
AU - Cook, Robin M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work received funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland), and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. The authors would also like to acknowledge the substantial efforts of the ICES and those, largely in the various national fisheries research institutes, who collated and analyzed the vast amounts of data associated with the stock assessments summarized here.
PY - 2013/8/5
Y1 - 2013/8/5
N2 - Analyses of global fish stocks paint a mixed picture of success, with some holding fishery management responsible for the poor status of many stocks [1-3] or predicting widespread collapse [1, 4]. Some suggest a stable [5] or improving situation [6] in certain jurisdictions. The debate is particularly polarized in the European Union, where the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been criticized for failing to protect stocks [2, 7-10], while others argue that a rebuilding process is underway [11, 12]. We show that substantial change in stock trends occurred in the area around the turn of the century: since then, the fishing pressure (as measured by the exploitation rate) has reduced continuously and there have been increases in biomass, demonstrating the potential for stock recovery. In 2011, for the first time, the majority of assessed stocks, where reference points are defined, were fished sustainably. The reductions in fishing pressure were associated with declines in fishing effort. The last reform of the CFP, in 2002, introduced effort control as part of more enforceable management measures, which were also based on longer-term plans. Further reforms to the CFP are currently being developed, so it is important, when correcting its weaknesses, to also acknowledge and build on the success of a major reduction in the fishing pressure on European fish stocks.
AB - Analyses of global fish stocks paint a mixed picture of success, with some holding fishery management responsible for the poor status of many stocks [1-3] or predicting widespread collapse [1, 4]. Some suggest a stable [5] or improving situation [6] in certain jurisdictions. The debate is particularly polarized in the European Union, where the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been criticized for failing to protect stocks [2, 7-10], while others argue that a rebuilding process is underway [11, 12]. We show that substantial change in stock trends occurred in the area around the turn of the century: since then, the fishing pressure (as measured by the exploitation rate) has reduced continuously and there have been increases in biomass, demonstrating the potential for stock recovery. In 2011, for the first time, the majority of assessed stocks, where reference points are defined, were fished sustainably. The reductions in fishing pressure were associated with declines in fishing effort. The last reform of the CFP, in 2002, introduced effort control as part of more enforceable management measures, which were also based on longer-term plans. Further reforms to the CFP are currently being developed, so it is important, when correcting its weaknesses, to also acknowledge and build on the success of a major reduction in the fishing pressure on European fish stocks.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84881311340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.016
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.016
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84881311340
SN - 0960-9822
VL - 23
SP - 1432
EP - 1437
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
IS - 15
ER -