Journal
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
Volume 70, Issue 4, Pages 707-721Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fst077
Keywords
biological reference points; fisheries-induced evolution; fisheries management; population dynamics; precautionary approach; uncertainty
Categories
Funding
- Marie Curie Research Training Network FishACE (Fisheries-induced Adaptive Changes in Exploited Stocks) [MRTN-CT-2004-005578]
- Specific Targeted Research Programme FinE (Fisheries-induced Evolution) [SSP-2006-044276]
- European Community
- Research Council of Norway
- Bergen Research Foundation
- European Science Foundation
- Austrian Science Fund
- Austrian Ministry for Science and Transport
- Vienna Science and Technology Fund
- Adaptfish Programme
- Leibniz-Community
- Besatzfisch Project
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- strategic research programme Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions
- Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Food Quality
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [25440190] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Biological reference points are important tools for fisheries management. Reference points are not static, butmay change when a population's environment or the population itself changes. Fisheries-induced evolution is one mechanism that can alter population characteristics, leading to shifting reference points by modifying the underlying biological processes or by changing the perception of a fishery system. The former causes changes in true reference points, whereas the latter is caused by changes in the yardsticks used to quantify a system's status. Unaccounted shifts of either kind imply that reference points gradually lose their intended meaning. This can lead to increased precaution, which is safe, but potentially costly. Shifts can also occur in more perilous directions, such that actual risks are greater than anticipated. Our qualitative analysis suggests that all commonly used reference points are susceptible to shifting through fisheries-induced evolution, including the limit and precautionary reference points for spawning-stock biomass, B-lim and B-pa, and the target reference point for fishing mortality, F-0.1. Our findings call for increased awareness of fisheries-induced changes and highlight the value of always basing reference points on adequately updated information, to capture all changes in the biological processes that drive fish population dynamics.
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